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57150 lines
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Project Gutenberg Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims Version, O.T. Part 2
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The Holy Bible
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Douay-Rheims Version, Challoner Revision
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Volume II: The Second Part of the Old Testament (Psalms - 2 Machabees)
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January, 1999 [Etext #1610]
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Project Gutenberg Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims Version, O.T. Part 2
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This etext was prepared by Dennis McCarthy, Atlanta, Georgia
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and Tad Book, student, Pontifical North American College, Rome.
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THE HOLY BIBLE
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Translated from the Latin Vulgate
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Diligently Compared with the Hebrew, Greek,
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and Other Editions in Divers Languages
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THE OLD TESTAMENT
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First Published by the English College at Douay
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A.D. 1609 & 1610
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and
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THE NEW TESTAMENT
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First Published by the English College at Rheims
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A.D. 1582
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With Annotations
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The Whole Revised and Diligently Compared with
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the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner
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A.D. 1749-1752
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VOLUME II: THE SECOND PART OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
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CREDITS
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Without the assistance of many individuals and groups, this text of the
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Douay-Rheims Version of the Holy Bible would not be available for the
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Project Gutenberg collection. Our most grateful and sincere thanks goes
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to those at 'Catholic Software' who have provided the electronic plain
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texts of the 73 books of the Bible. 'Catholic Software' also produces a
|
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Douay Bible program on CD-ROM that features a fully searchable Douay-
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Rheims Bible, footnotes, Latin text and dictionary, topical index, maps,
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Biblical art gallery, and other features. For more information of this
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and many other products contact:
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Catholic Software
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Box 1914
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Murray, KY 42071
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(502) 753-8198
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http://www.catholicity.com/market/CSoftware/
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waubrey@aol.com
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Additional production assistance has been provided by volunteers from
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the Atlanta Council of the Knights of Columbus. Tad Book compiled and
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reformatted the texts to Project Gutenberg standards. Dennis McCarthy
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assisted Mr. Book and transcribed selections from the first editions
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included as appendices.
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HISTORY
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This three volume e-text set comes from multiple editions of Challoner's
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revised Douay-Rheims Version of the Holy Bible. The division of the Old
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Testaments into two parts follows the two tome format of the 1609/1610
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printing of the Old Testament. In 1568 English exiles, many from
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Oxford, established the English College of Douay (Douai/Doway), Flanders,
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under William (later Cardinal) Allen. In October, 1578, Gregory Martin
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began the work of preparing an English translation of the Bible for
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Catholic readers, the first such translation into Modern English.
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Assisting were William Allen, Richard Bristow, Thomas Worthington, and
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William Reynolds who revised, criticized, and corrected Dr. Martin's
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work. The college published the New Testament at Rheims (Reims/Rhemes),
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France, in 1582 through John Fogny with a preface and explanatory notes,
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authored chiefly by Bristol, Allen, and Worthington. Later the Old
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Testament was published at Douay in two parts (1609 and 1610) by Laurence
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Kellam through the efforts of Dr. Worthington, then superior of the
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seminary. The translation had been prepared before the appearance of the
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New Testament, but the publication was delayed due to financial
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difficulties. The religious and scholarly adherence to the Latin Vulgate
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text led to the less elegant and idiomatic words and phrases often found
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in the translation. In some instances where no English word conveyed the
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full meaning of the Latin, a Latin word was Anglicized and its meaning
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defined in a glossary. Although ridiculed by critics, many of these
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words later found common usage in the English language. Spellings of
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proper names and the numbering of the Psalms are adopted from the Latin
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Vulgate.
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In 1749 Dr. Richard Challoner began a major revision of the Douay and
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Rheims texts, the spellings and phrasing of which had become increasingly
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archaic in the almost two centuries since the translations were first
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produced. He modernized the diction and introduced a more fluid style,
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while faithfully maintaining the accuracy of Dr. Martin's texts. This
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revision became the 'de facto' standard text for English speaking
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Catholics until the twentieth century. It is still highly regarded by
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many for its style, although it is now rarely used for liturgical
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purposes. The notes included in this electronic edition are generally
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attributed to Bishop Challoner.
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The 1610 printing of the second tome of the Old Testament includes an
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appendix containing the non-canonical books 'Prayer of Manasses,' 'Third
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Booke of Esdras,' and 'Fourth Booke of Esdras.' While not part of
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Challoner's revision, the 1610 texts are placed in the appendices of
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Vol. II of this e-text set. Also included are the original texts of two
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short books, 'The Prophecie of Abdias' (Vol. II) and 'The Catholike
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Epistle of Iude the Apostle' (Vol. III), to give the reader a sense of
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the language of the first editions in comparison to the Challoner
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revision. Further background on the Douay-Rheims version may be found in
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a selection from the preface to the 1582 edition and the original
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glossary included in the appendices of Vol. III.
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CONTENTS
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The Second Part of the Old Testament
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Book of Psalms
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Book of Proverbs
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Ecclesiastes
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Solomon's Canticle of Canticles
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Book of Wisdom
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Ecclesiasticus
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Prophecy of Isaias
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Prophecy of Jeremias
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Lamentations of Jeremias
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Prophecy of Baruch
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Prophecy of Ezechiel
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Prophecy of Daniel
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Prophecy of Osee
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Prophecy of Joel
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Prophecy of Amos
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Prophecy of Abdias
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Prophecy of Jonas
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Prophecy of Micheas
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Prophecy of Nahum
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Prophecy of Habacuc
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Prophecy of Sophonias
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Prophecy of Aggeus
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Prophecy of Zacharias
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Prophecy of Malachias
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First Book of Machabees
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Second Book of Machabees
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Appendices
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The Prayer of Manasses
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The Third Booke of Esdras
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The Fourth Booke of Esdras
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The Prophecie of Abdias
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THE BOOK OF PSALMS
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The psalms are called by the Hebrews TEHILLIM, that is, Hymns of
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Praise. The author, of a great part of them at least, was king David:
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but many are of opinion that some of them were made by Asaph, and
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others whose names are prefixed in the titles.
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Psalms Chapter 1
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Beatus vir.
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The happiness of the just and the evil state of the wicked.
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1:1. Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the
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ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of
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pestilence:
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1:2. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall
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meditate day and night.
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1:3. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running
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waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf
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shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.
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1:4. Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind
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driveth from the face of the earth.
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1:5. Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners
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in the council of the just.
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1:6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the
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wicked shall perish.
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Psalms Chapter 2
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Quare fremuerunt.
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The vain efforts of persecutors against Christ and his church.
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2:1. Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?
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2:2. The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together,
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against the Lord, and against his Christ.
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2:3. Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke
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from us.
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2:4. He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall
|
|
deride them.
|
|
|
|
2:5. Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his
|
|
rage.
|
|
|
|
2:6. But I am appointed king by him over Sion, his holy mountain,
|
|
preaching his commandment.
|
|
|
|
2:7. The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I
|
|
begotten thee.
|
|
|
|
2:8. Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance,
|
|
and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in
|
|
pieces like a potter's vessel.
|
|
|
|
2:10. And now, O ye kings, understand: receive instruction, you that
|
|
judge the earth.
|
|
|
|
2:11. Serve ye the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling.
|
|
|
|
2:12. Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you
|
|
perish from the just way.
|
|
|
|
2:13. When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all
|
|
they that trust in him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, quid multiplicati.
|
|
|
|
The prophet's danger and delivery from his son Absalom: mystically, the
|
|
passion and resurrection of Christ.
|
|
|
|
3:1. The psalm of David when he fled from the face of his son Absalom.
|
|
|
|
3:2. Many say to my soul: There is no salvation for him in his God.
|
|
|
|
3:4. But thou, O Lord, art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of
|
|
my head.
|
|
|
|
3:5. I have cried to the Lord with my voice: and he hath heard me from
|
|
his holy hill.
|
|
|
|
3:6. I have slept and have taken my rest: and I have risen up, because
|
|
the Lord hath protected me.
|
|
|
|
3:7. I will not fear thousands of the people surrounding me: arise, O
|
|
Lord; save me, O my God.
|
|
|
|
3:8. For thou hast struck all them who are my adversaries without
|
|
cause: thou hast broken the teeth of sinners.
|
|
|
|
3:9. Salvation is of the Lord: and thy blessing is upon thy people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cum invocarem.
|
|
|
|
The prophet teacheth us to flee to God in tribulation, with confidence
|
|
in him.
|
|
|
|
4:1. Unto the end, in verses. A psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
Unto the end. . .Or, as St. Jerome renders it, victori, to him that
|
|
overcometh: which some understand of the chief musician; to whom they
|
|
suppose the psalms, which bear that title, were given to be sung: we
|
|
rather understand the psalms thus inscribed to refer to Christ, who is
|
|
the end of the law, and the great conqueror of death and hell, and to
|
|
the New Testament.--Ibid. In verses, in carminibus. . .In the Hebrew, it
|
|
is neghinoth, supposed by some to be a musical instrument, with which
|
|
this psalm was to be sung.--Ibid. For David, or to David. . .That is,
|
|
inspired to David himself, or to be sung.
|
|
|
|
4:2. When I called upon him, the God of my justice heard me: when I was
|
|
in distress, thou hast enlarged me. Have mercy on me: and hear my
|
|
prayer.
|
|
|
|
4:3. O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? why do you
|
|
love vanity, and seek after lying?
|
|
|
|
4:4. Know ye also that the Lord hath made his holy one wonderful: the
|
|
Lord will hear me when I shall cry unto him.
|
|
|
|
4:5. Be ye angry, and sin not: the things you say in your hearts, be
|
|
sorry for them upon your beds.
|
|
|
|
4:6. Offer up the sacrifice of justice, and trust in the Lord: many
|
|
say, Who sheweth us good things?
|
|
|
|
4:7. The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us: thou hast
|
|
given gladness in my heart.
|
|
|
|
4:8. By the fruit of their corn, their wine, and oil, they rest:
|
|
|
|
4:9. In peace in the self same I will sleep, and I will rest:
|
|
|
|
4:10. For thou, O Lord, singularly hast settled me in hope.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Verba mea auribul.
|
|
|
|
A prayer to God against the iniquities of men.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Unto the end, for her that obtaineth the inheritance. A psalm for
|
|
David.
|
|
|
|
For her that obtaineth the inheritance. . .That is, for the church of
|
|
Christ.
|
|
|
|
5:2. Give ear, O Lord, to my words, understand my cry.
|
|
|
|
5:3. Hearken to the voice of my prayer, O my King and my God.
|
|
|
|
5:4. For to thee will I pray: O Lord, in the morning thou shalt hear my
|
|
voice.
|
|
|
|
5:5. In the morning I will stand before thee, and I will see: because
|
|
thou art not a God that willest iniquity.
|
|
|
|
5:6. Neither shall the wicked dwell near thee: nor shall the unjust
|
|
abide before thy eyes.
|
|
|
|
5:7. Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity: thou wilt destroy all
|
|
that speak a lie. The bloody and the deceitful man the Lord will abhor.
|
|
|
|
5:8. But as for me in the multitude of thy mercy, I will come into thy
|
|
house; I will worship towards thy holy temple, in thy fear.
|
|
|
|
5:9. Conduct me, O Lord, in thy justice: because of my enemies, direct
|
|
my way in thy sight.
|
|
|
|
5:10. For there is no truth in their mouth: their heart is vain.
|
|
|
|
5:11. Their throat is an open sepulchre: they dealt deceitfully with
|
|
their tongues: judge them, O God. Let them fall from their devices:
|
|
according to the multitude of their wickednesses cast them out: for
|
|
they have provoked thee, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
5:12. But let all them be glad that hope in thee: they shall rejoice
|
|
for ever, and thou shalt dwell in them. And all they that love thy name
|
|
shall glory in thee.
|
|
|
|
5:13. For thou wilt bless the just. O Lord, thou hast crowned us, as
|
|
with a shield of thy good will.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, ne in furore.
|
|
|
|
A prayer of a penitent sinner, under the scourge of God. The first
|
|
penitential psalm.
|
|
|
|
6:1. Unto the end, in verses, a psalm for David, for the octave.
|
|
|
|
For the octave. . .That is, to be sung on an instrument of eight
|
|
strings. St. Augustine understands it mystically, of the last
|
|
resurrection, and the world to come; which is, as it were, the octave,
|
|
or eighth day, after the seven days of this mortal life: and for this
|
|
octave, sinners must dispose themselves, like David, by bewailing their
|
|
sins, whilst they are here upon earth.
|
|
|
|
6:2. O Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy
|
|
wrath.
|
|
|
|
6:3. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak: heal me, O Lord, for my
|
|
bones are troubled.
|
|
|
|
6:4. And my soul is troubled exceedingly: but thou, O Lord, how long?
|
|
|
|
6:5. Turn to me, O Lord, and deliver my soul: O save me for thy mercy's
|
|
sake.
|
|
|
|
6:6. For there is no one in death, that is mindful of thee: and who
|
|
shall confess to thee in hell?
|
|
|
|
6:7. I have laboured in my groanings, every night I will wash my bed: I
|
|
will water my couch with my tears.
|
|
|
|
6:8. My eye is troubled through indignation: I have grown old amongst
|
|
all my enemies.
|
|
|
|
6:9. Depart from em, all ye workers of iniquity: for the Lord hath
|
|
heard the voice of my weeping.
|
|
|
|
6:10. The Lord hath heard my supplication: the Lord hath received my
|
|
prayer.
|
|
|
|
6:11. Let all my enemies be ashamed, and be very much troubled: let
|
|
them be turned back, and be ashamed very speedily.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, Deus meus.
|
|
|
|
David, trusting in the justice of his cause, prayeth for God's help
|
|
against his enemies.
|
|
|
|
7:1. The psalm of David, which he sung to the Lord, for the words of
|
|
Chusi, the son of Jemini.
|
|
|
|
7:2. O Lord, my God, in thee have I put my trust; same me from all them
|
|
that persecute me, and deliver me.
|
|
|
|
7:3. Lest at any time he seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is
|
|
no one to redeem me, nor to save.
|
|
|
|
7:4. O Lord, my God, if I have done this thing, if there be iniquity in
|
|
my hands:
|
|
|
|
7:5. If I have rendered to them that repaid me evils, let me deservedly
|
|
fall empty before my enemies.
|
|
|
|
7:6. Let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it, and tread down my life,
|
|
on the earth, and bring down my glory to the dust.
|
|
|
|
7:7. Rise up, O Lord, in thy anger: and be thou exalted in the borders
|
|
of my enemies. And arise, O Lord, my God, in the precept which thou
|
|
hast commanded:
|
|
|
|
7:8. And a congregation of people shall surround thee. And for their
|
|
sakes return thou on high.
|
|
|
|
7:9. The Lord judgeth the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my
|
|
justice, and according to my innocence in me.
|
|
|
|
7:10. The wickedness of sinners shall be brought to nought; and thou
|
|
shalt direct the just: the searcher of hearts and reins is God. Just
|
|
|
|
7:11. Is my help from the Lord; who saveth the upright of heart.
|
|
|
|
7:12. God is a just judge, strong and patient: is he angry every day?
|
|
|
|
7:13. Except you will be converted, he will brandish his sword; he hath
|
|
bent his bow, and made it ready.
|
|
|
|
7:14. And in it he hath prepared to instruments of death, he hath made
|
|
ready his arrows for them that burn.
|
|
|
|
For them that burn. . .That is, against the persecutors of his saints.
|
|
|
|
7:15. Behold he hath been in labour with injustice: he hath conceived
|
|
sorrow, and brought forth iniquity.
|
|
|
|
7:16. He hath opened a pit and dug it: and he is fallen into the hole
|
|
he made.
|
|
|
|
7:17. His sorrow shall be turned on his own head: and his iniquity
|
|
shall come down upon his crown.
|
|
|
|
7:18. I will give glory to the Lord according to his justice: and will
|
|
sing to the name of the Lord the most high.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, Dominus noster.
|
|
|
|
God is wonderful in his works; especially in mankind, singularly
|
|
exalted by the incarnation of Christ.
|
|
|
|
8:1. Unto the end, for the presses: a psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
The presses. . .In Hebrew, Gittith, supposed to be a musical instrument.
|
|
|
|
8:2. O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
|
|
For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.
|
|
|
|
8:3. Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected
|
|
praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and
|
|
the avenger.
|
|
|
|
8:4. For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon
|
|
and the stars which thou hast founded.
|
|
|
|
8:5. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that
|
|
thou visitest him?
|
|
|
|
8:6. Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast
|
|
crowned him with glory and honour:
|
|
|
|
8:7. And hast set him over the works of thy hands.
|
|
|
|
8:8. Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen:
|
|
moreover, the beasts also of the fields.
|
|
|
|
8:9. The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through
|
|
the paths of the sea.
|
|
|
|
8:10. O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
Confitebor tibi, Domine. The church praiseth God for his protection
|
|
against her enemies.
|
|
|
|
9:1. Unto the end, for the hidden things of the Son. A psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
The hidden things of the Son. . .The humility and sufferings of Christ,
|
|
the Son of God; and of good Christians, who are his sons by adoption;
|
|
are called hidden things, with regard to the children of this world,
|
|
who know not the value and merit of them.
|
|
|
|
9:2. I will give praise to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: I will
|
|
relate all thy wonders.
|
|
|
|
9:3. I will be glad, and rejoice in thee: I will sing to thy name, O
|
|
thou most high.
|
|
|
|
9:4. When my enemy shall be turned back: they shall be weakened, and
|
|
perish before thy face.
|
|
|
|
9:5. For thou hast maintained my judgment and my cause: thou hast sat
|
|
on the throne, who judgest justice.
|
|
|
|
9:6. Thou hast rebuked the Gentiles, and the wicked one hath perished;
|
|
thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
9:7. The swords of the enemy have failed unto the end: and their cities
|
|
thou hast destroyed. Their memory hath perished with a noise:
|
|
|
|
9:8. But the Lord remaineth for ever. He hath prepared his throne in
|
|
judgment:
|
|
|
|
9:9. And he shall judge the world in equity, he shall judge the people
|
|
in justice.
|
|
|
|
9:10. And the Lord is become a refuge for the poor: a helper in due
|
|
time in tribulation.
|
|
|
|
9:11. And let them trust in thee who know thy name: for thou hast not
|
|
forsaken them that seek thee, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
9:12. Sing ye to the Lord, who dwelleth in Sion: declare his ways among
|
|
the Gentiles:
|
|
|
|
9:13. For requiring their blood, he hath remembered them: he hath not
|
|
forgotten the cry of the poor.
|
|
|
|
9:14. Have mercy on me, O Lord: see my humiliation which I suffer from
|
|
my enemies.
|
|
|
|
9:15. Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death, that I may
|
|
declare all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion.
|
|
|
|
9:16. I will rejoice in thy salvation: the Gentiles have stuck fast in
|
|
the destruction which they prepared. Their foot hath been taken in the
|
|
very snare which they hid.
|
|
|
|
9:17. The Lord shall be known when he executeth judgments: the sinner
|
|
hath been caught in the works of his own hands.
|
|
|
|
9:18. The wicked shall be turned into hell, all the nations that forget
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
9:19. For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience
|
|
of the poor shall not perish for ever.
|
|
|
|
9:20. Arise, O Lord, let not man be strengthened: let the Gentiles be
|
|
judged in thy sight.
|
|
|
|
9:21. Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them: that the Gentiles may know
|
|
themselves to be but men.
|
|
|
|
Here the late Hebrew doctors divide this psalm into two, making ver. 22
|
|
the beginning of Psalm 10. And again they join Psalms 146 and 147 into
|
|
one, in order that the whole number of psalms should not exceed 150.
|
|
And in this manner the psalms are numbered in the Protestant Bible.
|
|
|
|
Psalm 10 according to the Hebrews.
|
|
|
|
9a:1. Why, O Lord, hast thou retired afar off? why dost thou slight us
|
|
in our wants, in the time of trouble?
|
|
|
|
9a:2. Whilst the wicked man is proud, the poor is set on fire: they are
|
|
caught in the counsels which they devise.
|
|
|
|
9a:3. For the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul: and the
|
|
unjust man is blessed.
|
|
|
|
9a:4. The sinner hath provoked the Lord, according to the multitude of
|
|
his wrath, he will not seek him:
|
|
|
|
9a:5. God is not before his eyes: his ways are filthy at all times. Thy
|
|
judgments are removed form his sight: he shall rule over all his
|
|
enemies.
|
|
|
|
9a:6. For he hath said in his heart: I shall not be moved from
|
|
generation to generation, and shall be without evil.
|
|
|
|
9a:7. His mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of deceit:
|
|
under his tongue are labour and sorrow.
|
|
|
|
9a:8. He sitteth in ambush with the rich, in private places, that he may
|
|
kill the innocent.
|
|
|
|
9a:9. His eyes are upon the poor man: he lieth in wait, in secret, like
|
|
a lion in his den. He lieth in ambush, that he may catch the poor man:
|
|
so catch the poor, whilst he draweth him to him.
|
|
|
|
9a:10. In his net he will bring him down, he will crouch and fall, when
|
|
he shall have power over the poor.
|
|
|
|
9a:11. For he hath said in his heart: God hath forgotten, he hath turned
|
|
away his face, not to see to the end.
|
|
|
|
9a:12. Arise, O Lord God, let thy hand be exalted: forget not the poor.
|
|
|
|
9a:13. Wherefore hath the wicked provoked God? for he hath said in his
|
|
heart: He will not require it.
|
|
|
|
9a:14. Thou seest it, for thou considerest labour and sorrow: that thou
|
|
mayst deliver them into thy hands. To thee is the poor man left: thou
|
|
wilt be a helper to the orphan.
|
|
|
|
9a:15. Break thou the arm of the sinner and of the malignant: his sin
|
|
shall be sought, and shall not be found.
|
|
|
|
9a:16. The Lord shall reign to eternity, yea, for ever and ever: ye
|
|
Gentiles shall perish from his land.
|
|
|
|
9a:17. The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor: thy ear hath heard
|
|
the preparation of their heart.
|
|
|
|
9a:18. To judge for the fatherless and for the humble, that man may no
|
|
more presume to magnify himself upon earth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
In Domino confido.
|
|
|
|
The just man's confidence in God in the midst of persecutions.
|
|
|
|
10:1. Unto the end. A psalm to David.
|
|
|
|
10:2. In the Lord I put my trust: how then do you say to my soul: Get
|
|
thee away from hence to the mountain, like a sparrow.
|
|
|
|
10:3. For, lo, the wicked have bent their bow: they have prepared their
|
|
arrows in the quiver, to shoot in the dark the upright of heart.
|
|
|
|
10:4. For they have destroyed the things which thou hast made: but what
|
|
has the just man done?
|
|
|
|
10:5. The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven.
|
|
His eyes look on the poor man: his eyelids examine the sons of men.
|
|
|
|
10:6. The Lord trieth the just and the wicked: but he that loveth
|
|
iniquity, hateth his own soul.
|
|
|
|
10:7. He shall rain snares upon sinners: fire and brimstone, and storms
|
|
of winds, shall be the portion of their cup.
|
|
|
|
10:8. For the Lord is just, and hath loved justice: his countenance
|
|
hath beheld righteousness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
Salvum me fac.
|
|
|
|
The prophet calls for God's help against the wicked.
|
|
|
|
11:1. Unto the end: for the octave, a psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
11:2. Save me, O Lord, for there is now no saint: truths are decayed
|
|
from among the children of men.
|
|
|
|
11:3. They have spoken vain things, every one to his neighbour: with
|
|
deceitful lips, and with a double heart have they spoken.
|
|
|
|
11:4. May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that
|
|
speaketh proud things.
|
|
|
|
11:5. Who have said: We will magnify our tongue: our lips are our own:
|
|
who is Lord over us?
|
|
|
|
11:6. By reason of the misery of the needy, and the groans of the poor,
|
|
now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety: I will deal
|
|
confidently in his regard.
|
|
|
|
11:7. The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the
|
|
fire, purged from the earth, refined seven times.
|
|
|
|
11:8. Thou, O Lord, wilt preserve us: and keep us from this generation
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
11:9. The wicked walk round about: according to thy highness, thou hast
|
|
multiplied the children of men.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
Usquequo, Domine.
|
|
|
|
A prayer in tribulation.
|
|
|
|
12:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David. How long, O Lord, wilt thou
|
|
forget me unto the end? how long dost thou turn away thy face from me?
|
|
|
|
12:2. How long shall I take counsels in my soul, sorrow in my heart all
|
|
the day?
|
|
|
|
12:3. How long shall my enemy be exalted over Me?
|
|
|
|
12:4. Consider, and hear me, O Lord, my God. Enlighten my eyes, that I
|
|
never sleep in death:
|
|
|
|
12:5. Lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against him. They
|
|
that trouble me, will rejoice when I am moved:
|
|
|
|
12:6. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy
|
|
salvation: I will sing to the Lord, who giveth me good things: yea, I
|
|
will sing to the name of the Lord, the most high.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dixit insipiens.
|
|
|
|
The general corruption of man before our redemption by Christ.
|
|
|
|
13:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David. The fool hath said in his heart:
|
|
There is no God. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their
|
|
ways: there is none that doth good, no not one.
|
|
|
|
13:2. The Lord hath looked down from heaven upon the children of men,
|
|
to see if there be any that understand and seek God.
|
|
|
|
13:3. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together:
|
|
there is none that doth good: no not one. Their throat is an open
|
|
sepulchre; with their tongues they acted deceitfully: the poison of
|
|
asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and
|
|
bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and
|
|
unhappiness in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known:
|
|
there is no fear of God before their eyes.
|
|
|
|
13:4. Shall not all they know that work iniquity, who devour my people
|
|
as they eat bread?
|
|
|
|
13:5. They have not called upon the Lord: there have they trembled for
|
|
fear, where there was no fear.
|
|
|
|
13:6. For the Lord is in the just generation: you have confounded the
|
|
counsel of the poor man; but the Lord is his hope.
|
|
|
|
13:7. Who shall give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when the Lord
|
|
shall have turned away the captivity of his people, Jacob shall
|
|
rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, quis habitabit.
|
|
|
|
What kind of men shall dwell in the heavenly Sion.
|
|
|
|
14:1. A psalm for David. Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle? or
|
|
who shall rest in thy holy hill?
|
|
|
|
14:2. He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice:
|
|
|
|
14:3. He that speaketh truth in his heart, who hath not used deceit in
|
|
his tongue: Nor hath done evil to his neighbour: nor taken up a
|
|
reproach against his neighbours.
|
|
|
|
14:4. In his sight the malignant is brought to nothing: but he
|
|
glorifieth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his neighbour,
|
|
and deceiveth not;
|
|
|
|
14:5. He that hath not put out his money to usury, nortaken bribes
|
|
against the innocent: He that doth these things, shall not be moved for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 15
|
|
|
|
|
|
Conserva me, Domine.
|
|
|
|
Christ's future victory and triumph over the world and death.
|
|
|
|
15:1. The inscription of a title to David himself. Preserve me, O Lord,
|
|
for I have put my trust in thee.
|
|
|
|
The inscription of a title. . .That is, of a pillar or monument,
|
|
staylographia: which is as much as to say, that this psalm is most
|
|
worthy to be engraved on an everlasting monument.
|
|
|
|
15:2. I have said to the Lord, thou art my God, for thou hast no need
|
|
of my goods.
|
|
|
|
15:3. To the saints, who are in his land, he hath made wonderful all my
|
|
desires in them.
|
|
|
|
15:4. Their infirmities were multiplied: afterwards they made haste. I
|
|
will not gather together their meetings for bloodofferings: nor will I
|
|
be mindful of their names by my lips.
|
|
|
|
15:5. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is
|
|
thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me.
|
|
|
|
15:6. The lines are fallen unto me in goodly places: for my inheritance
|
|
is goodly to me.
|
|
|
|
15:7. I will bless the Lord, who hath given me understanding: moreover,
|
|
my reins also have corrected me even till night.
|
|
|
|
15:8. I set the Lord always in my sight: for he is at my right hand,
|
|
that I be not moved.
|
|
|
|
15:9. Therefore my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced:
|
|
moreover, my flesh also shall rest in hope.
|
|
|
|
15:10. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give
|
|
thy holy one to see corruption.
|
|
|
|
15:11. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me
|
|
with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to
|
|
the end.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 16
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exaudi, Domine, justitiam.
|
|
|
|
A just man's prayer in tribulation against the malice of his enemy.
|
|
|
|
16:1. The prayer of David. Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my
|
|
supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from
|
|
deceitful lips.
|
|
|
|
16:2. Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes
|
|
behold the things that are equitable.
|
|
|
|
16:3. Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast
|
|
tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me.
|
|
|
|
16:4. That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the
|
|
words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways.
|
|
|
|
16:5. Perfect thou my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps be not
|
|
moved.
|
|
|
|
16:6. I have cried to thee, for thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline
|
|
thy ear unto me, and hear my words.
|
|
|
|
16:7. Shew forth thy wonderful mercies; thou who savest them that trust
|
|
in thee.
|
|
|
|
16:8. From them that resist thy right hand keep me, as the apple of thy
|
|
eye. Protect me under the shadow of thy wings.
|
|
|
|
16:9. From the face of the wicked who have afflicted me. My enemies
|
|
have surrounded my soul:
|
|
|
|
16:10. They have shut up their fat: their mouth hath spoken proudly.
|
|
|
|
Their fat. . .That is, their bowels of compassion: for they have none
|
|
for me.
|
|
|
|
16:11. They have cast me forth, and now they have surrounded me: they
|
|
have set their eyes bowing down to the earth.
|
|
|
|
16:12. They have taken me, as a lion prepared for the prey; and as a
|
|
young lion dwelling in secret places.
|
|
|
|
16:13. Arise, O Lord, disappoint him and supplant him; deliver my soul
|
|
from the wicked one; thy sword
|
|
|
|
16:14. From the enemies of thy hand. O Lord, divide them from the few
|
|
of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from thy hidden
|
|
stores. They are full of children: and they have left to their little
|
|
ones the rest of their substance.
|
|
|
|
Divide them from the few, etc. . .That is, cut them off from the earth,
|
|
and the few trifling things thereof; which they are so proud of, or
|
|
divide them from the few; that is, from thy elect, who are but few;
|
|
that they may no longer have it in their power to oppress them. It is
|
|
not meant by way of a curse or imprecation; but, as many other the like
|
|
passages in the psalms, by way of a prediction, or prophecy of what
|
|
should come upon them, in punishment of their wickedness. Ibid. Thy
|
|
hidden stores. . .Thy secret treasures, out of which thou furnishest
|
|
those earthly goods, which, with a bountiful hand thou hast distributed
|
|
both to the good and the bad.
|
|
|
|
16:15. But as for me, I will appear before thy sight in justice: I
|
|
shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 17
|
|
|
|
|
|
Diligam te, Domine.
|
|
|
|
David's thanks to God for his delivery from all his enemies.
|
|
|
|
17:1. Unto the end, for David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke to
|
|
the Lord the words of this canticle, in the day that the Lord delivered
|
|
him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: and he
|
|
said:
|
|
|
|
17:2. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength:
|
|
|
|
17:3. The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is
|
|
my helper, and in him will I put my trust. My protector, and the horn
|
|
of my salvation, and my support.
|
|
|
|
17:4. Praising, I will call upon the Lord: and I shall be saved from my
|
|
enemies.
|
|
|
|
17:5. The sorrows of death surrounded me: and the torrents of iniquity
|
|
troubled me.
|
|
|
|
17:6. The sorrows of hell encompassed me: and the snares of death
|
|
prevented me.
|
|
|
|
17:7. In my affliction I called upon the Lord, and I cried to my God:
|
|
And he heard my voice from his holy temple: and my cry before him came
|
|
into his ears.
|
|
|
|
17:8. The earth shook and trembled: the foundations of the mountains
|
|
were troubled and were moved, because he was angry with them.
|
|
|
|
17:9. There went up a smoke in his wrath: and a fire flamed from his
|
|
face: coals were kindled by it.
|
|
|
|
17:10. He bowed the heavens, and came down, and darkness was under his
|
|
feet.
|
|
|
|
17:11. And he ascended upon the cherubim, and he flew; he flew upon the
|
|
wings of the winds.
|
|
|
|
17:12. And he made darkness his covert, his pavilion round about him:
|
|
dark waters in the clouds of the air.
|
|
|
|
17:13. At the brightness that was before him the clouds passed, hail
|
|
and coals of fire.
|
|
|
|
17:14. And the Lord thundered from heaven, and the Highest gave his
|
|
voice: hail and coals of fire.
|
|
|
|
17:15. And he sent forth his arrows, and he scattered them: he
|
|
multiplied lightnings, and troubled them.
|
|
|
|
17:16. Then the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of
|
|
the world were discovered: At thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the
|
|
spirit of thy wrath.
|
|
|
|
17:17. He sent from on high, and took me: and received me out of many
|
|
waters.
|
|
|
|
17:18. He delivered me from my strongest enemies, and from them that
|
|
hated me: for they were too strong for me.
|
|
|
|
17:19. They prevented me in the day of my affliction: and the Lord
|
|
became my protector.
|
|
|
|
17:20. And he brought me forth into a large place: he saved me, because
|
|
he was well pleased with me.
|
|
|
|
17:21. And the Lord will reward me according to my justice; and will
|
|
repay me according to the cleanness of my hands:
|
|
|
|
17:22. Because I have kept the ways of the Lord; and have not done
|
|
wickedly against my God.
|
|
|
|
17:23. For all his judgments are in my sight: and his justices I have
|
|
not put away from me.
|
|
|
|
17:24. And I shall be spotless with him: and shall keep myself from my
|
|
iniquity.
|
|
|
|
17:25. And the Lord will reward me according to my justice: and
|
|
according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.
|
|
|
|
17:26. With the holy thou wilt be holy; and with the innocent man thou
|
|
wilt be innocent:
|
|
|
|
17:27. And withe the elect thou wilt be elect: and with the perverse
|
|
thou wilt be perverted.
|
|
|
|
17:28. For thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down the
|
|
eyes of the proud.
|
|
|
|
17:29. For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord: O my God, enlighten my
|
|
darkness.
|
|
|
|
17:30. For by thee I shall be delivered from temptation; and through my
|
|
God I shall go over a wall.
|
|
|
|
17:31. As for my God, his way is undefiled: the words of the Lord are
|
|
fire-tried: he is the protector of all that trust in him.
|
|
|
|
17:32. For who is God but the Lord? or who is God but our God?
|
|
|
|
17:33. God, who hath girt me with strength; and made my way blameless.
|
|
|
|
17:34. Who hath made my feet like the feet of harts: and who setteth me
|
|
upon high places.
|
|
|
|
17:35. Who teacheth my hands to war: and thou hast made my arms like a
|
|
brazen bow.
|
|
|
|
17:36. And thou hast given me the protection of thy salvation: and thy
|
|
right hand hath held me up: And thy discipline hath corrected me unto
|
|
the end: and thy discipline, the same shall teach me.
|
|
|
|
17:37. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; and my feet are not
|
|
weakened.
|
|
|
|
17:38. I will pursue after my enemies, and overtake them: and I will
|
|
not turn again till they are consumed.
|
|
|
|
17:39. I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand: they
|
|
shall fall under my feet.
|
|
|
|
17:40. And thou hast girded me with strength unto battle; and hast
|
|
subdued under me them that rose up against me.
|
|
|
|
17:41. And thou hast made my enemies furn their back upon me, and hast
|
|
destroyed them that hated me.
|
|
|
|
17:42. They cried, but there was none to save them, to the Lord: but he
|
|
heard them not.
|
|
|
|
17:43. And I shall beat them as small as the dust before the wind; I
|
|
shall bring them to nought, like the dirt in the streets.
|
|
|
|
17:44. Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people; thou
|
|
wilt make me head of the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
17:45. A people which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the
|
|
ear they have obeyed me.
|
|
|
|
17:46. The children that are strangers have lied to me, strange
|
|
children have faded away, and have halted from their paths.
|
|
|
|
17:47. The Lord liveth, and blessed by my God, and let the God of my
|
|
salvation be exalted.
|
|
|
|
17:48. O God, who avengest me, and subduest the people under me, my
|
|
deliverer from my enraged enemies.
|
|
|
|
17:49. And thou wilt lift me up above them that rise up against me:
|
|
from the unjust man thou wilt deliver me.
|
|
|
|
17:50. Therefore will I give glory to thee, O Lord, among the nations,
|
|
and I will sing a psalm to thy name.
|
|
|
|
17:51. Giving great deliverance to his king, and shewing mercy to
|
|
David, his anointed: and to his seed for ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 18
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coeli enarrant.
|
|
|
|
The works of God shew forth his glory: his law is greatly to be
|
|
esteemed and loved.
|
|
|
|
18:1. Unto the end. A Psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
18:2. The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament
|
|
declareth the work of his hands.
|
|
|
|
18:3. Day to day uttereth speech, and night to night sheweth knowledge.
|
|
|
|
18:4. There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not
|
|
heard.
|
|
|
|
18:5. Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words
|
|
unto the ends of the world.
|
|
|
|
18:6. He hath set his tabernacle in the sun: and he as a bridegroom
|
|
coming out of his bridechamber, Hath rejoiced as a giant to run the
|
|
way:
|
|
|
|
18:7. His going out is from the end of heaven, And his circuit even to
|
|
the end thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from his
|
|
heat.
|
|
|
|
18:8. The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the testimony
|
|
of the Lord is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones.
|
|
|
|
18:9. The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts: the
|
|
commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes.
|
|
|
|
18:10. The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever: the
|
|
judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves.
|
|
|
|
18:11. More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and
|
|
sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.
|
|
|
|
18:12. For thy servant keepeth them, and in keeping them there is a
|
|
great reward.
|
|
|
|
18:13. Who can understand sins? from my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord:
|
|
|
|
18:14. And from those of others spare thy servant. If they shall have
|
|
no dominion over me, then shall I be without spot: and I shall be
|
|
cleansed form the greatest sin.
|
|
|
|
18:15. And the words of my mouth shall be such as may please: and the
|
|
meditation of my heart always in thy sight. O Lord, my helper and my
|
|
Redeemer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 19
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exaudiat te Dominus.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for the king.
|
|
|
|
19:1. Unto the end. A psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
19:2. May the Lord hear thee in the day of tribulation: may the name of
|
|
the God of Jacob protect thee.
|
|
|
|
19:3. May he send thee help from the sanctuary: and defend thee out of
|
|
Sion.
|
|
|
|
19:4. May he be mindful of all thy sacrifices: and may thy whole
|
|
burntoffering be made fat.
|
|
|
|
19:5. May he give thee according to thy own heart; and confirm all thy
|
|
counsels.
|
|
|
|
19:6. We will rejoice in thy salvation; and in the name of our God we
|
|
shall be exalted.
|
|
|
|
19:7. The Lord fulfil all thy petitions: now have I known that the Lord
|
|
hath saved his anointed. He will hear him from his holy heaven: the
|
|
salvation of his right hand is in powers.
|
|
|
|
The salvation of his right hand is in powers. . .That is, in strength.
|
|
His right hand is strong and mighty to save them that trust in him.
|
|
|
|
19:8. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will call upon
|
|
the name of the Lord, our God.
|
|
|
|
19:9. They are bound, and have fallen: but we are risen, and are set
|
|
upright. O Lord, save the king: and hear us in the day that we shall
|
|
call upon thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 20
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, in virtute.
|
|
|
|
Praise to God for Christ's exaltation after his passion.
|
|
|
|
20:1. Unto the end. A psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
20:2. In thy strength, O Lord, the king shall joy; and in thy salvation
|
|
he shall rejoice exceedingly.
|
|
|
|
20:3. Thou hast given him his heart's desire: and hast not withholden
|
|
from him the will of his lips.
|
|
|
|
20:4. For thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness: thou
|
|
hast set on his head a crown of precious stones.
|
|
|
|
20:5. He asked life of thee: and thou hast given him length of days for
|
|
ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
20:6. His glory is great in thy salvation: glory and great beauty shalt
|
|
thou lay upon him.
|
|
|
|
20:7. For thou shalt give him to be a blessing for ever and ever: thou
|
|
shalt make him joyful in gladness with thy countenance.
|
|
|
|
20:8. For the king hopeth in the Lord: and through the mercy of the
|
|
most High he shall not be moved.
|
|
|
|
20:9. Let thy hand be found by all thy enemies: let thy right hand find
|
|
out all them that hate thee.
|
|
|
|
20:10. Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire, in the time of thy
|
|
anger: the Lord shall trouble them in his wrath, and fire shall devour
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
20:11. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth: and their seed
|
|
from among the children of men.
|
|
|
|
20:12. For they have intended evils against thee: they have devised
|
|
counsels which they have not been able to establish.
|
|
|
|
20:13. For thou shalt make them turn their back: in thy remnants thou
|
|
shalt prepare their face.
|
|
|
|
In thy remnants thou shalt prepare their face. . .Or thou shalt set thy
|
|
remnants against their faces. That is, thou shalt make them see what
|
|
punishments remain for them hereafter from thy justice. Instead of
|
|
remnants, St. Jerome renders it funes, that is, cords or strings, viz.,
|
|
of the bow of divine justice, from which God directs his arrows against
|
|
the faces of his enemies.
|
|
|
|
20:14. Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thy own strength: we will sing and
|
|
praise thy power.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 21
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus Deus meus.
|
|
|
|
Christ's passion: and the conversion of the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
21:1. Unto the end, for the morning protection, a psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
21:2. O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from
|
|
my salvation are the words of my sins.
|
|
|
|
The words of my sins. . .That is, the sins of the world, which I have
|
|
taken upon myself, cry out against me, and are the cause of all my
|
|
sufferings.
|
|
|
|
21:3. O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by
|
|
night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me.
|
|
|
|
21:4. But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel.
|
|
|
|
21:5. In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and thou hast
|
|
delivered them.
|
|
|
|
21:6. They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee,
|
|
and were not confounded.
|
|
|
|
21:7. But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast
|
|
of the people.
|
|
|
|
21:8. All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken
|
|
with the lips, and wagged the head.
|
|
|
|
21:9. He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him,
|
|
seeing he delighteth in him.
|
|
|
|
21:10. For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb: my hope from
|
|
the breasts of my mother.
|
|
|
|
21:11. I was cast upon thee from the womb. From my mother's womb thou
|
|
art my God,
|
|
|
|
21:12. Depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is
|
|
none to help me.
|
|
|
|
21:13. Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me.
|
|
|
|
21:14.They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and
|
|
roaring.
|
|
|
|
21:15. I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered. My
|
|
heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels.
|
|
|
|
21:16. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath
|
|
cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of
|
|
death.
|
|
|
|
21:17. For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant
|
|
hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and feet.
|
|
|
|
21:18. They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared
|
|
upon me.
|
|
|
|
21:19. They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they
|
|
cast lots.
|
|
|
|
21:20. But thou, O Lord, remove not thy help to a distance from me;
|
|
look towards my defence.
|
|
|
|
21:21. Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword: my only one from the
|
|
hand of the dog.
|
|
|
|
21:22. Save me from the lion's mouth; and my lowness from the horns of
|
|
the unicorns.
|
|
|
|
21:23. I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the
|
|
church will I praise thee.
|
|
|
|
21:24. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob,
|
|
glorify him.
|
|
|
|
21:25. Let all the seed of Israel fear him: because he hath not
|
|
slighted nor despised the supplication of the poor man. Neither hath he
|
|
turned away his face form me: and when I cried to him he heard me.
|
|
|
|
21:26. With thee is my praise in a great church: I will pay my vows in
|
|
the sight of them that fear him.
|
|
|
|
21:27. The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise
|
|
the Lord that seek him: their hearts shall live for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
21:28. All the ends of the earth shall remember, and shall be converted
|
|
to the Lord: And all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his
|
|
sight.
|
|
|
|
21:29. For the kingdom is the Lord's; and he shall have dominion over
|
|
the nations.
|
|
|
|
21:30. All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and have adored: all
|
|
they that go down to the earth shall fall before him.
|
|
|
|
21:31. And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him.
|
|
|
|
21:32. There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and
|
|
the heavens shall shew forth his justice to a people that shall be
|
|
born, which the Lord hath made.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 22
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dominus regit me.
|
|
|
|
God's spiritual benefits to faithful souls.
|
|
|
|
22:1. A psalm for David. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.
|
|
|
|
Ruleth me. . .In Hebrew, Is my shepherd, viz., to feed, guide, and
|
|
govern me.
|
|
|
|
22:2. He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on
|
|
the water of refreshment:
|
|
|
|
22:3. He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of
|
|
justice, for his own name's sake.
|
|
|
|
22:4. For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I
|
|
will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they
|
|
have comforted me.
|
|
|
|
22:5. Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict
|
|
me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which
|
|
inebreateth me, how goodly is it!
|
|
|
|
22:6. And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I
|
|
may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 23
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domini est terra.
|
|
|
|
Who are they that shall ascend to heaven: Christ's triumphant ascension
|
|
thither.
|
|
|
|
23:1. On the first day of the week, a psalm for David. The earth is the
|
|
Lord's and the fulness thereof: the world, and all they that dwell
|
|
therein.
|
|
|
|
23:2. For he hath founded it upon the seas; and hath prepared it upon
|
|
the rivers.
|
|
|
|
23:3. Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord: or who shall
|
|
stand in his holy place?
|
|
|
|
23:4. The innocent in hands, and clean of heart, who hath not taken his
|
|
soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour.
|
|
|
|
23:5. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his
|
|
Saviour.
|
|
|
|
23:6. This is the generation of them that seek him, of them that seek
|
|
the face of the God of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
23:7. Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal
|
|
gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in.
|
|
|
|
23:8. Who is this King of Glory? the Lord who is strong and mighty: the
|
|
Lord mighty in battle.
|
|
|
|
23:9. Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal
|
|
gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in.
|
|
|
|
23:10. Who is this King of Glory? the Lord of hosts, he is the King of
|
|
Glory.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 24
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ad te, Domine, levavi.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for grace, mercy, and protection against our enemies.
|
|
|
|
24:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David. To thee, O Lord, have I lifted
|
|
up my soul.
|
|
|
|
24:2. In thee, O my God, I put my trust; let me not be ashamed.
|
|
|
|
24:3. Neither let my enemies laugh at me: for none of them that wait on
|
|
thee shall be confounded.
|
|
|
|
24:4. Let all them be confounded that act unjust things without cause.
|
|
Shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, and teach me thy paths.
|
|
|
|
24:5. Direct me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art God my
|
|
Saviour; and on thee have I waited all the day long.
|
|
|
|
24:6. Remember, O Lord, thy bowels of compassion; and thy mercies that
|
|
are from the beginning of the world.
|
|
|
|
24:7. The sins of my youth and my ignorances do not remember. According
|
|
to thy mercy remember thou me: for thy goodness' sake, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
24:8. The Lord is sweet and righteous: therefore he will give a law to
|
|
sinners in the way.
|
|
|
|
24:9. He will guide the mild in judgment: he will teach the meek his
|
|
ways.
|
|
|
|
24:10. All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, to them that seek
|
|
after his covenant and his testimonies.
|
|
|
|
24:11. For thy name's sake, O Lord, thou wilt pardon my sin: for it is
|
|
great.
|
|
|
|
24:12. Who is the man that feareth the Lord? He hath appointed him a
|
|
law in the way he hath chosen.
|
|
|
|
24:13. His soul shall dwell in good things: and his seed shall inherit
|
|
the land.
|
|
|
|
24:14. The Lord is a firmament to them that fear him: and his covenant
|
|
shall be made manifest to them.
|
|
|
|
24:15. My eyes are ever towards the Lord: for he shall pluck my feet
|
|
out of the snare.
|
|
|
|
24:16. Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me; for I am alone and
|
|
poor.
|
|
|
|
24:17. The troubles of my heart are multiplied: deliver me from my
|
|
necessities.
|
|
|
|
24:18. See my abjection and my labour; and forgive me all my sins.
|
|
|
|
24:19. Consider my enemies for they are multiplied, and have hated me
|
|
with an unjust hatred.
|
|
|
|
24:20. Deep thou my soul, and deliver me: I shall not be ashamed, for I
|
|
have hoped in thee.
|
|
|
|
24:21. The innocent and the upright have adhered to me: because I have
|
|
waited on thee.
|
|
|
|
24:22. Deliver Israel, O God, from all his tribulations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 25
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judica me, Domine.
|
|
|
|
David's prayer to God in his distress, to be delivered, that he may
|
|
come to worship him in his tabernacle.
|
|
|
|
25:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David. Judge me, O Lord, for I have
|
|
walked in my innocence: and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall
|
|
not be weakened.
|
|
|
|
25:2. Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart.
|
|
|
|
25:3. For thy mercy is before my eyes; and I am well pleased with thy
|
|
truth.
|
|
|
|
25:4. I have not sat with the council of vanity: neither will I go in
|
|
with the doers of unjust things.
|
|
|
|
25:5. I have hated the assembly of the malignant; and with the wicked I
|
|
will not sit.
|
|
|
|
25:6. I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy
|
|
altar, O Lord:
|
|
|
|
25:7. That I may hear the voice of thy praise: and tell of all thy
|
|
wondrous works.
|
|
|
|
25:8. I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place
|
|
where thy glory dwelleth.
|
|
|
|
25:9. Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with
|
|
bloody men:
|
|
|
|
25:10. In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with
|
|
gifts.
|
|
|
|
25:11. But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and
|
|
have mercy on me.
|
|
|
|
25:12. My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will
|
|
bless thee, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 26
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dominus illuminatio.
|
|
|
|
David's faith and hope in God.
|
|
|
|
26:1. The psalm of David before he was anointed. The Lord is my light
|
|
and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my
|
|
life: of whom shall I be afraid?
|
|
|
|
26:2. Whilst the wicked draw near against me, to eat my flesh. My
|
|
enemies that trouble me, have themselves been weakened, and have
|
|
fallen.
|
|
|
|
26:3. If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart
|
|
shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I
|
|
be confident.
|
|
|
|
26:4. One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that
|
|
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I
|
|
may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple.
|
|
|
|
26:5. For he hath hidden me in his tabernacle; in the day of evils, he
|
|
hath protected me in the secret place of his tabernacle.
|
|
|
|
26:6. He hath exalted me upon a rock: and now he hath lifted up my head
|
|
above my enemies. I have gone round, and have offered up in his
|
|
tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation: I will sing, and recite a psalm
|
|
to the Lord.
|
|
|
|
26:7. Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to thee: have
|
|
mercy on me and hear me.
|
|
|
|
26:8. My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O
|
|
Lord, will I still seek.
|
|
|
|
26:9. Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy
|
|
servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O
|
|
God my Saviour.
|
|
|
|
26:10. For my father and my mother have left me: but the Lord hath
|
|
taken me up.
|
|
|
|
26:11. Set me, O Lord, a law in thy way, and guide me in the right
|
|
path, because of my enemies.
|
|
|
|
26:12. Deliver me not over to the will of them that trouble me; for
|
|
unjust witnesses have risen up against me; and iniquity hath lied to
|
|
itself.
|
|
|
|
26:13. I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the
|
|
living.
|
|
|
|
26:14. Expect the Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage,
|
|
and wait thou for the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 27
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ad te, Domine, clamabo.
|
|
|
|
David's prayer that his enemies may not prevail over him.
|
|
|
|
27:1. A psalm for David himself. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord: O my
|
|
God, be not thou silent to me: lest if thou be silent to me, I become
|
|
like them that go down into the pit.
|
|
|
|
27:2. Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, when I pray to thee;
|
|
when I lift up my hands to thy holy temple.
|
|
|
|
27:3. Draw me not away together with the wicked; and with the workers
|
|
of iniquity destroy me not: Who speak peace with their neighbour, but
|
|
evils are in their hearts.
|
|
|
|
27:4. Give them according to their works, and according to the
|
|
wickedness of their inventions. According to the works of their hands
|
|
give thou to them: render to them their reward.
|
|
|
|
27:5. Because they have not understood the works of the Lord, and the
|
|
operations of his hands: thou shalt destroy them, and shalt not build
|
|
them up.
|
|
|
|
27:6. Blessed be the Lord, for he hath heard the voice of my
|
|
supplication.
|
|
|
|
27:7. The Lord is my helper and my protector: in him hath my heart
|
|
confided, and I have been helped. And my flesh hath flourished again,
|
|
and with my will I will give praise to him.
|
|
|
|
27:8. The Lord is the strength of his people, and the protector of the
|
|
salvation of his anointed.
|
|
|
|
27:9. Save, O Lord, thy people, and bless thy inheritance: and rule
|
|
them and exalt them for ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 28
|
|
|
|
|
|
Afferte Domino.
|
|
|
|
An invitation to glorify God, with a commemoration of his mighty works.
|
|
|
|
28:1. A psalm for David, at the finishing of the tabernacle. Bring to
|
|
the Lord, O ye children of God: bring to the Lord the offspring of
|
|
rams.
|
|
|
|
28:2. Bring to the Lord glory and honour: bring to the Lord glory to
|
|
his name: adore ye the Lord in his holy court.
|
|
|
|
28:3. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath
|
|
thundered, The Lord is upon many waters.
|
|
|
|
28:4. The voice of the Lord is in power; the voice of the Lord in
|
|
magnificence.
|
|
|
|
28:5. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars: yea, the Lord shall
|
|
break the cedars of Libanus.
|
|
|
|
28:6. And shall reduce them to pieces, as a calf of Libanus, and as the
|
|
beloved son of unicorns.
|
|
|
|
Shall reduce them to pieces, etc. . .In Hebrew, shall make them to skip
|
|
like a calf. The psalmist here describes the effects of thunder (which
|
|
he calls the voice of the Lord) which sometimes breaks down the tallest
|
|
and strongest trees; and makes their broken branches skip, etc. All
|
|
this is to be understood mystically of the powerful voice of God's word
|
|
in his church; which has broken the pride of the great ones of this
|
|
world, and brought many of them meekly and joyfully to submit their
|
|
necks to the sweet yoke of Christ.
|
|
|
|
28:7. The voice of the Lord divideth the flame of fire:
|
|
|
|
28:8. The voice of the Lord shaketh the desert: and the Lord shall
|
|
shake the desert of Cades.
|
|
|
|
28:9. The voice of the Lord prepareth the stags: and he will discover
|
|
the thick woods: and in his temple all shall speak his glory.
|
|
|
|
28:10. The Lord maketh the flood to dwell: and the Lord shall sit king
|
|
for ever. The Lord will give strength to his people: the Lord will
|
|
bless his people with peace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 29
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exaltabo te, Domine.
|
|
|
|
David praiseth God for his deliverance, and his merciful dealings with
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
29:1. A psalm of a canticle, at the dedication of David's house.
|
|
|
|
29:2. I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not
|
|
made my enemies to rejoice over me.
|
|
|
|
29:3. O Lord my God, I have cried to thee, and thou hast healed me.
|
|
|
|
29:4. Thou hast brought forth, O Lord, my soul from hell: thou hast
|
|
saved me from them that go down into the pit.
|
|
|
|
29:5. Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory
|
|
of his holiness.
|
|
|
|
29:6. For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In
|
|
the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.
|
|
|
|
29:7. And in my abundance I said: I shall never be moved.
|
|
|
|
29:8. O Lord, in thy favour, thou gavest strength to my beauty. Thou
|
|
turnedst away thy face from me, and I became troubled.
|
|
|
|
29:9. To thee, O Lord, will I cry: and I will make supplication to my
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
29:10. What profit is there in my blood, whilst I go down to
|
|
corruption? Shall dust confess to thee, or declare thy truth?
|
|
|
|
29:11. The Lord hath heard, and hath had mercy on me: the Lord became
|
|
my helper.
|
|
|
|
29:12. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: thou hast cut my
|
|
sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness:
|
|
|
|
29:13. To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret:
|
|
O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 30
|
|
|
|
|
|
In te, Domine, speravi.
|
|
|
|
A prayer of a just man under affliction.
|
|
|
|
30:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David, in an ecstasy.
|
|
|
|
30:2. In thee, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded:
|
|
deliver me in thy justice.
|
|
|
|
30:3. Bow down thy ear to me: make haste to deliver me. Be thou unto me
|
|
a God, a protector, and a house of refuge, to save me.
|
|
|
|
30:4. For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for thy name's sake
|
|
thou wilt lead me, and nourish me.
|
|
|
|
30:5. Thou wilt bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for
|
|
me: for thou art my protector.
|
|
|
|
30:6. Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O
|
|
Lord, the God of truth.
|
|
|
|
30:7. Thou hast hated them that regard vanities, to no purpose. But I
|
|
have hoped in the Lord:
|
|
|
|
30:8. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy. For thou hast regarded
|
|
my humility, thou hast saved my soul out of distresses.
|
|
|
|
30:9. And thou hast not shut me up in the hands of the enemy: thou hast
|
|
set my feet in a spacious place.
|
|
|
|
30:10. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am afflicted: my eye is troubled
|
|
with wrath, my soul, and my belly:
|
|
|
|
30:11. For my life is wasted with grief: and my years in sighs. My
|
|
strength is weakened through poverty and my bones are disturbed.
|
|
|
|
30:12. I am become a reproach among all my enemies, and very much to my
|
|
neighbours; and a fear to my acquaintance. They that saw me without
|
|
fled from me.
|
|
|
|
30:13. I am forgotten as one dead from the heart. I am become as a
|
|
vessel that is destroyed.
|
|
|
|
30:14. For I have heard the blame of many that dwell round about. While
|
|
they assembled together against me, they consulted to take away my
|
|
life.
|
|
|
|
30:15. But I have put my trust in thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
30:16. My lots are in thy hands. Deliver me out of the hands of my
|
|
enemies; and from them that persecute me.
|
|
|
|
30:17. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy.
|
|
|
|
30:18. Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee.
|
|
Let the wicked be ashamed, and be brought down to hell.
|
|
|
|
30:19. Let deceitful lips be made dumb. Which speak iniquity against
|
|
the just, with pride and abuse.
|
|
|
|
30:20. O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which
|
|
thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for
|
|
them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men.
|
|
|
|
30:21. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy face, from the
|
|
disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in thy tabernacle from the
|
|
contradiction of tongues.
|
|
|
|
30:22. Blessed be the Lord, for he hath shewn his wonderful mercy to me
|
|
in a fortified city.
|
|
|
|
30:23. But I said in the excess of my mind: I am cast away from before
|
|
thy eyes. Therefore thou hast heard the voice of my prayer, when I
|
|
cried to thee.
|
|
|
|
30:24. O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord will require
|
|
truth, and will repay them abundantly that act proudly.
|
|
|
|
30:25. Do ye manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye that
|
|
hope in the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 31
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beati quorum.
|
|
|
|
The second penitential psalm.
|
|
|
|
31:1. To David himself, understanding. Blessed are they whose
|
|
iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
|
|
|
|
31:2. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, and in
|
|
whose spirit there is no guile.
|
|
|
|
31:3. Because I was silent my bones grew old; whilst I cried out all
|
|
the day long.
|
|
|
|
Because I was silent, etc. . .That is, whilst I kept silence, by
|
|
concealing, or refusing to confess my sins, thy hand was heavy upon me,
|
|
etc.
|
|
|
|
31:4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: I am turned in my
|
|
anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened.
|
|
|
|
I am turned, etc. . .That is, I turn and roll about in my bed to seek
|
|
for ease in my pain whilst the thorn of thy justice pierces my flesh,
|
|
and sticks fast in me. Or, I am turned: that is, I am converted to
|
|
thee, my God, by being brought to a better understanding by thy
|
|
chastisements. In the Hebrew it is, my moisture is turned into the
|
|
droughts of the summer.
|
|
|
|
31:5. I have acknowledged my sin to thee, and my injustice I have not
|
|
concealed. I said I will confess against my self my injustice to the
|
|
Lord: and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.
|
|
|
|
31:6. For this shall every one that is holy pray to thee in a
|
|
seasonable time. And yet in a flood of many waters, they shall not come
|
|
nigh unto him.
|
|
|
|
31:7. Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me: my
|
|
joy, deliver me from them that surround me.
|
|
|
|
31:8. I will give thee understanding, and I will instruct thee in this
|
|
way, in which thou shalt go: I will fix my eyes upon thee.
|
|
|
|
31:9. Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no
|
|
understanding. With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not
|
|
near unto thee.
|
|
|
|
31:10. Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass
|
|
him that hopeth in the Lord.
|
|
|
|
31:11. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just, and glory, all ye
|
|
right of heart.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 32
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exultate, justi.
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to praise God, and to trust in him.
|
|
|
|
32:1. A psalm for David. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just: praise
|
|
becometh the upright.
|
|
|
|
32:2. Give praise to the Lord on the harp; sing to him with the
|
|
psaltery, the instrument of ten strings.
|
|
|
|
32:3. Sing to him a new canticle, sing well unto him with a loud noise.
|
|
|
|
32:4. For the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are done
|
|
with faithfulness.
|
|
|
|
32:5. He loveth mercy and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
32:6. By the word of the Lord the heavens were established; and all the
|
|
power of them by the spirit of his mouth:
|
|
|
|
32:7. Gathering together the waters of the sea, as in a vessel; laying
|
|
up the depths in storehouses.
|
|
|
|
32:8. Let all the earth fear the Lord, and let all the inhabitants of
|
|
the world be in awe of him.
|
|
|
|
32:9. For he spoke and they were made: he commanded and they were
|
|
created.
|
|
|
|
32:10. The Lord bringeth to nought the counsels of nations; and he
|
|
rejecteth the devices of people, and casteth away the counsels of
|
|
princes.
|
|
|
|
32:11. But the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever: the thoughts of
|
|
his heart to all generations.
|
|
|
|
32:12. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: the people whom he
|
|
hath chosen for his inheritance.
|
|
|
|
32:13. The Lord hath looked from heaven: he hath beheld all the sons of
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
32:14. From his habitation which he hath prepared, he hath looked upon
|
|
all that dwell on the earth.
|
|
|
|
32:15. He who hath made the hearts of every one of them: who
|
|
understandeth all their works.
|
|
|
|
32:16. The king is not saved by a great army: nor shall the giant be
|
|
saved by his own great strength.
|
|
|
|
32:17. Vain is the horse for safety: neither shall he be saved by the
|
|
abundance of his strength.
|
|
|
|
32:18. Behold the eyes of the Lord are on them that fear him: and on
|
|
them that hope in his mercy.
|
|
|
|
32:19. To deliver their souls from death; and feed them in famine.
|
|
|
|
32:20. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: for he is our helper and
|
|
protector.
|
|
|
|
32:21. For in him our heart shall rejoice: and in his holy name we have
|
|
trusted.
|
|
|
|
32:22. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hooped in thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 33
|
|
|
|
|
|
Benedicam Dominum.
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to the praise, and service of God.
|
|
|
|
33:1. For David, when he changed his countenance before Achimelech, who
|
|
dismissed him, and he went his way. [1 Kings 21.]
|
|
|
|
33:2. I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in
|
|
my mouth.
|
|
|
|
33:3. In the Lord shall my soul be praised: let the meek hear and
|
|
rejoice.
|
|
|
|
33:4. O magnify the Lord with me; and let us extol his name together.
|
|
|
|
33:5. I sought the Lord, and he heard me; and he delivered me from all
|
|
my troubles.
|
|
|
|
33:6. Come ye to him and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be
|
|
confounded.
|
|
|
|
33:7. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him: and saved him out of
|
|
all his troubles.
|
|
|
|
33:8. The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear
|
|
him: and shall deliver them.
|
|
|
|
33:9. O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that
|
|
hopeth in him.
|
|
|
|
33:10. Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there is no want to them
|
|
that fear him.
|
|
|
|
33:11. The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that
|
|
seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good.
|
|
|
|
33:12. Come, children, hearken to me: I will teach you the fear of the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
33:13. Who is the man that desireth life: who liveth to see good days?
|
|
|
|
33:14. Keep thy tongue form evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
|
|
|
|
33:15. Turn away from evil and do good: seek after peace and pursue it.
|
|
|
|
33:16. The eyes of the Lord are upon the just: and his ears unto their
|
|
prayers.
|
|
|
|
33:17. But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil
|
|
things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
|
|
|
|
33:18. The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out
|
|
of all their troubles.
|
|
|
|
33:19. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he
|
|
will save the humble of spirit.
|
|
|
|
33:20. Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will
|
|
the Lord deliver them.
|
|
|
|
33:21. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he
|
|
will save the humble of spirit.
|
|
|
|
33:22. The death of the wicked is very evil: and they that hate the
|
|
just shall be guilty.
|
|
|
|
33:23. The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants: and none of them
|
|
that trust in him shall offend.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 34
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judica, Domine, nocentes me.
|
|
|
|
David, in the person of Christ, prayeth against his persecutors:
|
|
prophetically foreshewing the punishments that shall fall upon them.
|
|
|
|
34:1. For David himself. Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me:
|
|
overthrow them that fight against me.
|
|
|
|
34:2. Take hold of arms and shield: and rise up to help me.
|
|
|
|
34:3. Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that
|
|
persecute me: say to my soul: I am thy salvation.
|
|
|
|
34:4. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul. Let
|
|
them be turned back and be confounded that devise evil against me.
|
|
|
|
34:5. Let them become as dust before the wind: and let the angel of the
|
|
Lord straiten them.
|
|
|
|
34:6. Let their way become dark and slippery; and let the angel of the
|
|
Lord pursue them.
|
|
|
|
34:7. For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto
|
|
destruction: without cause they have upbraided my soul.
|
|
|
|
34:8. Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him: and let the net
|
|
which he hath hidden catch him: and into that very snare let them fall.
|
|
|
|
34:9. But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; and shall be delighted in
|
|
his salvation.
|
|
|
|
34:10. All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to thee? Who
|
|
deliverest the poor from the hand of them that are stronger than he;
|
|
the needy and the poor from them that strip him.
|
|
|
|
34:11. Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not.
|
|
|
|
34:12. They repaid me evil for good: to the depriving me of my soul.
|
|
|
|
34:13. But as for me, when they were troublesome to me, I was clothed
|
|
with haircloth. I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer shall be
|
|
turned into my bosom.
|
|
|
|
34:14. As a neighbour and as an own brother, so did I please: as one
|
|
mourning and sorrowful so was I humbled.
|
|
|
|
34:15. But they rejoiced against me, and came together: scourges were
|
|
gathered together upon me, and I knew not.
|
|
|
|
34:16. They were separated, and repented not: they tempted me, they
|
|
scoffed at me with scorn: they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
|
|
|
|
34:17. Lord, when wilt thou look upon me? rescue thou my soul from
|
|
their malice: my only one from the lions.
|
|
|
|
34:18. I will give thanks to thee in a great church; I will praise thee
|
|
in a strong people.
|
|
|
|
34:19. Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: who
|
|
have hated me without cause, and wink with the eyes.
|
|
|
|
34:20. For they spoke indeed peaceably to me; and speaking in the anger
|
|
of the earth they devised guile.
|
|
|
|
34:21. And they opened their mouth wide against me; they said: Well
|
|
done, well done, our eyes have seen it.
|
|
|
|
34:22. Thou hast seen, O Lord, be not thou silent: O Lord, depart not
|
|
from me.
|
|
|
|
34:23. Arise, and be attentive to my judgment: to my cause, my God, and
|
|
my Lord.
|
|
|
|
34:24. Judge me, O Lord my God according to thy justice, and let them
|
|
not rejoice over me.
|
|
|
|
34:25. Let them not say in their hearts: It is well, it is well, to our
|
|
mind: neither let them say: We have swallowed him up.
|
|
|
|
34:26. Let them blush: and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my
|
|
evils. Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak great
|
|
things against me.
|
|
|
|
34:27. Let them rejoice and be glad, who are well pleased with my
|
|
justice, and let them say always: The Lord be magnified, who delights
|
|
in the peace of his servant.
|
|
|
|
34:28. And my tongue shall meditate thy justice, thy praise all the day
|
|
long.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 35
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dixit injustus.
|
|
|
|
The malice of sinners, and the goodness of God.
|
|
|
|
35:1. Unto the end, for the servant of God, David himself.
|
|
|
|
35:2. The unjust hath said within himself, that he would sin: there is
|
|
no fear of God before his eyes.
|
|
|
|
35:3. For in his sight he hath done deceitfully, that his iniquity may
|
|
be found unto hatred.
|
|
|
|
Unto hatred. . .That is, hateful to God.
|
|
|
|
35:4. The words of his mouth are iniquity and guile: he would not
|
|
understand that he might do well.
|
|
|
|
35:5. He hath devised iniquity on his bed, he hath set himself on every
|
|
way that is not good: but evil he hath not hated.
|
|
|
|
35:6. O Lord, thy mercy is in heaven, and thy truth reacheth even to
|
|
the clouds.
|
|
|
|
35:7. Thy justice is as the mountains of God, thy judgments are a great
|
|
deep. Men and beasts thou wilt preserve, O Lord:
|
|
|
|
35:8. O how hast thou multiplied thy mercy, O God! But the children of
|
|
men shall put their trust under the covert of thy wings.
|
|
|
|
35:9. They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house; and thou
|
|
shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure.
|
|
|
|
35:10. For with thee is the fountain of life; and in thy light we shall
|
|
see light.
|
|
|
|
35:11. Extend thy mercy to them that know thee, and thy justice to them
|
|
that are right in heart.
|
|
|
|
35:12. Let not the foot of pride come to me, and let not the hand of
|
|
the sinner move me.
|
|
|
|
35:13. There the workers of iniquity are fallen, they are cast out, and
|
|
could not stand.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 36
|
|
|
|
|
|
Noli aemulari.
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to despise this world; and the short prosperity of the
|
|
wicked; and to trust in Providence.
|
|
|
|
36:1. Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity.
|
|
|
|
36:2. For they shall shortly wither away as grass, and as the green
|
|
herbs shall quickly fall.
|
|
|
|
36:3. Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land, and thou
|
|
shalt be fed with its riches.
|
|
|
|
36:4. Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
36:5. Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.
|
|
|
|
36:6. And he will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy
|
|
judgment as the noonday.
|
|
|
|
36:7. Be subject to the Lord and pray to him. Envy not the man who
|
|
prospereth in his way; the man who doth unjust things.
|
|
|
|
36:8. Cease from anger, and leave rage; have no emulation to do evil.
|
|
|
|
36:9. For evildoers shall be cut off: but they that wait upon the Lord,
|
|
they shall inherit the land.
|
|
|
|
36:10. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and thou
|
|
shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.
|
|
|
|
36:11. But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in
|
|
abundance of peace.
|
|
|
|
36:12. The sinner shall watch the just man: and shall gnash upon him
|
|
with his teeth.
|
|
|
|
36:13. But the Lord shall laugh at him: for he foreseeth that his day
|
|
shall come.
|
|
|
|
36:14. The wicked have drawn out the sword: they have bent their bow.
|
|
To cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.
|
|
|
|
36:15. Let their sword enter into their own hearts, and let their bow
|
|
be broken.
|
|
|
|
36:16. Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the
|
|
wicked.
|
|
|
|
36:17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken in pieces; but the
|
|
Lord strengtheneth the just.
|
|
|
|
36:18. The Lord knoweth the days of the undefiled; and their
|
|
inheritance shall be for ever.
|
|
|
|
36:19. They shall not be confounded in the evil time; and in the days
|
|
of famine they shall be filled:
|
|
|
|
36:20. Because the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord,
|
|
presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to
|
|
nothing and vanish like smoke.
|
|
|
|
36:21. The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again; but the just sheweth
|
|
mercy and shall give.
|
|
|
|
36:22. For such as bless him shall inherit the land: but such as curse
|
|
him shall perish.
|
|
|
|
36:23. With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall
|
|
like well his way.
|
|
|
|
36:24. When he shall fall he shall not be bruised, for the Lord putteth
|
|
his hand under him.
|
|
|
|
36:25. I have been young and now am old; and I have not seen the just
|
|
forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.
|
|
|
|
36:26. He sheweth mercy, and lendeth all the day long; and his seed
|
|
shall be in blessing.
|
|
|
|
36:27. Decline from evil and do good, and dwell for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
36:28. For the Lord loveth judgment, and will not forsake his saints:
|
|
they shall be preserved for ever. The unjust shall be punished, and the
|
|
seed of the wicked shall perish.
|
|
|
|
36:29. But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therein for
|
|
evermore.
|
|
|
|
36:30. The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom: and his tongue
|
|
shall speak judgment.
|
|
|
|
36:31. The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be
|
|
supplanted.
|
|
|
|
36:32. The wicked watcheth the just man, and seeketh to put him to
|
|
death,
|
|
|
|
36:33. But the Lord will not leave him in his hands; nor condemn him
|
|
when he shall be judged.
|
|
|
|
36:34. Expect the Lord and keep his way: and he will exalt thee to
|
|
inherit the land: when the sinners shall perish thou shalt see.
|
|
|
|
36:35. I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the
|
|
cedars of Libanus.
|
|
|
|
36:36. And I passed by, and lo, he was not: and I sought him and his
|
|
place was not found.
|
|
|
|
36:37. Keep innocence, and behold justice: for there are remnants for
|
|
the peaceable man.
|
|
|
|
36:38. But the unjust shall be destroyed together: the remnants of the
|
|
wicked shall perish.
|
|
|
|
36:39. But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, and he is their
|
|
protector in the time of trouble.
|
|
|
|
36:40. And the Lord will help them and deliver them: and he will rescue
|
|
them from the wicked, and save them because they have hoped in him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 37
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, ne in furore.
|
|
|
|
A prayer of a penitent for the remission of his sins. The third
|
|
penitential psalm.
|
|
|
|
37:1. A psalm for David, for a remembrance of the sabbath.
|
|
|
|
For a remembrance. . .Viz., of our miseries and sins: and to be sung on
|
|
the sabbath day.
|
|
|
|
37:2. Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation; nor chastise me in thy
|
|
wrath.
|
|
|
|
37:3. For thy arrows are fastened in me: and thy hand hath been strong
|
|
upon me.
|
|
|
|
37:4. There is no health in my flesh, because of thy wrath: there is no
|
|
peace for my bones, because of my sins.
|
|
|
|
37:5. For my iniquities are gone over my head: and as a heavy burden
|
|
are become heavy upon me.
|
|
|
|
37:6. My sores are putrified and corrupted, because of my foolishness.
|
|
|
|
37:7. I am become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end: I
|
|
walked sorrowful all the day long.
|
|
|
|
37:8. For my loins are filled with illusions; and there is no health in
|
|
my flesh.
|
|
|
|
37:9. I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly: I roared with the
|
|
groaning of my heart.
|
|
|
|
37:10. Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not
|
|
hidden from thee.
|
|
|
|
37:11. My heart is troubled, my strength hath left me, and the light of
|
|
my eyes itself is not with me.
|
|
|
|
37:12. My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against
|
|
me. And they that were near me stood afar off:
|
|
|
|
37:13. And they that sought my soul used violence. And they that sought
|
|
evils to me spoke vain things, and studied deceits all the day long.
|
|
|
|
37:14. But I, as a deaf man, heard not: and as a dumb man not opening
|
|
his mouth.
|
|
|
|
37:15. And I became as a man that heareth not: and that hath no
|
|
reproofs in his mouth.
|
|
|
|
37:16. For in thee, O Lord, have I hoped: thou wilt hear me, O Lord my
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
37:17. For I said: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me: and
|
|
whilst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me.
|
|
|
|
37:18. For I am ready for scourges: and my sorrow is continually before
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
37:19. For I will declare my iniquity: and I will think for my sin.
|
|
|
|
37:20. But my enemies live, and are stronger than I: and they that hate
|
|
me wrongfully are multiplied.
|
|
|
|
37:21. They that render evil for good, have detracted me, because I
|
|
followed goodness.
|
|
|
|
37:22. For sake me not, O Lord my God: do not thou depart from me.
|
|
|
|
37:23. Attend unto my help, O Lord, the God of my salvation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 38
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dixi custodiam.
|
|
|
|
A just man's peace and patience in his sufferings; considering the
|
|
vanity of the world, and the providence of God.
|
|
|
|
38:1. Unto the end, for Idithun himself, a canticle of David.
|
|
|
|
38:2. I said: I will take heed to my ways: that I sin not with my
|
|
tongue. I have set a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
38:3. I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things:
|
|
and my sorrow was renewed.
|
|
|
|
38:4. My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall
|
|
flame out.
|
|
|
|
38:5. I spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end. And what is
|
|
the number of my days: that I may know what is wanting to me.
|
|
|
|
38:6. Behold thou hast made my days measurable. and my substance is as
|
|
nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity: every man
|
|
living.
|
|
|
|
38:7. Surely man passeth as an image: yea, and he is disquieted in
|
|
vain. He storeth up: and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
38:8. And now what is my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is
|
|
with thee.
|
|
|
|
38:9. Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou hast made me a
|
|
reproach to the fool.
|
|
|
|
38:10. I was dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
38:11. Remove thy scourges from me. The strength of thy hand hath made
|
|
me faint in rebukes:
|
|
|
|
38:12. Thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his
|
|
soul to waste away like a spider: surely in vain is any man disquieted.
|
|
|
|
38:13. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my
|
|
tears. Be no silent: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as
|
|
all my fathers were.
|
|
|
|
38:14. O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be
|
|
no more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 39
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expectans expectavi.
|
|
|
|
Christ's coming, and redeeming mankind.
|
|
|
|
39:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David himself.
|
|
|
|
39:2. With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive
|
|
to me.
|
|
|
|
39:3. And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery
|
|
and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my
|
|
steps.
|
|
|
|
39:4. And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many
|
|
shall see, and shall fear: and they shall hope in the Lord.
|
|
|
|
39:5. Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord; and
|
|
who hath not had regard to vanities, and lying follies.
|
|
|
|
39:6. Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God: and in
|
|
thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. I have declared and I have
|
|
spoken they are multiplied above number.
|
|
|
|
39:7. Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast
|
|
pierced ears for me. Burnt offering and sin offering thou didst not
|
|
require:
|
|
|
|
39:8. Then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written
|
|
of me
|
|
|
|
39:9. That I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy
|
|
law in the midst of my heart.
|
|
|
|
39:10. I have declared thy justice in a great church, lo, I will not
|
|
restrain my lips: O Lord, thou knowest it.
|
|
|
|
39:11. I have not hid thy justice within my heart: I have declared thy
|
|
truth and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth
|
|
from a great council.
|
|
|
|
39:12. Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me: thy mercy
|
|
and thy truth have always upheld me.
|
|
|
|
39:13. For evils without number have surrounded me; my iniquities have
|
|
overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the
|
|
hairs of my head: and my heart hath forsaken me.
|
|
|
|
My iniquities. . .That is, the sins of all mankind, which I have taken
|
|
upon me.
|
|
|
|
39:14. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. look down, O Lord, to help
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
39:15. Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my
|
|
soul to take it away. Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that
|
|
desire evils to me.
|
|
|
|
39:16. Let them immediately bear their confusion, that say to me: 'T is
|
|
well, t' is well.
|
|
|
|
'T is well. . .The Hebrew here is an interjection of insult and
|
|
derision, like the Vah. Matt. 27.49.
|
|
|
|
39:17. Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such
|
|
as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.
|
|
|
|
39:18. But I am a beggar and poor: the Lord is careful for me. Thou art
|
|
my helper and my protector: O my God, be not slack.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 40
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beatus qui intelligit.
|
|
|
|
The happiness of him that shall believe in Christ; notwithstanding the
|
|
humility and poverty in which he shall come: the malice of his enemies,
|
|
especially of the traitor Judas.
|
|
|
|
40:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David himself.
|
|
|
|
40:2. Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the
|
|
poor: the Lord will deliver him in the evil day.
|
|
|
|
40:3. The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed
|
|
upon the earth: and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.
|
|
|
|
40:4. The Lord help him on his bed of sorrow: thou hast turned all his
|
|
couch in his sickness.
|
|
|
|
40:5. I said: O Lord, be thou merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have
|
|
sinned against thee.
|
|
|
|
40:6. My enemies have spoken evils against me: when shall he die and
|
|
his name perish?
|
|
|
|
40:7. And if he came in to see me, he spoke vain things: his heart
|
|
gathered together iniquity to itself. He went out and spoke to the same
|
|
purpose.
|
|
|
|
40:8. All my enemies whispered together against me: they devised evils
|
|
to me.
|
|
|
|
40:9. They determined against me an unjust word: shall he that sleepeth
|
|
rise again no more?
|
|
|
|
40:10. For even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my
|
|
bread, hath greatly supplanted me.
|
|
|
|
40:11. But thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise my up again: and I
|
|
will requite them.
|
|
|
|
40:12. By this I know, that thou hast had a good will for me: because
|
|
my enemy shall not rejoice over me.
|
|
|
|
40:13. But thou hast upheld me by reason of my innocence: and hast
|
|
established me in thy sight for ever.
|
|
|
|
40:14. Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity.
|
|
So be it. So be it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 41
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quemadmodum desiderat.
|
|
|
|
The fervent desire of the just after God: hope in afflictions.
|
|
|
|
41:1. Unto the end, understanding for the sons of Core.
|
|
|
|
41:2. As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul
|
|
panteth after thee, O God.
|
|
|
|
41:3. My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I
|
|
come and appear before the face of God?
|
|
|
|
41:4. My tears have been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to
|
|
me daily: Where is thy God?
|
|
|
|
41:5. These things I remembered, and poured out my soul in me: for I
|
|
shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the
|
|
house of God: With the voice of joy and praise; the noise of one
|
|
feasting.
|
|
|
|
41:6. Why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou trouble me? Hope
|
|
in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my
|
|
countenance,
|
|
|
|
41:7. And my God. My soul is troubled within my self: therefore will I
|
|
remember thee from the land of Jordan and Hermoniim, from the little
|
|
hill.
|
|
|
|
41:8. Deep calleth on deep, at the noise of thy flood-gates. All thy
|
|
heights and thy billows have passed over me.
|
|
|
|
41:9. In the daytime the Lord hath commanded his mercy; and a canticle
|
|
to him in the night. With me is prayer to the God of my life.
|
|
|
|
41:10. I will say to God: Thou art my support. Why hast thou forgotten
|
|
me? and why go I mourning, whilst my enemy afflicteth me?
|
|
|
|
41:11. Whilst my bones are broken, my enemies who trouble me have
|
|
reproached me; Whilst they say to me day by day: Where is thy God?
|
|
|
|
41:12. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet
|
|
me? Hope thou in God, for I will still give praise to him: the
|
|
salvation of my countenance, and my God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 42
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judica me, Deus.
|
|
|
|
The prophet aspireth after the temple and altar of God.
|
|
|
|
42:1. A psalm for David. Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from
|
|
the nation that is not holy: deliver me from the unjust and deceitful
|
|
man.
|
|
|
|
42:2. For thou art God my strength: why hast thou cast me off? and why
|
|
do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?
|
|
|
|
42:3. Sent forth thy light and thy truth: they have conducted me, and
|
|
brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.
|
|
|
|
42:4. And I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my
|
|
youth.
|
|
|
|
42:5. To thee, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp: why art
|
|
thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me?
|
|
|
|
42:6. Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation
|
|
of my countenance, and my God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 43
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus auribus nostris.
|
|
|
|
The church commemorates former favours, and present afflictions; under
|
|
which she prays for succour.
|
|
|
|
43:1. Unto the end, for the sons of Core, to give understanding.
|
|
|
|
43:2. We have heard, O God, with our ears: our fathers have declared to
|
|
us, The work thou hast wrought in their days, and in the days of old.
|
|
|
|
43:3. Thy hand destroyed the Gentiles, and thou plantedst them: thou
|
|
didst afflict the people and cast them out.
|
|
|
|
43:4. For they got not the possession of the land by their own sword:
|
|
neither did their own arm save them. But thy right hand and thy arm,
|
|
and the light of thy countenance: because thou wast pleased with them.
|
|
|
|
43:5. Thou art thyself my king and my God, who commandest the saving of
|
|
Jacob.
|
|
|
|
43:6. Through thee we will push down our enemies with the horn: and
|
|
through thy name we will despise them that rise up against us.
|
|
|
|
43:7. For I will not trust in my bow: neither shall my sword save me.
|
|
|
|
43:8. But thou hast saved us from them that afflict us: and hast put
|
|
them to shame that hate us.
|
|
|
|
43:9. In God shall we glory all the day long: and in thy name we will
|
|
give praise for ever.
|
|
|
|
43:10. But now thou hast cast us off, and put us to shame: and thou , O
|
|
God, wilt not go out with our armies.
|
|
|
|
43:11. Thou hast made us turn our back to our enemies: and they that
|
|
hated us plundered for themselves.
|
|
|
|
43:12. Thou hast given us up like sheep to be eaten: thou hast
|
|
scattered us among the nations.
|
|
|
|
43:13. Thou hast sold thy people for no price: and there was no
|
|
reckoning in the exchange of them.
|
|
|
|
43:14. Thou hast made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scoff and
|
|
derision to them that are round about us.
|
|
|
|
43:15. Thou hast made us a byword among the Gentiles: a shaking of the
|
|
head among the people.
|
|
|
|
43:16. All the day long my shame is before me: and the confusion of my
|
|
face hath covered me,
|
|
|
|
43:17. At the voice of him that reproacheth and detracteth me: at the
|
|
face of the enemy and persecutor.
|
|
|
|
43:18. All these things have come upon us, yet we have not forgotten
|
|
thee: and we have not done wickedly in thy covenant.
|
|
|
|
43:19. And our heart hath not turned back: neither hast thou turned
|
|
aside our steps from thy way.
|
|
|
|
43:20. For thou hast humbled us in the place of affliction: and the
|
|
shadow of death hath covered us.
|
|
|
|
43:21. If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have spread
|
|
forth our hands to a strange god:
|
|
|
|
43:22. Shall not God search out these things: for he knoweth the
|
|
secrets of the heart. Because for thy sake we are killed all the day
|
|
long: we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
|
|
|
|
43:23. Arise, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, and cast us not off to
|
|
the end.
|
|
|
|
43:24. Why turnest thou thy face away? and forgettest our want and our
|
|
trouble?
|
|
|
|
43:25. For our soul is humbled down to the dust: our belly cleaveth to
|
|
the earth.
|
|
|
|
43:26. Arise, O Lord, help us and redeem us for thy name's sake.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 44
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eructavit cor meum.
|
|
|
|
The excellence of Christ's kingdom, and the endowments of his church.
|
|
|
|
44:1. Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of
|
|
Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved.
|
|
|
|
For them that shall be changed. . .i.e., for souls happily changed, by
|
|
being converted to God.--Ibid. The Beloved. . .Viz., Our Lord Jesus
|
|
Christ.
|
|
|
|
44:2. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the king:
|
|
My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly.
|
|
|
|
44:3. Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad
|
|
in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.
|
|
|
|
44:4. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty.
|
|
|
|
44:5. With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously,
|
|
and reign. Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right
|
|
hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.
|
|
|
|
44:6. Thy arrows are sharp: under thee shall people fall, into the
|
|
hearts of the king's enemies.
|
|
|
|
44:7. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the sceptre of thy
|
|
kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness.
|
|
|
|
44:8. Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy
|
|
God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
|
|
|
|
44:9. Myrrh and stacte and cassia perfume thy garments, from the ivory
|
|
houses: out of which
|
|
|
|
44:10. The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The
|
|
queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with
|
|
variety.
|
|
|
|
44:11. Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget
|
|
thy people and thy father's house.
|
|
|
|
44:12. And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord
|
|
thy God, and him they shall adore.
|
|
|
|
44:13. And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among
|
|
the people, shall entreat thy countenance.
|
|
|
|
44:14. All the glory of the king's daughter is within in golden
|
|
borders,
|
|
|
|
44:15. Clothed round about with varieties. After her shall virgins be
|
|
brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee.
|
|
|
|
44:16. They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be
|
|
brought into the temple of the king.
|
|
|
|
44:17. Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: thou shalt make
|
|
them princes over all the earth.
|
|
|
|
44:18. They shall remember thy name throughout all generations.
|
|
Therefore shall people praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 45
|
|
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Deus noster refugium.
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|
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|
The church in persecution trusteth in the protection of God.
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|
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|
45:1. Unto the end, for the sons of Core, for the hidden.
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|
45:2. Our God is our refuge and strength: a helper in troubles, which
|
|
have found us exceedingly.
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|
45:3. Therefore we will not fear, when the earth shall be troubled; and
|
|
the mountains shall be removed into the heart of the sea.
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|
45:4. Their waters roared and were troubled: the mountains were
|
|
troubled with his strength.
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|
45:5. The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful: the most
|
|
High hath sanctified his own tabernacle.
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|
45:6. God is in the midst thereof, it shall not be moved: God will help
|
|
it in the morning early.
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|
45:7. Nations were troubled, and kingdoms were bowed down: he uttered
|
|
his voice, the earth trembled.
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|
45:8. The Lord of armies is with us: the God of Jacob is our protector.
|
|
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|
45:9. Come and behold ye the works of the Lord: what wonders he hath
|
|
done upon earth,
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|
45:10. Making wars to cease even to the end of the earth. He shall
|
|
destroy the bow, and break the weapons: and the shield he shall burn in
|
|
the fire.
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|
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|
45:11. Be still and see that I am God; I will be exalted among the
|
|
nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.
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|
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|
45:12. The Lord of armies is with us: the God of Jacob is our
|
|
protector.
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|
Psalms Chapter 46
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|
Omnes gentes, plaudite.
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|
|
The Gentiles are invited to praise God for the establishment of the
|
|
kingdom of Christ.
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|
46:1. Unto the end, for the sons of Core.
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|
46:2. O clap your hands, all ye nations: shout unto God with the voice
|
|
of joy,
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|
46:3. For the Lord is high, terrible: a great king over all the earth.
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46:4. He hath subdued the people under us; and the nations under our
|
|
feet.
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|
46:5. He hath chosen for us his inheritance, the beauty of Jacob which
|
|
he hath love.
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|
46:6. God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of
|
|
trumpet.
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|
46:7. Sing praises to our God, sing ye: sing praises to our king, sing
|
|
ye.
|
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|
46:8. For God is the king of all the earth: sing ye wisely.
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|
46:9. God shall reign over the nations: God sitteth on his holy throne.
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|
46:10. The princes of the people are gathered together, with the God of
|
|
Abraham: for the strong gods of the earth are exceedingly exalted.
|
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|
Psalms Chapter 47
|
|
|
|
|
|
Magnus Dominus.
|
|
|
|
God is greatly to be praised for the establishment of his church.
|
|
|
|
47:1. A psalm of a canticle, for the sons of Core, on the second day of
|
|
the week.
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|
47:2. Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised in the city of
|
|
our God, in his holy mountain.
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|
|
|
47:3. With the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion founded, on the
|
|
sides of the north, the city of the great king.
|
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|
47:4. In her houses shall God be known, when he shall protect her.
|
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|
47:5. For behold the kings of the earth assembled themselves: they
|
|
gathered together.
|
|
|
|
47:6. So they saw, and they wondered, they were troubled, they were
|
|
moved:
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|
47:7. Trembling took hold of them. There were pains as of a woman in
|
|
labour.
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|
47:8. With a vehement wind thou shalt break in pieces the ships of
|
|
Tharsis.
|
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|
47:9. As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of
|
|
hosts, in the city of our God: God hath founded it for ever.
|
|
|
|
47:10. We have received thy mercy, O God, in the midst of thy temple.
|
|
|
|
47:11. According to thy name, O God, so also is thy praise unto the
|
|
ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of justice.
|
|
|
|
47:12. Let mount Sion rejoice, and the daughters of Juda be glad;
|
|
because of thy judgments, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
47:13. Surround Sion, and encompass her: tell lye in her towers.
|
|
|
|
47:14. Set your hearts on her strength; and distribute her houses, that
|
|
ye may relate it in another generation.
|
|
|
|
47:15. For this is God, our God unto eternity, and for ever and ever:
|
|
he shall rule us for evermore.
|
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|
Psalms Chapter 48
|
|
|
|
|
|
Audite haec, omnes gentes.
|
|
|
|
The folly of worldlings, who live on in sin, without thinking of death
|
|
or hell.
|
|
|
|
48:1. Unto the end, a psalm for the sons of Core.
|
|
|
|
48:2. Hear these things, all ye nations: give ear, all ye inhabitants
|
|
of the world.
|
|
|
|
48:3. All you that are earthborn, and you sons of men: both rich and
|
|
poor together.
|
|
|
|
48:4. My mouth shall speak wisdom: and the meditation of my heart
|
|
understanding.
|
|
|
|
48:5. I will incline my ear to a parable; I will open my proposition on
|
|
the psaltery.
|
|
|
|
48:6. Why shall I fear in the evil day? the iniquity of my heel shall
|
|
encompass me.
|
|
|
|
The iniquity of my heel. . .That is, the iniquity of my steps or ways:
|
|
or the iniquity of my pride, with which as with the heel, I have
|
|
spurned and kicked at my neighbours: or the iniquity of my heel, that
|
|
is, the iniquity in which I shall be found in death. The meaning of
|
|
this verse is, Why should I now indulge those passions and sinful
|
|
affections, or commit now those sins, which will cause me so much fear
|
|
and anguish in the evil day; when the sorrows of death shall compass
|
|
me, and the perils of hell shall find me?
|
|
|
|
48:7. They that trust in their own strength, and glory in the multitude
|
|
of their riches,
|
|
|
|
They that trust, etc. . .As much as to say, let them fear that trust in
|
|
their strength or riches: for they have great reason to fear: seeing no
|
|
brother or other man, how much a friend soever, can by any price or
|
|
labour rescue them from death.
|
|
|
|
48:8. No brother can redeem, nor shall man redeem: he shall not give to
|
|
God his ransom,
|
|
|
|
48:9. Nor the price of the redemption of his soul: and shall labour for
|
|
ever,
|
|
|
|
And shall labour for ever, etc. . .This seems to be a continuation of
|
|
the foregoing sentence: as much as to say no man can by any price or
|
|
ransom prolong his life, that so he may still continue to labour here,
|
|
and live to the end of the world. Others understand it of the eternal
|
|
sorrows, and dying life of hell, which is the dreadful consequence of
|
|
dying in sin.
|
|
|
|
48:10. And shall still live unto the end.
|
|
|
|
48:11. He shall not see destruction, when he shall see the wise dying:
|
|
the senseless and the fool shall perish together: And they shall leave
|
|
their riches to strangers:
|
|
|
|
He shall not see destruction, etc. . .Or, shall he not see destruction?
|
|
As much as to say, however thoughtless he may be of his death, he must
|
|
not expect to escape; when even the wise and the good are not exempt
|
|
from dying.
|
|
|
|
48:12. And their sepulchres shall be their houses for ever. Their
|
|
dwelling places to all generations: they have called their lands by
|
|
their names.
|
|
|
|
They have called, etc. . .That is, they have left their names on their
|
|
graves, which alone remain of their lands.
|
|
|
|
48:13. And man when he was in honour did not understand; he is compared
|
|
to senseless beasts, and is become like to them.
|
|
|
|
48:14. This way of theirs is a stumblingblock to them: and afterwards
|
|
they shall delight in their mouth.
|
|
|
|
They shall delight in their mouth. . .Notwithstanding the wretched way
|
|
in which they walk, they shall applaud themselves with their mouths,
|
|
and glory in their doings.
|
|
|
|
48:15. They are laid in hell like sheep: death shall feed upon them.
|
|
And the just shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their
|
|
help shall decay in hell from their glory.
|
|
|
|
In the morning. . .That is, in the resurrection to a new life; when the
|
|
just shall judge and condemn the wicked. Ibid. From their
|
|
glory. . .That is, when their short-lived glory in this world shall be
|
|
past, and be no more.
|
|
|
|
48:16. But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when he shall
|
|
receive me.
|
|
|
|
48:17. Be not thou afraid, when a man shall be made rick, and when the
|
|
glory of his house shall be increased.
|
|
|
|
48:18. For when he shall die he shall take nothing away; nor shall his
|
|
glory descend with him.
|
|
|
|
48:19. For in his lifetime his soul will be blessed: and he will praise
|
|
thee when thou shalt do well to him.
|
|
|
|
48:20. He shall go in to the generations of his fathers: and he shall
|
|
never see light.
|
|
|
|
48:21. Man when he was in honour did not understand: he hath been
|
|
compared to senseless beasts, and made like to them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 49
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus deorum.
|
|
|
|
The coming of Christ: who prefers virtue and inward purity before the
|
|
blood of victims.
|
|
|
|
49:1. A psalm for Asaph. The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken: and he
|
|
hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down
|
|
thereof:
|
|
|
|
49:2. Out of Sion the loveliness of his beauty.
|
|
|
|
49:3. God shall come manifestly: our God shall come, and shall not keep
|
|
silence. A fire shall burn before him: and a mighty tempest shall be
|
|
round about him.
|
|
|
|
49:4. He shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
49:5. Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before
|
|
sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
49:6. And the heavens shall declare his justice: for God is judge.
|
|
|
|
49:7. Hear, O my people, and I will speak: O Israel, and I will testify
|
|
to thee: I am God, thy God.
|
|
|
|
49:8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices: and thy burnt
|
|
offerings are always in my sight.
|
|
|
|
49:9. I will not take calves out of thy house: nor he goats out of thy
|
|
flocks.
|
|
|
|
49:10. For all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the
|
|
hills, and the oxen.
|
|
|
|
49:11. I know all the fowls of the air: and with me is the beauty of
|
|
the field.
|
|
|
|
49:12. If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is
|
|
mine, and the fulness thereof.
|
|
|
|
49:13. Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of
|
|
goats?
|
|
|
|
49:14. Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay thy vows to the
|
|
most High.
|
|
|
|
49:15. And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and
|
|
thou shalt glorify me.
|
|
|
|
49:16. But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my
|
|
justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth?
|
|
|
|
49:17. Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
49:18. If thou didst see a thief thou didst run with him: and with
|
|
adulterers thou hast been a partaker.
|
|
|
|
49:19. Thy mouth hath abounded with evil, and thy tongue framed
|
|
deceits.
|
|
|
|
49:20. Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst lay a
|
|
scandal against thy mother's son:
|
|
|
|
49:21. These things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest
|
|
unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and
|
|
set before thy face.
|
|
|
|
49:22. Understand these things, you that forget God; lest he snatch you
|
|
away, and there be none to deliver you.
|
|
|
|
49:23. The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way
|
|
by which I will shew him the salvation of God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 50
|
|
|
|
|
|
Miserere.
|
|
|
|
The repentance and confession of David after his sin. The fourth
|
|
penitential psalm.
|
|
|
|
50:1. Unto the end, a psalm of David,
|
|
|
|
50:2. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had sinned with
|
|
Bethsabee. [2 Kings 12.]
|
|
|
|
50:3. Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And
|
|
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.
|
|
|
|
50:4. Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
|
|
|
|
50:5. For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.
|
|
|
|
50:6. To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that
|
|
thou mayst be justified in thy words, and mayst overcome when thou art
|
|
judged.
|
|
|
|
50:7. For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my
|
|
mother conceive me.
|
|
|
|
50:8. For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things
|
|
of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.
|
|
|
|
50:9. Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou
|
|
shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.
|
|
|
|
50:10. To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness: and the bones
|
|
that have been humbled shall rejoice.
|
|
|
|
50:11. Turn away thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
|
|
|
|
50:12. Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit
|
|
within my bowels.
|
|
|
|
50:13. Cast me not away from thy face; and take not thy holy spirit
|
|
from me.
|
|
|
|
50:14. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with
|
|
a perfect spirit.
|
|
|
|
50:15. I will teach the unjust thy ways: and the wicked shall be
|
|
converted to thee.
|
|
|
|
50:16. Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my
|
|
tongue shall extol thy justice.
|
|
|
|
50:17. O Lord, thou wilt open my lips: and my mouth shall declare thy
|
|
praise.
|
|
|
|
50:18. For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given
|
|
it: with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.
|
|
|
|
50:19. A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and
|
|
humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
|
|
|
|
50:20. Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the
|
|
walls of Jerusalem may be built up.
|
|
|
|
50:21. Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and
|
|
whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 51
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quid gloriaris.
|
|
|
|
David condemneth the wickedness of Doeg, and foretelleth his
|
|
destruction.
|
|
|
|
51:1. Unto the end, understanding for David,
|
|
|
|
51:2. When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul: David went to the house
|
|
of Achimelech.
|
|
|
|
51:3. Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?
|
|
|
|
51:4. All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp
|
|
razor, thou hast wrought deceit.
|
|
|
|
51:5. Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather
|
|
than to speak righteousness.
|
|
|
|
51:6. Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.
|
|
|
|
51:7. Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out,
|
|
and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land
|
|
of the living.
|
|
|
|
51:8. The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say:
|
|
|
|
51:9. Behold the man that made not God his helper: But trusted in the
|
|
abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity.
|
|
|
|
51:10. But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped
|
|
in the mercy of God for ever, yea for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
51:11. I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I
|
|
will wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 52
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dixit insipiens.
|
|
|
|
The general corruption of man before the coming of Christ.
|
|
|
|
52:1. Unto the end, for Maeleth, understandings to David. The fool said
|
|
in his heart: There is no God.
|
|
|
|
Maeleth. . .Or Machalath. A musical instrument, or a chorus of
|
|
musicians, for St. Jerome renders it, per chorum.
|
|
|
|
52:2. They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is
|
|
none that doth good.
|
|
|
|
52:3. God looked down from heaven on the children of men: to see if
|
|
there were any that did understand, or did seek God.
|
|
|
|
52:4. All have gone aside, they are become unprofitable together, there
|
|
is none that doth good, no not one.
|
|
|
|
52:5. Shall not all the workers of iniquity know, who eat up my people
|
|
as they eat bread?
|
|
|
|
52:6. They have not called upon God: there have they trembled for fear,
|
|
where there was no fear. For God hath scattered the bones of them that
|
|
please men: they have been confounded, because God hath despised them.
|
|
|
|
God hath scattered the bones, etc. . .That is, God has brought to
|
|
nothing the strength of all those that seek to please men, to the
|
|
prejudice of their duty to their Maker.
|
|
|
|
52:7. Who will give out of Sion the salvation of Israel? when God shall
|
|
bring back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel
|
|
shall be glad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 53
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus, in nomine tuo.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for help in distress.
|
|
|
|
53:1. Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.
|
|
|
|
53:2. When the en of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David
|
|
hidden with us? [1 Kings 23.19]
|
|
|
|
53:3. Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me in thy strength.
|
|
|
|
53:4. O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.
|
|
|
|
53:5. For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have
|
|
sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.
|
|
|
|
53:6. For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my
|
|
soul.
|
|
|
|
53:7. Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in thy
|
|
truth.
|
|
|
|
53:8. I will freely sacrifice to thee, and will give praise, O God, to
|
|
thy name: because it is good:
|
|
|
|
53:9. For thou hast delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye hath
|
|
looked down upon my enemies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 54
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exaudi, Deus.
|
|
|
|
A prayer of a just man under persecution from the wicked. It agrees to
|
|
Christ persecuted by the Jews, and betrayed by Judas.
|
|
|
|
54:1. Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.
|
|
|
|
54:2. Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:
|
|
|
|
54:3. Be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and
|
|
am troubled,
|
|
|
|
54:4. At the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner.
|
|
For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were
|
|
troublesome to me.
|
|
|
|
54:5. My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen
|
|
upon me.
|
|
|
|
54:6. Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
54:7. And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly
|
|
and be at rest?
|
|
|
|
54:8. Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the
|
|
wilderness.
|
|
|
|
54:9. I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit,
|
|
and a storm.
|
|
|
|
54:10. Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen
|
|
iniquity and contradiction in the city.
|
|
|
|
54:11. Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in
|
|
the midst thereof are labour,
|
|
|
|
54:12. And injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its
|
|
streets.
|
|
|
|
54:13. For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with
|
|
it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would
|
|
perhaps have hidden my self from him.
|
|
|
|
54:14. But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,
|
|
|
|
54:15. Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God
|
|
we walked with consent.
|
|
|
|
54:16. Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell.
|
|
For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.
|
|
|
|
Let death, etc. . .This, and such like imprecations which occur in the
|
|
psalms, are delivered prophetically; that is, by way of foretelling the
|
|
punishments which shall fall upon the wicked from divine justice, and
|
|
approving the righteous ways of God: but not by way of ill will, or
|
|
uncharitable curses, which the law of God disallows.
|
|
|
|
54:17. But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.
|
|
|
|
54:18. Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and
|
|
he shall hear my voice.
|
|
|
|
54:19. He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me:
|
|
for among many they were with me.
|
|
|
|
Among many, etc. . .That is, they that drew near to attack me were many
|
|
in company all combined to fight against me.
|
|
|
|
54:20. God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is
|
|
no change with them, and they have not feared God:
|
|
|
|
54:21. He hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his
|
|
covenant,
|
|
|
|
54:22. They are divided by the wrath of his countenance, and his heart
|
|
hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are
|
|
darts.
|
|
|
|
They are divided, etc. . .Dispersed, scattered, and brought to nothing,
|
|
by the wrath of God; who looks with indignation on their wicked and
|
|
deceitful ways.
|
|
|
|
54:23. Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall
|
|
not suffer the just to waver for ever.
|
|
|
|
54:24. But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of
|
|
destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their
|
|
days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 55
|
|
|
|
|
|
Miserere mei, Deus.
|
|
|
|
A prayer of David in danger and distress.
|
|
|
|
55:1. Unto the end, for a people that is removed at a distance form the
|
|
sanctuary: for David, for an inscription of a title (or pillar) when
|
|
the Philistines held him in Geth.
|
|
|
|
55:2. Have mercy on me, O God, for man hath trodden me under foot; all
|
|
the day long he hath afflicted me fighting against me.
|
|
|
|
55:3. My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many
|
|
that make war against me.
|
|
|
|
55:4. From the height of the day I shall fear: but I will trust in
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
The height of the day. . .That is, even at noonday, when the sun is the
|
|
highest, I am still in danger.
|
|
|
|
55:5. In God I will praise my words, in God I have put my trust: I will
|
|
not fear what flesh can do against me.
|
|
|
|
My words. . .The words or promises God has made in my favour.
|
|
|
|
55:6. All the day long they detested my words: all their thoughts were
|
|
against me unto evil.
|
|
|
|
55:7. They will dwell and hide themselves: they will watch my heel. As
|
|
they have waited for my soul,
|
|
|
|
55:8. For nothing shalt thou save them: in thy anger thou shalt break
|
|
the people in pieces. O God,
|
|
|
|
For nothing shalt thou save them. . .That is, since they lie in wait to
|
|
ruin my soul, thou shalt for no consideration favour or assist them,
|
|
but execute thy justice upon them.
|
|
|
|
55:9. I have declared to thee my life: thou hast set me tears in thy
|
|
sight, As also in thy promise.
|
|
|
|
55:10. Then shall my enemies be turned back. In what day soever I shall
|
|
call upon thee, behold I know thou art my God.
|
|
|
|
55:11. In God will I praise the word, in the Lord will I praise his
|
|
speech. In God have I hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me.
|
|
|
|
55:12. In me, O God, are vows to thee, which I will pay, praises to
|
|
thee:
|
|
|
|
55:13. Because thou hast delivered my soul from death, my feet from
|
|
falling: that I may please in the sight of God, in the light of the
|
|
living.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 56
|
|
|
|
|
|
Miserere mei, Deus. The prophet prays in his affliction, and praises
|
|
God for his delivery.
|
|
|
|
56:1. Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a
|
|
title, when he fled from Saul into the cave. [1 Kings 24.]
|
|
|
|
Destroy not. . .Suffer me not to be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
56:2. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusteth
|
|
in thee. And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope, until iniquity
|
|
pass away.
|
|
|
|
56:3. I will cry to God the most high; to God who hath done good to me.
|
|
|
|
56:4. He hath sent from heaven and delivered me: he hath made them a
|
|
reproach that trod upon me. God hath sent his mercy and his truth,
|
|
|
|
56:5. And he hath delivered my soul from the midst of the young lions.
|
|
I slept troubled. The sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows,
|
|
and their tongue a sharp sword.
|
|
|
|
56:6. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above
|
|
all the earth.
|
|
|
|
56:7. They prepared a snare for my feet; and they bowed down my soul.
|
|
They dug a pit before my face, and they are fallen into it.
|
|
|
|
56:8. My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing, and
|
|
rehearse a psalm.
|
|
|
|
56:9. Arise, O my glory, arise psaltery and harp: I will arise early.
|
|
|
|
56:10. I will give praise to thee, O Lord, among the people: I will
|
|
sing a psalm to thee among the nations.
|
|
|
|
56:11. For thy mercy is magnified even to the heavens: and thy truth
|
|
unto the clouds.
|
|
|
|
56:12. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above
|
|
all the earth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 57
|
|
|
|
|
|
Si vere utique.
|
|
|
|
David reproveth the wicked, and foretelleth their punishment.
|
|
|
|
57:1. Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a
|
|
title.
|
|
|
|
57:2. If in very deed ye speak justice: judge right things, ye sons of
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
57:3. For in your heart you work iniquity: your hands forge injustice
|
|
in the earth.
|
|
|
|
57:4. The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray
|
|
from the womb: they have spoken false things.
|
|
|
|
57:5. Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent: like the
|
|
deaf asp that stoppeth her ears:
|
|
|
|
57:6. Which will not hear the voice of the charmers; nor of the wizard
|
|
that charmeth wisely.
|
|
|
|
57:7. God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouth: the Lord
|
|
shall break the grinders of the lions.
|
|
|
|
57:8. They shall come to nothing, like water running down; he hath bent
|
|
his bow till they be weakened.
|
|
|
|
57:9. Like wax that melteth they shall be taken away: fire hath fallen
|
|
on them, and they shall not see the sun.
|
|
|
|
57:10. Before your thorns could know the brier; he swalloweth them up,
|
|
as alive, in his wrath.
|
|
|
|
Before your thorns, etc. . .That is, before your thorns grow up, so as
|
|
to become strong briers, they shall be overtaken and consumed by divine
|
|
justice, swallowing them up, as it were, alive in his wrath.
|
|
|
|
57:11. The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge: he shall
|
|
wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.
|
|
|
|
Shall wash his hands, etc. . .Shall applaud the justice of God, and take
|
|
occasion from the consideration of the punishment of the wicked to wash
|
|
and cleanse his hands from sin.
|
|
|
|
57:12. And man shall say: If indeed there be fruit to the just: there
|
|
is indeed a God that judgeth them on the earth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 58
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eripe me.
|
|
|
|
A prayer to be delivered from the wicked, with confidence in God's help
|
|
and protection. It agrees to Christ and his enemies the Jews.
|
|
|
|
58:1. Unto the end, destroy not, for David for an inscription of a
|
|
title, when Saul sent and watched his house to kill him. [1 Kings 19.]
|
|
|
|
58:2. Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; and defend me from them
|
|
that rise up against me.
|
|
|
|
58:3. Deliver me from them that work iniquity, and save me from bloody
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
58:4. For behold they have caught my soul: the mighty have rushed in
|
|
upon me:
|
|
|
|
58:5. Neither is it my iniquity, nor my sin, O Lord: without iniquity
|
|
have I run, and directed my steps.
|
|
|
|
58:6. Rise up thou to meet me, and behold: even thou, O Lord, the God
|
|
of hosts, the God of Israel. Attend to visit all the nations: have no
|
|
mercy on all them that work iniquity.
|
|
|
|
58:7. They shall return at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs:
|
|
and shall go round about the city.
|
|
|
|
58:8. Behold they shall speak with their mouth, and a sword is in their
|
|
lips: for who, say they, hath heard us?
|
|
|
|
58:9. But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them: thou shalt bring all the
|
|
nations to nothing.
|
|
|
|
58:10. I will keep my strength to thee: for thou art my protector:
|
|
|
|
58:11. My God, his mercy shall prevent me.
|
|
|
|
58:12. God shall let me see over my enemies: slay them not, lest at any
|
|
time my people forget. Scatter them by thy power; and bring them down,
|
|
O Lord, my protector:
|
|
|
|
58:13. For the sin of their mouth, and the word of their lips: and let
|
|
them be taken in their pride. And for their cursing and lying they
|
|
shall be talked of,
|
|
|
|
58:14. When they are consumed: when they are consumed by thy wrath, and
|
|
they shall be no more. And they shall know that God will rule Jacob,
|
|
and all the ends of the earth.
|
|
|
|
58:15. They shall return at evening and shall suffer hunger like dogs:
|
|
and shall go round about the city.
|
|
|
|
58:16. They shall be scattered abroad to eat, and shall murmur if they
|
|
be not filled.
|
|
|
|
58:17. But I will sing thy strength: and will extol thy mercy in the
|
|
morning. For thou art become my support, and my refuge, in the day of
|
|
my trouble.
|
|
|
|
58:18. Unto thee, O my helper, will I sing, for thou art God my
|
|
defence: my God my mercy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 59
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus, repulisti nos.
|
|
|
|
After many afflictions, the church of Christ shall prevail.
|
|
|
|
59:1. Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the inscription
|
|
of a title, to David himself, for doctrine,
|
|
|
|
59:2. When he set fire to Mesopotamia of Syria and Sobal: and Joab
|
|
returned and slew of Edom, in the vale of the saltpits, twelve thousand
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
59:3. O God, thou hast cast us off, and hast destroyed us; thou hast
|
|
been angry, and hast had mercy on us.
|
|
|
|
59:4. Thou hast moved the earth, and hast troubled it: heal thou the
|
|
breaches thereof, for it has been moved.
|
|
|
|
59:5. Thou hast shewn thy people hard things; thou hast made us drink
|
|
the wine of sorrow.
|
|
|
|
59:6. Thou hast given a warning to them that fear thee: that they may
|
|
flee from before the bow: That thy beloved may be delivered.
|
|
|
|
59:7. Save me with thy right hand, and hear me.
|
|
|
|
59:8. God hath spoken in his holy place: I will rejoice, and I will
|
|
divide Sichem; and will mete out the vale of tabernacles.
|
|
|
|
59:9. Galaad is mine, and Manasses is mine: and Ephraim is the strength
|
|
of my head. Juda is my king:
|
|
|
|
59:10. Moab is the pot of my hope. Into Edom will I stretch out my
|
|
shoe: to me the foreigners are made subject.
|
|
|
|
The pot of my hope. . .Or my watering pot. That is, a vessel for meaner
|
|
uses, by being reduced to serve me, even in the meanest
|
|
employments.--Ibid. Foreigners. . .So the Philistines are called, who
|
|
had no kindred with the Israelites; whereas the Edomites, Moabites, etc.,
|
|
were originally of the same family.
|
|
|
|
59:11. Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into
|
|
Edom?
|
|
|
|
59:12. Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O
|
|
God, go out with our armies?
|
|
|
|
59:13. Give us help from trouble: for vain is the salvation of man.
|
|
|
|
59:14. Through God we shall do mightily: and he shall bring to nothing
|
|
them that afflict us.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 60
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exaudi, Deus.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for the coming of the kingdom of Christ, which shall have no
|
|
end.
|
|
|
|
60:1. Unto the end, in hymns, for David.
|
|
|
|
60:2. Hear, O God, my supplication: be attentive to my prayer.
|
|
|
|
60:3. To thee have I cried from the ends of the earth: when my heart
|
|
was in anguish, thou hast exalted me on a rock. Thou hast conducted me;
|
|
|
|
60:4. For thou hast been my hope; a tower of strength against the face
|
|
of the enemy.
|
|
|
|
60:5. In thy tabernacle I shall dwell for ever: I shall be protected
|
|
under the covert of thy wings.
|
|
|
|
60:6. For thou, my God, hast heard my prayer: thou hast given an
|
|
inheritance to them that fear thy name.
|
|
|
|
60:7. Thou wilt add days to the days of the king: his years even to
|
|
generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
60:8. He abideth for ever in the sight of God: his mercy and truth who
|
|
shall search?
|
|
|
|
60:9. So will I sing a psalm to thy name for ever and ever: that I may
|
|
pay my vows from day to day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 61
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nonne Deo.
|
|
|
|
The prophet encourageth himself and all others to trust in God, and
|
|
serve him.
|
|
|
|
61:1. Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of David.
|
|
|
|
61:2. Shall not my soul be subject to God? for from him is my
|
|
salvation.
|
|
|
|
61:3. For he is my God and my saviour: he is my protector, I shall be
|
|
moved no more.
|
|
|
|
61:4. How long do you rush in upon a man? you all kill, as if you were
|
|
thrusting down a leaning wall, and a tottering fence.
|
|
|
|
61:5. But they have thought to cast away my price; I ran in thirst:
|
|
they blessed with their mouth, but cursed with their heart.
|
|
|
|
61:6. But be thou, O my soul, subject to God: for from him is my
|
|
patience.
|
|
|
|
61:7. For he is my God and my saviour: he is my helper, I shall not be
|
|
moved.
|
|
|
|
61:8. In God is my salvation and my glory: he is the God of my help,
|
|
and my hope is in God.
|
|
|
|
61:9. Trust in him, all ye congregation of people: pour out your hearts
|
|
before him. God is our helper for ever.
|
|
|
|
61:10. But vain are the sons of men, the sons of men are liars in the
|
|
balances: that by vanity they may together deceive.
|
|
|
|
Are liars in the balances, etc. . .They are so vain and light, that if
|
|
they are put into the scales, they will be found to be of no weight;
|
|
and to be mere lies, deceit, and vanity. Or, They are liars in their
|
|
balances, by weighing things by false weights, and preferring the
|
|
temporal before the eternal.
|
|
|
|
61:11. Trust not in iniquity, and cover not robberies: if riches
|
|
abound, set not your heart upon them.
|
|
|
|
61:12. God hath spoken once, these two things have I heard, that power
|
|
belongeth to God,
|
|
|
|
61:13. And mercy to thee, O Lord; for thou wilt render to every man
|
|
according to his works.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 62
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus Deus meus, ad te.
|
|
|
|
The prophet aspireth after God.
|
|
|
|
62:1. A psalm of David while he was in the desert of Edom.
|
|
|
|
62:2. O God, my God, to thee do I watch at break of day. For thee my
|
|
soul hath thirsted; for thee my flesh, O how many ways!
|
|
|
|
62:3. In a desert land, and where there is no way, and no water: so in
|
|
the sanctuary have I come before thee, to see thy power and thy glory.
|
|
|
|
62:4. For thy mercy is better than lives: thee my lips will praise.
|
|
|
|
62:5. Thus will I bless thee all my life long: and in thy name I will
|
|
lift up my hands.
|
|
|
|
62:6. Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness: and my mouth
|
|
shall praise thee with joyful lips.
|
|
|
|
62:7. If I have remembered thee upon my bed, I will meditate on thee in
|
|
the morning:
|
|
|
|
62:8. Because thou hast been my helper. And I will rejoice under the
|
|
covert of thy wings:
|
|
|
|
62:9. My soul hath stuck close to thee: thy right hand hath received
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
62:10. But they have fought my soul in vain, they shall go into the
|
|
lower parts of the earth:
|
|
|
|
62:11. They shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall
|
|
be the portions of foxes.
|
|
|
|
62:12. But the king shall rejoice in God, all they shall be praised
|
|
that swear by him: because the mouth is stopped of them that speak
|
|
wicked things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 63
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exaudi Deus orationem.
|
|
|
|
A prayer in affliction, with confidence in God that he will bring to
|
|
nought the machinations of persecutors.
|
|
|
|
63:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
63:2. Hear O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to thee: deliver
|
|
my soul from the fear of the enemy.
|
|
|
|
63:3. Thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant; from
|
|
the multitude of the workers of iniquity.
|
|
|
|
63:4. For they have whetted their tongues like a sword; they have bent
|
|
their bow a bitter thing,
|
|
|
|
63:5. To shoot in secret the undefiled.
|
|
|
|
63:6. They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear: they are
|
|
resolute in wickedness. They have talked of hiding snares; they have
|
|
said: Who shall see them?
|
|
|
|
63:7. They have searched after iniquities: they have failed in their
|
|
search. Man shall come to a deep heart:
|
|
|
|
A deep heart. . .That is, crafty, subtle, deep projects and designs;
|
|
which nevertheless shall not succeed; for God shall be exalted in
|
|
bringing them to nought by his wisdom and power.
|
|
|
|
63:8. And God shall be exalted. The arrows of children are their
|
|
wounds:
|
|
|
|
The arrows of children are their wounds. . .That is, the wounds,
|
|
stripes, or blows, they seek to inflict upon the just, are but like the
|
|
weak efforts of children's arrows, which can do no execution: and their
|
|
tongues, that is, their speeches against them come to nothing.
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63:9. And their tongues against them are made weak. All that saw them
|
|
were troubled;
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|
63:10. And every man was afraid. And they declared the works of God,
|
|
and understood his doings.
|
|
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|
63:11. The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and
|
|
all the upright in heart shall be praised.
|
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|
Psalms Chapter 64
|
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|
Te decet.
|
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God is to be praised in his church, to which all nations shall be
|
|
called.
|
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|
64:1. To the end, a psalm of David. The canticle of Jeremias and
|
|
Ezechiel to the people of the captivity, when they began to go out.
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|
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|
Of the captivity. . .That is, the people of the captivity of Babylon.
|
|
This is not in the Hebrew, but is found in the ancient translation of
|
|
the Septuagint.
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64:2. A hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to
|
|
thee in Jerusalem.
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|
64:3. O hear my prayer: all flesh shall come to thee.
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64:4. The words of the wicked have prevailed over us: and thou wilt
|
|
pardon our transgressions.
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64:5. Blessed is he whom thou hast chosen and taken to thee: he shall
|
|
dwell in thy courts. We shall be filled with the good things of thy
|
|
house; holy is thy temple,
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64:6. Wonderful in justice. Hear us, O God our saviour, who art the
|
|
hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off.
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64:7. Thou who preparest the mountains by thy strength, being girded
|
|
with power:
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64:8. Who troublest the depth of the sea, the noise of its waves. The
|
|
Gentiles shall be troubled,
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|
64:9. And they that dwell in the uttermost borders shall be afraid at
|
|
thy signs: thou shalt make the outgoings of the morning and of the
|
|
evening to be joyful.
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|
64:10. Thou hast visited the earth, and hast plentifully watered it;
|
|
thou hast many ways enriched it. The river of God is filled with water,
|
|
thou hast prepared their food: for so is its preparation.
|
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|
64:11. Fill up plentifully the streams thereof, multiply its fruits; it
|
|
shall spring up and rejoice in its showers.
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|
64:12. Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of thy goodness: and thy
|
|
fields shall be filled with plenty.
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|
64:13. The beautiful places of the wilderness shall grow fat: and the
|
|
hills shall be girded about with joy,
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64:14. The rams of the flock are clothed, and the vales shall abound
|
|
with corn: they shall shout, yea they shall sing a hymn.
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|
Psalms Chapter 65
|
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|
|
|
|
Jubilate Deo.
|
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|
|
An invitation to praise God.
|
|
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|
65:1. Unto the end, a canticle of a psalm of the resurrection. Shout
|
|
with joy to God, all the earth,
|
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|
65:2. Sing ye a psalm to his name; give glory to his praise.
|
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|
65:3. Say unto God, How terrible are thy works, O Lord! in the
|
|
multitude of thy strength thy enemies shall lie to thee.
|
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|
65:4. Let all the earth adore thee, and sing to thee: let it sing a
|
|
psalm to thy name.
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|
65:5. Come and see the works of God; who is terrible in his counsels
|
|
over the sons of men.
|
|
|
|
65:6. Who turneth the sea into dry land, in the river they shall pass
|
|
on foot: there shall we rejoice in him.
|
|
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|
65:7. Who by his power ruleth for ever: his eyes behold the nations;
|
|
let not them that provoke him be exalted in themselves.
|
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|
65:8. O bless our God, ye Gentiles: and make the voice of his praise to
|
|
be heard.
|
|
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|
65:9. Who hath set my soul to live: and hath not suffered my feet to be
|
|
moved:
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|
65:10. For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us by fire, as
|
|
silver is tried.
|
|
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|
65:11. Thou hast brought us into a net, thou hast laid afflictions on
|
|
our back:
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|
65:12. Thou hast set men over our heads. We have passed through fire
|
|
and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment.
|
|
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|
65:13. I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee
|
|
my vows,
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|
65:14. Which my lips have uttered, And my mouth hath spoken, when I was
|
|
in trouble.
|
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|
65:15. I will offer up to thee holocausts full of marrow, with burnt
|
|
offerings of rams: I will offer to thee bullocks with goats.
|
|
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|
65:16. Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what
|
|
great things he hath done for my soul.
|
|
|
|
65:17. I cried to him with my mouth: and I extolled him with my tongue.
|
|
|
|
65:18. If I have looked at iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear
|
|
me.
|
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|
65:19. Therefore hath God heard me, and hath attended to the voice of
|
|
my supplication.
|
|
|
|
65:20. Blessed be God, who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his
|
|
mercy from me.
|
|
|
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|
Psalms Chapter 66
|
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|
|
|
|
Deus misereatur.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for the propagation of the church.
|
|
|
|
66:1. Unto the end, in hymns, a psalm of a canticle for David.
|
|
|
|
66:2. May God have mercy on us, and bless us: may he cause the light of
|
|
his countenance to shine upon us, and may he have mercy on us.
|
|
|
|
66:3. That we may know thy way upon earth: thy salvation in all
|
|
nations.
|
|
|
|
66:4. Let people confess to thee, O God: let all people give praise to
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
66:5. Let the nations be glad and rejoice: for thou judgest the people
|
|
with justice, and directest the nations upon earth.
|
|
|
|
66:6. Let the people, O God, confess to thee: let all the people give
|
|
praise to thee:
|
|
|
|
66:7. The earth hath yielded her fruit. May God, our God bless us,
|
|
|
|
66:8. May God bless us: and all the ends of the earth fear him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 67
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exurgat Deus.
|
|
|
|
The glorious establishment of the church of the New Testament,
|
|
prefigured by the benefits bestowed on the people of Israel.
|
|
|
|
67:1. Unto the end, a psalm of a canticle for David himself.
|
|
|
|
67:2. Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let them
|
|
that hate him flee from before his face.
|
|
|
|
67:3. As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish away: as wax melteth
|
|
before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
|
|
|
|
67:4. And let the just feast, and rejoice before God: and be delighted
|
|
with gladness.
|
|
|
|
67:5. Sing ye to God, sing a psalm to his name, make a way for him who
|
|
ascendeth upon the west: the Lord is his name. Rejoice ye before him:
|
|
but the wicked shall be troubled at his presence,
|
|
|
|
Who ascendeth upon the west. . .Super occasum. St. Gregory understands
|
|
it of Christ, who after his going down, like the sun, in the west, by
|
|
his passion and death, ascended more glorious, and carried all before
|
|
him. St. Jerome renders it, who ascendeth, or cometh up, through the
|
|
deserts.
|
|
|
|
67:6. Who is the father of orphans, and the judge of widows. God in his
|
|
holy place:
|
|
|
|
67:7. God who maketh men of one manner to dwell in a house: Who
|
|
bringeth out them that were bound in strength; in like manner them that
|
|
provoke, that dwell in sepulchres.
|
|
|
|
Of one manner. . .That is, agreeing in faith, unanimous in love, and
|
|
following the same manner of discipline. It is verified in the servants
|
|
of God, living together in his house, which is the church. 1 Tim.
|
|
3.15.--Ibid. Them that were bound, etc. . .The power and mercy of God
|
|
appears in his bringing out of their captivity those that were strongly
|
|
bound in their sins: and in restoring to his grace those whose
|
|
behaviour had been most provoking; and who by their evil habits were
|
|
not only dead, but buried in their sepulchres.
|
|
|
|
67:8. O God, when thou didst go forth in the sight of thy people, when
|
|
thou didst pass through the desert:
|
|
|
|
67:9. The earth was moved, and the heavens dropped at the presence of
|
|
the God of Sina, at the presence of the God of Israel.
|
|
|
|
67:10. Thou shalt set aside for thy inheritance a free rain, O God: and
|
|
it was weakened, but thou hast made it perfect.
|
|
|
|
A free rain. . .the manna, which rained plentifully from heaven, in
|
|
favour of God's inheritance, that is, of his people Israel: which was
|
|
weakened indeed under a variety of afflictions, but was made perfect by
|
|
God; that is, was still supported by divine providence, and brought on
|
|
to the promised land. It agrees particularly to the church of Christ
|
|
his true inheritance, which is plentifully watered with the free rain
|
|
of heavenly grace; and through many infirmities, that is, crosses and
|
|
tribulations, is made perfect, and fitted for eternal glory.
|
|
|
|
67:11. In it shall thy animals dwell; in thy sweetness, O God, thou
|
|
hast provided for the poor.
|
|
|
|
In it, etc. . .That is, in this church, which is thy fold and thy
|
|
inheritance, shall thy animals, thy sheep, dwell: where thou hast
|
|
plentifully provided for them.
|
|
|
|
67:12. The Lord shall give the word to them that preach good tidings
|
|
with great power.
|
|
|
|
To them that preach good tidings. . .Evangelizantibus. That is, to the
|
|
preachers of the gospel; who receiving the word from the Lord, shall
|
|
with great power and efficacy preach throughout the world the glad
|
|
tidings of a Saviour, and of eternal salvation through him.
|
|
|
|
67:13. The king of powers is of the beloved, of the beloved; and the
|
|
beauty of the house shall divide spoils.
|
|
|
|
The king of powers. . .That is, the mighty King, the Lord of hosts, is
|
|
of the beloved, of the beloved; that is, is on the side of Christ, his
|
|
most beloved son: and his beautiful house, viz., the church, in which
|
|
God dwells forever, shall by her spiritual conquests divide the spoils
|
|
of many nations. The Hebrew (as it now stands pointed) is thus
|
|
rendered, The kings of armies have fled, they have fled, and she that
|
|
dwells at home (or the beauty of the house) shall divide the spoils.
|
|
|
|
67:14. If you sleep among the midst of lots, you shall be as the wings
|
|
of a dove covered with silver, and the hinder parts of her back with
|
|
the paleness of gold.
|
|
|
|
If you sleep among the midst of lots (intermedios cleros, etc.). . .Viz.,
|
|
in such dangers and persecutions, as if your enemies were casting
|
|
lots for your goods and persons: or in the midst of the lots,
|
|
(intermedios terminos, as St. Jerome renders it,) that is, upon the
|
|
very bounds or borders of the dominions of your enemies: you shall be
|
|
secure nevertheless under the divine protection; and shall be enabled
|
|
to fly away, like a dove, with glittering wings and feathers shining
|
|
like the palest and most precious gold; that is, with great increase of
|
|
virtue, and glowing with the fervour of charity.
|
|
|
|
67:15. When he that is in heaven appointeth kings over her, they shall
|
|
be whited with snow in Selmon.
|
|
|
|
Kings over her. . .That is, pastors and rulers over his church, viz.,
|
|
the apostles and their successors. Then by their ministry shall men be
|
|
made whiter than the snow which lies on the top of the high mountain
|
|
Selmon.
|
|
|
|
67:16. The mountain of God is a fat mountain. A curdled mountain, a fat
|
|
mountain.
|
|
|
|
The mountain of God. . .The church, which, Isa. 2.2, is called The
|
|
mountain of the house of the Lord upon the top of mountains. It is here
|
|
called a fat and a curdled mountain; that is to say, most fruitful, and
|
|
enriched by the spiritual gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost.
|
|
|
|
67:17. Why suspect, ye curdled mountains? A mountain in which God is
|
|
well pleased to dwell: for there the Lord shall dwell unto the end.
|
|
|
|
Why suspect, ye curdled mountains?. . .Why do you suppose or imagine
|
|
there may be any other such curdled mountains? You are mistaken: the
|
|
mountain thus favoured by God is but one; and this same he has chosen
|
|
for his dwelling for ever.
|
|
|
|
67:18. The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of
|
|
them that rejoice: the Lord is among them in Sina, in the holy place.
|
|
|
|
The chariot of God. . .Descending to give his law on mount Sina: as also
|
|
of Jesus Christ his Son, ascending into heaven, to send from thence the
|
|
Holy Ghost, to publish his new law, is attended with ten thousands,
|
|
that is, with an innumerable multitude of joyful angels.
|
|
|
|
67:19. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive;
|
|
thou hast received gifts in men. Yea for those also that do not
|
|
believe, the dwelling of the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
Led captivity captive. . .Carrying away with thee to heaven those who
|
|
before had been the captives of Satan; and receiving from God the
|
|
Father gifts to be distributed to men; even to those who were before
|
|
unbelievers.
|
|
|
|
67:20. Blessed be the Lord day by day: the God of our salvation will
|
|
make our journey prosperous to us.
|
|
|
|
67:21. Our God is the God of salvation: and of the Lord, of the Lord
|
|
are the issues from death.
|
|
|
|
The issues from death. . .The Lord alone is master of the issues, by
|
|
which we may escape from death.
|
|
|
|
67:22. But God shall break the heads of his enemies: the hairy crown of
|
|
them that walk on in their sins.
|
|
|
|
67:23. The Lord said: I will turn them from Basan, I will turn them
|
|
into the depth of the sea:
|
|
|
|
I will turn them from Basan, etc. . .I will cast out my enemies from
|
|
their rich possessions, signified by Basan, a fruitful country; and I
|
|
will drive them into the depth of the sea: and make such a slaughter of
|
|
them, that the feet of my servants may be dyed in their blood, etc.
|
|
|
|
67:24. That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thy enemies; the
|
|
tongue of thy dogs be red with the same.
|
|
|
|
67:25. They have seen thy goings, O God, the goings of my God: of my
|
|
king who is in his sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
Thy goings. . .Thy ways, thy proceedings, by which thou didst formerly
|
|
take possession of the promised land in favour of thy people; and shalt
|
|
afterwards of the whole world, which thou shalt subdue to thy Son.
|
|
|
|
67:26. Princes went before joined with singers, in the midst of young
|
|
damsels playing on timbrels.
|
|
|
|
Princes. . .The apostles, the first converters of nations; attended by
|
|
numbers of perfect souls, singing the divine praises, and virgins
|
|
consecrated to God.
|
|
|
|
67:27. In the churches bless ye God the Lord, from the fountains of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
From the fountains of Israel. . .From whom both Christ and his apostles
|
|
sprung. By Benjamin, the holy fathers on this place understand St.
|
|
Paul, who was of that tribe, named here a youth, because he was the
|
|
last called to the apostleship. By the princes of Juda, Zabulon, and
|
|
Nephthali, we may understand the other apostles, who were of the tribe
|
|
of Juda; or of the tribes of Zabulon, and Nephthali, where our Lord
|
|
began to preach, Matt. 4.13, etc.
|
|
|
|
67:28. There is Benjamin a youth, in ecstasy of mind. The princes of
|
|
Juda are their leaders: the princes of Zabulon, the princes of
|
|
Nephthali.
|
|
|
|
67:29. Command thy strength, O God confirm, O God, what thou hast
|
|
wrought in us.
|
|
|
|
Command thy strength. . .Give orders that thy strength may be always with
|
|
us.
|
|
|
|
67:30. From thy temple in Jerusalem, kings shall offer presents to
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
67:31. Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds, the congregation of bulls
|
|
with the kine of the people; who seek to exclude them who are tried
|
|
with silver. Scatter thou the nations that delight in wars:
|
|
|
|
Rebuke the wild beasts of the reeds. . .or the wild beasts, which lie
|
|
hid in the reeds. That is, the devils, who hide themselves in order to
|
|
surprise their prey. Or by wild beasts, are here understood
|
|
persecutors, who, for all their attempts against the Church, are but as
|
|
weak reeds, which cannot prevail against them who are supported by the
|
|
strength of the Almighty. The same are also called the congregation of
|
|
bulls (from their rage against the Church) who assemble together all
|
|
their kine, that is, the people their subjects, to exclude if they can,
|
|
from Christ and his inheritance, his constant confessors, who are like
|
|
silver tried by fire.
|
|
|
|
67:32. Ambassadors shall come out of Egypt: Ethiopia shall soon stretch
|
|
out her hands to God.
|
|
|
|
Ambassadors shall come, etc. . .It is a prophecy of the conversion of
|
|
the Gentiles, and by name of the Egyptians and Ethiopians.
|
|
|
|
67:33. Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth: sing ye to the Lord: Sing
|
|
ye to God,
|
|
|
|
67:34. Who mounteth above the heaven of heavens, to the east. Behold he
|
|
will give to his voice the voice of power:
|
|
|
|
To the east. . .From mount Olivet, which is on the east side of
|
|
Jerusalem.--Ibid. The voice of power. . .That is, he will make his voice
|
|
to be a powerful voice: by calling from death to life, such as were
|
|
dead in mortal sin: as at the last day he will by the power of his
|
|
voice call all the dead from their graves.
|
|
|
|
67:35. Give ye glory to God for Israel, his magnificence, and his power
|
|
is in the clouds.
|
|
|
|
67:36. God is wonderful in his saints: the God of Israel is he who will
|
|
give power and strength to his people. Blessed be God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 68
|
|
|
|
|
|
Salvum me fac, Deus.
|
|
|
|
Christ in his passion declareth the greatness of his sufferings, and
|
|
the malice of his persecutors the Jews; and foretelleth their
|
|
reprobation.
|
|
|
|
68:1. Unto the end, for them that shall be changed; for David.
|
|
|
|
For them that shall be changed. . .A psalm for Christian converts, to
|
|
remember the passion of Christ.
|
|
|
|
68:2. Save me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul.
|
|
|
|
The waters. . .Of afflictions and sorrows. My soul is sorrowful even
|
|
unto death. Matt. 26.38.
|
|
|
|
68:3. I stick fast in the mire of the deep and there is no sure
|
|
standing. I am come into the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath
|
|
overwhelmed me.
|
|
|
|
68:4. I have laboured with crying; my jaws are become hoarse, my eyes
|
|
have failed, whilst I hope in my God.
|
|
|
|
68:5. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me
|
|
without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully
|
|
persecuted me: then did I pay that which I took not away.
|
|
|
|
I pay that which I took not away. . .Christ in his passion made
|
|
restitution of what he had not taken away, by suffering the punishment
|
|
due to our sins, and so repairing the injury we had done to God.
|
|
|
|
68:6. O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not
|
|
hidden from thee:
|
|
|
|
My foolishness and my offences. . .which my enemies impute to me: or the
|
|
follies and sins of men, which I have taken upon myself.
|
|
|
|
68:7. Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for thee, O Lord, the
|
|
Lord of hosts. Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek thee,
|
|
O God of Israel.
|
|
|
|
68:8. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my
|
|
face.
|
|
|
|
68:9. I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons
|
|
of my mother.
|
|
|
|
68:10. For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches
|
|
of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
|
|
|
|
68:11. And I covered my soul in fasting: and it was made a reproach to
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
68:12. And I made haircloth my garment: and I became a byword to them.
|
|
|
|
68:13. They that sat in the gate spoke against me: and they that drank
|
|
wine made me their song.
|
|
|
|
68:14. But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord; for the time of thy
|
|
good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the
|
|
truth of thy salvation.
|
|
|
|
68:15. Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast: deliver me
|
|
from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
|
|
|
|
68:16. Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep water
|
|
swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
|
|
|
|
68:17. Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according
|
|
to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
|
|
|
|
68:18. And turn not away thy face from thy servant: for I am in
|
|
trouble, hear me speedily.
|
|
|
|
68:19. Attend to my soul, and deliver it: save me because of my
|
|
enemies.
|
|
|
|
68:20. Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my shame.
|
|
|
|
68:21. In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath
|
|
expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve
|
|
together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort
|
|
me, and I found none.
|
|
|
|
68:22. And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me
|
|
vinegar to drink.
|
|
|
|
68:23. Let their table become as a snare before them, and a recompense,
|
|
and a stumblingblock.
|
|
|
|
Let their table, etc. . .What here follows in the style of an
|
|
imprecation, is a prophecy of the wretched state to which the Jews
|
|
should be reduced in punishment of their wilful obstinacy.
|
|
|
|
68:24. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and their back
|
|
bend thou down always.
|
|
|
|
68:25. Pour out thy indignation upon them: and let thy wrathful anger
|
|
take hold of them.
|
|
|
|
68:26. Let their habitation be made desolate: and let there be none to
|
|
dwell in their tabernacles.
|
|
|
|
68:27. Because they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and
|
|
they have added to the grief of my wounds.
|
|
|
|
68:28. Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity: and let them not come
|
|
into thy justice.
|
|
|
|
68:29. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; and with the
|
|
just let them not be written.
|
|
|
|
68:30. But I am poor and sorrowful: thy salvation, O God, hath set me
|
|
up.
|
|
|
|
68:31. I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will
|
|
magnify him with praise.
|
|
|
|
68:32. And it shall please God better than a young calf, that bringeth
|
|
forth horns and hoofs.
|
|
|
|
68:33. Let the poor see and rejoice: seek ye God, and your soul shall
|
|
live.
|
|
|
|
68:34. For the Lord hath heard the poor: and hath not despised his
|
|
prisoners.
|
|
|
|
68:35. Let the heavens and the earth praise him; the sea, and every
|
|
thing that creepeth therein.
|
|
|
|
68:36. For God will save Sion, and the cities of Juda shall be built
|
|
up. And they shall dwell there, and acquire it by inheritance.
|
|
|
|
Sion. . .The catholic church. The cities of Juda, etc., her places of
|
|
worship, which shall be established throughout the world. And there,
|
|
viz., in this church of Christ, shall his servants dwell, etc.
|
|
|
|
68:37. And the seed of his servants shall possess it; and they that
|
|
love his name shall dwell therein.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 69
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus in adjutorium.
|
|
|
|
A prayer in persecution.
|
|
|
|
69:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David, to bring to remembrance that the
|
|
Lord saved him.
|
|
|
|
69:2. O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.
|
|
|
|
69:3. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul:
|
|
|
|
69:4. Let them be turned backward, and blush for shame that desire
|
|
evils to me: Let them be presently turned away blushing for shame that
|
|
say to me: 'Tis well, 'tis well.
|
|
|
|
'T is well, 't is well. . .Euge, euge. St. Jerome renders it, vah, vah!
|
|
which is the voice of one insulting and deriding. Some understand it as
|
|
a detestation of deceitful flatterers.
|
|
|
|
69:5. Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; and let such
|
|
as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.
|
|
|
|
69:6. But I am needy and poor; O God, help me. Thou art my helper and
|
|
my deliverer: O lord, make no delay.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 70
|
|
|
|
|
|
In te, Domine.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for perseverance.
|
|
|
|
70:1. A psalm for David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the former
|
|
captives. In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to
|
|
confusion:
|
|
|
|
Of the sons of Jonadab. . .The Rechabites, of whom see Jer. 35. By this
|
|
addition of the seventy-two interpreters, we gather that this psalm was
|
|
usually sung in the synagogue, in the person of the Rechabites, and of
|
|
those who were first carried away into captivity.
|
|
|
|
70:2. Deliver me in thy justice, and rescue me. Incline thy ear unto
|
|
me, and save me.
|
|
|
|
70:3. Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of strength: that
|
|
thou mayst make me safe. For thou art my firmament and my refuge.
|
|
|
|
70:4. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner, and out of
|
|
the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust.
|
|
|
|
70:5. For thou art my patience, O Lord: my hope, O Lord, from my youth.
|
|
|
|
70:6. By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother's
|
|
womb thou art my protector. Of thee I shall continually sing:
|
|
|
|
70:7. I am become unto many as a wonder, but thou art a strong helper.
|
|
|
|
70:8. Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing thy glory;
|
|
thy greatness all the day long.
|
|
|
|
70:9. Cast me not off in the time of old age: when my strength shall
|
|
fail, do not thou forsake me.
|
|
|
|
70:10. For my enemies have spoken against me; and they that watched my
|
|
soul have consulted together,
|
|
|
|
70:11. Saying: God hath forsaken him: pursue and take him, for there is
|
|
none to deliver him.
|
|
|
|
70:12. O God, be not thou far from me: O my God, make haste to my help.
|
|
|
|
70:13. Let them be confounded and come to nothing that detract my soul;
|
|
let them be covered with confusion and blame that seek my hurt.
|
|
|
|
70:14. But I will always hope; and will add to all thy praise.
|
|
|
|
70:15. My mouth shall shew forth thy justice; thy salvation all the day
|
|
long. Because I have not known learning,
|
|
|
|
Learning. . .As much as to say, I build not upon human learning, but
|
|
only on the power and justice of God.
|
|
|
|
70:16. I will enter into the powers of the Lord: O Lord, I will be
|
|
mindful of thy justice alone.
|
|
|
|
70:17. Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth: and till now I will
|
|
declare thy wonderful works.
|
|
|
|
70:18. And unto old age and grey hairs: O God, forsake me not, Until I
|
|
shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come: Thy power,
|
|
|
|
70:19. And thy justice, O God, even to the highest great things thou
|
|
hast done: O God, who is like to thee?
|
|
|
|
70:20. How great troubles hast thou shewn me, many and grievous: and
|
|
turning thou hast brought me to life, and hast brought me back again
|
|
from the depths of the earth:
|
|
|
|
70:21. Thou hast multiplied thy magnificence; and turning to me thou
|
|
hast comforted me.
|
|
|
|
70:22. For I will also confess to thee thy truth with the instruments
|
|
of psaltery: O God, I will sing to thee with the harp, thou holy one of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
70:23. My lips shall greatly rejoice, when I shall sing to thee; and my
|
|
soul which thou hast redeemed.
|
|
|
|
70:24. Yea and my tongue shall meditate on thy justice all the day;
|
|
when they shall be confounded and put to shame that seek evils to me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 71
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus, judicium tuum.
|
|
|
|
A prophecy of the coming of Christ, and of his kingdom: prefigured by
|
|
Solomon and his happy reign.
|
|
|
|
71:1. A psalm on Solomon.
|
|
|
|
71:2. Give to the king thy judgment, O God, and to the king's son thy
|
|
justice: To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment.
|
|
|
|
71:3. Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and the hills
|
|
justice.
|
|
|
|
71:4. He shall judge the poor of the people, and he shall save the
|
|
children of the poor: and he shall humble the oppressor.
|
|
|
|
71:5. And he shall continue with the sun and before the moon,
|
|
throughout all generations.
|
|
|
|
71:6. He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers
|
|
falling gently upon the earth.
|
|
|
|
71:7. In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till
|
|
the moon be taken away.
|
|
|
|
71:8. And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the
|
|
ends of the earth.
|
|
|
|
71:9. Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down: and his enemies shall
|
|
lick the ground.
|
|
|
|
71:10. The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the
|
|
kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:
|
|
|
|
71:11. And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall
|
|
serve him.
|
|
|
|
71:12. For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy
|
|
that had no helper.
|
|
|
|
71:13. He shall spare the poor and needy: and he shall save the souls
|
|
of the poor.
|
|
|
|
71:14. He shall redeem their souls from usuries and iniquity: and their
|
|
names shall be honourable in his sight.
|
|
|
|
71:15. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of
|
|
Arabia, for him they shall always adore: they shall bless him all the
|
|
day.
|
|
|
|
71:16. And there shall be a firmament on the earth on the tops of
|
|
mountains, above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted: and they
|
|
of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth.
|
|
|
|
A firmament on the earth, etc. . .This may be understood of the church
|
|
of Christ, ever firm and visible: and of the flourishing condition of
|
|
its congregation.
|
|
|
|
71:17. Let his name be blessed for evermore: his name continueth before
|
|
the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all
|
|
nations shall magnify him.
|
|
|
|
71:18. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone doth wonderful
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
71:19. And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole
|
|
earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it.
|
|
|
|
71:20. The praises of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.
|
|
|
|
Are ended. . .By this it appears that this psalm, though placed here,
|
|
was in order of time the last of those which David composed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 72
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quam bonus Israel Deus.
|
|
|
|
The temptation of the weak, upon seeing the prosperity of the wicked,
|
|
is overcome by the consideration of the justice of God, who will
|
|
quickly render to every one according to his works.
|
|
|
|
72:1. A psalm for Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to them that are of
|
|
a right heart!
|
|
|
|
72:2. But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped.
|
|
|
|
72:3. Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the
|
|
prosperity of sinners.
|
|
|
|
72:4. For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in
|
|
their stripes.
|
|
|
|
72:5. They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged
|
|
like other men.
|
|
|
|
72:6. Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their
|
|
iniquity and their wickedness.
|
|
|
|
72:7. Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they
|
|
have passed into the affection of the heart.
|
|
|
|
Fatness. . .Abundance and temporal prosperity, which hath encouraged
|
|
them in their iniquity: and made them give themselves up to their
|
|
irregular affections.
|
|
|
|
72:8. They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken
|
|
iniquity on high.
|
|
|
|
72:9. They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath
|
|
passed through the earth.
|
|
|
|
72:10. Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be
|
|
found in them.
|
|
|
|
Return here. . .or hither. The weak among the servants of God, will be
|
|
apt often to return to this thought, and will be shocked when they
|
|
consider the full days, that is, the long and prosperous life of the
|
|
wicked; and will be tempted to make the reflections against providence
|
|
which are set down in the following verses.
|
|
|
|
72:11. And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the
|
|
most High?
|
|
|
|
72:12. Behold these are sinners; and yet, abounding in the world they
|
|
have obtained riches.
|
|
|
|
72:13. And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed
|
|
my hands among the innocent.
|
|
|
|
72:14. And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath
|
|
been in the mornings.
|
|
|
|
72:15. If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the
|
|
generation of thy children.
|
|
|
|
If I said, etc. . .That is, if I should indulge such thoughts as these.
|
|
|
|
72:16. I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my
|
|
sight:
|
|
|
|
72:17. Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning
|
|
their last ends.
|
|
|
|
72:18. But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were
|
|
lifted up thou hast cast them down.
|
|
|
|
Thou hast put it to them. . .In punishment of their deceits, or for
|
|
deceiving them, thou hast brought evils upon them in their last end,
|
|
which, in their prosperity they never apprehended.
|
|
|
|
72:19. How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to
|
|
be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity.
|
|
|
|
72:20. As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou
|
|
shalt bring their image to nothing.
|
|
|
|
72:21. For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed:
|
|
|
|
72:22. And I am brought to nothing, and I knew not.
|
|
|
|
72:23. I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee.
|
|
|
|
72:24. Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast
|
|
conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me.
|
|
|
|
72:25. For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire
|
|
upon earth?
|
|
|
|
72:26. For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the
|
|
God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.
|
|
|
|
72:27. For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast
|
|
destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee.
|
|
|
|
72:28. But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the
|
|
Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the
|
|
daughter of Sion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 73
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ut quid, Deus.
|
|
|
|
A prayer of the church under grievous persecutions.
|
|
|
|
73:1. Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto
|
|
the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?
|
|
|
|
73:2. Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the
|
|
beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed:
|
|
mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.
|
|
|
|
73:3. Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what
|
|
things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
73:4. And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of
|
|
thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,
|
|
|
|
Their ensigns, etc. . .They have fixed their colours for signs and
|
|
trophies, both on the gates, and on the highest top of the temple: and
|
|
they knew not, that is, they regarded not the sanctity of the place.
|
|
This psalm manifestly foretells the time of the Machabees, and the
|
|
profanation of the temple by Antiochus.
|
|
|
|
73:5. And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top.
|
|
As with axes in a wood of trees,
|
|
|
|
73:6. They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and
|
|
hatchet they have brought it down.
|
|
|
|
73:7. They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the
|
|
dwelling place of thy name on the earth.
|
|
|
|
73:8. They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let
|
|
us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.
|
|
|
|
73:9. Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will
|
|
know us no more.
|
|
|
|
73:10. How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to
|
|
provoke thy name for ever?
|
|
|
|
73:11. Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the
|
|
midst of thy bosom for ever?
|
|
|
|
73:12. But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in
|
|
the midst of the earth.
|
|
|
|
73:13. Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush
|
|
the heads of the dragons in the waters.
|
|
|
|
The sea firm. . .By making the waters of the Red Sea stand like firm
|
|
walls, whilst Israel passed through: and destroying the Egyptians
|
|
called here dragons from their cruelty, in the same waters, with their
|
|
king: casting up their bodies on the shore to be stripped by the
|
|
Ethiopians inhabiting in those days the coast of Arabia.
|
|
|
|
73:14. Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to
|
|
be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.
|
|
|
|
73:15. Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast
|
|
dried up the Ethan rivers.
|
|
|
|
Ethan rivers. . .That is, rivers which run with strong streams. This was
|
|
verified in Jordan, Jos. 3, and in Arnon, Num. 21.14.
|
|
|
|
73:16. Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the
|
|
morning light and the sun.
|
|
|
|
73:17. Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the
|
|
spring were formed by thee.
|
|
|
|
73:18. Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish
|
|
people hath provoked thy name.
|
|
|
|
73:19. Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and
|
|
forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.
|
|
|
|
73:20. Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of
|
|
the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.
|
|
|
|
The obscure of the earth. . .Mean and ignoble wretches have been filled,
|
|
that is, enriched, with houses of iniquity, that is, with our estates
|
|
and possessions, which they have unjustly acquired.
|
|
|
|
73:21. Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and
|
|
needy shall praise thy name.
|
|
|
|
73:22. Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with
|
|
which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.
|
|
|
|
73:23. Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that
|
|
hate thee ascendeth continually.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 74
|
|
|
|
|
|
Confitebimur tibi.
|
|
|
|
There is a just judgment to come: therefore let the wicked take care.
|
|
|
|
74:1. Unto the end, corrupt not, a psalm of a canticle for Asaph.
|
|
|
|
Corrupt not. . .It is believed to have been the beginning of some ode or
|
|
hymn, to the tune of which this psalm was to be sung. St. Augustine and
|
|
other fathers take it to be an admonition of the spirit of God, not to
|
|
faint or fail in our hope: but to persevere with constancy in good:
|
|
because God will not fail in his due time to render to every man
|
|
according to his works.
|
|
|
|
74:2. We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon
|
|
thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works:
|
|
|
|
74:3. When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.
|
|
|
|
When I shall take a time. . .In proper times: particularly at the last
|
|
day, when the earth shall melt away at the presence of the great Judge:
|
|
the same who originally laid the foundations of it, and as it were
|
|
established its pillars.
|
|
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|
74:4. The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have
|
|
established the pillars thereof.
|
|
|
|
74:5. I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners:
|
|
Lift not up the horn.
|
|
|
|
74:6. Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God.
|
|
|
|
74:7. For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert
|
|
hills:
|
|
|
|
74:8. For God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth
|
|
up:
|
|
|
|
74:9. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of
|
|
mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs
|
|
thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink.
|
|
|
|
74:10. But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
74:11. And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the
|
|
just shall be exalted.
|
|
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|
|
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|
Psalms Chapter 75
|
|
|
|
|
|
Notus in Judaea.
|
|
|
|
God is known in his church: and exerts his power in protecting it. It
|
|
alludes to the slaughter of the Assyrians, in the days of king
|
|
Ezechias.
|
|
|
|
75:1. Unto the end, in praises, a psalm for Asaph: a canticle to the
|
|
Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
75:2. In Judea God is known: his name is great in Israel.
|
|
|
|
75:3. And his place is in peace: and his abode in Sion:
|
|
|
|
75:4. There hath he broken the powers of bows, the shield, the sword,
|
|
and the battle.
|
|
|
|
75:5. Thou enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills.
|
|
|
|
75:6. All the foolish of heart were troubled. They have slept their
|
|
sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands.
|
|
|
|
75:7. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered that
|
|
mounted on horseback.
|
|
|
|
75:8. Thou art terrible, and who shall resist thee? from that time thy
|
|
wrath.
|
|
|
|
From that time, etc. . .From the time that thy wrath shall break out.
|
|
|
|
75:9. Thou hast caused judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth
|
|
trembled and was still,
|
|
|
|
75:10. When God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.
|
|
|
|
75:11. For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the
|
|
remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee.
|
|
|
|
75:12. Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round
|
|
about him bring presents. To him that is terrible,
|
|
|
|
75:13. Even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes: to the
|
|
terrible with the kings of the earth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 76
|
|
|
|
|
|
Voce mea.
|
|
|
|
The faithful have recourse to God in trouble of mind, with confidence
|
|
in his mercy and power.
|
|
|
|
76:1. Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of Asaph.
|
|
|
|
76:2. I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he
|
|
gave ear to me.
|
|
|
|
76:3. In the days of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up
|
|
to him in the night, and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be
|
|
comforted:
|
|
|
|
76:4. I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my
|
|
spirit swooned away.
|
|
|
|
76:5. My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not.
|
|
|
|
76:6. I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal
|
|
years.
|
|
|
|
76:7. And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was
|
|
exercised and I swept my spirit.
|
|
|
|
76:8. Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more
|
|
favourable again?
|
|
|
|
76:9. Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to
|
|
generation?
|
|
|
|
76:10. Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut
|
|
up his mercies?
|
|
|
|
76:11. And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right
|
|
hand of the most High.
|
|
|
|
76:12. I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy
|
|
wonders from the beginning.
|
|
|
|
76:13. And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in
|
|
thy inventions.
|
|
|
|
76:14. Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like
|
|
our God?
|
|
|
|
76:15. Thou art the God that dost wonders. Thou hast made thy power
|
|
known among the nations:
|
|
|
|
76:16. With thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob
|
|
and of Joseph.
|
|
|
|
76:17. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were
|
|
afraid, and the depths were troubled.
|
|
|
|
76:18. Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound.
|
|
For thy arrows pass:
|
|
|
|
76:19. The voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightnings enlightened
|
|
the world: the earth shook and trembled.
|
|
|
|
76:20. Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy
|
|
footsteps shall not be known.
|
|
|
|
76:21. Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses
|
|
and Aaron.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 77
|
|
|
|
|
|
Attendite.
|
|
|
|
God's great benefits to the people of Israel, notwithstanding their
|
|
ingratitude.
|
|
|
|
77:1. Understanding for Asaph. Attend, O my people, to my law: incline
|
|
your ears to the words of my mouth.
|
|
|
|
77:2. I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from
|
|
the beginning.
|
|
|
|
Propositions. . .Deep and mysterious sayings. By this it appears that
|
|
the historical facts of ancient times, commemorated in this psalm, were
|
|
deep and mysterious: as being figures of great truths appertaining to
|
|
the time of the New Testament.
|
|
|
|
77:3. How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have
|
|
told us.
|
|
|
|
77:4. They have not been hidden from their children, in another
|
|
generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his
|
|
wonders which he hath done.
|
|
|
|
77:5. And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How
|
|
great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same
|
|
known to their children:
|
|
|
|
77:6. That another generation might know them. The children that should
|
|
be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children.
|
|
|
|
77:7. That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works
|
|
of God: and may seek his commandments.
|
|
|
|
77:8. That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and
|
|
exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright:
|
|
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
|
|
|
|
77:9. The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have
|
|
turned back in the day of battle.
|
|
|
|
77:10. They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not
|
|
walk.
|
|
|
|
77:11. And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
77:12. Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the
|
|
land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.
|
|
|
|
77:13. He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the
|
|
waters to stand as in a vessel.
|
|
|
|
77:14. And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night
|
|
with a light of fire.
|
|
|
|
77:15. He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as
|
|
out of the great deep.
|
|
|
|
77:16. He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run
|
|
down as rivers.
|
|
|
|
77:17. And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most
|
|
High to wrath in the place without water.
|
|
|
|
77:18. And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their
|
|
desires.
|
|
|
|
77:19. And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in
|
|
the wilderness?
|
|
|
|
77:20. Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the
|
|
streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his
|
|
people?
|
|
|
|
77:21. Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled
|
|
against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.
|
|
|
|
77:22. Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his
|
|
salvation.
|
|
|
|
77:23. And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the
|
|
doors of heaven.
|
|
|
|
77:24. And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them
|
|
the bread of heaven.
|
|
|
|
77:25. Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in
|
|
abundance.
|
|
|
|
77:26. He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought
|
|
in the southwest wind.
|
|
|
|
77:27. And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like
|
|
as the sand of the sea.
|
|
|
|
77:28. And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their
|
|
pavilions.
|
|
|
|
77:29. So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them
|
|
their desire:
|
|
|
|
77:30. they were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their
|
|
meat was in their mouth:
|
|
|
|
77:31. And the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones
|
|
amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel.
|
|
|
|
77:32. In all these things they sinned still: and they behaved not for
|
|
his wondrous works.
|
|
|
|
77:33. And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in
|
|
haste.
|
|
|
|
77:34. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and
|
|
came to him early in the morning.
|
|
|
|
77:35. And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high
|
|
God their redeemer.
|
|
|
|
77:36. And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they
|
|
lied unto him:
|
|
|
|
77:37. But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted
|
|
faithful in his covenant.
|
|
|
|
77:38. But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not
|
|
destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger: and did not
|
|
kindle all his wrath.
|
|
|
|
77:39. And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and
|
|
returneth not.
|
|
|
|
77:40. How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to
|
|
wrath in the place without water?
|
|
|
|
77:41. And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one
|
|
of Israel.
|
|
|
|
77:42. They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them
|
|
from the hand of him that afflicted them:
|
|
|
|
77:43. How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field
|
|
of Tanis.
|
|
|
|
77:44. And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that
|
|
they might not drink.
|
|
|
|
77:45. He sent amongst them divers sorts of flies, which devoured them:
|
|
and frogs which destroyed them.
|
|
|
|
77:46. And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to
|
|
the locust.
|
|
|
|
77:47. And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry
|
|
trees with hoarfrost.
|
|
|
|
77:48. And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the
|
|
fire.
|
|
|
|
77:49. And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation
|
|
and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.
|
|
|
|
77:50. He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls
|
|
from death, and their cattle he shut up in death.
|
|
|
|
77:51. And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the
|
|
firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.
|
|
|
|
77:52. And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the
|
|
wilderness like a flock.
|
|
|
|
77:53. And he brought them out in hope and they feared not: and the sea
|
|
overwhelmed their enemies.
|
|
|
|
77:54. And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the
|
|
mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the
|
|
Gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line
|
|
of distribution.
|
|
|
|
77:55. And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.
|
|
|
|
77:56. Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: and they kept
|
|
not his testimonies.
|
|
|
|
77:57. And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their
|
|
fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.
|
|
|
|
77:58. They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to
|
|
jealousy with their graven things.
|
|
|
|
77:59. God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly
|
|
as it were to nothing.
|
|
|
|
77:60. And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he
|
|
dwelt among men.
|
|
|
|
77:61. And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty
|
|
into the hands of the enemy.
|
|
|
|
77:62. And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his
|
|
inheritance.
|
|
|
|
77:63. Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not
|
|
lamented.
|
|
|
|
77:64. Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.
|
|
|
|
77:65. And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty
|
|
man that hath been surfeited with wine.
|
|
|
|
77:66. And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an
|
|
everlasting reproach.
|
|
|
|
77:67. And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the
|
|
tribe of Ephraim:
|
|
|
|
77:68. But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.
|
|
|
|
77:69. And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he
|
|
founded for ever.
|
|
|
|
As of unicorns. . .That is, firm and strong like the horn of the
|
|
unicorn. This is one of the chiefest of the propositions of this psalm,
|
|
foreshewing the firm establishment of the one, true, and everlasting
|
|
sanctuary of God, in his church.
|
|
|
|
77:70. And he chose his servant David, and took him from the flocks of
|
|
sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young,
|
|
|
|
77:71. To feed Jacob his servant and Israel his inheritance.
|
|
|
|
77:72. And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted
|
|
them by the skilfulness of his hands.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 78
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus, venerunt gentes.
|
|
|
|
The church in time of persecution prayeth for relief. It seems to
|
|
belong to the time of the Machabees.
|
|
|
|
78:1. A psalm for Asaph. O God, the heathens are come into thy
|
|
inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: they have made
|
|
Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit.
|
|
|
|
78:2. They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for
|
|
the fowls of the air: the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the
|
|
earth.
|
|
|
|
78:3. They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem
|
|
and there was none to bury them.
|
|
|
|
78:4. We are become a reproach to our neighbours: a scorn and derision
|
|
to them that are round about us.
|
|
|
|
78:5. How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever: shall thy zeal be
|
|
kindled like a fire?
|
|
|
|
78:6. Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: and
|
|
upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
|
|
|
|
78:7. Because they have devoured Jacob; and have laid waste his place.
|
|
|
|
78:8. Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily
|
|
prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor.
|
|
|
|
78:9. Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O
|
|
Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name's sake:
|
|
|
|
78:10. Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And
|
|
let him be made known among the nations before our eyes, By the
|
|
revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed:
|
|
|
|
78:11. Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According
|
|
to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them
|
|
that have been put to death.
|
|
|
|
78:12. And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the
|
|
reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
78:13. But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give
|
|
thanks to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation
|
|
and generation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 79
|
|
|
|
|
|
Qui regis Israel.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for the church in tribulation, commemorating God's former
|
|
favours.
|
|
|
|
79:1. Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, a testimony for
|
|
Asaph, a psalm.
|
|
|
|
79:2. Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph
|
|
like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth
|
|
|
|
79:3. Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and
|
|
come to save us.
|
|
|
|
79:4. Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved.
|
|
|
|
79:5. O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the
|
|
prayer of thy servant?
|
|
|
|
79:6. How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us
|
|
for our drink tears in measure?
|
|
|
|
79:7. Thou hast made us to be a contradiction to our neighbours: and
|
|
our enemies have scoffed at us.
|
|
|
|
79:8. O God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be
|
|
saved.
|
|
|
|
79:9. Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the
|
|
Gentiles and planted it.
|
|
|
|
79:10. Thou wast the guide of its journey in its sight: thou plantedst
|
|
the roots thereof, and it filled the land.
|
|
|
|
79:11. The shadow of it covered the hills: and the branches thereof the
|
|
cedars of God.
|
|
|
|
79:12. It stretched forth its branches unto the sea, and its boughs
|
|
unto the river.
|
|
|
|
79:13. Why hast thou broken down the hedge thereof, so that all they
|
|
who pass by the way do pluck it?
|
|
|
|
79:14. The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste: and a singular wild
|
|
beast hath devoured it.
|
|
|
|
79:15. Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and
|
|
visit this vineyard:
|
|
|
|
79:16. And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon
|
|
the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.
|
|
|
|
79:17. Things set on fire and dug down shall perish at the rebuke of
|
|
thy countenance.
|
|
|
|
Things set on fire, etc. . .So this vineyard of thine, almost consumed
|
|
already, must perish, if thou continue thy rebukes.
|
|
|
|
79:18. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son
|
|
of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.
|
|
|
|
The man of thy right hand. . .Christ.
|
|
|
|
79:19. And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will
|
|
call upon thy name.
|
|
|
|
79:20. O Lord God of hosts, convert us and shew thy face, and we shall
|
|
be saved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 80
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exultate Deo.
|
|
|
|
An invitation to a solemn praising of God.
|
|
|
|
80:1. Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for Asaph himself.
|
|
|
|
For the winepresses, etc. . .Torcularibus. It either signifies a musical
|
|
instrument, or that this psalm was to be sung at the feast of the
|
|
tabernacles after the gathering in of the vintage.
|
|
|
|
80:2. Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
80:3. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel: the pleasant psaltery
|
|
with the harp.
|
|
|
|
80:4. Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your
|
|
solemnity.
|
|
|
|
80:5. For it is a commandment in Israel, and a judgment to the God of
|
|
Jacob.
|
|
|
|
80:6. He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the
|
|
land of Egypt: he heard a tongue which he knew not.
|
|
|
|
80:7. He removed his back from the burdens: his hands had served in
|
|
baskets.
|
|
|
|
80:8. Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I
|
|
heard thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters
|
|
of contradiction.
|
|
|
|
In the secret place of tempest. . .Heb., Of thunder. When thou soughtest
|
|
to hide thyself from the tempest: or, when I came down to mount Sina,
|
|
hidden from thy eyes in a storm of thunder.
|
|
|
|
80:9. Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou
|
|
wilt hearken to me,
|
|
|
|
80:10. there shall be no new god in thee: neither shalt
|
|
thou adore a strange god.
|
|
|
|
80:11. For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of
|
|
Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.
|
|
|
|
80:12. But my people heard not my voice: and Israel hearkened not to
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
80:13. So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they
|
|
shall walk in their own inventions.
|
|
|
|
80:14. If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways:
|
|
|
|
80:15. I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on
|
|
them that troubled them.
|
|
|
|
80:16. The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: and their time shall
|
|
be for ever.
|
|
|
|
Their time shall be forever. . .Impenitent sinners shall suffer for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
80:17. And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with
|
|
honey out of the rock.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 81
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus stetit.
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to judges and men in power.
|
|
|
|
81:1. A psalm for Asaph. God hath stood in the congregation of gods:
|
|
and being in the midst of them he judgeth gods.
|
|
|
|
81:2. How long will you judge unjustly: and accept the persons of the
|
|
wicked?
|
|
|
|
81:3. Judge for the needy and fatherless: do justice to the humble and
|
|
the poor.
|
|
|
|
81:4. Rescue the poor; and deliver the needy out of the hand of the
|
|
sinner.
|
|
|
|
81:5. They have not known nor understood: they walk on in darkness: all
|
|
the foundations of the earth shall be moved.
|
|
|
|
81:6. I have said: You are gods and all of you the sons of the most
|
|
High.
|
|
|
|
81:7. But you like men shall die: and shall fall like one of the
|
|
princes.
|
|
|
|
81:8. Arise, O God, judge thou the earth: for thou shalt inherit among
|
|
all the nations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 82
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus, quis similis.
|
|
|
|
A prayer against the enemies of God's church.
|
|
|
|
82:1. A canticle of a psalm for Asaph.
|
|
|
|
82:2. O God, who shall be like to thee? hold not thy peace, neither be
|
|
thou still, O God.
|
|
|
|
82:3. For lo, thy enemies have made a noise: and they that hate thee
|
|
have lifted up the head.
|
|
|
|
82:4. They have taken a malicious counsel against thy people, and have
|
|
consulted against thy saints.
|
|
|
|
82:5. They have said: Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not
|
|
a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.
|
|
|
|
82:6. For they have contrived with one consent: they have made a
|
|
covenant together against thee,
|
|
|
|
82:7. The tabernacle of the Edomites, and the Ishmahelites: Moab, and
|
|
the Agarens,
|
|
|
|
82:8. Gebal, and Ammon and Amalec: the Philistines, with the
|
|
inhabitants of Tyre.
|
|
|
|
82:9. Yea, and the Assyrian also is joined with them: they are come to
|
|
the aid of the sons of Lot.
|
|
|
|
82:10. Do to them as thou didst to Madian and to Sisara: as to Jabin at
|
|
the brook of Cisson.
|
|
|
|
82:11. Who perished at Endor: and became as dung for the earth.
|
|
|
|
82:12. Make their princes like Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebee, and Salmana.
|
|
All their princes,
|
|
|
|
82:13. Who have said: Let us possess the sanctuary of God for an
|
|
inheritance.
|
|
|
|
82:14. O my God, make them like a wheel; and as stubble before the
|
|
wind.
|
|
|
|
82:15. As fire which burneth the wood: and as a flame burning
|
|
mountains:
|
|
|
|
82:16. So shalt thou pursue them with thy tempest: and shalt trouble
|
|
them in thy wrath.
|
|
|
|
82:17. Fill their faces with shame; and they shall seek thy name, O
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
82:18. Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever: and let them
|
|
be confounded and perish.
|
|
|
|
82:19. And let them know that the Lord is thy name: thou alone art the
|
|
most High over all the earth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 83
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quam dilecta.
|
|
|
|
The soul aspireth after heaven; rejoicing in the mean time, in being in
|
|
the communion of God's church upon earth.
|
|
|
|
83:1. Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core.
|
|
|
|
83:2. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
|
|
|
|
83:3. my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart
|
|
and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.
|
|
|
|
83:4. For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest
|
|
for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of
|
|
hosts, my king and my God.
|
|
|
|
83:5. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall
|
|
praise thee for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
83:6. Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath
|
|
disposed to ascend by steps,
|
|
|
|
In his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, etc. . .Ascensiones in
|
|
corde suo disposuit. As by steps men ascended to the temple of God
|
|
situated on a hill; so the good Christian ascends towards the eternal
|
|
temple by certain steps of virtue disposed or ordered within the heart:
|
|
and this whilst he lives as yet in the body, in this vale of tears, the
|
|
place which man hath set: that is, which he hath brought himself to:
|
|
being cast out of paradise for his sin.
|
|
|
|
83:7. In the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set.
|
|
|
|
83:8. For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue
|
|
to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.
|
|
|
|
83:9. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
83:10. Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ.
|
|
|
|
83:11. For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have
|
|
chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in
|
|
the tabernacles of sinners.
|
|
|
|
83:12. For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and
|
|
glory.
|
|
|
|
83:13. He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence:
|
|
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 84
|
|
|
|
|
|
Benedixisti, Domine.
|
|
|
|
The coming of Christ, to bring peace and salvation to man.
|
|
|
|
84:1. Unto the end, for the sons of Core, a psalm.
|
|
|
|
84:2. Lord, thou hast blessed thy land: thou hast turned away the
|
|
captivity of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
84:3. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people: thou hast covered
|
|
all their sins.
|
|
|
|
84:4. Thou hast mitigated all thy anger: thou hast turned away from the
|
|
wrath of thy indignation.
|
|
|
|
84:5. Convert us, O God our saviour: and turn off thy anger from us.
|
|
|
|
84:6. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever: or wilt thou extend thy
|
|
wrath from generation to generation?
|
|
|
|
84:7. Thou wilt turn, O God, and bring us to life: and thy people shall
|
|
rejoice in thee.
|
|
|
|
84:8. Shew us, O Lord, thy mercy; and grant us thy salvation.
|
|
|
|
84:9. I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me: for he will speak
|
|
peace unto his people: And unto his saints: and unto them that are
|
|
converted to the heart.
|
|
|
|
84:10. Surely his salvation is near to them that fear him : that glory
|
|
may dwell in our land.
|
|
|
|
84:11. Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have
|
|
kissed.
|
|
|
|
84:12. Truth is sprung out of the earth: and justice hath looked down
|
|
from heaven.
|
|
|
|
84:13. For the Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her
|
|
fruit.
|
|
|
|
84:14. Justice shall walk before him: and ,shall set his steps in the
|
|
way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 85
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inclina, Domine.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for God's grace to assist us to the end.
|
|
|
|
85:1. A prayer for David himself. Incline thy ear, O Lord, and hear me:
|
|
for I am needy and poor.
|
|
|
|
85:2. Preserve my soul, for I am holy: save thy servant, O my God, that
|
|
trusteth in thee.
|
|
|
|
I am holy. . .I am by my office and profession dedicated to thy service.
|
|
|
|
85:3. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to thee all the day.
|
|
|
|
85:4. Give joy to the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, I have
|
|
lifted up my soul.
|
|
|
|
85:5. For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to
|
|
all that call upon thee.
|
|
|
|
85:6. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer: and attend to the voice of my
|
|
petition.
|
|
|
|
85:7. I have called upon thee in the day of my trouble: because thou
|
|
hast heard me.
|
|
|
|
85:8. There is none among the gods like unto thee, O Lord: and there is
|
|
none according to thy works.
|
|
|
|
85:9. All the nations thou hast made shall come and adore before thee,
|
|
O Lord: and they shall glorify thy name.
|
|
|
|
85:10. For thou art great and dost wonderful things: thou art God
|
|
alone.
|
|
|
|
85:11. Conduct me, O Lord, in thy way, and I will walk in thy truth:
|
|
let my heart rejoice that it may fear thy name.
|
|
|
|
85:12. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I
|
|
will glorify thy name for ever:
|
|
|
|
85:13. For thy mercy is great towards me: and thou hast delivered my
|
|
soul out of the lower hell.
|
|
|
|
85:14. O God, the wicked are risen up against me, and the assembly of
|
|
the mighty have sought my soul: and they have not set thee before their
|
|
eyes.
|
|
|
|
85:15. And thou, O Lord, art a God of compassion, and merciful,
|
|
patient, and of much mercy, and true.
|
|
|
|
85:16. O look upon me, and have mercy on me: give thy command to thy
|
|
servant, and save the son of thy handmaid.
|
|
|
|
85:17. Shew me a token for good: that they who hate me may see, and be
|
|
confounded, because thou, O Lord, hast helped me and hast comforted me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 86
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fundamenta ejus.
|
|
|
|
The glory of the church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
86:1. For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle. The foundations
|
|
thereof are the holy mountains:
|
|
|
|
The holy mountains. . .The apostles and prophets. Eph. 2.20.
|
|
|
|
86:2. The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of
|
|
Jacob.
|
|
|
|
86:3. Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.
|
|
|
|
86:4. I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Behold the
|
|
foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were
|
|
there.
|
|
|
|
Rahab. . .Egypt, etc. To this Sion, which is the church of God, many
|
|
shall resort from all nations.
|
|
|
|
86:5. Shall not Sion say: This man and that man is born in her? and the
|
|
Highest himself hath founded her.
|
|
|
|
Shall not Sion say, etc. . .The meaning is, that Sion, viz., the church,
|
|
shall not only be able to commemorate this or that particular person of
|
|
renown born in her, but also to glory in great multitudes of people and
|
|
princes of her communion; who have been foretold in the writings of the
|
|
prophets, and registered in the writings of the apostles.
|
|
|
|
86:6. The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of
|
|
them that have been in her.
|
|
|
|
86:7. The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 87
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, Deus salutis.
|
|
|
|
A prayer of one under grievous affliction: it agrees to Christ in his
|
|
passion, and alludes to his death and burial.
|
|
|
|
87:1. A canticle of a psalm for the sons of Core: unto the end, for
|
|
Maheleth, to answer understanding of Eman the Ezrahite.
|
|
|
|
Maheleth. . .A musical instrument, or chorus of musicians, to answer one
|
|
another.--Ibid. Understanding. . .Or a psalm of instruction, composed by
|
|
Eman the Ezrahite, or by David, in his name.
|
|
|
|
87:2. O Lord, the God of my salvation: I have cried in the day, and in
|
|
the night before thee.
|
|
|
|
87:3. Let my prayer come in before thee: incline thy ear to my
|
|
petition.
|
|
|
|
87:4. For my soul is filled with evils: and my life hath drawn nigh to
|
|
hell.
|
|
|
|
87:5. I am counted among them that go down to the pit: I am become as a
|
|
man without help,
|
|
|
|
87:6. Free among the dead. Like the slain sleeping in the sepulchres,
|
|
whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
|
|
|
|
87:7. They have laid me in the lower pit: in the dark places, and in
|
|
the shadow of death.
|
|
|
|
87:8. Thy wrath is strong over me: and all thy waves thou hast brought
|
|
in upon me.
|
|
|
|
87:9. Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me
|
|
an abomination to themselves. I was delivered up, and came not forth:
|
|
|
|
87:10. My eyes languished through poverty. All the day I cried to thee,
|
|
O Lord: I stretched out my hands to thee.
|
|
|
|
87:11. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? or shall physicians raise to
|
|
life, and give praise to thee?
|
|
|
|
87:12. Shall any one in the sepulchre declare thy mercy: and thy truth
|
|
in destruction?
|
|
|
|
87:13. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark; and thy justice in the
|
|
land of forgetfulness?
|
|
|
|
87:14. But I, O Lord, have cried to thee: and in the morning my prayer
|
|
shall prevent thee.
|
|
|
|
87:15. Lord, why castest thou off my prayer: why turnest thou away thy
|
|
face from me?
|
|
|
|
87:16. I am poor, and in labours from my youth: and being exalted have
|
|
been humbled and troubled.
|
|
|
|
87:17. Thy wrath hath come upon me: and thy terrors have troubled me.
|
|
|
|
87:18. They have come round about me like water all the day: they have
|
|
compassed me about together.
|
|
|
|
87:19. Friend and neighbour thou hast put far from me: and my
|
|
acquaintance, because of misery.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 88
|
|
|
|
|
|
Misericordias Domini.
|
|
|
|
The perpetuity of the church of Christ, in consequence of the promise
|
|
of God: which, notwithstanding, God permits her to suffer sometimes
|
|
most grievous afflictions.
|
|
|
|
88:1. Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite.
|
|
|
|
88:2. The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth
|
|
thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
88:3. For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the
|
|
heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.
|
|
|
|
88:4. I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my
|
|
servant:
|
|
|
|
88:5. Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne
|
|
unto generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
88:6. The heavens shall confess thy wonders, O Lord: and thy truth in
|
|
the church of the saints.
|
|
|
|
88:7. For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among
|
|
the sons of God shall be like to God?
|
|
|
|
88:8. God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and
|
|
terrible above all them that are about him.
|
|
|
|
88:9. O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O
|
|
Lord, and thy truth is round about thee.
|
|
|
|
88:10. Thou rulest the power of the sea: and appeasest the motion of
|
|
the waves thereof.
|
|
|
|
88:11. Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the
|
|
arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies.
|
|
|
|
88:12. Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the
|
|
fulness thereof thou hast founded:
|
|
|
|
88:13. The north and the sea thou hast created. Thabor and Hermon shall
|
|
rejoice in thy name:
|
|
|
|
88:14. Thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy
|
|
right hand exalted:
|
|
|
|
88:15. Justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy
|
|
and truth shall go before thy face:
|
|
|
|
88:16. Blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk,
|
|
O Lord, in the light of thy countenance:
|
|
|
|
88:17. And in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy
|
|
justice they shall be exalted.
|
|
|
|
88:18. For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good
|
|
pleasure shall our horn be exalted.
|
|
|
|
88:19. For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one
|
|
of Israel.
|
|
|
|
88:20. Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have
|
|
laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of
|
|
my people.
|
|
|
|
88:21. I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
88:22. For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him.
|
|
|
|
88:23. The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of
|
|
iniquity have power to hurt him.
|
|
|
|
88:24. And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that
|
|
hate him I will put to flight.
|
|
|
|
88:25. And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name
|
|
shall his horn be exalted.
|
|
|
|
88:26. And I will set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in the
|
|
rivers.
|
|
|
|
88:27. He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the
|
|
support of my salvation.
|
|
|
|
88:28. And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the
|
|
earth.
|
|
|
|
88:29. I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful
|
|
to him.
|
|
|
|
88:30. And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne
|
|
as the days of heaven.
|
|
|
|
88:31. And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my
|
|
judgments:
|
|
|
|
88:32. If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments:
|
|
|
|
88:33. I will visit their iniquities with a rod and their sins with
|
|
stripes.
|
|
|
|
88:34. But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my
|
|
truth to fail.
|
|
|
|
88:35. Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed
|
|
from my mouth I will not make void.
|
|
|
|
88:36. Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David:
|
|
|
|
88:37. His seed shall endure for ever.
|
|
|
|
88:38. And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for
|
|
ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.
|
|
|
|
88:39. But thou hast rejected and despised: thou hast been angry with
|
|
my anointed.
|
|
|
|
88:40. Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant: thou hast
|
|
profaned his sanctuary on the earth.
|
|
|
|
Overthrown the covenant, etc. . .All this seems to relate to the time of
|
|
the captivity of Babylon, in which, for the sins of the people and
|
|
their princes, God seemed to have set aside for a while the covenant he
|
|
made with David.
|
|
|
|
88:41. Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast made his
|
|
strength fear.
|
|
|
|
88:42. All that pass by the way have robbed him: he is become a
|
|
reproach to his neighbours.
|
|
|
|
88:43. Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou
|
|
hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
|
|
|
|
88:44. Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and hast not
|
|
assisted him in battle.
|
|
|
|
88:45. Thou hast made his purification to cease: and thou hast cast his
|
|
throne down to the ground.
|
|
|
|
88:46. Thou hast shortened the days of his time: thou hast covered him
|
|
with confusion.
|
|
|
|
88:47. How long, O Lord, turnest thou away unto the end? shall thy
|
|
anger burn like fire?
|
|
|
|
88:48. Remember what my substance is: for hast thou made all the
|
|
children of men in vain?
|
|
|
|
88:49. Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall
|
|
deliver his soul from the hand of hell?
|
|
|
|
88:50. Lord, where are thy ancient mercies, according to what thou
|
|
didst swear to David in thy truth?
|
|
|
|
88:51. Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I
|
|
have held in my bosom) of many nations:
|
|
|
|
88:52. Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they
|
|
have reproached the change of thy anointed.
|
|
|
|
88:53. Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 89
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, refugium.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for the mercy of God: recounting the shortness and miseries of
|
|
the days of man.
|
|
|
|
89:1. A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our refuge
|
|
from generation to generation.
|
|
|
|
89:2. Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the world was
|
|
formed; from eternity and to eternity thou art God.
|
|
|
|
89:3. Turn not man away to be brought low: and thou hast said: Be
|
|
converted, O ye sons of men.
|
|
|
|
Turn not man away, etc. . .Suffer him not quite to perish from thee,
|
|
since thou art pleased to call upon him to be converted to thee.
|
|
|
|
89:4. For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday, which is
|
|
past. And as a watch in the night,
|
|
|
|
89:5. Things that are counted nothing, shall their years be.
|
|
|
|
89:6. In the morning man shall grow up like grass; in the morning he
|
|
shall flourish and pass away: in the evening he shall fall, grow dry,
|
|
and wither.
|
|
|
|
89:7. For in thy wrath we have fainted away: and are troubled in thy
|
|
indignation.
|
|
|
|
89:8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thy eyes: our life in the
|
|
light of thy countenance.
|
|
|
|
89:9. For all our days are spent; and in thy wrath we have fainted
|
|
away. Our years shall be considered as a spider:
|
|
|
|
As a spider. . .As frail and weak as a spider's web; and miserable
|
|
withal, whilst like a spider we spend our bowels in weaving webs to
|
|
catch flies.
|
|
|
|
89:10. The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years. But
|
|
if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is
|
|
labour and sorrow. For mildness is come upon us: and we shall be
|
|
corrected.
|
|
|
|
Mildness is come upon us, etc. . .God's mildness corrects us; inasmuch
|
|
as he deals kindly with us, in shortening the days of this miserable
|
|
life; and so weaning our affections from all its transitory enjoyments,
|
|
and teaching us true wisdom.
|
|
|
|
89:11. Who knoweth the power of thy anger, and for thy fear
|
|
|
|
89:12. Can number thy wrath? So make thy right hand known: and men
|
|
learned in heart, in wisdom.
|
|
|
|
89:13. Return, O Lord, how long? and be entreated in favour of thy
|
|
servants.
|
|
|
|
89:14. We are filled in the morning with thy mercy: and we have
|
|
rejoiced, and are delighted all our days.
|
|
|
|
89:15. We have rejoiced for the days in which thou hast humbled us: for
|
|
the years in which we have seen evils.
|
|
|
|
89:16. Look upon thy servants and upon their works: and direct their
|
|
children.
|
|
|
|
89:17. And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and
|
|
direct thou the works of our hands over us; yea, the work of our hands
|
|
do thou direct.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 90
|
|
|
|
|
|
Qui habitat.
|
|
|
|
The just is secure under the protection of God.
|
|
|
|
90:1. The praise of a canticle for David. He that dwelleth in the aid
|
|
of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
90:2. He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge:
|
|
my God, in him will I trust.
|
|
|
|
90:3. For he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from
|
|
the sharp word.
|
|
|
|
90:4. He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings
|
|
thou shalt trust.
|
|
|
|
90:5. His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be
|
|
afraid of the terror of the night.
|
|
|
|
90:6. Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh
|
|
about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
|
|
|
|
90:7. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right
|
|
hand: but it shall not come nigh thee.
|
|
|
|
90:8. But thou shalt consider with thy eyes: and shalt see the reward
|
|
of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
90:9. Because thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the most High
|
|
thy refuge.
|
|
|
|
90:10. There shall no evil come to thee: nor shall the scourge come
|
|
near thy dwelling.
|
|
|
|
90:11. For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in
|
|
all thy ways.
|
|
|
|
90:12. In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot
|
|
against a stone.
|
|
|
|
90:13. Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt
|
|
trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
|
|
|
|
90:14. Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him
|
|
because he hath known my name.
|
|
|
|
90:15. He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in
|
|
tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
|
|
|
|
90:16. I will fill him with length of days; and I will shew him my
|
|
salvation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 91
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bonum est confiteri.
|
|
|
|
God is to be praised for his wondrous works.
|
|
|
|
91:1. A psalm of a canticle on the sabbath day.
|
|
|
|
91:2. It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O
|
|
most High.
|
|
|
|
91:3. To shew forth thy mercy in the morning, and thy truth in the
|
|
night:
|
|
|
|
91:4. Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a
|
|
canticle upon the harp.
|
|
|
|
91:5. For thou hast given me, O Lord, a delight in thy doings: and in
|
|
the works of thy hands I shall rejoice.
|
|
|
|
91:6. O Lord, how great are thy works! thy thoughts are exceeding deep.
|
|
|
|
91:7. The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand
|
|
these things.
|
|
|
|
91:8. When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of
|
|
iniquity shall appear: That they may perish for ever and ever:
|
|
|
|
91:9. But thou, O Lord, art most high for evermore.
|
|
|
|
91:10. For behold thy enemies, O lord, for behold thy enemies shall
|
|
perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
|
|
|
|
91:11. But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn: and my
|
|
old age in plentiful mercy.
|
|
|
|
91:12. My eye also hath looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall
|
|
hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me.
|
|
|
|
91:13. The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up
|
|
like the cedar of Libanus.
|
|
|
|
91:14. They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in
|
|
the courts of the house of our God.
|
|
|
|
91:15. They shall still increase in a fruitful old age: and shall be
|
|
well treated,
|
|
|
|
91:16. That they may shew, That the Lord our God is righteous, and
|
|
there is no iniquity in him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 92
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dominus regnavit.
|
|
|
|
The glory and stability of the kingdom; that is, of the church of
|
|
Christ.
|
|
|
|
Praise in the way of a canticle, for David himself, on the day before
|
|
the sabbath, when the earth was founded.
|
|
|
|
92:1. The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is
|
|
clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. For he hath established
|
|
the world which shall not be moved.
|
|
|
|
92:2. My throne is prepared from of old: thou art from everlasting.
|
|
|
|
92:3. The floods have lifted up, O Lord: the floods have lifted up
|
|
their voice. The floods have lifted up their waves,
|
|
|
|
92:4. With the noise of many waters. Wonderful are the surges of the
|
|
sea: wonderful is the Lord on high.
|
|
|
|
92:5. Thy testimonies are become exceedingly credible: holiness
|
|
becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 93
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus ultionum.
|
|
|
|
God shall judge and punish the oppressors of his people.
|
|
|
|
A psalm for David himself on the fourth day of the week.
|
|
|
|
93:1. The Lord is the God to whom revenge belongeth: the God of revenge
|
|
hath acted freely.
|
|
|
|
93:2. Lift up thyself, thou that judgest the earth: render a reward to
|
|
the proud.
|
|
|
|
93:3. How long shall sinners, O Lord: how long shall sinners glory?
|
|
|
|
93:4. Shall they utter, and speak iniquity: shall all speak who work
|
|
injustice?
|
|
|
|
93:5. Thy people, O Lord, they have brought low: and they have
|
|
afflicted thy inheritance.
|
|
|
|
93:6. They have slain the widow and the stranger: and they have
|
|
murdered the fatherless.
|
|
|
|
93:7. And they have said: The Lord shall not see: neither shall the God
|
|
of Jacob understand.
|
|
|
|
93:8. Understand, ye senseless among the people: and, you fools, be
|
|
wise at last.
|
|
|
|
93:9. He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? or he that formed the
|
|
eye, doth he not consider?
|
|
|
|
93:10. He that chastiseth nations, shall he not rebuke: he that
|
|
teacheth man knowledge?
|
|
|
|
93:11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain.
|
|
|
|
93:12. Blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord: and shalt
|
|
teach him out of thy law.
|
|
|
|
93:13. That thou mayst give him rest from the evil days: till a pit be
|
|
dug for the wicked.
|
|
|
|
Rest from the evil days. . .That thou mayst mitigate the sorrows, to
|
|
which he is exposed, during the short and evil days of his mortality.
|
|
|
|
93:14. For the Lord will not cast off his people: neither will he
|
|
forsake his own inheritance.
|
|
|
|
93:15. Until justice be turned into judgment: and they that are near it
|
|
are all the upright in heart.
|
|
|
|
Until justice be turned into judgment, etc. . .By being put in
|
|
execution; which will be agreeable to all the upright in heart.
|
|
|
|
93:16. Who shall rise up for me against the evildoers? or who shall
|
|
stand with me against the workers of iniquity?
|
|
|
|
93:17. Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in
|
|
hell.
|
|
|
|
93:18. If I said: My foot is moved: thy mercy, O Lord, assisted me.
|
|
|
|
93:19. According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, thy
|
|
comforts have given joy to my soul.
|
|
|
|
93:20. Doth the seat of iniquity stick to thee, who framest labour in
|
|
commandment?
|
|
|
|
Doth the seat of iniquity stick to thee, etc. . .That is, wilt thou, O
|
|
God, who art always just, admit of the seat of iniquity: that is, of
|
|
injustice, or unjust judges, to have any partnership with thee? Thou
|
|
who framest, or makest, labour in commandment, that is, thou who
|
|
obligest us to labour with all diligence to keep thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
93:21. They will hunt after the soul of the just, and will condemn
|
|
innocent blood.
|
|
|
|
93:22. But the Lord is my refuge: and my God the help of my hope.
|
|
|
|
93:23. And he will render them their iniquity : and in their malice he
|
|
will destroy them: the Lord our God will destroy them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 94
|
|
|
|
|
|
Venite exultemus.
|
|
|
|
An invitation to adore and serve God, and to hear his voice.
|
|
|
|
Praise of a canticle for David himself.
|
|
|
|
94:1. Come let us praise the Lord with joy: let us joyfully sing to God
|
|
our saviour.
|
|
|
|
94:2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving; and make a
|
|
joyful noise to him with psalms.
|
|
|
|
94:3. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
|
|
|
|
94:4. For in his hand are all the ends of the earth: and the heights of
|
|
the mountains are his.
|
|
|
|
94:5. For the sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry
|
|
land.
|
|
|
|
94:6. Come let us adore and fall down: and weep before the Lord that
|
|
made us.
|
|
|
|
94:7. For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture
|
|
and the sheep of his hand.
|
|
|
|
94:8. To day if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:
|
|
|
|
94:9. As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the
|
|
wilderness: where your fathers tempted me, they proved me, and saw my
|
|
works.
|
|
|
|
94:10. Forty years long was I offended with that generation, and I
|
|
said: These always err in heart.
|
|
|
|
94:11. And these men have not known my ways: so I swore in my wrath
|
|
that they shall not enter into my rest.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 95
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cantate Domino.
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to praise God for the coming of Christ and his kingdom.
|
|
|
|
95:1. A canticle for David himself, when the house was built after the
|
|
captivity. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all
|
|
the earth.
|
|
|
|
When the house was built, etc. . .Alluding to that time, and then
|
|
ordered to be sung: but principally relating to the building of the
|
|
church of Christ, after our redemption from the captivity of Satan.
|
|
|
|
95:2. Sing ye to the Lord and bless his name: shew forth his salvation
|
|
from day to day.
|
|
|
|
95:3. Declare his glory among the Gentiles: his wonders among all
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
95:4. For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: he is to be
|
|
feared above all gods.
|
|
|
|
95:5. For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made
|
|
the heavens.
|
|
|
|
95:6. Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty in his
|
|
sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
95:7. Bring ye to the Lord, O ye kindreds of the Gentiles, bring ye to
|
|
the Lord glory and honour:
|
|
|
|
95:8. Bring to the Lord glory unto his name. Bring up sacrifices, and
|
|
come into his courts:
|
|
|
|
95:9. Adore ye the Lord in his holy court. Let all the earth be moved
|
|
at his presence.
|
|
|
|
95:10. Say ye among the Gentiles, the Lord hath reigned. For he hath
|
|
corrected the world, which shall not be moved: he will judge the people
|
|
with justice.
|
|
|
|
95:11. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea
|
|
be moved, and the fulness thereof:
|
|
|
|
95:12. The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful. Then
|
|
shall all the trees of the woods rejoice
|
|
|
|
95:13. before the face of the Lord, because he cometh: because he
|
|
cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and
|
|
the people with his truth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 96
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dominus regnavit.
|
|
|
|
All are invited to rejoice at the glorious coming and reign of Christ.
|
|
|
|
96:1. For the same David, when his land was restored again to him. The
|
|
Lord hath reigned, let the earth rejoice: let many islands be glad.
|
|
|
|
96:2. Clouds and darkness are round about him: justice and judgment are
|
|
the establishment of his throne.
|
|
|
|
Clouds and darkness. . .The coming of Christ in the clouds with great
|
|
terror and majesty to judge the world, is here prophesied.
|
|
|
|
96:3. A fire shall go before him, and shall burn his enemies round
|
|
about.
|
|
|
|
96:4. His lightnings have shone forth to the world: the earth saw and
|
|
trembled.
|
|
|
|
96:5. The mountains melted like wax, at the presence of the Lord: at
|
|
the presence of the Lord of all the earth.
|
|
|
|
96:6. The heavens declared his justice: and all people saw his glory.
|
|
|
|
96:7. Let them be all confounded that adore graven things, and that
|
|
glory in their idols. Adore him, all you his angels:
|
|
|
|
96:8. Sion heard, and was glad. And the daughters of Juda rejoiced,
|
|
because of thy judgments, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
96:9. For thou art the most high Lord over all the earth: thou art
|
|
exalted exceedingly above all gods.
|
|
|
|
96:10. You that love the Lord, hate evil: the Lord preserveth the souls
|
|
of his saints, he will deliver them out of the hand of the sinner.
|
|
|
|
96:11. Light is risen to the just, and joy to the right of heart.
|
|
|
|
96:12. Rejoice, ye just, in the Lord: and give praise to the
|
|
remembrance of his holiness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 97
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cantate Domino.
|
|
|
|
All are again invited to praise the Lord, for the victories of Christ.
|
|
|
|
97:1. A psalm for David himself. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle:
|
|
because he hath done wonderful things. His right hand hath wrought for
|
|
him salvation, and his arm is holy.
|
|
|
|
97:2. The Lord hath made known his salvation: he hath revealed his
|
|
justice in the sight of the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
97:3. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of
|
|
Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
|
|
|
|
97:4. Sing joyfully to God, all the earth; make melody, rejoice and
|
|
sing.
|
|
|
|
97:5. Sing praise to the Lord on the harp, on the harp, and with the
|
|
voice of a psalm:
|
|
|
|
97:6. With long trumpets, and sound of cornet. Make a joyful noise
|
|
before the Lord our king:
|
|
|
|
97:7. Let the sea be moved and the fullness thereof: the world and they
|
|
that dwell therein.
|
|
|
|
97:8. The rivers shall clap their hands, the mountains shall rejoice
|
|
together
|
|
|
|
97:9. At the presence of the Lord: because he cometh to judge the
|
|
earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with
|
|
equity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 98
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dominus regnavit.
|
|
|
|
The reign of the Lord in Sion: that is, of Christ in his church.
|
|
|
|
98:1. A psalm for David himself. The Lord hath reigned, let the people
|
|
be angry: he that sitteth on the cherubims: let the earth be moved.
|
|
|
|
Let the people be angry. . .Though many enemies rage, and the whole
|
|
earth be stirred up to oppose the reign of Christ, he shall still
|
|
prevail.
|
|
|
|
98:2. The lord is great in Sion, and high above all people.
|
|
|
|
98:3. Let them give praise to thy great name: for it is terrible and
|
|
holy:
|
|
|
|
98:4. And the king's honour loveth judgment. Thou hast prepared
|
|
directions: thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob.
|
|
|
|
Loveth judgment. . .Requireth discretion.--Ibid. Directions. . .Most
|
|
right and just laws to direct men.
|
|
|
|
98:5. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore his footstool, for it is
|
|
holy.
|
|
|
|
Adore his footstool. . .The ark of the covenant was called, in the Old
|
|
Testament, God's footstool: over which he was understood to sit, on his
|
|
propitiatory, or mercy seat, as on a throne, between the wings of the
|
|
cherubims, in the sanctuary: to which the children of Israel paid a
|
|
great veneration. But as this psalm evidently relates to Christ, and
|
|
the New Testament, where the ark has no place, the holy fathers
|
|
understand this text, of the worship paid by the church to the body and
|
|
blood of Christ in the sacred mysteries: inasmuch as the humanity of
|
|
Christ is, as it were, the footstool of the divinity. So St. Ambrose,
|
|
L. 3. De Spiritu Sancto, c. 12. And St. Augustine upon this psalm.
|
|
|
|
98:6. Moses and Aaron among his priests: and Samuel among them that
|
|
call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them:
|
|
|
|
Moses and Aaron among his priests. . .By this it is evident, that Moses
|
|
also was a priest, and indeed the chief priest, inasmuch as he
|
|
consecrated Aaron, and offered sacrifice for him. Lev. 8. So that his
|
|
pre-eminence over Aaron makes nothing for lay church headship.
|
|
|
|
98:7. He spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept his
|
|
testimonies, and the commandment which he gave them.
|
|
|
|
98:8. Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God: thou wast a merciful God to
|
|
them, and taking vengeance on all their inventions.
|
|
|
|
All their inventions. . .that is, all the enterprises of their enemies
|
|
against them, as in the case of Core, Dathan, and Abiron.
|
|
|
|
98:9. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at his holy mountain: for
|
|
the Lord our God is holy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 99
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jubilate Deo.
|
|
|
|
All are invited to rejoice in God the creator of all.
|
|
|
|
99:1. A psalm of praise.
|
|
|
|
99:2. Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the Lord with
|
|
gladness. Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy.
|
|
|
|
99:3. Know ye that the Lord he is God: he made us, and not we
|
|
ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
|
|
|
|
99:4. Go ye into his gates with praise, into his courts with hymns: and
|
|
give glory to him. Praise ye his name:
|
|
|
|
99:5. For the Lord is sweet, his mercy endureth for ever, and his truth
|
|
to generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 100
|
|
|
|
|
|
Misericordiam et judicium.
|
|
|
|
The prophet exhorteth all by his example, to follow mercy and justice.
|
|
|
|
100:1. A psalm for David himself. Mercy and judgment I will sing to
|
|
thee, O Lord: I will sing,
|
|
|
|
100:2. And I will understand in the unspotted way, when thou shalt come
|
|
to me. I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house.
|
|
|
|
I will understand, etc. . .That is, I will apply my mind, I will do my
|
|
endeavour, to know and to follow the perfect way of thy commandments:
|
|
not trusting to my own strength, but relying on thy coming to me by thy
|
|
grace.
|
|
|
|
100:3. I will not set before my eyes any unjust thing: I hated the
|
|
workers of iniquities.
|
|
|
|
100:4. The perverse heart did not cleave to me: and the malignant, that
|
|
turned aside from me, I would not know.
|
|
|
|
100:5. The man that in private detracted his neighbour, him did I
|
|
persecute. With him that had a proud eye, and an unsatiable heart, I
|
|
would not eat.
|
|
|
|
100:6. My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, to sit with me: the
|
|
man that walked in the perfect way, he served me.
|
|
|
|
100:7. He that worketh pride shall not dwell in the midst of my house:
|
|
he that speaketh unjust things did not prosper before my eyes.
|
|
|
|
100:8. In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land: that I
|
|
might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 101
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, exaudi.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for one in affliction: the fifth penitential psalm.
|
|
|
|
101:1. The prayer of the poor man, when he was anxious, and poured out
|
|
his supplication before the Lord.
|
|
|
|
101:2. Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee.
|
|
|
|
101:3. Turn not away thy face from me: in the day when I am in trouble,
|
|
incline thy ear to me. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear
|
|
me speedily.
|
|
|
|
101:4. For my days are vanished like smoke, and my bones are grown dry
|
|
like fuel for the fire.
|
|
|
|
101:5. I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered: because I
|
|
forgot to eat my bread.
|
|
|
|
101:6. Through the voice of my groaning, my bone hath cleaved to my
|
|
flesh.
|
|
|
|
101:7. I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness: I am like a
|
|
night raven in the house.
|
|
|
|
A pelican, etc. . .I am become through grief, like birds that affect
|
|
solitude and darkness.
|
|
|
|
101:8. I have watched, and am become as a sparrow all alone on the
|
|
housetop.
|
|
|
|
101:9. All the day long my enemies reproached me: and they that praised
|
|
me did swear against me.
|
|
|
|
101:10. For I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with
|
|
weeping.
|
|
|
|
101:11. Because of thy anger and indignation: for having lifted me up
|
|
thou hast thrown me down.
|
|
|
|
101:12. My days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like
|
|
grass.
|
|
|
|
101:13. But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever: and thy memorial to all
|
|
generations.
|
|
|
|
101:14. Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion: for it is time to have
|
|
mercy on it, for the time is come.
|
|
|
|
101:15. For the stones thereof have pleased thy servants: and they
|
|
shall have pity on the earth thereof.
|
|
|
|
101:16. All the Gentiles shall fear thy name, O Lord, and all the kings
|
|
of the earth thy glory.
|
|
|
|
101:17. For the Lord hath built up Sion: and he shall be seen in his
|
|
glory.
|
|
|
|
101:18. He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he hath not
|
|
despised their petition.
|
|
|
|
101:19. Let these things be written unto another generation: and the
|
|
people that shall be created shall praise the Lord:
|
|
|
|
101:20. Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary: from
|
|
heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth.
|
|
|
|
101:21. That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters: that
|
|
he might release the children of the slain:
|
|
|
|
101:22. That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion: and his
|
|
praise in Jerusalem;
|
|
|
|
101:23. When the people assemble together, and kings, to serve the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
101:24. He answered him in the way of his strength: Declare unto me the
|
|
fewness of my days.
|
|
|
|
He answered him in the way of his strength. . .That is, the people,
|
|
mentioned in the foregoing verse, or the penitent, in whose person this
|
|
psalm is delivered, answered the Lord in the way of his strength: that
|
|
is, according to the best of his power and strength: or when he was in
|
|
the flower of his age and strength: inquiring after the fewness of his
|
|
days: to know if he should live long enough to see the happy
|
|
restoration of Sion, etc.
|
|
|
|
101:25. Call me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are unto
|
|
generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
101:26. In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: and the
|
|
heavens are the works of thy hands.
|
|
|
|
101:27. They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall
|
|
grow old like a garment: And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and
|
|
they shall be changed.
|
|
|
|
101:28. But thou art always the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail.
|
|
|
|
101:29. The children of thy servants shall continue and their seed
|
|
shall be directed for ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 102
|
|
|
|
|
|
Benedic, anima.
|
|
|
|
Thanksgiving to God for his mercies.
|
|
|
|
102:1. For David himself. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that
|
|
is within me bless his holy name.
|
|
|
|
102:2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
102:3. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases.
|
|
|
|
102:4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with
|
|
mercy and compassion.
|
|
|
|
102:5. Who satisfieth thy desire with good things: thy youth shall be
|
|
renewed like the eagle's.
|
|
|
|
102:6. The Lord doth mercies, and judgment for all that suffer wrong.
|
|
|
|
102:7. He hath made his ways known to Moses: his wills to the children
|
|
of Israel.
|
|
|
|
102:8. The Lord is compassionate and merciful: longsuffering and
|
|
plenteous in mercy.
|
|
|
|
102:9. He will not always be angry: nor will he threaten for ever.
|
|
|
|
102:10. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded
|
|
us according to our iniquities.
|
|
|
|
102:11. For according to the height of the heaven above the earth: he
|
|
hath strengthened his mercy towards them that fear him.
|
|
|
|
102:12. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our
|
|
iniquities from us.
|
|
|
|
102:13. As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord
|
|
compassion on them that fear him:
|
|
|
|
102:14. For he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust:
|
|
|
|
102:15. Man's days are as grass, as the flower of the field so shall he
|
|
flourish.
|
|
|
|
102:16. For the spirit shall pass in him, and he shall not be: and he
|
|
shall know his place no more.
|
|
|
|
102:17. But the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity
|
|
upon them that fear him: And his justice unto children's children,
|
|
|
|
102:18. To such as keep his covenant, And are mindful of his
|
|
commandments to do them.
|
|
|
|
102:19. The lord hath prepared his throne in heaven: and his kingdom
|
|
shall rule over all.
|
|
|
|
102:20. Bless the Lord, all ye his angels: you that are mighty in
|
|
strength, and execute his word, hearkening to the voice of his orders.
|
|
|
|
102:21. Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts: you ministers of his that do
|
|
his will.
|
|
|
|
102:22. Bless the Lord, all his works: in every place of his dominion,
|
|
O my soul, bless thou the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 103
|
|
|
|
|
|
Benedic, anima.
|
|
|
|
God is to be praised for his mighty works, and wonderful providence.
|
|
|
|
103:1. For David himself. Bless the Lord, O my soul: O Lord my God,
|
|
thou art exceedingly great. Thou hast put on praise and beauty:
|
|
|
|
103:2. And art clothed with light as with a garment. Who stretchest out
|
|
the heaven like a pavilion:
|
|
|
|
103:3. Who coverest the higher rooms thereof with water. Who makest the
|
|
clouds thy chariot: who walkest upon the wings of the winds.
|
|
|
|
103:4. Who makest thy angels spirits: and thy ministers a burning fire.
|
|
|
|
103:5. Who hast founded the earth upon its own bases: it shall not be
|
|
moved for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
103:6. The deep like a garment is its clothing: above the mountains
|
|
shall the waters stand.
|
|
|
|
103:7. At thy rebuke they shall flee: at the voice of thy thunder they
|
|
shall fear.
|
|
|
|
103:8. The mountains ascend, and the plains descend into the place
|
|
which thou hast founded for them.
|
|
|
|
103:9. Thou hast set a bound which they shall not pass over; neither
|
|
shall they return to cover the earth.
|
|
|
|
103:10. Thou sendest forth springs in the vales: between the midst of
|
|
the hills the waters shall pass.
|
|
|
|
103:11. All the beasts of the field shall drink: the wild asses shall
|
|
expect in their thirst.
|
|
|
|
103:12. Over them the birds of the air shall dwell: from the midst of
|
|
the rocks they shall give forth their voices.
|
|
|
|
103:13. Thou waterest the hills from thy upper rooms: the earth shall
|
|
be filled with the fruit of thy works:
|
|
|
|
103:14. Bringing forth grass for cattle, and herb for the service of
|
|
men. That thou mayst bring bread out of the earth:
|
|
|
|
103:15. And that wine may cheer the heart of man. That he may make the
|
|
face cheerful with oil: and that bread may strengthen man's heart.
|
|
|
|
103:16. The trees of the field shall be filled, and the cedars of
|
|
Libanus which he hath planted:
|
|
|
|
103:17. There the sparrows shall make their nests. The highest of them
|
|
is the house of the heron.
|
|
|
|
103:18. The high hills are a refuge for the harts, the rock for the
|
|
irchins.
|
|
|
|
103:19. He hath made the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going
|
|
down.
|
|
|
|
103:20. Thou hast appointed darkness, and it is night: in it shall all
|
|
the beasts of the woods go about:
|
|
|
|
103:21. The young lions roaring after their prey, and seeking their
|
|
meat from God.
|
|
|
|
103:22. The sun ariseth, and they are gathered together: and they shall
|
|
lie down in their dens.
|
|
|
|
103:23. Man shall go forth to his work, and to his labour until the
|
|
evening.
|
|
|
|
103:24. How great are thy works, O Lord ? thou hast made all things in
|
|
wisdom: the earth is filled with thy riches.
|
|
|
|
103:25. So is this great sea, which stretcheth wide its arms: there are
|
|
creeping things without number: Creatures little and great.
|
|
|
|
103:26. There the ships shall go. This sea dragon which thou hast
|
|
formed to play therein.
|
|
|
|
103:27. All expect of thee that thou give them food in season.
|
|
|
|
103:28. What thou givest to them they shall gather up: when thou
|
|
openest thy hand, they shall all be filled with good.
|
|
|
|
103:29. But if thou turnest away thy face, they shall be troubled: thou
|
|
shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall return to
|
|
their dust.
|
|
|
|
103:30. Thou shalt send forth thy spirit, and they shall be created:
|
|
and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
|
|
|
|
103:31. May the glory of the Lord endure for ever: the Lord shall
|
|
rejoice in his works.
|
|
|
|
103:32. He looketh upon the earth, and maketh it tremble: he troubleth
|
|
the mountains, and they smoke.
|
|
|
|
103:33. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise
|
|
to my God while I have my being.
|
|
|
|
103:34. Let my speech be acceptable to him: but I will take delight in
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
103:35. Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and the unjust, so
|
|
that they be no more: O my soul, bless thou the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 104
|
|
|
|
|
|
Confitemini Domino.
|
|
|
|
A thanksgiving to God for his benefits to his people Israel.
|
|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
104:1. Give glory to the Lord, and call upon his name: declare his
|
|
deeds among the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
104:2. Sing to him, yea sing praises to him: relate all his wondrous
|
|
works.
|
|
|
|
104:3. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that
|
|
seek the Lord.
|
|
|
|
104:4. Seek ye the lord, and be strengthened: seek his face evermore.
|
|
|
|
104:5. Remember his marvellous works which he hath done; his wonders,
|
|
and the judgments of his mouth.
|
|
|
|
104:6. O ye seed of Abraham his servant; ye sons of Jacob his chosen.
|
|
|
|
104:7. He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth.
|
|
|
|
104:8. He hath remembered his covenant for ever: the word which he
|
|
commanded to a thousand generations.
|
|
|
|
104:9. Which he made to Abraham; and his oath to Isaac:
|
|
|
|
104:10. And he appointed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for
|
|
an everlasting testament:
|
|
|
|
104:11. Saying: To thee will I give the land of Chanaan, the lot of
|
|
your inheritance.
|
|
|
|
104:12. When they were but a small number: yea very few, and sojourners
|
|
therein:
|
|
|
|
104:13. And they passed from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to
|
|
another people.
|
|
|
|
104:14. He suffered no man to hurt them: and he reproved kings for
|
|
their sakes.
|
|
|
|
104:15. Touch ye not my anointed: and do no evil to my prophets.
|
|
|
|
104:16. And he called a famine upon the land: and he broke in pieces
|
|
all the support of bread.
|
|
|
|
104:17. He sent a man before them: Joseph, who was sold for a slave.
|
|
|
|
104:18. They humbled his feet in fetters: the iron pierced his soul,
|
|
|
|
104:19. Until his word came. The word of the Lord inflamed him.
|
|
|
|
104:20. The king sent, and he released him: the ruler of the people,
|
|
and he set him at liberty.
|
|
|
|
104:21. He made him master of his house, and ruler of all his
|
|
possession.
|
|
|
|
104:22. That he might instruct his princes as himself, and teach his
|
|
ancients wisdom.
|
|
|
|
104:23. And Israel went into Egypt: and Jacob was a sojourner in the
|
|
land of Cham.
|
|
|
|
104:24. And he increased his people exceedingly: and strengthened them
|
|
over their enemies.
|
|
|
|
104:25. He turned their heart to hate his people: and to deal
|
|
deceitfully with his servants.
|
|
|
|
He turned their heart, etc. . .Not that God (who is never the author of
|
|
sin) moved the Egyptians to hate and persecute his people; but that the
|
|
Egyptians took occasion of hating and envying them, from the sight of
|
|
the benefits which God bestowed upon them.
|
|
|
|
104:26. He sent Moses his servant: Aaron the man whom he had chosen.
|
|
|
|
104:27. He gave them power to shew them signs, and his wonders in the
|
|
land of Cham.
|
|
|
|
104:28. He sent darkness, and made it obscure: and grieved not his
|
|
words.
|
|
|
|
Grieved not his words. . .That is, he was not wanting to fulfil his
|
|
words: or he did not grieve Moses and Aaron, the carriers of his words:
|
|
or he did not grieve his words, that is, his sons, the children of
|
|
Israel, who enjoyed light whilst the Egyptians were oppressed with
|
|
darkness.
|
|
|
|
104:29. He turned their waters into blood, and destroyed their fish.
|
|
|
|
104:30. Their land brought forth frogs, in the inner chambers of their
|
|
kings.
|
|
|
|
104:31. He spoke, and there came divers sorts of flies and sciniphs in
|
|
all their coasts.
|
|
|
|
Sciniphs. . .See the annotation, Ex.8.16.
|
|
|
|
104:32. He gave them hail for rain, a burning fire in the land.
|
|
|
|
104:33. And he destroyed their vineyards and their fig trees: and he
|
|
broke in pieces the trees of their coasts.
|
|
|
|
104:34. He spoke, and the locust came, and the bruchus, of which there
|
|
was no number.
|
|
|
|
Bruchus. . .An insect of the locust kind.
|
|
|
|
104:35. And they devoured all the grass in their land, and consumed all
|
|
the fruit of their ground.
|
|
|
|
104:36. And he slew all the firstborn in their land: the firstfruits of
|
|
all their labour.
|
|
|
|
104:37. And he brought them out with silver and gold: and there was not
|
|
among their tribes one that was feeble.
|
|
|
|
104:38. Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them lay
|
|
upon them.
|
|
|
|
104:39. He spread a cloud for their protection, and fire to give them
|
|
light in the night.
|
|
|
|
104:40. They asked, and the quail came: and he filled them with the
|
|
bread of heaven.
|
|
|
|
104:41. He opened the rock, and waters flowed: rivers ran down in the
|
|
dry land.
|
|
|
|
104:42. Because he remembered his holy word, which he had spoken to his
|
|
servant Abraham.
|
|
|
|
104:43. And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with
|
|
gladness.
|
|
|
|
104:44. And he gave them the lands of the Gentiles: and they possessed
|
|
the labours of the people:
|
|
|
|
104:45. That they might observe his justifications, and seek after his
|
|
law.
|
|
|
|
His justifications. . .That is, his commandments; which here, and in
|
|
many other places of the scripture, are called justifications, because
|
|
the keeping of them makes man just. The Protestants render it by the
|
|
word statutes, in favour of their doctrine, which does not allow good
|
|
works to justify.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 105
|
|
|
|
|
|
Confitemini Domino.
|
|
|
|
A confession of the manifold sins and ingratitudes of the Israelites.
|
|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
105:1. Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
105:2. Who shall declare the powers of the Lord? who shall set forth
|
|
all his praises?
|
|
|
|
105:3. Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do justice at all
|
|
times.
|
|
|
|
105:4. Remember us, O Lord, in the favour of thy people: visit us with
|
|
thy salvation.
|
|
|
|
105:5. That we may see the good of thy chosen, that we may rejoice in
|
|
the joy of thy nation: that thou mayst be praised with thy inheritance.
|
|
|
|
105:6. We have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly, we have
|
|
wrought iniquity.
|
|
|
|
105:7. Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt: they remembered
|
|
not the multitude of thy mercies: And they provoked to wrath going up
|
|
to the sea, even the Red Sea.
|
|
|
|
105:8. And he saved them for his own name's sake: that he might make
|
|
his power known.
|
|
|
|
105:9. And he rebuked the Red Sea and it was dried up: and he led them
|
|
through the depths, as in a wilderness.
|
|
|
|
105:10. And he saved them from the hand of them that hated them: and he
|
|
redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
|
|
|
|
105:11. And the water covered them that afflicted them: there was not
|
|
one of them left.
|
|
|
|
105:12. And they believed his words: and they sang his praises.
|
|
|
|
105:13. They had quickly done, they forgot his works: and they waited
|
|
not for his counsel.
|
|
|
|
105:14. And they coveted their desire in the desert: and they tempted
|
|
God in the place without water.
|
|
|
|
105:15. And he gave them their request: and sent fulness into their
|
|
souls.
|
|
|
|
105:16. And they provoked Moses in the camp, Aaron the holy one of the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
105:17. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan: and covered the
|
|
congregation of Abiron.
|
|
|
|
105:18. And a fire was kindled in their congregation: the flame burned
|
|
the wicked.
|
|
|
|
105:19. They made also a calf in Horeb: and they adored the graven
|
|
thing.
|
|
|
|
105:20. And they changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that
|
|
eateth grass.
|
|
|
|
105:21. They forgot God, who saved them, who had done great things in
|
|
Egypt,
|
|
|
|
105:22. Wondrous works in the land of Cham: terrible things in the Red
|
|
Sea.
|
|
|
|
105:23. And he said that he would destroy them: had not Moses his
|
|
chosen stood before him in the breach: To turn away his wrath, lest he
|
|
should destroy them.
|
|
|
|
105:24. And they set at nought the desirable land. They believed not
|
|
his word,
|
|
|
|
105:25. And they murmured in their tents: they hearkened not to the
|
|
voice of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
105:26. And he lifted up his hand over them: to overthrow them in the
|
|
desert;
|
|
|
|
105:27. And to cast down their seed among the nations, and to scatter
|
|
them in the countries.
|
|
|
|
105:28. They also were initiated to Beelphegor: and ate the sacrifices
|
|
of the dead.
|
|
|
|
Initiated. . .That is, they dedicated, or consecrated themselves to the
|
|
idol of the Moabites and Madianites, called Beelphegor, or Baal-Peor.
|
|
Num. 25.3.--Ibid. The dead. . .Viz., idols without life.
|
|
|
|
105:29. And they provoked him with their inventions: and destruction
|
|
was multiplied among them.
|
|
|
|
105:30. Then Phinees stood up, and pacified him: and the slaughter
|
|
ceased.
|
|
|
|
105:31. And it was reputed to him unto justice, to generation and
|
|
generation for evermore.
|
|
|
|
105:32. They provoked him also at the waters of contradiction: and
|
|
Moses was afflicted for their sakes:
|
|
|
|
105:33. Because they exasperated his spirit. And he distinguished with
|
|
his lips.
|
|
|
|
He distinguished with his lips. . .Moses, by occasion of the people's
|
|
rebellion and incredulity, was guilty of distinguishing with his lips;
|
|
when, instead of speaking to the rock, as God had commanded, he said to
|
|
the people, with a certain hesitation in his faith, Hear ye, rebellious
|
|
and incredulous: Can we from this rock bring out water for you? Num.
|
|
20.10.
|
|
|
|
105:34. They did not destroy the nations of which the Lord spoke unto
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
105:35. And they were mingled among the heathens, and learned their
|
|
works:
|
|
|
|
105:36. And served their idols, and it became a stumblingblock to them.
|
|
|
|
105:37. And they sacrificed their sons, and their daughters to devils.
|
|
|
|
105:38. And they shed innocent blood: the blood of their sons and of
|
|
their daughters which they sacrificed to the idols of Chanaan. And the
|
|
land was polluted with blood,
|
|
|
|
105:39. And was defiled with their works: and they went aside after
|
|
their own inventions.
|
|
|
|
105:40. And the Lord was exceedingly angry with his people: and he
|
|
abhorred his inheritance.
|
|
|
|
105:41. And he delivered them into the hands of the nations: and they
|
|
that hated them had dominion over them.
|
|
|
|
105:42. And their enemies afflicted them: and they were humbled under
|
|
their hands:
|
|
|
|
105:43. Many times did he deliver them. But they provoked him with
|
|
their counsel: and they were brought low by their iniquities.
|
|
|
|
105:44. And he saw when they were in tribulation: and he heard their
|
|
prayer.
|
|
|
|
105:45. And he was mindful of his covenant: and repented according to
|
|
the multitude of his mercies.
|
|
|
|
105:46. And he gave them unto mercies, in the sight of all those that
|
|
had made them captives.
|
|
|
|
105:47. Save us, O Lord, our God: and gather us from among the nations:
|
|
That we may give thanks to thy holy name, and may glory in thy praise.
|
|
|
|
105:48. Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, from everlasting to
|
|
everlasting: and let all the people say: So be it, so be it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 106
|
|
|
|
|
|
Confitemini Domino.
|
|
|
|
All are invited to give thanks to God for his perpetual providence over
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
106:1. Give glory to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
106:2. Let them say so that have been redeemed by the Lord, whom he
|
|
hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy: and gathered out of the
|
|
countries.
|
|
|
|
106:3. From the rising and from the setting of the sun, from the north
|
|
and from the sea.
|
|
|
|
106:4. They wandered in a wilderness, in a place without water: they
|
|
found not the way of a city for their habitation.
|
|
|
|
106:5. They were hungry and thirsty: their soul fainted in them.
|
|
|
|
106:6. And they cried to the Lord in their tribulation: and he
|
|
delivered them out of their distresses.
|
|
|
|
106:7. And he led them into the right way, that they might go to a city
|
|
of habitation.
|
|
|
|
106:8. Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to him: and his wonderful
|
|
works to the children of men.
|
|
|
|
106:9. For he hath satisfied the empty soul, and hath filled the hungry
|
|
soul with good things.
|
|
|
|
106:10. Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death: bound in
|
|
want and in iron.
|
|
|
|
106:11. Because they had exasperated the words of God: and provoked the
|
|
counsel of the most High:
|
|
|
|
106:12. And their heart was humbled with labours: they were weakened,
|
|
and there was none to help them.
|
|
|
|
106:13. Then they cried to the Lord in their affliction: and he
|
|
delivered them out of their distresses.
|
|
|
|
106:14. And he brought them out of darkness, and the shadow of death;
|
|
and broke their bonds in sunder.
|
|
|
|
106:15. Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to him, and his
|
|
wonderful works to the children of men.
|
|
|
|
106:16. Because he hath broken gates of brass, and burst iron bars.
|
|
|
|
106:17. He took them out of the way of their iniquity: for they were
|
|
brought low for their injustices.
|
|
|
|
106:18. Their soul abhorred all manner of meat: and they drew nigh even
|
|
to the gates of death.
|
|
|
|
106:19. And they cried to the Lord in their affliction: and he
|
|
delivered them out of their distresses.
|
|
|
|
106:20. He sent his word, and healed them: and delivered them from
|
|
their destructions.
|
|
|
|
106:21. Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to him: and his
|
|
wonderful works to the children of men.
|
|
|
|
106:22. And let them sacrifice the sacrifice of praise: and declare his
|
|
works with joy.
|
|
|
|
106:23. They that go down to the sea in ships, doing business in the
|
|
great waters:
|
|
|
|
106:24. These have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the
|
|
deep.
|
|
|
|
106:25. He said the word, and there arose a storm of wind: and the
|
|
waves thereof were lifted up.
|
|
|
|
106:26. They mount up to the heavens, and they go down to the depths:
|
|
their soul pined away with evils.
|
|
|
|
106:27. They were troubled, and reeled like a drunken man; and all
|
|
their wisdom was swallowed up.
|
|
|
|
106:28. And they cried to the Lord in their affliction: and he brought
|
|
them out of their distresses.
|
|
|
|
106:29. And he turned the storm into a breeze: and its waves were
|
|
still.
|
|
|
|
106:30. And they rejoiced because they were still: and he brought them
|
|
to the haven which they wished for.
|
|
|
|
106:31. Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to him, and his
|
|
wonderful works to the children of men.
|
|
|
|
106:32. And let them exalt him in the church of the people: and praise
|
|
him in the chair of the ancients.
|
|
|
|
106:33. He hath turned rivers into a wilderness: and the sources of
|
|
waters into dry ground:
|
|
|
|
106:34. A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them
|
|
that dwell therein.
|
|
|
|
106:35. He hath turned a wilderness into pools of waters, and a dry
|
|
land into water springs.
|
|
|
|
106:36. And hath placed there the hungry; and they made a city for
|
|
their habitation.
|
|
|
|
106:37. Anti they sowed fields, and planted vineyards: and they yielded
|
|
fruit of birth.
|
|
|
|
106:38. And he blessed them, and they were multiplied exceedingly: and
|
|
their cattle he suffered not to decrease.
|
|
|
|
106:39. Then they were brought to be few: and they were afflicted
|
|
through the trouble of evils and sorrow.
|
|
|
|
106:40. Contempt was poured forth upon their princes: and he caused
|
|
them to wander where there was no passing, and out of the way.
|
|
|
|
106:41. And he helped the poor out of poverty: and made him families
|
|
like a flock of sheep.
|
|
|
|
106:42. The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and all iniquity shall
|
|
stop her mouth.
|
|
|
|
106:43. Who is wise, and will keep these things; and will understand
|
|
the mercies of the Lord?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 107
|
|
|
|
|
|
Paratum cor meum.
|
|
|
|
The prophet praiseth God for benefits received.
|
|
|
|
107:1. A canticle of a psalm for David himself.
|
|
|
|
107:2. My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing, and
|
|
will give praise, with my glory.
|
|
|
|
107:3. Arise, my glory; arise, psaltery and harp: I will arise in the
|
|
morning early.
|
|
|
|
107:4. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: and I will sing
|
|
unto thee among the nations.
|
|
|
|
107:5. For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth even
|
|
unto the clouds.
|
|
|
|
107:6. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory over
|
|
all the earth:
|
|
|
|
107:7. That thy beloved may be delivered. Save with thy right hand and
|
|
hear me.
|
|
|
|
107:8. God hath spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice, and I will
|
|
divide Sichem and I will mete out the vale of tabernacles.
|
|
|
|
107:9. Galaad is mine: and Manasses is mine and Ephraim the protection
|
|
of my head. Juda is my king:
|
|
|
|
107:10. Moab the pot of my hope. Over Edom I will stretch out my shoe:
|
|
the aliens are become my friends.
|
|
|
|
107:11. Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into
|
|
Edom?
|
|
|
|
107:12. Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off ? and wilt not thou,
|
|
O God, go forth with our armies?
|
|
|
|
107:13. O grant us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
|
|
|
|
107:14. Through God we shall do mightily: and he will bring our enemies
|
|
to nothing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 108
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deus, laudem meam.
|
|
|
|
David in the person of Christ, prayeth against his persecutors; more
|
|
especially the traitor Judas: foretelling and approving his just
|
|
punishment for his obstinacy in sin and final impenitence.
|
|
|
|
108:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David.
|
|
|
|
108:2. O God, be not thou silent in my praise: for the mouth of the
|
|
wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me.
|
|
|
|
108:3. They have spoken against me with deceitful tongues; and they
|
|
have compassed me about with words of hatred; and have fought against
|
|
me without cause.
|
|
|
|
108:4. Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: but I
|
|
gave myself to prayer.
|
|
|
|
108:5. And they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love.
|
|
|
|
108:6. Set thou the sinner over him: and may the devil stand at his
|
|
right hand.
|
|
|
|
Set thou the sinner over him, etc. . .Give to the devil, that
|
|
arch-sinner, power over him: let him enter into him, and possess him.
|
|
The imprecations, contained in the thirty verses of this psalm, are
|
|
opposed to the thirty pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed our
|
|
Lord; and are to be taken as prophetic denunciations of the evils that
|
|
should befall the traitor and his accomplices the Jews; and not
|
|
properly as curses.
|
|
|
|
108:7. When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer
|
|
be turned to sin.
|
|
|
|
108:8. May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take.
|
|
|
|
108:9. May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
|
|
|
|
108:10. Let his children be carried about vagabonds, and beg; and let
|
|
them be cast out of their dwellings.
|
|
|
|
108:11. May the usurer search all his substance: and let strangers
|
|
plunder his labours.
|
|
|
|
108:12. May there be none to help him: nor none to pity his fatherless
|
|
offspring.
|
|
|
|
108:13. May his posterity be cut off; in one generation may his name be
|
|
blotted out.
|
|
|
|
108:14. May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of
|
|
the Lord: and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
|
|
|
|
108:15. May they be before the Lord continually, and let the memory of
|
|
them perish from the earth:
|
|
|
|
108:16. because he remembered not to shew mercy,
|
|
|
|
108:17. But persecuted the poor man and the beggar; and the broken in
|
|
heart, to put him to death.
|
|
|
|
108:18. And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would
|
|
not have blessing, and it shall be far from him. And he put on cursing,
|
|
like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like
|
|
oil in his bones.
|
|
|
|
108:19. May it be unto him like a garment which covereth him; and like
|
|
a girdle with which he is girded continually.
|
|
|
|
108:20. This is the work of them who detract me before the Lord; and
|
|
who speak evils against my soul.
|
|
|
|
108:21. But thou, O Lord, do with me for thy name's sake: because thy
|
|
mercy is sweet. Do thou deliver me,
|
|
|
|
108:22. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is troubled within me.
|
|
|
|
108:23. I am taken away like the shadow when it declineth: and I am
|
|
shaken off as locusts.
|
|
|
|
108:24. My knees are weakened through fasting: and my flesh is changed
|
|
for oil.
|
|
|
|
For oil. . .Propter oleum. The meaning is, my flesh is changed, being
|
|
perfectly emaciated and dried up, as having lost all its oil or
|
|
fatness.
|
|
|
|
108:25. And I am become a reproach to them: they saw me and they shaked
|
|
their heads.
|
|
|
|
108:26. Help me, O Lord my God; save me; according to thy mercy.
|
|
|
|
108:27. And let them know that this is thy hand: and that thou, O Lord,
|
|
hast done it.
|
|
|
|
108:28. They will curse and thou wilt bless: let them that rise up
|
|
against me be confounded: but thy servant shall rejoice.
|
|
|
|
108:29. Let them that detract me be clothed with shame: and let them be
|
|
covered with their confusion as with a double cloak.
|
|
|
|
108:30. I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and in the
|
|
midst of many I will praise him.
|
|
|
|
108:31. Because he hath stood at the right hand of the poor, to save my
|
|
soul from persecutors.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 109
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Dixit Dominus.
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Christ's exaltation and everlasting priesthood.
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109:1. A psalm for David. The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my
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right hand: Until I make thy enemies thy footstool.
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109:2. The Lord will send forth the sceptre of thy power out of Sion:
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rule thou in the midst of thy enemies.
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109:3. With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength: in the
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brightness of the saints: from the womb before the day star I begot
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thee.
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109:4. The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: Thou art a priest
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for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.
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109:5. The Lord at thy right hand hath broken kings in the day of his
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wrath.
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109:6. He shall judge among nations, he shall fill ruins: he shall
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crush the heads in the land of many.
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109:7. He shall drink of the torrent in the way: therefore shall he
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lift up the head.
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Psalms Chapter 110
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Confitebor tibi, Domine.
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God is to be praised for his graces, and benefits to his church.
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Alleluia.
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110:1. I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; in the council
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of the just, and in the congregation.
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110:2. Great are the works of the Lord: sought out according to all his
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wills.
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110:3. His work is praise and magnificence: and his justice continueth
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for ever and ever.
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110:4. He hath made a remembrance of his wonderful works, being a
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merciful and gracious Lord:
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110:5. He hath given food to them that fear him. He will be mindful for
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ever of his covenant:
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110:6. He will shew forth to his people the power of his works.
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110:7. That he may give them the inheritance of the Gentiles: the works
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of his hands are truth and judgment.
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110:8. All his commandments are faithful: confirmed for ever and ever,
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made in truth and equity.
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110:9. He hath sent redemption to his people: he hath commanded his
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covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is his name:
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110:10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good
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understanding to all that do it: his praise continueth for ever and
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ever.
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Psalms Chapter 111
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Beatus vir.
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The good man is happy.
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Alleluia, of the returning of Aggeus and Zacharias.
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Of the returning, etc. . .This is in the Greek and Latin, but not in the
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Hebrew. It signifies that this psalm was proper to be sung at the time
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of the return of the people from their captivity; to inculcate to them,
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how happy they might be, if they would be constant in the service of
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God.
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111:1. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord: he shall delight
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exceedingly in his commandments.
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111:2. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the
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righteous shall be blessed.
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111:3. Glory and wealth shall be in his house: and his justice
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remaineth for ever and ever.
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111:4. To the righteous a light is risen up in darkness: he is
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merciful, and compassionate and just.
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111:5. Acceptable is the man that sheweth mercy and lendeth: he shall
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order his words with judgment:
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111:6. Because he shall not be moved for ever.
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111:7. The just shall be in everlasting remembrance: he shall not fear
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the evil hearing. His heart is ready to hope in the Lord:
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111:8. His heart is strengthened, he shall not be moved until he look
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over his enemies.
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111:9. He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor: his justice
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remaineth for ever and ever: his horn shall be exalted in glory.
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111:10. The wicked shall see, and shall be angry, he shall gnash with
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his teeth and pine away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
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Psalms Chapter 112
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Laudate, pueri.
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God is to be praised for his regard to the poor and humble.
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Alleluia.
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112:1. Praise the Lord, ye children: praise ye the name of the Lord.
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112:2. Blessed be the name of the Lord, from henceforth now and for
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ever.
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112:3. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the
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name of the Lord is worthy of praise.
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112:4. The Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above the
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heavens.
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112:5. Who is as the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high:
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112:6. and looketh
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down on the low things in heaven and in earth?
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112:7. Raising up the needy from the earth, and lifting up the poor out
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of the dunghill:
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112:8. That he may place him with princes, with the princes of his
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people.
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112:9. Who maketh a barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother
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of children.
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Psalms Chapter 113
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In exitu Israel.
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God hath shewn his power in delivering his people: idols are vain. The
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Hebrews divide this into two psalms.
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Alleluia.
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113:1. When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a
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|
barbarous people:
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113:2. Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
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113:3. The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back.
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113:4. The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of
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the flock.
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113:5. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou didst flee: and thou,
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|
O Jordan, that thou wast turned back?
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113:6. Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams, and ye hills, like
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|
lambs of the flock?
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113:7. At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence
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|
of the God of Jacob:
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113:8. Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into
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|
fountains of waters.
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113:1. Not to us, O Lord, not to us; but to thy name give glory.
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113:2. For thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake: lest the Gentiles
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|
should say: Where is their God?
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113:3. But our God is in heaven: he hath done all things whatsoever he
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|
would.
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113:4. The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the works of the
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|
hands of men.
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113:5. They have mouths and speak not: they have eyes and see not.
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113:6. They have ears and hear not: they have noses and smell not.
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113:7. They have hands and feel not: they have feet and walk not:
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|
neither shall they cry out through their throat.
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113:8. Let them that make them become like unto them: and all such as
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trust in them.
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113:9. The house of Israel hath hoped in the Lord: he is their helper
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|
and their protector.
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113:10. The house of Aaron hath hoped in the Lord: he is their helper
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|
and their protector.
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113:11. They that fear the Lord have hoped in the Lord: he is their
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|
helper and their protector.
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113:12. The Lord hath been mindful of us, and hath blessed us. He hath
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blessed the house of Israel: he hath blessed the house of Aaron.
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113:13. He hath blessed all that fear the Lord, both little and great.
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113:14. May the Lord add blessings upon you: upon you, and upon your
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children.
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113:15. Blessed be you of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
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113:16. The heaven of heaven is the Lord's: but the earth he has given
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|
to the children of men.
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113:17. The dead shall not praise thee, O Lord: nor any of them that go
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|
down to hell.
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113:18. But we that live bless the Lord: from this time now and for
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|
ever.
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Psalms Chapter 114
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Dilexi.
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|
The prayer of a just man in affliction, with a lively confidence in
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God.
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Alleluia.
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114:1. I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.
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114:2. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me: and in my days I will
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|
call upon him.
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114:3. The sorrows of death have compassed me: and the perils of hell
|
|
have found me. I met with trouble and sorrow:
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114:4. And I called upon the name of the Lord. O Lord, deliver my soul.
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114:5. The Lord is merciful and just, and our God sheweth mercy.
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114:6. The Lord is the keeper of little ones: I was humbled, and he
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|
delivered me.
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114:7. Turn, O my soul, into thy rest: for the Lord hath been bountiful
|
|
to thee.
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114:8. For he hath delivered my soul from death: my eyes from tears, my
|
|
feet from falling.
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114:9. I will please the Lord in the land of the living.
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Psalms Chapter 115
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|
Credidi.
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|
|
This in the Hebrew is joined with the foregoing psalm, and continues to
|
|
express the faith and gratitude of the psalmist.
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Alleluia.
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|
115:10. I have believed, therefore have I spoken; but I have
|
|
been humbled exceedingly.
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115:11. I said in my excess: Every man is a liar.
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115:12. What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things that he
|
|
hath rendered to me?
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115:13. I will take the chalice of salvation; and I will call upon the
|
|
name of the Lord.
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115:14. I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people:
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115:15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
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115:16. O Lord, for I am thy servant: I am thy servant, and the son of
|
|
thy handmaid. Thou hast broken my bonds:
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115:17. I will sacrifice to thee the sacrifice of praise, and I will
|
|
call upon the name of the Lord.
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115:18. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of all his people:
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|
115:19. In the courts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of thee, O
|
|
Jerusalem.
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|
Psalms Chapter 116
|
|
|
|
|
|
Laudate Dominum.
|
|
|
|
All nations are called upon to praise God for his mercy and truth.
|
|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
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|
116:1. O Praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
|
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|
116:2. For his mercy is confirmed upon us: and the truth of the Lord
|
|
remaineth for ever.
|
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|
Psalms Chapter 117
|
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|
|
Confitemini Domino.
|
|
|
|
The psalmist praiseth God for his delivery from evils: putteth his
|
|
whole trust in him; and foretelleth the coming of Christ.
|
|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
117:1. Give praise to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth
|
|
for ever.
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|
117:2. Let Israel now say, that he is good: that his mercy endureth for
|
|
ever.
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|
117:3. Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for
|
|
ever.
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|
|
117:4. Let them that fear the Lord now say, that his mercy endureth for
|
|
ever.
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|
117:5. In my trouble I called upon the Lord: and the Lord heard me, and
|
|
enlarged me.
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|
117:6. The Lord is my helper: I will not fear what man can do unto me.
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|
117:7. The Lord is my helper: and I will look over my enemies.
|
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|
117:8. It is good to confide in the Lord, rather than to have
|
|
confidence in man.
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|
117:9. It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in
|
|
princes.
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|
|
117:10. All nations compassed me about; and, in the name of the Lord I
|
|
have been revenged on them.
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|
|
117:11. Surrounding me they compassed me about: and in the name of the
|
|
Lord I have been revenged on them.
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|
117:12. They surrounded me like bees, and they burned like fire among
|
|
thorns: and in the name of the Lord I was revenged on them.
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|
117:13. Being pushed I was overturned that I might fall: but the Lord
|
|
supported me.
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|
117:14. The Lord is my strength and my praise: and he is become my
|
|
salvation.
|
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|
|
117:15. The voice of rejoicing and of salvation is in the tabernacles
|
|
of the just.
|
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|
|
117:16. The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength: the right
|
|
hand of the Lord hath exalted me: the right hand of the Lord hath
|
|
wrought strength.
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|
|
117:17. I shall not die, but live: and shall declare the works of the
|
|
Lord.
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|
117:18. The Lord chastising hath chastised me: but he hath not
|
|
delivered me over to death.
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|
|
117:19. Open ye to me the gates of justice: I will go in to them, and
|
|
give praise to the Lord.
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|
|
117:20. This is the gate of the Lord, the just shall enter into it.
|
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|
117:21. I will give glory to thee because thou hast heard me: and art
|
|
become my salvation.
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|
117:22. The stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the
|
|
head of the corner.
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|
117:23. This is the Lord's doing , and it is wonderful in our eyes.
|
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|
117:24. This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and
|
|
rejoice therein.
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|
117:25. O Lord, save me: O Lord, give good success.
|
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|
117:26. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We have
|
|
blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
|
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|
|
117:27. The Lord is God, and he hath shone upon us. Appoint a solemn
|
|
day, with shady boughs, even to the horn of the altar.
|
|
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|
117:28. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, and I
|
|
will exalt thee. I will praise thee, because thou hast heard me, and
|
|
art become my salvation.
|
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|
117:29. O praise ye the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth
|
|
for ever.
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|
Psalms Chapter 118
|
|
|
|
|
|
Beati immaculati.
|
|
|
|
Of the excellence of virtue consisting in the love and observance of
|
|
the commandments of God.
|
|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
ALEPH.
|
|
|
|
Aleph. . .The first eight verses of this psalm in the original begin
|
|
with Aleph, which is the name of the first letter of the Hebrew
|
|
alphabet. The second eight verses begin with Beth, the name of the
|
|
second letter of the Hebrew alphabet; and so to the end of the whole
|
|
alphabet, in all twenty-two letters, each letter having eight verses.
|
|
This order is variously expounded by the holy fathers; which shews the
|
|
difficulty of understanding the holy scriptures, and consequently with
|
|
what humility, and submission to the Church they are to be read.
|
|
|
|
118:1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the
|
|
Lord.
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|
|
118:2. Blessed are they that search his testimonies: that seek him with
|
|
their whole heart.
|
|
|
|
His testimonies. . .The commandments of God are called his testimonies,
|
|
because they testify his holy will unto us. Note here, that in almost
|
|
every verse of this psalm (which in number are 176) the word and law of
|
|
God, and the love and observance of it, is perpetually inculcated,
|
|
under a variety of denominations, all signifying the same thing.
|
|
|
|
118:3. For they that work iniquity, have not walked in his ways.
|
|
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|
118:4. Thou hast commanded thy commandments to be kept most diligently.
|
|
|
|
118:5. O! that my ways may be directed to keep thy justifications.
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|
|
118:6. Then shall I not be confounded, when I shall look into all thy
|
|
commandments.
|
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|
|
118:7. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have
|
|
learned the judgments of thy justice.
|
|
|
|
118:8. I will keep thy justifications: O! do not thou utterly forsake
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
BETH.
|
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|
118:9. By what doth a young man correct his way? by observing thy
|
|
words.
|
|
|
|
118:10. With my whole heart have I sought after thee: let me not stray
|
|
from thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:11. Thy words have I hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
118:12. Blessed art thou, O Lord: teach me thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:13. With my lips I have pronounced all the judgments of thy mouth.
|
|
|
|
118:14. I have been delighted in the way of thy testimonies, as in all
|
|
riches.
|
|
|
|
118:15. I will meditate on thy commandments: and I will consider thy
|
|
ways.
|
|
|
|
118:16. I will think of thy justifications: I will not forget thy
|
|
words.
|
|
|
|
GIMEL.
|
|
|
|
118:17. Give bountifully to thy servant, enliven me: and I shall keep
|
|
thy words.
|
|
|
|
118:18. Open thou my eyes: and I will consider the wondrous things of
|
|
thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:19. I am a sojourner on the earth: hide not thy commandments from
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
118:20. My soul hath coveted to long for thy justifications, at all
|
|
times.
|
|
|
|
118:21. Thou hast rebuked the proud: they are cursed who decline from
|
|
thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:22. Remove from me reproach and contempt: because I have sought
|
|
after thy testimonies.
|
|
|
|
118:23. For princes sat, and spoke against me: but thy servant was
|
|
employed in thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:24. For thy testimonies are my meditation: and thy justifications
|
|
my counsel.
|
|
|
|
DALETH.
|
|
|
|
118:25. My soul hath cleaved to the pavement: quicken thou me according
|
|
to thy word.
|
|
|
|
118:26. I have declared my ways, and thou hast heard me: teach me thy
|
|
justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:27. Make me to understand the way of thy justifications: and I
|
|
shall be exercised in thy wondrous works.
|
|
|
|
118:28. My soul hath slumbered through heaviness: strengthen thou me in
|
|
thy words.
|
|
|
|
118:29. Remove from me the way of iniquity: and out of thy law have
|
|
mercy on me.
|
|
|
|
118:30. I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments I have not
|
|
forgotten.
|
|
|
|
118:31. I have stuck to thy testimonies, O Lord: put me not to shame.
|
|
|
|
118:32. I have run the way of thy commandments, when thou didst enlarge
|
|
my heart.
|
|
|
|
HE.
|
|
|
|
118:33. Set before me for a law the way of thy justifications, O Lord:
|
|
and I will always seek after it.
|
|
|
|
118:34. Give me understanding, and I will search thy law; and I will
|
|
keep it with my whole heart.
|
|
|
|
118:35. Lead me into the path of thy commandments; for this same I have
|
|
desired.
|
|
|
|
118:36. Incline my heart into thy testimonies and not to covetousness.
|
|
|
|
118:37. Turn away my eyes that they may not behold vanity: quicken me
|
|
in thy way.
|
|
|
|
118:38. Establish thy word to thy servant, in thy fear.
|
|
|
|
118:39. Turn away my reproach, which I have apprehended: for thy
|
|
judgments are delightful.
|
|
|
|
118:40. Behold I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy
|
|
justice.
|
|
|
|
VAU.
|
|
|
|
118:41. Let thy mercy also come upon me, O Lord: thy salvation
|
|
according to thy word.
|
|
|
|
118:42. So shall I answer them that reproach me in any thing; that I
|
|
have trusted in thy words.
|
|
|
|
118:43. And take not thou the word of truth utterly out of my mouth:
|
|
for in thy words, I have hoped exceedingly.
|
|
|
|
118:44. So shall I always keep thy law, for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
118:45. And I walked at large: because I have sought after thy
|
|
commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:46. And I spoke of thy testimonies before kings: and I was not
|
|
ashamed.
|
|
|
|
118:47. I meditated also on thy commandments, which I loved.
|
|
|
|
118:48. And I lifted up my hands to thy commandments, which I loved:
|
|
and I was exercised in thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
ZAIN.
|
|
|
|
118:49. Be thou mindful of thy word to thy servant, in which thou hast
|
|
given me hope.
|
|
|
|
118:50. This hath comforted me in my humiliation: because thy word hath
|
|
enlivened me.
|
|
|
|
118:51. The proud did iniquitously altogether: but I declined not from
|
|
thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:52. I remembered, O Lord, thy judgments of old: and I was
|
|
comforted.
|
|
|
|
118:53. A fainting hath taken hold of me, because of the wicked that
|
|
forsake thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:54. Thy justifications were the subject of my song, in the place of
|
|
my pilgrimage.
|
|
|
|
118:55. In the night I have remembered thy name, O Lord: and have kept
|
|
thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:56. This happened to me: because I sought after thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
HETH.
|
|
|
|
118:57. O Lord, my portion, I have said, I would keep thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:58. I entreated thy face with all my heart: have mercy on me
|
|
according to thy word.
|
|
|
|
118:59. I have thought on my ways: and turned my feet unto thy
|
|
testimonies.
|
|
|
|
118:60. I am ready, and am not troubled: that I may keep thy
|
|
commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:61. The cords of the wicked have encompassed me: but I have not
|
|
forgotten thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:62. I rose at midnight to give praise to thee; for the judgments of
|
|
thy justification.
|
|
|
|
118:63. I am a partaker with all them that fear thee, and that keep thy
|
|
commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:64. The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy
|
|
justifications.
|
|
|
|
TETH.
|
|
|
|
118:65. Thou hast done well with thy servant, O Lord, according to thy
|
|
word.
|
|
|
|
118:66. Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge; for I have
|
|
believed thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:67. Before I was humbled I offended; therefore have I kept thy
|
|
word.
|
|
|
|
118:68. Thou art good; and in thy goodness teach me thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:69. The iniquity of the proud hath been multiplied over me: but I
|
|
will seek thy commandments with my whole heart.
|
|
|
|
118:70. Their heart is curdled like milk: but I have meditated on thy
|
|
law.
|
|
|
|
118:71. It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I may learn
|
|
thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:72. The law of thy mouth is good to me, above thousands of gold and
|
|
silver.
|
|
|
|
JOD.
|
|
|
|
118:73. Thy hands have made me and formed me: give me understanding,
|
|
and I will learn thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:74. They that fear thee shall see me, and shall be glad : because I
|
|
have greatly hoped in thy words.
|
|
|
|
118:75. I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are equity: and in thy truth
|
|
thou hast humbled me.
|
|
|
|
118:76. O! let thy mercy be for my comfort, according to thy word unto
|
|
thy servant.
|
|
|
|
118:77. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, and I shall live: for thy
|
|
law is my meditation.
|
|
|
|
118:78. Let the proud be ashamed, because they have done unjustly
|
|
towards me: but I will be employed in thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:79. Let them that fear thee turn to me: and they that know thy
|
|
testimonies.
|
|
|
|
118:80. Let my heart be undefiled in thy justifications, that I may not
|
|
be confounded.
|
|
|
|
CAPH.
|
|
|
|
118:81. My soul hath fainted after thy salvation: and in thy word I
|
|
have very much hoped.
|
|
|
|
118:82. My eyes have failed for thy word, saying: When wilt thou
|
|
comfort me?
|
|
|
|
118:83. For I am become like a bottle in the frost: I have not
|
|
forgotten thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:84. How many are the days of thy servant: when wilt thou execute
|
|
judgment on them that persecute me?
|
|
|
|
118:85. The wicked have told me fables: but not as thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:86. All thy statutes are truth: they have persecuted me unjustly,
|
|
do thou help me.
|
|
|
|
118:87. They had almost made an end of me upon earth: but I have not
|
|
forsaken thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:88. Quicken thou me according to thy mercy: and I shall keep the
|
|
testimonies of thy mouth.
|
|
|
|
LAMED.
|
|
|
|
118:89. For ever, O Lord, thy word standeth firm in heaven.
|
|
|
|
118:90. Thy truth unto all generations: thou hast founded the earth,
|
|
and it continueth.
|
|
|
|
118:91. By thy ordinance the day goeth on: for all things serve thee.
|
|
|
|
118:92. Unless thy law had been my meditation, I had then perhaps
|
|
perished in my abjection.
|
|
|
|
118:93. Thy justifications I will never forget: for by them thou hast
|
|
given me life.
|
|
|
|
118:94. I am thine, save thou me: for I have sought thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:95. The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I have
|
|
understood thy testimonies.
|
|
|
|
118:96. I have seen an end of all perfection: thy commandment is
|
|
exceeding broad.
|
|
|
|
MEM.
|
|
|
|
118:97. O how have I loved thy law, O Lord! it is my meditation all the
|
|
day.
|
|
|
|
118:98. Through thy commandment, thou hast made me wiser than my
|
|
enemies: for it is ever with me.
|
|
|
|
118:99. I have understood more than all my teachers: because thy
|
|
testimonies are my meditation.
|
|
|
|
118:100. I have had understanding above ancients: because I have sought
|
|
thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:101. I have restrained my feet from every evil way: that I may keep
|
|
thy words.
|
|
|
|
118:102. I have not declined from thy judgments, because thou hast set
|
|
me a law.
|
|
|
|
118:103. How sweet are thy words to my palate! more than honey to my
|
|
mouth.
|
|
|
|
118:104. By thy commandments I have had understanding: therefore have I
|
|
hated every way of iniquity.
|
|
|
|
NUN.
|
|
|
|
118:105. Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths.
|
|
|
|
118:106. I have sworn and am determined to keep the judgments of thy
|
|
justice.
|
|
|
|
118:107. I have been humbled, O Lord, exceedingly: quicken thou me
|
|
according to thy word.
|
|
|
|
118:108. The free offerings of my mouth make acceptable, O Lord: and
|
|
teach me thy judgments.
|
|
|
|
118:109. My soul is continually in my hands: and I have not forgotten
|
|
thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:110. Sinners have laid a snare for me: but I have not erred from
|
|
thy precepts.
|
|
|
|
118:111. I have purchased thy testimonies for an inheritance for ever:
|
|
because they are the joy of my heart.
|
|
|
|
118:112. I have inclined my heart to do thy justifications for ever,
|
|
for the reward.
|
|
|
|
SAMECH.
|
|
|
|
118:113. I have hated the unjust: and have loved thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:114. Thou art my helper and my protector: and in thy word I have
|
|
greatly hoped.
|
|
|
|
118:115. Depart from me, ye malignant: and I will search the
|
|
commandments of my God.
|
|
|
|
118:116. Uphold me according to thy word, and I shall live: and let me
|
|
not be confounded in my expectation.
|
|
|
|
118:117. Help me, and I shall be saved: and I will meditate always on
|
|
thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:118. Thou hast despised all them that fall off from thy judgments;
|
|
for their thought is unjust.
|
|
|
|
118:119. I have accounted all the sinners of the earth prevaricators:
|
|
therefore have I loved thy testimonies.
|
|
|
|
118:120. Pierce thou my flesh with thy fear: for I am afraid of thy
|
|
judgments.
|
|
|
|
AIN.
|
|
|
|
118:121. I have done judgment and justice: give me not up to them that
|
|
slander me.
|
|
|
|
118:122. Uphold thy servant unto good: let not the proud calumniate me.
|
|
|
|
118:123. My eyes have fainted after thy salvation: and for the word of
|
|
thy justice.
|
|
|
|
118:124. Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy: and teach me thy
|
|
justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:125. I am thy servant: give me understanding that I may know thy
|
|
testimonies.
|
|
|
|
118:126. It is time, O Lord, to do: they have dissipated thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:127. Therefore have I loved thy commandments above gold and the
|
|
topaz.
|
|
|
|
118:128. Therefore was I directed to all thy commandments: I have hated
|
|
all wicked ways.
|
|
|
|
PHE.
|
|
|
|
118:129. Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore my soul hath sought
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
118:130. The declaration of thy words giveth light: and giveth
|
|
understanding to little ones.
|
|
|
|
118:131. I opened my mouth, and panted: because I longed for thy
|
|
commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:132. Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me according to the
|
|
judgment of them that love thy name.
|
|
|
|
118:133. Direct my steps according to thy word: and let no iniquity
|
|
have dominion over me.
|
|
|
|
118:134. Redeem me from the calumnies of men: that I may keep thy
|
|
commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:135. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: and teach me thy
|
|
justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:136. My eyes have sent forth springs of water: because they have
|
|
not kept thy law.
|
|
|
|
SADE.
|
|
|
|
118:137. Thou art just, O Lord: and thy judgment is right.
|
|
|
|
118:138. Thou hast commanded justice thy testimonies: and thy truth
|
|
exceedingly.
|
|
|
|
118:139. My zeal hath made me pine away: because my enemies forgot thy
|
|
words.
|
|
|
|
118:140. Thy word is exceedingly refined: and thy servant hath loved
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
118:141. I am very young and despised; but I forget not thy
|
|
justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:142. Thy justice is justice for ever: and thy law is the truth.
|
|
|
|
118:143. Trouble and anguish have found me: thy commandments are my
|
|
meditation.
|
|
|
|
118:144. Thy testimonies are justice for ever: give me understanding,
|
|
and I shall live.
|
|
|
|
COPH.
|
|
|
|
118:145. I cried with my whole heart, hear me, O Lord: I will seek thy
|
|
justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:146. I cried unto thee, save me: that I may keep thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:147. I prevented the dawning of the day, and cried: because in thy
|
|
words I very much hoped.
|
|
|
|
118:148. My eyes to thee have prevented the morning: that I might
|
|
meditate on thy words.
|
|
|
|
118:149. Hear thou my voice, O Lord, according to thy mercy: and
|
|
quicken me according to thy judgment.
|
|
|
|
118:150. They that persecute me have drawn nigh to iniquity; but they
|
|
are gone far off from thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:151. Thou art near, O Lord: and all thy ways are truth.
|
|
|
|
118:152. I have known from the beginning concerning thy testimonies:
|
|
that thou hast founded them for ever.
|
|
|
|
RES.
|
|
|
|
118:153. See my humiliation and deliver me for I have not forgotten thy
|
|
law.
|
|
|
|
118:154. Judge my judgment and redeem me: quicken thou me for thy
|
|
word's sake.
|
|
|
|
118:155. Salvation is far from sinners; because they have not sought
|
|
thy justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:156. Many, O Lord, are thy mercies: quicken me according to thy
|
|
judgment.
|
|
|
|
118:157. Many are they that persecute me and afflict me; but I have not
|
|
declined from thy testimonies.
|
|
|
|
118:158. I beheld the transgressors, and pined away; because they kept
|
|
not thy word.
|
|
|
|
118:159. Behold I have loved thy commandments, O Lord; quicken me thou
|
|
in thy mercy.
|
|
|
|
118:160. The beginning of thy words is truth: all the judgments of thy
|
|
justice are for ever.
|
|
|
|
SIN.
|
|
|
|
118:161. Princes have persecuted me without cause: and my heart hath
|
|
been in awe of thy words.
|
|
|
|
118:162. I will rejoice at thy words, as one that hath found great
|
|
spoil.
|
|
|
|
118:163. I have hated and abhorred iniquity; but I have loved thy law.
|
|
|
|
118:164. Seven times a day I have given praise to thee, for the
|
|
judgments of thy justice.
|
|
|
|
118:165. Much peace have they that love thy law, and to them there is
|
|
no stumbling. block.
|
|
|
|
118:166. I looked for thy salvation, O Lord: and I loved thy
|
|
commandments.
|
|
|
|
118:167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies and hath loved them
|
|
exceedingly.
|
|
|
|
118:168. I have kept thy commandments and thy testimonies: because all
|
|
my ways are in thy sight.
|
|
|
|
TAU.
|
|
|
|
118:169. Let my supplication, O Lord, come near in thy sight: give me
|
|
understanding according to thy word.
|
|
|
|
118:170. Let my request come in before thee; deliver thou me according
|
|
to thy word.
|
|
|
|
118:171. My lips shall utter a hymn, when thou shalt teach me thy
|
|
justifications.
|
|
|
|
118:172. My tongue shall pronounce thy word: because all thy
|
|
commandments are justice.
|
|
|
|
118:173. Let thy hand be with me to save me; for I have chosen thy
|
|
precepts.
|
|
|
|
118:174. I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord; and thy law is my
|
|
meditation.
|
|
|
|
118:175. My soul shall live and shall praise thee: and thy judgments
|
|
shall help me.
|
|
|
|
118:176. I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost: seek thy
|
|
servant, because I have not forgotten thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 119
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ad Dominum.
|
|
|
|
A prayer in tribulation.
|
|
|
|
A gradual canticle.
|
|
|
|
A gradual canticle. . .The following psalms, in number fifteen, are
|
|
called gradual psalms, or canticles, from the word gradus, signifying
|
|
steps, ascensions, or degrees: either because they were appointed to be
|
|
sung on the fifteen steps, by which the people ascended to the temple:
|
|
or, that in the singing of them the voice was to be raised by certain
|
|
steps or ascensions: or, that they were to be sung by the people
|
|
returning from their captivity and ascending to Jerusalem, which was
|
|
seated amongst mountains. The holy fathers, in a mystical sense,
|
|
understand these steps, or ascensions, of the degrees by which
|
|
Christians spiritually ascend to virtue and perfection; and to the true
|
|
temple of God in the heavenly Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
119:1. In my trouble I cried to the Lord: and he heard me.
|
|
|
|
119:2. O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips, and a deceitful
|
|
tongue.
|
|
|
|
119:3. What shall be given to thee, or what shall be added to thee, to
|
|
a deceitful tongue?
|
|
|
|
119:4. The sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals that lay waste.
|
|
|
|
119:5. Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with
|
|
the inhabitants of Cedar:
|
|
|
|
119:6. My soul hath been long a sojourner.
|
|
|
|
119:7. With them that hated peace I was peaceable: when I spoke to them
|
|
they fought against me without cause.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 120
|
|
|
|
|
|
Levavi oculos.
|
|
|
|
God is the keeper of his servants.
|
|
|
|
A gradual canticle.
|
|
|
|
120:1. I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help
|
|
shall come to me.
|
|
|
|
120:2. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
|
|
|
|
120:3. May he not suffer thy foot to be moved: neither let him slumber
|
|
that keepeth thee.
|
|
|
|
120:4. Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, that keepeth Israel.
|
|
|
|
120:5. The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy protection upon thy
|
|
right hand.
|
|
|
|
120:6. The sun shall not burn thee by day: nor the moon by night.
|
|
|
|
120:7. The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul.
|
|
|
|
120:8. May the Lord keep thy coming in and thy going out; from
|
|
henceforth now and for ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 121
|
|
|
|
|
|
Laetatus sum in his.
|
|
|
|
The desire and hope of the just for the coming of the kingdom of God,
|
|
and the peace of his church.
|
|
|
|
121:1. A gradual canticle.
|
|
|
|
I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the
|
|
house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
121:2. Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
121:3. Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together.
|
|
|
|
121:4. For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the
|
|
testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
121:5. Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house
|
|
of David.
|
|
|
|
121:6. Pray ye for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and
|
|
abundance for them that love thee.
|
|
|
|
121:7. Let peace be in thy strength: and abundance in thy towers.
|
|
|
|
121:8. For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, I spoke peace
|
|
of thee.
|
|
|
|
121:9. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good
|
|
things for thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 122
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ad te levavi.
|
|
|
|
A prayer in affliction, with confidence in God.
|
|
|
|
A gradual canticle.
|
|
|
|
122:1. To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven.
|
|
|
|
122:2. Behold as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their
|
|
masters, As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress:
|
|
so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.
|
|
|
|
122:3. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us: for we are greatly
|
|
filled with contempt.
|
|
|
|
122:4. For our soul is greatly filled: we are a reproach to the rich,
|
|
and contempt to the proud.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 123
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nisi quia Domini.
|
|
|
|
The church giveth glory to God for her deliverance, from the hands of
|
|
her enemies.
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123:1. A gradual canticle. If it had not been that the Lord was with
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us, let Israel now say:
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123:2. If it had not been that the Lord was with us, When men rose up
|
|
against us,
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123:3. Perhaps they had swallowed us up alive. When their fury was
|
|
enkindled against us,
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123:4. Perhaps the waters had swallowed us up.
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123:5. Our soul hath passed through a torrent: perhaps our soul had
|
|
passed through a water insupportable.
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123:6. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their
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|
teeth.
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123:7. Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of
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|
the fowlers. The snare is broken, and we are delivered.
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123:8. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
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Psalms Chapter 124
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Qui confidunt.
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The just are always under God's protection.
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124:1. A gradual canticle. They that trust in the Lord shall be as
|
|
mount Sion: he shall not be moved for ever that dwelleth
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124:2. In Jerusalem. Mountains are round about it: so the Lord is round
|
|
about his people from henceforth now and for ever.
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124:3. For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of
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the just: that the just may not stretch forth their hands to iniquity.
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124:4. Do good, O Lord, to those that are good, and to the upright of
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heart.
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124:5. But such as turn aside into bonds, the Lord shall lead out with
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the workers of iniquity: peace upon Israel.
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Psalms Chapter 125
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In convertendo.
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The people of God rejoice at their delivery from captivity.
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125:1. A gradual canticle. When the Lord brought back the captivity of
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Sion, we became like men comforted.
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125:2. Then was our mouth filled with gladness; and our tongue with
|
|
joy. Then shall they say among the Gentiles: The Lord hath done great
|
|
things for them.
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125:3. The Lord hath done great things for us: we are become joyful.
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125:4. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as a stream in the south.
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125:5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
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125:6. Going they went and wept, casting their seeds.
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125:7. But coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their
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sheaves.
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Psalms Chapter 126
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Nisi Dominus.
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Nothing can be done without God's grace and blessing.
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126:1. A gradual canticle of Solomon. Unless the Lord build the house,
|
|
they labour in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he
|
|
watcheth in vain that keepeth it.
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126:2. It is vain for you to rise before light, rise ye after you have
|
|
sitten, you that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to
|
|
his beloved,
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|
It is vain for you to rise before light. . .That is, your early rising,
|
|
your labour and worldly solicitude, will be vain, that is, will avail
|
|
you nothing, without the light, grace, and blessing of God.
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126:3. Behold the inheritance of the Lord are children: the reward, the
|
|
fruit of the womb.
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126:4. As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them
|
|
that have been shaken.
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126:5. Blessed is the man that hath filled the desire with them; he
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|
shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate.
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Psalms Chapter 127
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|
Beati omnes.
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|
|
The fear of God is the way to happiness.
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127:1. A gradual canticle. Blessed are all they that fear the Lord:
|
|
that walk in his ways.
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127:2. For thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou,
|
|
and it shall be well with thee.
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127:3. Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house. Thy
|
|
children as olive plants, round about thy table.
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127:4. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.
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127:5. May the Lord bless thee out of Sion: and mayst thou see the good
|
|
things of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
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127:6. And mayst thou see thy children's children, peace upon Israel.
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Psalms Chapter 128
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|
Saepe expugnaverunt.
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|
The church of God is invincible : her persecutors come to nothing.
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128:1. A gradual canticle. Often have they fought against me from my
|
|
youth, let Israel now say.
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128:2. Often have they fought against me from my youth: but they could
|
|
not prevail over me.
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128:3. The wicked have wrought upon my back: they have lengthened their
|
|
iniquity.
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128:4. The Lord who is just will cut the necks of sinners:
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128:5. Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion.
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|
128:6. Let them be as grass upon the tops of houses: which withereth
|
|
before it be plucked up:
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|
128:7. Who with the mower filleth not his hand: nor he that gathereth
|
|
sheaves his bosom.
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|
128:8. And they that passed by have not said: The blessing of the Lord
|
|
be upon you: we have blessed you in the name of the Lord.
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|
Psalms Chapter 129
|
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|
De profundis.
|
|
|
|
A prayer of a sinner, trusting in the mercies of God. The sixth
|
|
penitential psalm.
|
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|
129:1. A gradual canticle. Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O
|
|
Lord:
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|
129:2. Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of
|
|
my supplication.
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|
129:3. If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it.
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|
129:4. For with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of
|
|
thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his
|
|
word:
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|
129:5. my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
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|
129:6. From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the
|
|
Lord.
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|
129:7. Because with the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful
|
|
redemption.
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|
129:8. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
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|
Psalms Chapter 130
|
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|
|
Domine, none est.
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|
|
The prophet's humility.
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|
130:1. A gradual canticle of David. Lord, my heart is not exalted: nor
|
|
are my eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in great matters, nor in
|
|
wonderful things above me.
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|
|
|
130:2. If I was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul: As a child that
|
|
is weaned is towards his mother, so reward in my soul.
|
|
|
|
130:3. Let Israel hope in the Lord, from henceforth now and for ever.
|
|
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|
Psalms Chapter 131
|
|
|
|
|
|
Memento, Domine.
|
|
|
|
A prayer for the fulfilling of the promise made to David.
|
|
|
|
131:1. A gradual canticle. O Lord, remember David, and all his
|
|
meekness.
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|
131:2. How he swore to the Lord, he vowed a vow to the God of Jacob:
|
|
|
|
131:3. If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house: if I shall go
|
|
up into the bed wherein I lie:
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|
|
131:4. If I shall give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids,
|
|
|
|
131:5. Or rest to my temples: until I find out a place for the Lord, a
|
|
tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
131:6. Behold we have heard of it in Ephrata: we have found it in the
|
|
fields of the wood.
|
|
|
|
We have heard of it in Ephrata. . .When I was young, and lived in
|
|
Bethlehem, otherwise called Ephrata, I heard of God's tabernacle and
|
|
ark, and had a devout desire of seeking it; and accordingly I found it
|
|
at Cariathiarim, the city of the woods: where it was till it was
|
|
removed to Jerusalem. See 1 Par. 13.
|
|
|
|
131:7. We will go into his tabernacle: we will adore in the place where
|
|
his feet stood.
|
|
|
|
131:8. Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place: thou and the ark, which
|
|
thou hast sanctified.
|
|
|
|
131:9. Let thy priests be clothed with justice: and let thy saints
|
|
rejoice.
|
|
|
|
131:10. For thy servant David's sake, turn not away the face of thy
|
|
anointed.
|
|
|
|
131:11. The Lord hath sworn truth to David, and he will not make it
|
|
void: of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne.
|
|
|
|
131:12. If thy children will keep my covenant, and these my testimonies
|
|
which I shall teach them: Their children also for evermore shall sit
|
|
upon thy throne.
|
|
|
|
131:13. For the Lord hath chosen Sion: he hath chosen it for his
|
|
dwelling.
|
|
|
|
131:14. This is my rest for ever and ever: here will I dwell, for I
|
|
have chosen it.
|
|
|
|
131:15. Blessing I will bless her widow: I will satisfy her poor with
|
|
bread.
|
|
|
|
131:16. I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall
|
|
rejoice with exceeding great joy.
|
|
|
|
131:17. There will I bring forth a horn to David: I have prepared a
|
|
lamp for my anointed.
|
|
|
|
131:18. His enemies I will clothe with confusion: but upon him shall my
|
|
sanctification flourish.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 132
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecce quam bonum.
|
|
|
|
The happiness of brotherly love and concord.
|
|
|
|
132:1. A gradual canticle of David. Behold how good and how pleasant it
|
|
is for brethren to dwell together in unity:
|
|
|
|
132:2. Like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down upon the
|
|
beard, the beard of Aaron, Which ran down to the skirt of his garment:
|
|
|
|
132:3. As the dew of Hermon, which descendeth upon mount Sion. For
|
|
there the Lord hath commanded blessing, and life for evermore.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 133
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecce nunc benedicite.
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to praise God continually.
|
|
|
|
133:1. A gradual canticle. Behold now bless ye the Lord, all ye
|
|
servants of the Lord: Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts
|
|
of the house of our God.
|
|
|
|
133:2. In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless
|
|
ye the Lord.
|
|
|
|
133:3. May the Lord out of Sion bless thee, he that made heaven and
|
|
earth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 134
|
|
|
|
|
|
Laudate nomen.
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to praise God: the vanity of idols.
|
|
|
|
134:1. Alleluia. Praise ye the name of the Lord: O you his servants,
|
|
praise the Lord:
|
|
|
|
134:2. You that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the
|
|
house of our God.
|
|
|
|
134:3. Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good: sing ye to his name,
|
|
for it is sweet.
|
|
|
|
134:4. For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself: Israel for his own
|
|
possession.
|
|
|
|
134:5. For I have known that the Lord is great, and our God is above
|
|
all gods.
|
|
|
|
134:6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased he hath done, in heaven, in earth,
|
|
in the sea, and in all the deeps.
|
|
|
|
134:7. He bringeth up clouds from the end of the earth: he hath made
|
|
lightnings for the rain. He bringeth forth winds out of his stores:
|
|
|
|
134:8. He slew the firstborn of Egypt from man even unto beast.
|
|
|
|
134:9. He sent forth signs and wonders in the midst of thee, O Egypt:
|
|
upon Pharao, and upon all his servants.
|
|
|
|
134:10. He smote many nations, and slew mighty kings:
|
|
|
|
134:11. Sehon king of the Amorrhites, and Og king of Basan, and all the
|
|
kingdoms of Chanaan.
|
|
|
|
134:12. And gave their land for an inheritance, for an inheritance to
|
|
his people Israel.
|
|
|
|
134:13. Thy name, O Lord, is for ever: thy memorial, O Lord, unto all
|
|
generations.
|
|
|
|
134:14. For the Lord will judge his people, and will be entreated in
|
|
favour of his servants.
|
|
|
|
134:15. The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the works of
|
|
men's hands.
|
|
|
|
134:16. They have a mouth, but they speak not: they have eyes, but they
|
|
see not.
|
|
|
|
134:17. They have ears, but they hear not: neither is there any breath
|
|
in their mouths.
|
|
|
|
134:18. Let them that make them be like to them: and every one that
|
|
trusteth in them.
|
|
|
|
134:19. Bless the Lord, O house of Israel: bless the Lord, O house of
|
|
Aaron.
|
|
|
|
134:20. Bless the Lord, O house of Levi: you that fear the Lord, bless
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
134:21. Blessed be the Lord out of Sion, who dwelleth in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 135
|
|
|
|
|
|
Confitemini Domino.
|
|
|
|
God is to be praised for his wonderful works.
|
|
|
|
135:1. Alleluia. Praise the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
Praise the Lord. . .By this invitation to praise the Lord, thrice
|
|
repeated, we profess the Blessed Trinity, One God in three distinct
|
|
Persons, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
|
|
|
|
135:2. Praise ye the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:3. Praise ye the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:4. Who alone doth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:5. Who made the heavens in understanding: for his mercy endureth
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:6. Who established the earth above the waters: for his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:7. Who made the great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:8. The sun to rule the day: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:9. The moon and the stars to rule the night: for his mercy endureth
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:10. Who smote Egypt with their firstborn: for his mercy endureth
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:11. Who brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:12. With a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:13. Who divided the Red Sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
135:14. And brought out Israel through the midst thereof: for his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:15. And overthrew Pharao and his host in the Red Sea: for his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:16. Who led his people through the desert: for his mercy endureth
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:17. Who smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:18. And slew strong kings: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:19. Sehon king of the Amorrhites: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:20. And Og king of Basan: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:21. And he gave their land for an inheritance: for his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:22. For an inheritance to his servant Israel: for his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:23. For he was mindful of us in our affliction: for his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:24. And he redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
135:25. Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
135:26. Give glory to the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
135:27. Give glory to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 136
|
|
|
|
|
|
Super flumina.
|
|
|
|
The lamentation of the people of God in their captivity in Babylon.
|
|
|
|
A psalm of David, for Jeremias.
|
|
|
|
For Jeremias. . .For the time of Jeremias, and the captivity of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
136:1. Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we
|
|
remembered Sion:
|
|
|
|
136:2. On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.
|
|
|
|
136:3. For there they that led us into captivity required of us the
|
|
words of songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing ye to us a
|
|
hymn of the songs of Sion.
|
|
|
|
136:4. How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?
|
|
|
|
136:5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.
|
|
|
|
136:6. Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I
|
|
make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy.
|
|
|
|
136:7. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem:
|
|
Who say: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
|
|
|
|
136:8. O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed shall he be who shall
|
|
repay thee thy payment which thou hast paid us.
|
|
|
|
136:9. Blessed be he that shall take and dash thy little ones against
|
|
the rock.
|
|
|
|
Dash thy little ones, etc. . .In the spiritual sense, we dash the little
|
|
ones of Babylon against the rock, when we mortify our passions, and
|
|
stifle the first motions of them, by a speedy recourse to the rock
|
|
which is Christ.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 137
|
|
|
|
|
|
Confitebor tibi.
|
|
|
|
Thanksgiving to God for his benefits.
|
|
|
|
137:1. For David himself. I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole
|
|
heart: for thou hast heard the words of my mouth. I will sing praise to
|
|
thee in the sight of the angels:
|
|
|
|
137:2. I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to
|
|
thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy
|
|
holy name above all.
|
|
|
|
137:3. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me: thou shalt
|
|
multiply strength in my soul.
|
|
|
|
137:4. May all the kings of the earth give glory to thee: for they have
|
|
heard all the words of thy mouth.
|
|
|
|
137:5. And let them sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the
|
|
glory of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
137:6. For the Lord is high, and looketh on the low: and the high he
|
|
knoweth afar off.
|
|
|
|
137:7. If I shall walk in the midst of tribulation, thou wilt quicken
|
|
me: and thou hast stretched forth thy hand against the wrath of my
|
|
enemies: and thy right hand hath saved me.
|
|
|
|
137:8. The Lord will repay for me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for
|
|
ever: O despise not the works of thy hands.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 138
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, probasti.
|
|
|
|
God's special providence over his servants.
|
|
|
|
138:1. Unto the end, a psalm of David. Lord, thou hast proved me, and
|
|
known me:
|
|
|
|
138:2. Thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up.
|
|
|
|
138:3. Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line
|
|
thou hast searched out.
|
|
|
|
138:4. And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my
|
|
tongue.
|
|
|
|
There is no speech, etc. . .Viz., unknown to thee: or when there is no
|
|
speech in my tongue; yet my whole interior and my most secret thoughts
|
|
are known to thee.
|
|
|
|
138:5. Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those
|
|
of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.
|
|
|
|
138:6. Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I
|
|
cannot reach to it.
|
|
|
|
138:7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from
|
|
thy face?
|
|
|
|
138:8. If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell,
|
|
thou art present.
|
|
|
|
138:9. If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the
|
|
uttermost parts of the sea:
|
|
|
|
138:10. Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand
|
|
shall hold me.
|
|
|
|
138:11. And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be
|
|
my light in my pleasures.
|
|
|
|
138:12. But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be
|
|
light all the day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are
|
|
alike to thee.
|
|
|
|
138:13. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from
|
|
my mother's womb.
|
|
|
|
138:14. I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful
|
|
are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.
|
|
|
|
138:15. My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in
|
|
secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.
|
|
|
|
138:16. Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall
|
|
be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.
|
|
|
|
138:17. But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable:
|
|
their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
|
|
|
|
138:18. I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the
|
|
sand, I rose up and am still with thee.
|
|
|
|
138:19. If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart
|
|
from me:
|
|
|
|
138:20. Because you say in thought: They shall receive thy cities in
|
|
vain.
|
|
|
|
Because you say in thought, etc. . .Depart from me, you wicked, who plot
|
|
against the servants of God, and think to cast them out of the cities
|
|
of their habitation; as if they have received them in vain, and to no
|
|
purpose.
|
|
|
|
138:21. Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pined away
|
|
because of thy enemies?
|
|
|
|
138:22. I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become
|
|
enemies to me.
|
|
|
|
I have hated them. . .Not with an hatred of malice, but a zeal for the
|
|
observance of God's commandments; which he saw were despised by the
|
|
wicked, who are to be considered enemies to God.
|
|
|
|
138:23. Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my
|
|
paths.
|
|
|
|
138:24. And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in
|
|
the eternal way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 139
|
|
|
|
|
|
Eripe me, Domine.
|
|
|
|
A prayer to be delivered from the wicked.
|
|
|
|
139:1. Unto the end, a psalm of David.
|
|
|
|
139:2. Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust
|
|
man.
|
|
|
|
139:3. Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long
|
|
they designed battles.
|
|
|
|
139:4. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of
|
|
asps is under their lips.
|
|
|
|
139:5. Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust
|
|
men deliver me. Who have proposed to supplant my steps:
|
|
|
|
139:6. The proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out
|
|
cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumblingblock by the
|
|
wayside.
|
|
|
|
139:7. I said to the Lord: Thou art my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of
|
|
my supplication.
|
|
|
|
139:8. O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: thou hast
|
|
overshadowed my head in the day of battle.
|
|
|
|
139:9. Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have
|
|
plotted against me; do not thou forsake me, lest they should triumph.
|
|
|
|
139:10. The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips
|
|
shall overwhelm them.
|
|
|
|
139:11. Burning coals shall fall upon them; thou wilt cast them down
|
|
into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.
|
|
|
|
139:12. A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth:
|
|
evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.
|
|
|
|
139:13. I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will
|
|
revenge the poor.
|
|
|
|
139:14. But as for the just, they shall give glory to thy name: and the
|
|
upright shall dwell with thy countenance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 140
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, clamavi.
|
|
|
|
A prayer against sinful words, and deceitful flatterers.
|
|
|
|
A psalm of David.
|
|
|
|
140:1. I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when
|
|
I cry to thee.
|
|
|
|
140:2. Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting
|
|
up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
140:3. Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round about my
|
|
lips.
|
|
|
|
140:4. Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins.
|
|
With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the
|
|
choicest of them.
|
|
|
|
140:5. The just man shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me:
|
|
but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer shall
|
|
still be against the things with which they are well pleased:
|
|
|
|
Let not the oil of the sinner, etc. . .That is, the flattery, or
|
|
deceitful praise.--Ibid. For my prayer, etc. . .So far from coveting
|
|
their praises, who are never well pleased but with things that are
|
|
evil; I shall continually pray to be preserved from such things as they
|
|
are delighted with.
|
|
|
|
140:6. Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They
|
|
shall hear my words, for they have prevailed:
|
|
|
|
Their judges, etc. . .Their rulers, or chiefs, quickly vanish and
|
|
perish, like ships dashed against the rocks, and swallowed up by the
|
|
waves. Let them then hear my words, for they are powerful and will
|
|
prevail; or, as it is in the Hebrew, for they are sweet.
|
|
|
|
140:7. As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground:
|
|
Our bones are scattered by the side of hell.
|
|
|
|
140:8. But to thee, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in thee have I put my
|
|
trust, take not away my soul.
|
|
|
|
140:9. Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from
|
|
the stumblingblocks of them that work iniquity.
|
|
|
|
140:10. The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass.
|
|
|
|
I am alone, etc. . .Singularly protected by the Almighty, until I pass
|
|
all their nets and snares.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 141
|
|
|
|
|
|
Voce mea.
|
|
|
|
A prayer of David in extremity of danger.
|
|
|
|
141:1. Of understanding for David, A prayer when he was in the cave. [1
|
|
Kings 24.]
|
|
|
|
141:2. I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made
|
|
supplication to the Lord.
|
|
|
|
141:3. In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare my
|
|
trouble:
|
|
|
|
141:4. When my spirit failed me, then thou knewest my paths. In this
|
|
way wherein I walked, they have hidden a snare for me.
|
|
|
|
141:5. I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that
|
|
would know me. Flight hath failed me: and there is no one that hath
|
|
regard to my soul.
|
|
|
|
141:6. I cried to thee, O Lord: I said: Thou art my hope, my portion in
|
|
the land of the living.
|
|
|
|
141:7. Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low. Deliver me
|
|
from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
|
|
|
|
141:8. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the
|
|
just wait for me, until thou reward me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 142
|
|
|
|
|
|
Domine, exaudi.
|
|
|
|
The psalmist in tribulation calleth upon God for his delivery. The
|
|
seventh penitential psalm.
|
|
|
|
142:1. A psalm of David, when his son Absalom pursued him. [2 Kings 17.]
|
|
Hear, O Lord, my prayer: give ear to my supplication in thy truth:
|
|
hear me in thy justice.
|
|
|
|
142:2. And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight
|
|
no man living shall be justified.
|
|
|
|
142:3. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath brought down my
|
|
life to the earth. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that
|
|
have been dead of old:
|
|
|
|
142:4. And my spirit is in anguish within me: my heart within me is
|
|
troubled.
|
|
|
|
142:5. I remembered the days of old, I meditated on all thy works: I
|
|
meditated upon the works of thy hands.
|
|
|
|
142:6. I stretched forth my hands to thee: my soul is as earth without
|
|
water unto thee.
|
|
|
|
142:7. Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit hath fainted away. Turn not
|
|
away thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the
|
|
pit.
|
|
|
|
142:8. Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning; for in thee have I
|
|
hoped. Make the way known to me, wherein I should walk: for I have
|
|
lifted up my soul to thee.
|
|
|
|
142:9. Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord, to thee have I fled:
|
|
|
|
142:10. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy good spirit
|
|
shall lead me into the right land:
|
|
|
|
142:11. for thy name's sake, O Lord, thou wilt quicken me in thy justice.
|
|
Thou wilt bring my soul out of trouble:
|
|
|
|
142:12. And in thy mercy thou wilt destroy my enemies. And thou wilt
|
|
cut off all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 143
|
|
|
|
|
|
Benedictus Dominus.
|
|
|
|
The prophet praiseth God, and prayeth to be delivered from his enemies.
|
|
No worldly happiness is to be compared with that of serving God.
|
|
|
|
A psalm of David against Goliath.
|
|
|
|
143:1. Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and
|
|
my fingers to war.
|
|
|
|
143:2. My mercy, and my refuge: my support, and my deliverer: My
|
|
protector, and I have hoped in him: who subdueth my people under me.
|
|
|
|
143:3. Lord, what is man, that thou art made known to him? or the son
|
|
of man, that thou makest account of him?
|
|
|
|
143:4. Man is like to vanity: his days pass away like a shadow.
|
|
|
|
143:5. Lord, bow down thy heavens and descend: touch the mountains, and
|
|
they shall smoke.
|
|
|
|
143:6. Send forth lightning, and thou shalt scatter them: shoot out thy
|
|
arrows, and thou shalt trouble them.
|
|
|
|
143:7. Put forth thy hand from on high, take me out, and deliver me
|
|
from many waters: from the hand of strange children:
|
|
|
|
143:8. Whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the
|
|
right hand of iniquity.
|
|
|
|
143:9. To thee, O God, I will sing a new canticle: on the psaltery and
|
|
an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises to thee.
|
|
|
|
143:10. Who givest salvation to kings: who hast redeemed thy servant
|
|
David from the malicious sword:
|
|
|
|
143:11. Deliver me, And rescue me out of the hand of strange children;
|
|
whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand
|
|
of iniquity:
|
|
|
|
143:12. Whose sons are as new plants in their youth: Their daughters
|
|
decked out, adorned round about after the similitude of a temple:
|
|
|
|
143:13. Their storehouses full, flowing out of this into that. Their
|
|
sheep fruitful in young, abounding in their goings forth:
|
|
|
|
143:14. Their oxen fat. There is no breach of wall, nor passage, nor
|
|
crying out in their streets.
|
|
|
|
143:15. They have called the people happy, that hath these things: but
|
|
happy is that people whose God is the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 144
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exaltabo te, Deus.
|
|
|
|
A psalm of praise, to the infinite majesty of God.
|
|
|
|
144:1. Praise, for David himself. I will extol thee, O God my king: and
|
|
I will bless thy name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
144:2. Every day will I bless thee: and I will praise thy name for
|
|
ever; yea, for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
144:3. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: and of his
|
|
greatness there is no end.
|
|
|
|
144:4. Generation and generation shall praise thy works: and they shall
|
|
declare thy power.
|
|
|
|
144:5. They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of thy
|
|
holiness: and shall tell thy wondrous works.
|
|
|
|
144:6. And they shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and
|
|
shall declare thy greatness.
|
|
|
|
144:7. They shall publish the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness:
|
|
and shall rejoice in thy justice.
|
|
|
|
144:8. The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in
|
|
mercy.
|
|
|
|
144:9. The Lord is sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all
|
|
his works.
|
|
|
|
144:10. Let all thy works, O lord, praise thee: and let thy saints
|
|
bless thee.
|
|
|
|
144:11. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom: and shall tell of
|
|
thy power:
|
|
|
|
144:12. To make thy might known to the sons of men: and the glory of
|
|
the magnificence of thy kingdom.
|
|
|
|
144:13. Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and thy dominion endureth
|
|
throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words: and
|
|
holy in all his works.
|
|
|
|
144:14. The Lord lifteth up all that fall: and setteth up all that are
|
|
cast down.
|
|
|
|
144:15. The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord: and thou givest them meat
|
|
in due season.
|
|
|
|
144:16. Thou openest thy hand, and fillest with blessing every living
|
|
creature.
|
|
|
|
144:17. The Lord is just in all his ways: and holy in all his works.
|
|
|
|
144:18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him: to all that
|
|
call upon him in truth.
|
|
|
|
144:19. He will do the will of them that fear him: and he will hear
|
|
their prayer, and save them.
|
|
|
|
144:20. The Lord keepeth all them that love him; but all the wicked he
|
|
will destroy.
|
|
|
|
144:21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh
|
|
bless his holy name forever; yea, for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 145
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lauda, anima.
|
|
|
|
We are not to trust in men, but in God alone.
|
|
|
|
145:1. Alleluia, of Aggeus and Zacharias.
|
|
|
|
145:2. Praise the Lord, O my soul, in my life I will praise the Lord: I
|
|
will sing to my God as long as I shall be. Put not your trust in
|
|
princes:
|
|
|
|
145:3. In the children of men, in whom there is no salvation.
|
|
|
|
145:4. His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth:
|
|
in that day all their thoughts shall perish.
|
|
|
|
145:5. Blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his helper, whose
|
|
hope is in the Lord his God:
|
|
|
|
145:6. Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
145:7. Who keepeth truth for ever: who executeth judgment for them that
|
|
suffer wrong: who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth them that
|
|
are fettered:
|
|
|
|
145:8. The Lord enlighteneth the blind. The Lord lifteth up them that
|
|
are cast down: the Lord loveth the just.
|
|
|
|
145:9. The Lord keepeth the strangers, he will support the fatherless
|
|
and the widow: and the ways of sinners he will destroy.
|
|
|
|
145:10. The Lord shall reign for ever: thy God, O Sion, unto generation
|
|
and generation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 146
|
|
|
|
|
|
Laudate Dominum.
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to praise God for his benefits.
|
|
|
|
146:1. Alleluia. Praise ye the Lord, because psalm is good: to our God
|
|
be joyful and comely praise.
|
|
|
|
146:2. The Lord buildeth up Jerusalem: he will gather together the
|
|
dispersed of Israel.
|
|
|
|
146:3. Who healeth the broken of heart, and bindeth up their bruises.
|
|
|
|
146:4. Who telleth the number of the stars: and calleth them all by
|
|
their names.
|
|
|
|
146:5. Great is our Lord, and great is his power: and of his wisdom
|
|
there is no number.
|
|
|
|
146:6. The Lord lifteth up the meek, and bringeth the wicked down even
|
|
to the ground.
|
|
|
|
146:7. Sing ye to the Lord with praise: sing to our God upon the harp.
|
|
|
|
146:8. Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the
|
|
earth. Who maketh grass to grow on the mountains, and herbs for the
|
|
service of men.
|
|
|
|
146:9. Who giveth to beasts their food: and to the young ravens that
|
|
call upon him.
|
|
|
|
146:10. He shall not delight in the strength of the horse: nor take
|
|
pleasure in the legs of a man.
|
|
|
|
146:11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him: and in them
|
|
that hope in his mercy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 147
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lauda, Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
The church is called upon to praise God for his peculiar graces and
|
|
favours to his people. In the Hebrew, this psalm is joined to the
|
|
foregoing.
|
|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
147:12. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem: praise thy God, O Sion.
|
|
|
|
147:13. Because he hath strengthened the bolts of thy gates, he hath
|
|
blessed thy children within thee.
|
|
|
|
147:14. Who hath placed peace in thy borders: and filleth thee with the
|
|
fat of corn.
|
|
|
|
147:15. Who sendeth forth his speech to the earth: his word runneth
|
|
swiftly.
|
|
|
|
147:16. Who giveth snow like wool: scattereth mists like ashes.
|
|
|
|
147:17. He sendeth his crystal like morsels: who shall stand before the
|
|
face of his cold?
|
|
|
|
He sendeth his crystal. . .That is, his ice. Some understand it of hail,
|
|
which is, as it were, ice, divided into particles or morsels.
|
|
|
|
147:18. He shall send out his word, and shall melt them: his wind shall
|
|
blow, and the waters shall run.
|
|
|
|
147:19. Who declareth his word to Jacob: his justices and his judgments
|
|
to Israel.
|
|
|
|
147:20. He hath not done in like manner to every nation: and his
|
|
judgments he hath not made manifest to them. Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Psalms Chapter 148
|
|
|
|
|
|
Laudate Dominum de caelis.
|
|
|
|
All creatures are invited to praise their Creator.
|
|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
148:1. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise ye him in the high
|
|
places.
|
|
|
|
148:2. Praise ye him, all his angels, praise ye him, all his hosts.
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|
148:3. Praise ye him, O sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars and
|
|
light.
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|
|
148:4. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens: and let all the waters that
|
|
are above the heavens
|
|
|
|
148:5. Praise the name of the Lord. For he spoke, and they were made:
|
|
he commanded, and they were created.
|
|
|
|
148:6. He hath established them for ever, and for ages of ages: he hath
|
|
made a decree, and it shall not pass away.
|
|
|
|
148:7. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all ye deeps:
|
|
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|
148:8. Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which fulfil his word:
|
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|
148:9. Mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars:
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|
148:10. Beasts and all cattle: serpents and feathered fowls:
|
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|
148:11. Kings of the earth and all people: princes and all judges of
|
|
the earth:
|
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|
|
148:12. Young men and maidens: let the old with the younger, praise the
|
|
name of the Lord:
|
|
|
|
148:13. For his name alone is exalted.
|
|
|
|
148:14. The praise of him is above heaven and earth: and he hath
|
|
exalted the horn of his people. A hymn to all his saints to the
|
|
children of Israel, a people approaching to him. Alleluia.
|
|
|
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|
Psalms Chapter 149
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cantate Domino.
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|
|
|
The church is particularly bound to praise God.
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|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
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|
149:1. Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: let his praise be in the
|
|
church of the saints.
|
|
|
|
149:2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: and let the children of
|
|
Sion be joyful in their king.
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|
149:3. Let them praise his name in choir: let them sing to him with the
|
|
timbrel and the psaltery.
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|
|
|
149:4. For the Lord is well pleased with his people: and he will exalt
|
|
the meek unto salvation.
|
|
|
|
149:5. The saints shall rejoice in glory: they shall be joyful in their
|
|
beds.
|
|
|
|
149:6. The high praises of God shall be in their mouth: and two-edged
|
|
swords in their hands:
|
|
|
|
149:7. To execute vengeance upon the nations, chastisements among the
|
|
people:
|
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|
149:8. To bind their kings with fetters, and their nobles with manacles
|
|
of iron.
|
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|
|
149:9. To execute upon them the judgment that is written: this glory is
|
|
to all his saints. Alleluia.
|
|
|
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|
|
Psalms Chapter 150
|
|
|
|
|
|
Laudate Dominum in sanctis.
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to praise God with all sorts of instruments.
|
|
|
|
Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
150:1. Praise ye the Lord in his holy places: praise ye him in the
|
|
firmament of his power.
|
|
|
|
150:2. Praise ye him for his mighty acts: praise ye him according to
|
|
the multitude of his greatness.
|
|
|
|
150:3. Praise him with the sound of trumpet: praise him with psaltery
|
|
and harp.
|
|
|
|
150:4. Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and
|
|
organs.
|
|
|
|
150:5. Praise him on high sounding cymbals: praise him on cymbals of
|
|
joy: let every spirit praise the Lord. Alleluia.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE BOOK OF PROVERBS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This Book is so called, because it consists of wise and weighty
|
|
sentences: regulating the morals of men: and directing them to wisdom
|
|
and virtue. And these sentences are also called PARABLES, because great
|
|
truths are often couched in them under certain figures and similitudes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The use and end of the proverbs. An exhortation to flee the company of
|
|
the wicked: and to hearken to the voice of wisdom.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel,
|
|
|
|
1:2. To know wisdom, and instruction:
|
|
|
|
1:3. To understand the words of prudence: and to receive the
|
|
instruction of doctrine, justice, and judgment, and equity:
|
|
|
|
1:4. To give subtilty to little ones, to the young man knowledge and
|
|
understanding.
|
|
|
|
1:5. A wise man shall hear, and shall be wiser: and he that
|
|
understandeth shall possess governments.
|
|
|
|
1:6. He shall understand a parable and the interpretation, the words of
|
|
the wise, and their mysterious sayings.
|
|
|
|
1:7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise
|
|
wisdom and instruction.
|
|
|
|
1:8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the
|
|
law of thy mother:
|
|
|
|
1:9. That grace may be added to thy head, and a chain of gold to thy
|
|
neck.
|
|
|
|
1:10. My son, if sinners shall entice thee, consent not to them.
|
|
|
|
1:11. If they shall say: Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood,
|
|
let us hide snares for the innocent without cause:
|
|
|
|
1:12. Let us swallow him up alive like hell, and whole as one that
|
|
goeth down into the pit.
|
|
|
|
1:13. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses
|
|
with spoils.
|
|
|
|
1:14. Cast in thy lot with us, let us all have one purse.
|
|
|
|
1:15. My son, walk not thou with them, restrain thy foot from their
|
|
paths.
|
|
|
|
1:16. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
|
|
|
|
1:17. But a net is spread in vain before the eyes of them that have
|
|
wings.
|
|
|
|
1:18. And they themselves lie in wait for their own blood, and practise
|
|
deceits against their own souls.
|
|
|
|
1:19. So the ways of every covetous man destroy the souls of the
|
|
possessors.
|
|
|
|
1:20. Wisdom preacheth abroad, she uttereth her voice in the streets:
|
|
|
|
1:21. At the head of multitudes she crieth out, in the entrance of the
|
|
gates of the city she uttereth her words, saying:
|
|
|
|
1:22. O children, how long will you love childishness, and fools covet
|
|
those things which are hurtful to themselves, and the unwise hate
|
|
knowledge?
|
|
|
|
1:23. Turn ye at my reproof: behold I will utter my spirit to you, and
|
|
will shew you my words.
|
|
|
|
1:24. Because I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and
|
|
there was none that regarded.
|
|
|
|
1:25. You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my
|
|
reprehensions.
|
|
|
|
1:26. I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that
|
|
shall come to you which you feared.
|
|
|
|
1:27. When sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a
|
|
tempest, shall be at hand: when tribulation and distress shall come
|
|
upon you:
|
|
|
|
1:28. Then shall they call upon me, and I will not hear: they shall
|
|
rise in the morning, and shall not find me:
|
|
|
|
1:29. Because they have hated instruction, and received not the fear of
|
|
the Lord,
|
|
|
|
1:30. Nor consented to my counsel, but despised all my reproof.
|
|
|
|
1:31. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and shall be
|
|
filled with their own devices.
|
|
|
|
1:32. The turning away of little ones shall kill them, and the
|
|
prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
|
|
|
|
1:33. But he that shall hear me, shall rest without terror, and shall
|
|
enjoy abundance, without fear of evils.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
The advantages of wisdom: and the evils from which it delivers.
|
|
|
|
2:1. My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and wilt hide my
|
|
commandments with thee,
|
|
|
|
2:2. That thy ear may hearken to wisdom: incline thy heart to know
|
|
prudence.
|
|
|
|
2:3. For if thou shalt call for wisdom, and incline thy heart to
|
|
prudence:
|
|
|
|
2:4. If thou shalt seek her as money, and shalt dig for her as for a
|
|
treasure:
|
|
|
|
2:5. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find
|
|
the knowledge of God:
|
|
|
|
2:6. Because the Lord giveth wisdom: and out of his mouth cometh
|
|
prudence and knowledge.
|
|
|
|
2:7. He wilt keep the salvation of the righteous, and protect them that
|
|
walk in simplicity,
|
|
|
|
2:8. Keeping the paths of justice, and guarding the ways of saints.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Then shalt thou understand justice, and judgment, and equity, and
|
|
every good path.
|
|
|
|
2:10. If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge please thy
|
|
soul:
|
|
|
|
2:11. Counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall preserve thee,
|
|
|
|
2:12. That thou mayst be delivered from the evil way, and from the man
|
|
that speaketh perverse things:
|
|
|
|
2:13. Who leave the right way, and walk by dark ways:
|
|
|
|
2:14. Who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in the most
|
|
wicked things:
|
|
|
|
2:15. Whose ways are perverse, and their steps infamous.
|
|
|
|
2:16. That thou mayst be delivered from the strange woman, and from the
|
|
stranger, who softeneth her words;
|
|
|
|
2:17. And forsaketh the guide of her youth,
|
|
|
|
2:18. And hath forgotten the covenant of her God: for her house
|
|
inclineth unto death, and her paths to hell.
|
|
|
|
2:19. None that go in unto her, shall return again, neither shall they
|
|
take hold of the paths of life.
|
|
|
|
2:20. That thou mayst walk in a good way: and mayst keep the paths of
|
|
the just.
|
|
|
|
2:21. For they that are upright, shall dwell in the earth; and the
|
|
simple shall continue in it.
|
|
|
|
2:22. But the wicked shall be destroyed from the earth: and they that
|
|
do unjustly, shall be taken away from it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to the practice of virtue.
|
|
|
|
3:1. My son, forget not my law, and let thy heart keep my commandments.
|
|
|
|
3:2. For they shall add to thee length of days, and years of life, and
|
|
peace.
|
|
|
|
3:3. Let not mercy aud truth leave thee, put them about thy neck, and
|
|
write them in the tables of thy heart.
|
|
|
|
3:4. And thou shalt find grace, and good understanding before God and
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
3:5. Have confidence in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not upon
|
|
thy own prudence.
|
|
|
|
3:6. In all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps.
|
|
|
|
3:7. Be not wise in thy own conceit: fear God, and depart from evil:
|
|
|
|
3:8. For it shall be health to thy navel, and moistening to thy bones.
|
|
|
|
3:9. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and give him of the first of
|
|
all thy fruits;
|
|
|
|
3:10. And thy barns shall be filled with abundance, and thy presses
|
|
shall run over with wine.
|
|
|
|
3:11. My son, reject not the correction of the Lord: and do not faint
|
|
when thou art chastised by him:
|
|
|
|
3:12. For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth: and as a father in the
|
|
son he pleaseth himself.
|
|
|
|
3:13. Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, and is rich in prudence:
|
|
|
|
3:14. The purchasing thereof is better than the merchandise of silver,
|
|
and her fruit than the chief and purest gold:
|
|
|
|
3:15. She is more precious than all riches: and all the things that are
|
|
desired, are not to be compared to her.
|
|
|
|
3:16. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches
|
|
and glory.
|
|
|
|
3:17. Her ways are beautiful ways, and all her paths are peaceable.
|
|
|
|
3:18. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her: and he that
|
|
shall retain her is blessed.
|
|
|
|
3:19. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, hath established the
|
|
heavens by prudence.
|
|
|
|
3:20. By his wisdom the depths have broken out, and the clouds grow
|
|
thick with dew.
|
|
|
|
3:21. My son, let not these things depart from thy eyes: keep the law
|
|
and counsel:
|
|
|
|
3:22. And there shall be life to thy soul, and grace to thy mouth.
|
|
|
|
3:23. Then shalt thou walk confidently in thy way, and thy foot shall
|
|
not stumble:
|
|
|
|
3:24. If thou sleep, thou shalt not fear: thou shalt rest, and thy
|
|
sleep shall be sweet.
|
|
|
|
3:25. Be not afraid of sudden fear, nor of the power of the wicked
|
|
falling upon thee.
|
|
|
|
3:26. For the Lord will be at thy side, and will keep thy foot that
|
|
thou be not taken.
|
|
|
|
3:27. Do not withhold him from doing good, who is able: if thou art
|
|
able, do good thyself also.
|
|
|
|
3:28. Say not to thy friend: Go, and come again: and to morrow I will
|
|
give to thee: when thou canst give at present.
|
|
|
|
3:29. Practise not evil against thy friend, when he hath confidence in
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
3:30. Strive not against a man without cause, when he hath done thee no
|
|
evil.
|
|
|
|
3:31. Envy not the unjust man, and do not follow his ways.
|
|
|
|
3:32. For every mocker is an abomination to the Lord, and his
|
|
communication is with the simple.
|
|
|
|
3:33. Want is from the Lord in the house of the wicked: but the
|
|
habitations of the just shall be blessed.
|
|
|
|
3:34. He shall scorn the scorners, and to the meek he will give grace.
|
|
|
|
3:35. The wise shall possess glory: the promotion of fools is disgrace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
A further exhortation to seek after wisdom.
|
|
|
|
4:1. Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend, that
|
|
you may know prudence.
|
|
|
|
4:2. I will give you a good gift, forsake not my law.
|
|
|
|
4:3. For I also was my father's son, tender, and as an only son in the
|
|
sight of my mother:
|
|
|
|
4:4. And he taught me, and said: Let thy heart receive my words, keep
|
|
my commandments, and thou shalt live.
|
|
|
|
4:5. Get wisdom, get prudence: forget not, neither decline from the
|
|
words of my mouth.
|
|
|
|
4:6. Forsake her not, and she shall keep thee: love her, and she shall
|
|
preserve thee.
|
|
|
|
4:7. The beginning of wisdom, get wisdom, and with all thy possession
|
|
purchase prudence.
|
|
|
|
4:8. Take hold on her, and she shall exalt thee: thou shalt be
|
|
glorified by her, when thou shalt embrace her.
|
|
|
|
4:9. She shall give to thy head increase of graces, and protect thee
|
|
with a noble crown.
|
|
|
|
4:10. Hear, O my son, and receive my words, that years of life may be
|
|
multiplied to thee.
|
|
|
|
4:11. I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths
|
|
of equity:
|
|
|
|
4:12. Which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be
|
|
straitened, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not meet a
|
|
stumblingblock.
|
|
|
|
4:13. Take hold on instruction, leave it not: keep it, because it is
|
|
thy life.
|
|
|
|
4:14. Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way
|
|
of evil men please thee.
|
|
|
|
4:15. Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it.
|
|
|
|
4:16. For they sleep not, except they have done evil: and their sleep
|
|
is taken away unless they have made some to fall.
|
|
|
|
4:17. They eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of iniquity.
|
|
|
|
4:18. But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards, and
|
|
increaseth even to perfect day.
|
|
|
|
4:19. The way of the wicked is darksome: they know not where they fall.
|
|
|
|
4:20. My son, hearken to my words, and incline thy ear to my sayings.
|
|
|
|
4:21. Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy
|
|
heart:
|
|
|
|
4:22. For they are life to those that find them, and health to all
|
|
flesh.
|
|
|
|
4:23. With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out
|
|
from it.
|
|
|
|
4:24. Remove from thee a froward mouth, and let detracting lips be far
|
|
from thee.
|
|
|
|
4:25. Let thy eyes look straight on, and let thy eyelids go before thy
|
|
steps.
|
|
|
|
4:26. Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be
|
|
established.
|
|
|
|
4:27. Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy
|
|
foot from evil. For the Lord knoweth the ways that are on the right
|
|
hand: but those are perverse which are on the left hand. But he will
|
|
make thy courses straight, he will bring forward thy ways in peace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to fly unlawful lust, and the occasions of it.
|
|
|
|
5:1. My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence,
|
|
|
|
5:2. That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve
|
|
instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.
|
|
|
|
5:3. For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her
|
|
throat is smoother than oil.
|
|
|
|
5:4. But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.
|
|
|
|
5:5. Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.
|
|
|
|
5:6. They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and
|
|
unaccountable.
|
|
|
|
5:7. Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of
|
|
my mouth.
|
|
|
|
5:8. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her
|
|
house.
|
|
|
|
5:9. Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.
|
|
|
|
5:10. Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in
|
|
another man's house,
|
|
|
|
5:11. And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh
|
|
and thy body, and say;
|
|
|
|
5:12. Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to
|
|
reproof,
|
|
|
|
5:13. And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not
|
|
inclined my ear to masters?
|
|
|
|
5:14. I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of
|
|
the congregation.
|
|
|
|
5:15. Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own
|
|
well:
|
|
|
|
5:16. Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide
|
|
thy waters.
|
|
|
|
5:17. Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers
|
|
with thee.
|
|
|
|
5:18. Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:
|
|
|
|
5:19. Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her
|
|
breasts inebriate thee at all times: be thou delighted continually with
|
|
her love.
|
|
|
|
5:20. Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art
|
|
cherished in the bosom of another?
|
|
|
|
5:21. The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his
|
|
steps.
|
|
|
|
5:22. His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with
|
|
the ropes of his own sins.
|
|
|
|
5:23. He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in
|
|
the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
Documents on several heads.
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6:1. My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, thou hast engaged fast
|
|
thy hand to a stranger,
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6:2. Thou art ensnared with the words of thy mouth, and caught with thy
|
|
own words.
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6:3. Do, therefore, my son, what I say, and deliver thyself: because
|
|
thou art fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run about, make haste,
|
|
stir up thy friend:
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6:4. Give not sleep to thy eyes, neither let thy eyelids slumber.
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6:5. Deliver thyself as a doe from the hand, and as a bird from the
|
|
hand of the fowler.
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6:6. Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn
|
|
wisdom:
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6:7. Which, although she hath no guide, nor master, nor captain,
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6:8. Provideth her meat for herself in the summer, and gathereth her
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|
food in the harvest.
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6:9. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of
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|
thy sleep?
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6:10. Thou wilt sleep a little, thou wilt slumber a little, thou wilt
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fold thy hands a little to sleep:
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6:11. And want shall come upon thee, as a traveller, and poverty as a
|
|
man armed. But if thou be diligent, thy harvest shall come as a
|
|
fountain, and want shall flee far from thee.
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6:12. A man that is an apostate, an unprofitable man, walketh with a
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|
perverse mouth,
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6:13. He winketh with the eyes, presseth with the foot, speaketh with
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the finger.
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6:14. With a wicked heart he deviseth evil, and at all times he soweth
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|
discord.
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6:15. To such a one his destruction shall presently come, and he shall
|
|
suddenly be destroyed, and shall no longer have any remedy.
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6:16. Six things there are, which the Lord hateth, and the seventh his
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soul detesteth:
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6:17. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
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6:18. A heart that deviseth wicked plots, feet that are swift to run
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|
into mischief,
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6:19. A deceitful witness that uttereth lies, and him that soweth
|
|
discord among brethren.
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6:20. My son, keep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the
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|
law of thy mother.
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6:21. Bind them in thy heart continually, and put them about thy neck.
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6:22. When thou walkest, let them go with thee: when thou sleepest, let
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them keep thee, and when thou awakest, talk with them.
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6:23. Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and
|
|
reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
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6:24. That they may keep thee from the evil woman, and from the
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|
flattering tongue of the stranger.
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6:25. Let not thy heart covet her beauty, be not caught with her winks:
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6:26. For the price of a harlot is scarce one loaf: but the woman
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|
catcheth the precious soul of a man.
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6:27. Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn?
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6:28. Or can he walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burnt?
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6:29. So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife, shall not be clean
|
|
when he shall touch her.
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6:30. The fault is not so great when a man hath stolen: for he stealeth
|
|
to fill his hungry soul:
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The fault is not so great, etc. . .The sin of theft is not so great, as
|
|
to be compared with adultery: especially when a person pressed with
|
|
hunger (which is the case here spoken of) steals to satisfy nature.
|
|
Moreover the damage done by theft may much more easily be repaired,
|
|
than the wrong done by adultery. But this does not hinder, but that
|
|
theft also is a mortal sin, forbidden by one of the ten commandments.
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6:31. And if he be taken, he shall restore sevenfold, and shall give up
|
|
all the substance of his house.
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|
6:32. But he that is an adulterer, for the folly of his heart shall
|
|
destroy his own soul:
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|
6:33. He gathereth to himself shame and dishonour, and his reproach
|
|
shall not be blotted out:
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|
6:34. Because the jealousy and rage of the husband will not spare in
|
|
the day of revenge,
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6:35. Nor will he yield to any man's prayers, nor will he accept for
|
|
satisfaction ever so many gifts.
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|
Proverbs Chapter 7
|
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|
|
The love of wisdom is the best preservative from being led astray by
|
|
temptation.
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7:1. My son, keep my words, and lay up my precepts with thee. Son,
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7:2. Keep my commandments, and thou shalt live: and my law as the apple
|
|
of thy eye:
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7:3. Bind it upon thy fingers, write it upon the tables of thy heart.
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7:4. Say to wisdom: Thou art my sister: and call prudence thy friend,
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7:5. That she may keep thee from the woman that is not thine, and from
|
|
the stranger who sweeteneth her words.
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7:6. For I looked out of the window of my house through the lattice,
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|
7:7. And I see little ones, I behold a foolish young man,
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|
7:8. Who passeth through the street by the corner, and goeth nigh the
|
|
way of her house,
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|
7:9. In the dark when it grows late, in the darkness and obscurity of
|
|
the night.
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|
7:10. And behold a woman meeteth him in harlot's attire, prepared to
|
|
deceive souls: talkative and wandering,
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|
7:11. Not bearing to be quiet, not able to abide still at home,
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|
|
|
7:12. Now abroad, now in the streets, now lying in wait near the
|
|
corners.
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|
7:13. And catching the young man, she kisseth him, and with an impudent
|
|
face, flattereth, saying:
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|
7:14. I vowed victims for prosperity, this day I have paid my vows.
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|
7:15. Therefore I am come out to meet thee, desirous to see thee, and I
|
|
have found thee.
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|
7:16. I have woven my bed with cords, I have covered it with painted
|
|
tapestry, brought from Egypt.
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|
7:17. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
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|
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|
7:18. Come, let us be inebriated with the breasts, and let us enjoy the
|
|
desired embraces, till the day appear.
|
|
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|
7:19. For my husband is not at home, he is gone a very long journey.
|
|
|
|
7:20. He took with him a bag of money: he will return home the day of
|
|
the full moon.
|
|
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|
7:21. She entangled him with many words, and drew him away with the
|
|
flattery of her lips.
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|
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|
7:22. Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim, and as
|
|
a lamb playing the wanton, and not knowing that he is drawn like a fool
|
|
to bonds,
|
|
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|
7:23. Till the arrow pierce his liver: as if a bird should make haste
|
|
to the snare, and knoweth not that his life is in danger.
|
|
|
|
7:24. Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and attend to the words of my
|
|
mouth.
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|
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|
7:25. Let not thy mind be drawn away in her ways: neither be thou
|
|
deceived with her paths.
|
|
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|
7:26. For she hath cast down many wounded, and the strongest have been
|
|
slain by her.
|
|
|
|
7:27. Her house is the way to hell, reaching even to the inner chambers
|
|
of death.
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|
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|
|
Proverbs Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
The preaching of wisdom. Her excellence.
|
|
|
|
8:1. Doth not wisdom cry aloud, and prudence put forth her voice?
|
|
|
|
8:2. Standing in the top of the highest places by the way, in the midst
|
|
of the paths,
|
|
|
|
8:3. Beside the gates of the city, in the very doors she speaketh,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
8:4. O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.
|
|
|
|
8:5. O little ones understand subtlety, and ye unwise, take notice.
|
|
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|
8:6. Hear, for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be
|
|
opened to preach right things.
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|
|
|
8:7. My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness.
|
|
|
|
8:8. All my words are just, there is nothing wicked, nor perverse in
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
8:9. They are right to them that understand, and just to them that find
|
|
knowledge.
|
|
|
|
8:10. Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather
|
|
than gold.
|
|
|
|
8:11. For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and
|
|
whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it.
|
|
|
|
8:12. I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and am present in learned thoughts.
|
|
|
|
8:13. The fear of the Lord hateth evil; I hate arrogance, and pride,
|
|
and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue.
|
|
|
|
8:14. Counsel and equity is mine, prudence is mine, strength is mine.
|
|
|
|
8:15. By me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things.
|
|
|
|
8:16. By me princes rule, and the mighty decree justice.
|
|
|
|
8:17. I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early
|
|
watch for me, shall find me.
|
|
|
|
8:18. With me are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice.
|
|
|
|
8:19. For my fruit is better than gold and the precious stone, and my
|
|
blossoms than choice silver.
|
|
|
|
8:20. I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of
|
|
judgment,
|
|
|
|
8:21. That I may enrich them that love me, and may fill their
|
|
treasures.
|
|
|
|
8:22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he
|
|
made any thing from the beginning.
|
|
|
|
8:23. I was set up from eternity, and of old, before the earth was
|
|
made.
|
|
|
|
8:24. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither
|
|
had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out.
|
|
|
|
8:25. The mountains, with their huge bulk, had not as yet been
|
|
established: before the hills, I was brought forth:
|
|
|
|
8:26. He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of
|
|
the world.
|
|
|
|
8:27. When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain
|
|
law, and compass, he enclosed the depths:
|
|
|
|
8:28. When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of
|
|
waters:
|
|
|
|
8:29. When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the
|
|
waters that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the
|
|
foundations of the earth;
|
|
|
|
8:30. I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day,
|
|
playing before him at all times;
|
|
|
|
8:31. Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the
|
|
children of men.
|
|
|
|
8:32. Now, therefore, ye children, hear me: blessed are they that keep
|
|
my ways.
|
|
|
|
8:33. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
|
|
|
|
8:34. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my
|
|
gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.
|
|
|
|
8:35. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation
|
|
from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
8:36. But he that shall sin against me shall hurt his own soul. All
|
|
that hate me love death.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom invites all to her feast. Folly calls another way.
|
|
|
|
9:1. Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn her out seven
|
|
pillars.
|
|
|
|
9:2. She hath slain her victims, mingled her wine, and set forth her
|
|
table.
|
|
|
|
9:3. She hath sent her maids to invite to the tower, and to the walls
|
|
of the city:
|
|
|
|
9:4. Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me. And to the unwise
|
|
she said:
|
|
|
|
9:5. Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for
|
|
you.
|
|
|
|
9:6. Forsake childishness, and live, and walk by the ways of prudence.
|
|
|
|
9:7. He that teacheth a scorner, doth an injury to himself; and he that
|
|
rebuketh a wicked man, getteth himself a blot.
|
|
|
|
9:8. Rebuke not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he
|
|
will love thee.
|
|
|
|
9:9. Give an occasion to a wise man, and wisdom shall be added to him.
|
|
Teach a just man, and he shall make haste to receive it.
|
|
|
|
9:10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the
|
|
knowledge of the holy is prudence.
|
|
|
|
9:11. For by me shall thy days be multiplied, and years of life shall
|
|
be added to thee.
|
|
|
|
9:12. If thou be wise, thou shalt be so to thyself: and if a scorner,
|
|
thou alone shalt bear the evil.
|
|
|
|
9:13. A foolish woman and clamorous, and full of allurements, and
|
|
knowing nothing at all,
|
|
|
|
9:14. Sat at the door of her house, upon a seat, in a high place of the
|
|
city,
|
|
|
|
9:15. To call them that pass by the way, and go on their journey:
|
|
|
|
9:16. He that is a little one, let him turn to me. And to the fool she
|
|
said:
|
|
|
|
9:17. Stolen waters are sweeter, and hidden bread is more pleasant.
|
|
|
|
9:18. And he did not know that giants are there, and that her guests
|
|
are in the depths of hell.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the twenty following chapters are contained many wise sayings and
|
|
axioms, relating to wisdom and folly, virtue and vice.
|
|
|
|
10:1. A wise son maketh the father glad: but a foolish son is the
|
|
sorrow of his mother.
|
|
|
|
10:2. Treasures of wickedness shall profit nothing: but justice shall
|
|
deliver from death.
|
|
|
|
10:3. The Lord will not afflict the soul of the just with famine, and
|
|
he will disappoint the deceitful practices of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
10:4. The slothful hand hath wrought poverty: but the hand of the
|
|
industrious getteth riches. He that trusteth to lies feedeth the winds:
|
|
and the same runneth after birds, that fly away.
|
|
|
|
10:5. He that gathereth in the harvest, is a wise son: but he that
|
|
snorteth in the summer, is the son of confusion.
|
|
|
|
10:6. The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the just: but
|
|
iniquity covereth the mouth of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
10:7. The memory of the just is with praises: and the name of the
|
|
wicked shall rot.
|
|
|
|
10:8. The wise of heart receiveth precepts: a fool is beaten with lips.
|
|
|
|
10:9. He that walketh sincerely, walketh confidently: but he that
|
|
perverteth his ways, shall be manifest.
|
|
|
|
10:10. He that winketh with the eye, shall cause sorrow: and the
|
|
foolish in lips shall be beaten.
|
|
|
|
10:11. The mouth of the just is a vein of life: and the mouth of the
|
|
wicked covereth iniquity.
|
|
|
|
10:12. Hatred stirreth up strifes: and charity covereth all sins.
|
|
|
|
10:13. In the lips of the wise is wisdom found: and a rod on the back
|
|
of him that wanteth sense.
|
|
|
|
10:14. Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the fool is next to
|
|
confusion.
|
|
|
|
10:15. The substance of a rich man is the city of his strength: the
|
|
fear of the poor is their poverty.
|
|
|
|
10:16. The work of the just is unto life: but the fruit of the wicked
|
|
unto sin.
|
|
|
|
10:17. The way of life, to him that observeth correction: but he that
|
|
forsaketh reproofs, goeth astray.
|
|
|
|
10:18. Lying lips hide hatred: he that uttereth reproach, is foolish.
|
|
|
|
10:19. In the multitude of words there shall not want sin: but he that
|
|
refraineth his lips, is most wise.
|
|
|
|
10:20. The tongue of the just is as choice silver: but the heart of the
|
|
wicked is nothing worth.
|
|
|
|
10:21. The lips of the just teach many: but they that are ignorant,
|
|
shall die in the want of understanding.
|
|
|
|
10:22. The blessing of the Lord maketh men rich: neither shall
|
|
affliction be joined to them.
|
|
|
|
10:23. A fool worketh mischief as it were for sport: but wisdom is
|
|
prudence to a man.
|
|
|
|
10:24. That which the wicked feareth, shall come upon him: to the just
|
|
their desire shall be given.
|
|
|
|
10:25. As a tempest that passeth, so the wicked shall be no more: but
|
|
the just is as an everlasting foundation.
|
|
|
|
10:26. As vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so is the
|
|
sluggard to them that sent him.
|
|
|
|
10:27. The fear of the Lord shall prolong days: and the years of the
|
|
wicked shall be shortened.
|
|
|
|
10:28. The expectation of the just is joy: but the hope of the wicked
|
|
shall perish.
|
|
|
|
10:29. The strength of the upright is the way of the Lord: and fear to
|
|
them that work evil.
|
|
|
|
10:30. The just shall never be moved: but the wicked shall not dwell on
|
|
the earth.
|
|
|
|
10:31. The mouth of the just shall bring forth wisdom: the tongue of
|
|
the perverse shall perish.
|
|
|
|
10:32. The lips of the just consider what is acceptable: and the mouth
|
|
of the wicked uttereth perverse things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
11:1. A deceitful balance is an abomination before the Lord: and a just
|
|
weight is his will.
|
|
|
|
11:2. Where pride is, there also shall be reproach: but where humility
|
|
is, there also is wisdom.
|
|
|
|
11:3. The simplicity of the just shall guide them: and the
|
|
deceitfulness of the wicked shall destroy them.
|
|
|
|
11:4. Riches shall not profit in the day of revenge: but justice shall
|
|
deliver from death.
|
|
|
|
11:5. The justice of the upright shall make his way prosperous: and the
|
|
wicked man shall fall by his own wickedness.
|
|
|
|
11:6. The justice of the righteous shall deliver them: and the unjust
|
|
shall be caught in their own snares.
|
|
|
|
11:7. When the wicked man is dead, there shall be no hope any more: and
|
|
the expectation of the solicitous shall perish.
|
|
|
|
11:8. The just is delivered out of distress: and the wicked shall be
|
|
given up for him.
|
|
|
|
11:9. The dissembler with his mouth deceiveth his friend: but the just
|
|
shall be delivered by knowledge.
|
|
|
|
11:10. When it goeth well with the just, the city shall rejoice: and
|
|
when the wicked perish, there shall be praise.
|
|
|
|
11:11. By the blessing of the just the city shall be exalted: and by
|
|
the mouth of the wicked it shall be overthrown.
|
|
|
|
11:12. He that despiseth his friend, is mean of heart: but the wise man
|
|
will hold his peace.
|
|
|
|
11:13. He that walketh deceitfully, revealeth secrets: but he that is
|
|
faithful, concealeth the thing committed to him by his friend.
|
|
|
|
11:14. Where there is no governor, the people shall fall: but there is
|
|
safety where there is much counsel.
|
|
|
|
11:15. He shall be afflicted with evil, that is surety for a stranger:
|
|
but he that is aware of snares, shall be secure.
|
|
|
|
11:16. A gracious woman shall find glory: and the strong shall have
|
|
riches.
|
|
|
|
11:17. A merciful man doth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel
|
|
casteth off even his own kindred.
|
|
|
|
11:18. The wicked maketh an unsteady work: but to him that soweth
|
|
justice, there is a faithful reward.
|
|
|
|
11:19. Clemency prepareth life: and the pursuing of evil things, death.
|
|
|
|
11:20. A perverse heart is abominable to the Lord: and his will is in
|
|
them that walk sincerely.
|
|
|
|
11:21. Hand in hand the evil man shall not be innocent: but the seed of
|
|
the just shall be saved.
|
|
|
|
11:22. A golden ring in a swine's snout, a woman fair and foolish.
|
|
|
|
11:23. The desire of the just is all good, the expectation of the
|
|
wicked is indignation.
|
|
|
|
11:24. Some distribute their own goods, and grow richer: others take
|
|
away what is not their own, and are always in want.
|
|
|
|
11:25. The soul that blesseth, shall be made fat: and he that
|
|
inebriateth, shall be inebriated also himself.
|
|
|
|
11:26. He that hideth up corn, shall be cursed among the people: but a
|
|
blessing upon the head of them that sell.
|
|
|
|
11:27. Well doth he rise early who seeketh good things; but he that
|
|
seeketh after evil things, shall be oppressed by them.
|
|
|
|
11:28. He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the just shall
|
|
spring up as a green leaf.
|
|
|
|
11:29. He that troubleth his own house, shall inherit the winds: and
|
|
the fool shall serve the wise.
|
|
|
|
11:30. The fruit of the just man is a tree of life: and he that gaineth
|
|
souls is wise.
|
|
|
|
11:31. If the just man receive in the earth, how much more the wicked
|
|
and the sinner.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
12:1. He that loveth correction, loveth knowledge: but he that hateth
|
|
reproof, is foolish.
|
|
|
|
12:2. He that is good, shall draw grace from the Lord: but he that
|
|
trusteth in his own devices, doth wickedly.
|
|
|
|
12:3. Man shall not be strengthened by wickedness: and the root of the
|
|
just shall not be moved.
|
|
|
|
12:4. A diligent woman is a crown to her husband: and she that doth
|
|
things worthy of confusion, is as rottenness in his bones.
|
|
|
|
12:5. The thoughts of the just are judgments: and the counsels of the
|
|
wicked are deceitful.
|
|
|
|
12:6. The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood: the mouth of the
|
|
just shall deliver them.
|
|
|
|
12:7. Turn the wicked, and they shall not be: but the house of the just
|
|
shall stand firm.
|
|
|
|
12:8. A man shall be known by his learning: but he that is vain and
|
|
foolish, shall be exposed to contempt.
|
|
|
|
12:9. Better is the poor man that provideth for himself, than he that
|
|
is glorious and wanteth bread.
|
|
|
|
12:10. The just regardeth the lives of his beasts: but the bowels of
|
|
the wicked are cruel.
|
|
|
|
12:11. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he
|
|
that pursueth idleness is very foolish.
|
|
|
|
12:12. He that is delighted in passing his time over wine, leaveth a
|
|
reproach in his strong holds.
|
|
|
|
12:12. The desire of the wicked is the fortification of evil men: but
|
|
the root of the just shall prosper.
|
|
|
|
12:13. For the sins of the lips ruin draweth nigh to the evil man: but
|
|
the just shall escape out of distress.
|
|
|
|
12:14. By the fruit of his own mouth shall a man be filled with good
|
|
things, and according to the works of his hands it shall be repaid him.
|
|
|
|
12:15. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that is wise
|
|
hearkeneth unto counsels.
|
|
|
|
12:16. A fool immediately sheweth his anger: but he that dissembleth
|
|
injuries is wise.
|
|
|
|
12:17. He that speaketh that which he knoweth, sheweth forth justice:
|
|
but he that lieth, is a deceitful witness.
|
|
|
|
12:18. There is that promiseth, and is pricked as it were with a sword
|
|
of conscience: but the tongue of the wise is health.
|
|
|
|
12:19. The lip of truth shall be steadfast for ever: but he that is a
|
|
hasty witness, frameth a lying tongue.
|
|
|
|
12:20. Deceit is in the heart of them that think evil things: but joy
|
|
followeth them that take counsels of peace.
|
|
|
|
12:21. Whatsoever shall befall the just man, shall not make him sad:
|
|
but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.
|
|
|
|
12:22. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord: but they that deal
|
|
faithfully, please him.
|
|
|
|
12:23. A cautious man concealeth knowledge: and the heart of fools
|
|
publisheth folly.
|
|
|
|
12:24. The hand of the valiant shall bear rule: but that which is
|
|
slothful shall be under tribute.
|
|
|
|
12:25. Grief in the heart of a man shall bring him low, but with a good
|
|
word he shall be made glad.
|
|
|
|
12:26. He that neglecteth a loss for the sake of a friend, is just: but
|
|
the way of the wicked shall deceive them.
|
|
|
|
12:27. The deceitful man shall not find gain: but the substance of a
|
|
just man shall be precious gold.
|
|
|
|
12:28. In the path of justice is life: but the bye-way leadeth to
|
|
death.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
13:1. A wise son heareth the doctrine of his father: but he that is a
|
|
scorner, heareth not when he is reproved.
|
|
|
|
13:2. Of the fruit of his own month shall a man be filled with good
|
|
things: but the soul of transgressors is wicked.
|
|
|
|
13:3. He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his soul: but he that hath no
|
|
guard on his speech shall meet with evils.
|
|
|
|
13:4. The sluggard willeth, and willeth not: but the soul of them that
|
|
work, shall be made fat.
|
|
|
|
13:5. The just shall hate a lying word: but the wicked confoundeth, and
|
|
shall be confounded.
|
|
|
|
13:6. Justice keepeth the way of the innocent: but wickedness
|
|
overthroweth the sinner.
|
|
|
|
13:7. One is as it were rich, when he hath nothing and another is as it
|
|
were poor, when he hath great riches.
|
|
|
|
13:8. The ransom of a man's life are his riches: but he that is poor,
|
|
beareth not reprehension.
|
|
|
|
13:9. The light of the just giveth joy: but the lamp of the wicked
|
|
shall be put out.
|
|
|
|
13:10. Among the proud there are always contentions: but they that do
|
|
all things with counsel, are ruled by wisdom.
|
|
|
|
13:11. Substance got in haste shall be diminished: but that which by
|
|
little and little is gathered with the hand, shall increase.
|
|
|
|
13:12. Hope that is deferred afflicteth the soul: desire when it
|
|
cometh, is a tree of life.
|
|
|
|
13:13. Whosoever speaketh ill of any thing, bindeth himself for the
|
|
time to come: but he that feareth the commandment, shall dwell in
|
|
peace. Deceitful souls go astray in sins: the just are merciful, and
|
|
shew mercy.
|
|
|
|
13:14. The law of the wise is a fountain of life, that he may decline
|
|
from the ruin of death.
|
|
|
|
13:15. Good instruction shall give grace: in the way of scorners is a
|
|
deep pit.
|
|
|
|
13:16. The prudent man doth all things with counsel: but he that is a
|
|
fool, layeth open his folly.
|
|
|
|
13:17. The messenger of the wicked shall fall into mischief: but a
|
|
faithful ambassador is health.
|
|
|
|
13:18. Poverty and shame to him that refuseth instruction: but he that
|
|
yieldeth to reproof shall be glorified.
|
|
|
|
13:19. The desire that is accomplished, delighteth the soul: fools hate
|
|
them that flee from evil things.
|
|
|
|
13:20. He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise: a friend of fools
|
|
shall become like to them.
|
|
|
|
13:21. Evil pursueth sinners: and to the just good shall be repaid.
|
|
|
|
13:22. The good man leaveth heirs, sons, and grandsons: and the
|
|
substance of the sinner is kept for the just.
|
|
|
|
13:23. Much food is in the tillage of fathers: but for others it is
|
|
gathered without judgment.
|
|
|
|
13:24. He that spareth the rod, hateth his son: but he that loveth him,
|
|
correcteth him betimes.
|
|
|
|
13:25. The just eateth and filleth his soul: but the belly of the
|
|
wicked is never to be filled.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
14:1. A wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish will pull down
|
|
with her hands that also which is built.
|
|
|
|
14:2. He that walketh in the right way, and feareth God, is despised by
|
|
him that goeth by an infamous way.
|
|
|
|
14:3. In the mouth of a fool is the rod of pride: but the lips of the
|
|
wise preserve them.
|
|
|
|
14:4. Where there are no oxen, the crib is empty: but where there is
|
|
much corn, there the strength of the ox is manifest.
|
|
|
|
14:5. A faithful witness will not lie: but a deceitful witness uttereth
|
|
a lie.
|
|
|
|
14:6. A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: the learning of the
|
|
wise is easy.
|
|
|
|
14:7. Go against a foolish man, and he knoweth not the lips of
|
|
prudence.
|
|
|
|
14:8. The wisdom of a discreet man is to understand his way: and the
|
|
imprudence of fools erreth.
|
|
|
|
14:9. A fool will laugh at sin, but among the just grace shall abide.
|
|
|
|
14:10. The heart that knoweth the bitterness of his own soul, in his
|
|
joy the stranger shall not intermeddle.
|
|
|
|
14:11. The house of the wicked shall be destroyed: but the tabernacles
|
|
of the just shall flourish.
|
|
|
|
14:12. There is a way which seemeth just to a man: but the ends thereof
|
|
lead to death.
|
|
|
|
14:13. Laughter shall be mingled with sorrow, and mourning taketh hold
|
|
of the ends of joy.
|
|
|
|
14:14. A fool shall be filled with his own ways, and the good man shall
|
|
be above him.
|
|
|
|
14:15. The innocent believeth every word: the discreet man considereth
|
|
his steps. No good shall come to the deceitful son: but the wise
|
|
servant shall prosper in his dealings, and his way shall be made
|
|
straight.
|
|
|
|
14:16. A wise man feareth, and declineth from evil: the fool leapeth
|
|
over, and is confident.
|
|
|
|
14:17. The impatient man shall work folly: and the crafty man is
|
|
hateful.
|
|
|
|
14:18. The childish shall possess folly, and the prudent shall look for
|
|
knowledge.
|
|
|
|
14:19. The evil shall fall down before the good: and the wicked before
|
|
the gates of the just.
|
|
|
|
14:20. The poor man shall be hateful even to his own neighbour: but the
|
|
friends of the rich are many.
|
|
|
|
14:21. He that despiseth his neighbour, sinneth: but he that sheweth
|
|
mercy to the poor, shall be blessed. He that believeth in the Lord,
|
|
loveth mercy.
|
|
|
|
14:22. They err that work evil: but mercy and truth prepare good
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
14:23. In much work there shall be abundance: but where there are many
|
|
words, there is oftentimes want.
|
|
|
|
14:24. The crown of the wise, is their riches: the folly of fools,
|
|
imprudence.
|
|
|
|
14:25. A faithful witness delivereth souls: and the double dealer
|
|
uttereth lies.
|
|
|
|
14:26. In the fear of the Lord is confidence of strength, and there
|
|
shall be hope for his children.
|
|
|
|
14:27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to decline from the
|
|
ruin of death.
|
|
|
|
14:28. In the multitude of people is the dignity of the king: and in
|
|
the small number of the people the dishonour of the prince.
|
|
|
|
14:29. He that is patient, is governed with much wisdom: but he that is
|
|
impatient, exalteth his folly.
|
|
|
|
14:30. Soundness of heart is the life of the flesh: but envy is the
|
|
rottenness of the bones.
|
|
|
|
14:31. He that oppresseth the poor, upbraideth his maker: but he that
|
|
hath pity on the poor, honoureth him.
|
|
|
|
14:32. The wicked man shall be driven out in his wickedness: but the
|
|
just hath hope in his death.
|
|
|
|
14:33. In the heart of the prudent resteth wisdom, and it shall
|
|
instruct all the ignorant.
|
|
|
|
14:34. Justice exalteth a nation: but sin maketh nations miserable.
|
|
|
|
14:35. A wise servant is acceptable to the king: he that is good for
|
|
nothing shall feel his anger.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 15
|
|
|
|
|
|
15:1. A mild answer breaketh wrath: but a harsh word stirreth up fury.
|
|
|
|
15:2. The tongue of the wise adorneth knowledge: but the mouth of fools
|
|
bubbleth out folly.
|
|
|
|
15:3. The eyes of the Lord in every place behold the good and the evil.
|
|
|
|
15:4. A peaceable tongue is a tree of life: but that which is
|
|
immoderate, shall crush the spirit.
|
|
|
|
15:5. A fool laugheth at the instruction of his father: but he that
|
|
regardeth reproofs shall become prudent. In abundant justice there is
|
|
the greatest strength: but the devices of the wicked shall be rooted
|
|
out.
|
|
|
|
15:6. The house of the just is very much strength: and in the fruits of
|
|
the wicked is trouble.
|
|
|
|
15:7. The lips of the wise shall disperse knowledge: the heart of fools
|
|
shall be unlike.
|
|
|
|
15:8. The victims of the wicked are abominable to the Lord: the vows of
|
|
the just are acceptable.
|
|
|
|
15:9. The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: he that
|
|
followeth justice is beloved by him.
|
|
|
|
15:10. Instruction is grievous to him that forsaketh the way of life:
|
|
he that hateth reproof shall die.
|
|
|
|
15:11. Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more the
|
|
hearts of the children of men?
|
|
|
|
15:12. A corrupt man loveth not one that reproveth him: nor will he go
|
|
to the wise.
|
|
|
|
15:13. A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by grief of mind
|
|
the spirit is cast down.
|
|
|
|
15:14. The heart of the wise seeketh instruction: and the mouth of
|
|
fools feedeth on foolishness.
|
|
|
|
15:15. All the days of the poor are evil: a secure mind is like a
|
|
continual feast.
|
|
|
|
15:16. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great
|
|
treasures without content.
|
|
|
|
15:17. It is better to be invited to herbs with love, than to a fatted
|
|
calf with hatred.
|
|
|
|
15:18. A passionate man stirreth up strifes: he that is patient
|
|
appeaseth those that are stirred up.
|
|
|
|
15:19. The way of the slothful is as a hedge of thorns: the way of the
|
|
just is without offence.
|
|
|
|
15:20. A wise son maketh a father joyful: but the foolish man despiseth
|
|
his mother.
|
|
|
|
15:21. Folly is joy to the fool: and the wise man maketh straight his
|
|
steps.
|
|
|
|
15:22. Designs are brought to nothing where there is no counsel: but
|
|
where there are many counsellors, they are established.
|
|
|
|
15:23. A man rejoiceth in the sentence of his mouth: and a word in due
|
|
time is best.
|
|
|
|
15:24. The path of life is above for the wise, that he may decline from
|
|
the lowest hell.
|
|
|
|
15:25. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: and will
|
|
strengthen the borders of the widow.
|
|
|
|
15:26. Evil thoughts are an abomination to the Lord: and pure words
|
|
most beautiful shall be confirmed by him.
|
|
|
|
15:27. He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house: but he that
|
|
hateth bribes shall live. By mercy and faith sins are purged away: and
|
|
by the fear of the Lord every one declineth from evil.
|
|
|
|
15:28. The mind of the just studieth obedience: the mouth of the wicked
|
|
overfloweth with evils.
|
|
|
|
15:29. The Lord is far from the wicked: and he will hear the prayers of
|
|
the just.
|
|
|
|
15:30. The light of the eyes rejoiceth the soul: a good name maketh the
|
|
bones fat.
|
|
|
|
15:31. The ear that heareth the reproofs of life, shall abide in the
|
|
midst of the wise.
|
|
|
|
15:32. He that rejecteth instruction, despiseth his own soul: but he
|
|
that yieldeth to reproof, possesseth understanding.
|
|
|
|
15:33. The fear of the Lord is the lesson of wisdom: and humility goeth
|
|
before glory.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 16
|
|
|
|
|
|
16:1. It is the part of man to prepare the soul: and of the Lord to
|
|
govern the tongue.
|
|
|
|
It is the part of man, etc. . .That is, a man should prepare in his
|
|
heart and soul what he is to say: but after all, it must be the Lord
|
|
that must govern his tongue, to speak to the purpose. Not that we can
|
|
think any thing of good without God's grace; but that after we have
|
|
(with God's grace) thought and prepared within our souls what we would
|
|
speak, if God does not govern our tongue, we shall not succeed in what
|
|
we speak.
|
|
|
|
16:2. All the ways of a man are open to his eyes: the Lord is the
|
|
weigher of spirits.
|
|
|
|
16:3. Lay open thy works to the Lord: and thy thoughts shall be
|
|
directed.
|
|
|
|
16:4. The Lord hath made all things for himself: the wicked also for
|
|
the evil day.
|
|
|
|
16:5. Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord: though hand should
|
|
be joined to hand, he is not innocent. The beginning of a good way is
|
|
to do justice: and this is more acceptable with God, than to offer
|
|
sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
16:6. By mercy and truth iniquity is redeemed; and by the fear of the
|
|
Lord men depart from evil.
|
|
|
|
16:7. When the ways of man shall please the Lord, he will convert even
|
|
his enemies to peace.
|
|
|
|
16:8. Better is a little with justice, than great revenues with
|
|
iniquity.
|
|
|
|
16:9. The heart of man disposeth his way: but the Lord must direct his
|
|
steps.
|
|
|
|
16:10. Divination is in the lips of the king, his mouth shall not err
|
|
in judgment.
|
|
|
|
16:11. Weight and balance are judgments of the Lord: and his work all
|
|
the weights of the bag.
|
|
|
|
16:12. They that act wickedly are abominable to the king: for the
|
|
throne is established by justice.
|
|
|
|
16:13. Just lips are the delight of kings: he that speaketh right
|
|
things shall be loved.
|
|
|
|
16:14. The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: and the wise man
|
|
will pacify it.
|
|
|
|
16:15. In the cheerfulness of the king's countenance is life: and his
|
|
clemency is like the latter rain.
|
|
|
|
16:16. Get wisdom, because it is better than gold: and purchase
|
|
prudence, for it is more precious than silver.
|
|
|
|
16:17. The path of the just departeth from evils: he that keepeth his
|
|
soul keepeth his way.
|
|
|
|
16:18. Pride goeth before destruction: and the spirit is lifted up
|
|
before a fall.
|
|
|
|
16:19. It is better to be humbled with the meek, than to divide spoils
|
|
with the proud.
|
|
|
|
16:20. The learned in word shall find good things: and he that trusteth
|
|
in the Lord is blessed.
|
|
|
|
16:21. The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and he that is sweet
|
|
in words, shall attain to greater things.
|
|
|
|
16:22. Knowledge is a fountain of life to him that possesseth it: the
|
|
instruction of fools is foolishness.
|
|
|
|
16:23. The heart of the wise shall instruct his mouth: and shall add
|
|
grace to his lips.
|
|
|
|
16:24. Well ordered words are as a honeycomb: sweet to the soul, and
|
|
health to the bones.
|
|
|
|
16:25. There is a way that seemeth to a man right: and the ends thereof
|
|
lead to death.
|
|
|
|
16:26. The soul of him that laboureth, laboureth for himself, because
|
|
his mouth hath obliged him to it.
|
|
|
|
16:27. The wicked man diggeth evil, and in his lips is a burning fire.
|
|
|
|
16:28. A perverse man stirreth up quarrels: and one full of words
|
|
separateth princes.
|
|
|
|
16:29. An unjust man allureth his friend: and leadeth him into a way
|
|
that is not good.
|
|
|
|
16:30. He that with fixed eyes deviseth wicked things, biting his lips,
|
|
bringeth evil to pass.
|
|
|
|
16:31. Old age is a crown of dignity, when it is found in the ways of
|
|
justice.
|
|
|
|
16:32. The patient man is better than the valiant: and he that ruleth
|
|
his spirit, than he that taketh cities.
|
|
|
|
16:33. Lots are cast into the lap, but they are disposed of by the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 17
|
|
|
|
|
|
17:1. Better is a dry morsel with joy, than a house full of victims
|
|
with strife.
|
|
|
|
17:2. A wise servant shall rule over foolish sons, and shall divide the
|
|
inheritance among the brethren.
|
|
|
|
17:3. As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord
|
|
trieth the hearts.
|
|
|
|
17:4. The evil man obeyeth an unjust tongue: and the deceitful
|
|
hearkeneth to lying lips.
|
|
|
|
17:5. He that despiseth the poor, reproacheth his maker: and he that
|
|
rejoiceth at another man's ruin, shall not be unpunished.
|
|
|
|
17:6. Children's children are the crown of old men: and the glory of
|
|
children are their fathers.
|
|
|
|
17:7. Eloquent words do not become a fool, nor lying lips a prince.
|
|
|
|
17:8. The expectation of him that expecteth is a most acceptable jewel:
|
|
whithersoever he turneth himself, he understandeth wisely.
|
|
|
|
17:9. He that concealeth a transgression, seeketh friendships: he that
|
|
repeateth it again, separateth friends.
|
|
|
|
17:10. A reproof availeth more with a wise man, than a hundred stripes
|
|
with a fool.
|
|
|
|
17:11. An evil man always seeketh quarrels: but a cruel angel shall be
|
|
sent against him.
|
|
|
|
17:12. It is better to meet a bear robbed of her whelps, than a fool
|
|
trusting in his own folly.
|
|
|
|
17:13. He that rendereth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his
|
|
house.
|
|
|
|
17:14. The beginning of quarrels is as when one letteth out water: and
|
|
before he suffereth reproach, he forsaketh judgment.
|
|
|
|
17:15. He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just,
|
|
both are abominable before God.
|
|
|
|
17:16. What doth it avail a fool to have riches, seeing he cannot buy
|
|
wisdom? He that maketh his house high, seeketh a downfall: and he that
|
|
refuseth to learn, shall fall into evils.
|
|
|
|
17:17. He that is a friend loveth at all times: and a brother is proved
|
|
in distress.
|
|
|
|
17:18. A foolish man will clap hands, when he is surety for his friend.
|
|
|
|
17:19. He that studieth discords, loveth quarrels: and he that exalteth
|
|
his door, seeketh ruin.
|
|
|
|
17:20. He that is of a perverse heart, shall not find good: and he that
|
|
perverteth his tongue, shall fall into evil.
|
|
|
|
17:21. A fool is born to his own disgrace: and even his father shall
|
|
not rejoice in a fool.
|
|
|
|
17:22. A joyful mind maketh age flourishing: a sorrowful spirit drieth
|
|
up the bones.
|
|
|
|
17:23. The wicked man taketh gifts out of the bosom, that he may
|
|
pervert the paths of judgment.
|
|
|
|
17:24. Wisdom shineth in the face of the wise: the eyes of fools are in
|
|
the ends of the earth.
|
|
|
|
17:25. A foolish son is the anger of the father: and the sorrow of the
|
|
mother that bore him.
|
|
|
|
17:26. It is no good thing to do hurt to the just: nor to strike the
|
|
prince, who judgeth right.
|
|
|
|
17:27. He that setteth bounds to his words, is knowing and wise: and
|
|
the man of understanding is of a precious spirit.
|
|
|
|
17:28. Even a fool, if he will hold his peace, shall be counted wise:
|
|
and if he close his lips, a man of understanding.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 18
|
|
|
|
|
|
18:1. He that hath a mind to depart from a friend, seeketh occasions:
|
|
he shall ever be subject to reproach.
|
|
|
|
18:2. A fool receiveth not the words of prudence: unless thou say those
|
|
things which are in his heart.
|
|
|
|
18:3. The wicked man, when he is come into the depths of sins,
|
|
contemneth: but ignominy and reproach follow him.
|
|
|
|
18:4. Words from the mouth of a man are as deep water: and the fountain
|
|
of wisdom is an overflowing stream.
|
|
|
|
18:5. It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to decline
|
|
from the truth of judgment.
|
|
|
|
18:6. The lips of a fool intermeddle with strife: and his mouth
|
|
provoketh quarrels.
|
|
|
|
18:7. The mouth of a fool is his destruction: and his lips are the ruin
|
|
of his soul.
|
|
|
|
18:8. The words of the double tongued are as if they were harmless: and
|
|
they reach even to the inner parts of the bowels. Fear casteth down the
|
|
slothful: and the souls of the effeminate shall be hungry.
|
|
|
|
18:9. He that is loose and slack in his work, is the brother of him
|
|
that wasteth his own works.
|
|
|
|
18:10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the just runneth to it,
|
|
and shall be exalted.
|
|
|
|
18:11. The substance of the rich man is the city of his strength, and
|
|
as a strong wall compassing him about.
|
|
|
|
18:12. Before destruction, the heart of a man is exalted: and before he
|
|
be glorified, it is humbled.
|
|
|
|
18:13. He that answereth before he heareth, sheweth himself to be a
|
|
fool, and worthy of confusion.
|
|
|
|
18:14. The spirit of a man upholdeth his infirmity: but a spirit that
|
|
is easily angered, who can bear?
|
|
|
|
18:15. A wise heart shall acquire knowledge: and the ear of the wise
|
|
seeketh instruction.
|
|
|
|
18:16. A man's gift enlargeth his way, and maketh him room before
|
|
princes.
|
|
|
|
18:17. The just is first accuser of himself: his friend cometh, and
|
|
shall search him.
|
|
|
|
18:18. The lot suppresseth contentions, and determineth even between
|
|
the mighty.
|
|
|
|
18:19. A brother that is helped by his brother, is like a strong city:
|
|
and judgments are like the bars of cities.
|
|
|
|
18:20. Of the fruit of a man's mouth shall his belly be satisfied: and
|
|
the offspring of his lips shall fill him.
|
|
|
|
18:21. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: they that love
|
|
it, shall eat the fruits thereof.
|
|
|
|
18:22. He that hath found a good wife, hath found a good thing, and
|
|
shall receive a pleasure from the Lord. He that driveth away a good
|
|
wife, driveth away a good thing: but he that keepeth an adulteress, is
|
|
foolish and wicked.
|
|
|
|
18:23. The poor will speak with supplications, and the rich will speak
|
|
roughly.
|
|
|
|
18:24. A man amiable in society, shall be more friendly than a brother.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 19
|
|
|
|
|
|
19:1. Better is the poor man, that walketh in his simplicity, than a
|
|
rich man that is perverse in his lips and unwise.
|
|
|
|
19:2. Where there is no knowledge of the soul, there is no good: and he
|
|
that is hasty with his feet shall stumble.
|
|
|
|
19:3. The folly of a man supplanteth his steps: and he fretteth in his
|
|
mind against God.
|
|
|
|
19:4. Riches make many friends: but from the poor man, even they whom
|
|
he had, depart.
|
|
|
|
19:5. A false witness shall not be unpunished: and he that speaketh
|
|
lies, shall not escape.
|
|
|
|
19:6. Many honour the person of him that is mighty, and are friends of
|
|
him that giveth gifts.
|
|
|
|
19:7. The brethren of the poor man hate him: moreover also his friends
|
|
have departed far from him. He that followeth after words only, shall
|
|
have nothing.
|
|
|
|
19:8. But he that possesseth a mind, loveth his own soul, and he that
|
|
keepeth prudence, shall find good things.
|
|
|
|
19:9. A false witness shall not be unpunished: and he that speaketh
|
|
lies, shall perish.
|
|
|
|
19:10. Delicacies are not seemly for a fool: nor for a servant to have
|
|
rule over princes.
|
|
|
|
19:11. The learning of a man is known by patience: and his glory is to
|
|
pass over wrongs.
|
|
|
|
19:12. As the roaring of a lion, so also is the anger of a king: and
|
|
his cheerfulness as the dew upon the grass.
|
|
|
|
19:13. A foolish son is the grief of his father: and a wrangling wife
|
|
is like a roof continually dropping through.
|
|
|
|
19:14. House and riches are given by parents: but a prudent wife is
|
|
properly from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
19:15. Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep, and an idle soul shall
|
|
suffer hunger.
|
|
|
|
19:16. He that keepeth the commandment, keepeth his own soul: but he
|
|
that neglecteth his own way, shall die.
|
|
|
|
19:17. He that hath mercy on the poor, lendeth to the Lord: and he will
|
|
repay him.
|
|
|
|
19:18. Chastise thy son, despair not: but to the killing of him set not
|
|
thy soul.
|
|
|
|
19:19. He that is impatient, shall suffer damage: and when he shall
|
|
take away, he shall add another thing.
|
|
|
|
19:20. Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayst be wise
|
|
in thy latter end.
|
|
|
|
19:21. There are many thoughts in the heart of a man: but the will of
|
|
the Lord shall stand firm.
|
|
|
|
19:22. A needy man is merciful: and better is the poor than the lying
|
|
man.
|
|
|
|
19:23. The fear of the Lord is unto life: and he shall abide in the
|
|
fulness without being visited with evil.
|
|
|
|
19:24. The slothful hideth his hand under his armpit, and will not so
|
|
much as bring it to his mouth.
|
|
|
|
19:25. The wicked man being scourged, the fool shall be wiser: but if
|
|
thou rebuke a wise man, he will understand discipline.
|
|
|
|
19:26. He that afflicteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is
|
|
infamous and unhappy.
|
|
|
|
19:27. Cease not, O my son, to hear instruction, and be not ignorant of
|
|
the words of knowledge.
|
|
|
|
19:28. An unjust witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked
|
|
devoureth iniquity.
|
|
|
|
19:29. Judgments are prepared for scorners: and striking hammers for
|
|
the bodies of fools.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 20
|
|
|
|
|
|
20:1. Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous: whosoever is
|
|
delighted therewith, shall not be wise.
|
|
|
|
20:2. As the roaring of a lion, so also is the dread of a king: he that
|
|
provoketh him, sinneth against his own soul.
|
|
|
|
20:3. It is an honour for a man to separate himself from quarrels: but
|
|
all fools are meddling with reproaches.
|
|
|
|
20:4. Because of the cold the sluggard would not plough: he shall beg
|
|
therefore in the summer, and it shall not be given him.
|
|
|
|
20:5. Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water: but a wise man
|
|
will draw it out.
|
|
|
|
20:6. Many men are called merciful: but who shall find a faithful man?
|
|
|
|
20:7. The just that walketh in his simplicity, shall leave behind him
|
|
blessed children.
|
|
|
|
20:8. The king, that sitteth on the throne of judgment, scattereth away
|
|
all evil with his look.
|
|
|
|
20:9. Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin?
|
|
|
|
20:10. Diverse weights and diverse measures, both are abominable before
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
20:11. By his inclinations a child is known, if his works be clean and
|
|
right.
|
|
|
|
20:12. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made them
|
|
both.
|
|
|
|
20:13. Love not sleep, lest poverty oppress thee: open thy eyes, and be
|
|
filled with bread.
|
|
|
|
20:14. It is naught, it is naught, saith every buyer: and when he is
|
|
gone away, then he will boast.
|
|
|
|
20:15. There is gold and a multitude of jewels: but the lips of
|
|
knowledge are a precious vessel.
|
|
|
|
20:16. Take away the garment of him that is surety for a stranger, and
|
|
take a pledge from him for strangers.
|
|
|
|
20:17. The bread of lying is sweet to a man: but afterwards his mouth
|
|
shall be filled with gravel.
|
|
|
|
20:18. Designs are strengthened by counsels: and wars are to be managed
|
|
by governments.
|
|
|
|
20:19. Meddle not with him that revealeth secrets, and walketh
|
|
deceitfully, and openeth wide his lips.
|
|
|
|
20:20. He that curseth his father, and mother, his lamp shall be put
|
|
out in the midst of darkness.
|
|
|
|
20:21. The inheritance gotten hastily in the beginning, in the end
|
|
shall be without a blessing.
|
|
|
|
20:22. Say not: I will return evil: wait for the Lord, and he will
|
|
deliver thee.
|
|
|
|
20:23. Diverse weights are an abomination before the Lord: a deceitful
|
|
balance is not good.
|
|
|
|
20:24. The steps of men are guided by the Lord: but who is the man that
|
|
can understand his own way?
|
|
|
|
20:25. It is ruin to a man to devour holy ones, and after vows to
|
|
retract.
|
|
|
|
20:26. A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth over them the
|
|
wheel.
|
|
|
|
20:27. The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, which searcheth all
|
|
the hidden things of the bowels.
|
|
|
|
20:28. Mercy and truth preserve the king, and his throne is
|
|
strengthened by clemency.
|
|
|
|
20:29. The joy of young men is their strength: and the dignity of old
|
|
men, their grey hairs.
|
|
|
|
20:30. The blueness of a wound shall wipe away evils: and stripes in
|
|
the more inward parts of the belly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 21
|
|
|
|
|
|
21:1. As the divisions of waters, so the heart of the king is in the
|
|
hand of the Lord: whithersoever he will, he shall turn it.
|
|
|
|
21:2. Every way of a man seemeth right to himself: but the Lord
|
|
weigheth the hearts.
|
|
|
|
21:3. To do mercy and judgment, pleaseth the Lord more than victims.
|
|
|
|
21:4. Haughtiness of the eyes is the enlarging of the heart: the lamp
|
|
of the wicked is sin.
|
|
|
|
21:5. The thoughts of the industrious always bring forth abundance: but
|
|
every sluggard is always in want.
|
|
|
|
21:6. He that gathereth treasures by a lying tongue, is vain and
|
|
foolish, and shall stumble upon the snares of death.
|
|
|
|
21:7. The robberies of the wicked shall be their downfall, because they
|
|
would not do judgment.
|
|
|
|
21:8. The perverse way of a man is strange: but as for him that is
|
|
pure, his work is right.
|
|
|
|
21:9. It is better to sit in a corner of the housetop, than with a
|
|
brawling woman, and in a common house.
|
|
|
|
21:10. The soul of the wicked desireth evil, he will not have pity on
|
|
his neighbour.
|
|
|
|
21:11. When a pestilent man is punished, the little one will be wiser:
|
|
and if he follow the wise, he will receive knowledge.
|
|
|
|
21:12. The just considereth seriously the house of the wicked, that he
|
|
may withdraw the wicked from evil.
|
|
|
|
21:13. He that stoppeth his ear against the cry of the poor, shall also
|
|
cry himself, and shall not be heard.
|
|
|
|
21:14. A secret present quencheth anger: and a gift in the bosom, the
|
|
greatest wrath.
|
|
|
|
21:15. It is joy to the just to do judgment: and dread to them that
|
|
work iniquity.
|
|
|
|
21:16. A man that shall wander out of the way of doctrine, shall abide
|
|
in the company of the giants.
|
|
|
|
21:17. He that loveth good cheer, shall be in want: he that loveth
|
|
wine, and fat things, shall not be rich.
|
|
|
|
21:18. The wicked is delivered up for the just: and the unjust for the
|
|
righteous.
|
|
|
|
21:19. It is better to dwell in a wilderness, than with a quarrelsome
|
|
and passionate woman.
|
|
|
|
21:20. There is a treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of
|
|
the just: and the foolish man shall spend it.
|
|
|
|
21:21. He that followeth justice and mercy, shall find life, justice,
|
|
and glory.
|
|
|
|
21:22. The wise man hath scaled the city of the strong, and hath cast
|
|
down the strength of the confidence thereof.
|
|
|
|
21:23. He that keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from
|
|
distress.
|
|
|
|
21:24. The proud and the arrogant is called ignorant, who in anger
|
|
worketh pride.
|
|
|
|
21:25. Desires kill the slothful: for his hands have refused to work at
|
|
all.
|
|
|
|
21:26. He longeth and desireth all the day: but he that is just, will
|
|
give, and will not cease.
|
|
|
|
21:27. The sacrifices of the wicked are abominable, because they are
|
|
offered of wickedness.
|
|
|
|
21:28. A lying witness shall perish: an obedient man shall speak of
|
|
victory.
|
|
|
|
21:29. The wicked man impudently hardeneth his face: but he that is
|
|
righteous, correcteth his way.
|
|
|
|
21:30. There is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel
|
|
against the Lord.
|
|
|
|
21:31. The horse is prepared for the day of battle: but the Lord giveth
|
|
safety.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 22
|
|
|
|
|
|
22:1. A good name is better than great riches: and good favour is above
|
|
silver and gold.
|
|
|
|
22:2. The rich and poor have met one another: the Lord is the maker of
|
|
them both.
|
|
|
|
22:3. The prudent man saw the evil, and hid himself: the simple passed
|
|
on, and suffered loss.
|
|
|
|
22:4. The fruit of humility is the fear of the Lord, riches and glory
|
|
and life.
|
|
|
|
22:5. Arms and swords are in the way of the perverse: but he that
|
|
keepeth his own soul, departeth far from them.
|
|
|
|
22:6. It is a proverb: A young man according to his way, even when he
|
|
is old, he will not depart from it.
|
|
|
|
22:7. The rich ruleth over the poor: and the borrower is servant to him
|
|
that lendeth.
|
|
|
|
22:8. He that soweth iniquity, shall reap evils, and with the rod of
|
|
his anger he shall be consumed.
|
|
|
|
22:9. He that is inclined to mercy, shall be blessed: for of his bread
|
|
he hath given to the poor. He that maketh presents, shall purchase
|
|
victory and honour: but he carrieth away the souls of the receivers.
|
|
|
|
22:10. Cast out the scoffer, and contention shall go out with him, and
|
|
quarrels and reproaches shall cease.
|
|
|
|
22:11. He that loveth cleanness of heart, for the grace of his lips
|
|
shall have the king for his friend.
|
|
|
|
22:12. The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge: and the words of the
|
|
unjust are overthrown.
|
|
|
|
22:13. The slothful man saith: There is a lion without, I shall be
|
|
slain in the midst of the streets.
|
|
|
|
22:14. The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit: he whom the Lord is
|
|
angry with, shall fall into it.
|
|
|
|
22:15. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of
|
|
correction shall drive it away.
|
|
|
|
22:16. He that oppresseth the poor, to increase his own riches, shall
|
|
himself give to one that is richer, and shall be in need.
|
|
|
|
22:17. Incline thy ear, and hear the words of the wise: and apply thy
|
|
heart to my doctrine:
|
|
|
|
22:18. Which shall be beautiful for thee, if thou keep it in thy
|
|
bowels, and it shall flow in thy lips:
|
|
|
|
22:19. That thy trust may be in the Lord, wherefore I have also shewn
|
|
it to thee this day.
|
|
|
|
22:20. Behold I have described it to thee three manner of ways, in
|
|
thoughts and knowledge:
|
|
|
|
22:21. That I might shew thee the certainty, and the words of truth, to
|
|
answer out of these to them that sent thee.
|
|
|
|
22:22. Do no violence to the poor, because he is poor: and do not
|
|
oppress the needy in the gate:
|
|
|
|
22:23. Because the Lord will judge his cause: and will afflict them
|
|
that have afflicted his soul.
|
|
|
|
22:24. Be not a friend to an angry man, and do not walk with a furious
|
|
man:
|
|
|
|
22:25. Lest perhaps thou learn his ways, and take scandal to thy soul.
|
|
|
|
22:26. Be not with them that fasten down their hands, and that offer
|
|
themselves sureties for debts:
|
|
|
|
22:27. For if thou have not wherewith to restore, what cause is there
|
|
that he should take the covering from thy bed?
|
|
|
|
22:28. Pass not beyond the ancient bounds which thy fathers have set.
|
|
|
|
22:29. Hast thou seen a man swift in his work? he shall stand before
|
|
kings, and shall not be before those that are obscure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 23
|
|
|
|
|
|
23:1. When thou shalt sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently
|
|
what is set before thy face:
|
|
|
|
23:2. And put a knife to thy throat, if it be so that thou have thy
|
|
soul in thy own power.
|
|
|
|
23:3. Be not desirous of his meats, in which is the bread of deceit.
|
|
|
|
23:4. Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.
|
|
|
|
23:5. Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because
|
|
they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly
|
|
towards heaven.
|
|
|
|
23:6. Eat not with an envious man, and desire not his meats:
|
|
|
|
23:7. Because, like a soothsayer, and diviner, he thinketh that which
|
|
he knoweth not. Eat and drink, will he say to thee: and his mind is not
|
|
with thee.
|
|
|
|
23:8. The meats which thou hadst eaten, thou shalt vomit up: and shalt
|
|
loose thy beautiful words.
|
|
|
|
23:9. Speak not in the ears of fools: because they will despise the
|
|
instruction of thy speech.
|
|
|
|
23:10. Touch not the bounds of little ones: and enter not into the
|
|
field of the fatherless:
|
|
|
|
23:11. For their near kinsman is strong: and he will judge their cause
|
|
against thee.
|
|
|
|
23:12. Let thy heart apply itself to instruction and thy ears to words
|
|
of knowledge.
|
|
|
|
23:13. Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou strike him
|
|
with the rod, he shall not die.
|
|
|
|
23:14. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver his soul from
|
|
hell.
|
|
|
|
23:15. My son, if thy mind be wise, my heart shall rejoice with thee:
|
|
|
|
23:16. And my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips shall speak what is
|
|
right.
|
|
|
|
23:17. Let not thy heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the
|
|
Lord all the day long:
|
|
|
|
23:18. Because thou shalt have hope in the latter end, and thy
|
|
expectation shall not be taken away.
|
|
|
|
23:19. Hear thou, my son, and be wise: and guide thy mind in the way.
|
|
|
|
23:20. Be not in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in their revellings,
|
|
who contribute flesh to eat:
|
|
|
|
23:21. Because they that give themselves to drinking, and that club
|
|
together, shall be consumed: and drowsiness shall be clothed with rags.
|
|
|
|
23:22. Hearken to thy father, that begot thee: and despise not thy
|
|
mother when she is old.
|
|
|
|
23:23. Buy truth, and do not sell wisdom, and instruction, and
|
|
understanding.
|
|
|
|
23:24. The father of the just rejoiceth greatly: he that hath begotten
|
|
a wise son, shall have joy in him.
|
|
|
|
23:25. Let thy father and thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice
|
|
that bore thee.
|
|
|
|
23:26. My son, give me thy heart: and let thy eyes keep my ways.
|
|
|
|
23:27. For a harlot is a deep ditch: and a strange woman is a narrow
|
|
pit.
|
|
|
|
23:28. She lieth in wait in the way as a robber, and him whom she shall
|
|
see unwary, she will kill.
|
|
|
|
23:29. Who hath woe? whose father hath woe? who hath contentions? who
|
|
falls into pits? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of
|
|
eyes?
|
|
|
|
23:30. Surely they that pass their time in wine, and study to drink off
|
|
their cups.
|
|
|
|
23:31. Look not upon the wine when it is yellow, when the colour
|
|
thereof shineth in the glass: it goeth in pleasantly,
|
|
|
|
23:32. But in the end, it will bite like a snake, and will spread
|
|
abroad poison like a basilisk.
|
|
|
|
23:33. Thy eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter
|
|
perverse things.
|
|
|
|
23:34. And thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and
|
|
as a pilot fast asleep when the stern is lost.
|
|
|
|
23:35. And thou shalt say: They have beaten me, but I was not sensible
|
|
of pain: they drew me, and I felt not: when shall I awake and find wine
|
|
again?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 24
|
|
|
|
|
|
24:1. Seek not to be like evil men, neither desire to be with them:
|
|
|
|
24:2. Because their mind studieth robberies, and their lips speak
|
|
deceits.
|
|
|
|
24:3. By wisdom the house shall be built, and by prudence it shall be
|
|
strengthened.
|
|
|
|
24:4. By instruction the storerooms shall be filled with all precious
|
|
and most beautiful wealth.
|
|
|
|
24:5. A wise man is strong: and a knowing man, stout and valiant.
|
|
|
|
24:6. Because war is managed by due ordering: and there shall be safety
|
|
where there are many counsels.
|
|
|
|
24:7. Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he shall not open his
|
|
mouth.
|
|
|
|
24:8. He that deviseth to do evils, shall be called a fool.
|
|
|
|
24:9. The thought of a fool is sin: and the detractor is the
|
|
abomination of men.
|
|
|
|
24:10. If thou lose hope, being weary in the day of distress, thy
|
|
strength shall be diminished.
|
|
|
|
24:11. Deliver them that are led to death: and those that are drawn to
|
|
death, forbear not to deliver.
|
|
|
|
24:12. If thou say: I have not strength enough: he that seeth into the
|
|
heart, he understandeth, and nothing deceiveth the keeper of thy soul,
|
|
and he shall render to a man according to his works.
|
|
|
|
24:13. Eat honey, my son, because it is good, and the honeycomb most
|
|
sweet to thy throat.
|
|
|
|
24:14. So also is the doctrine of wisdom to thy soul: which when thou
|
|
hast found, thou shalt have hope in the end, and thy hope shall not
|
|
perish.
|
|
|
|
24:15. Lie not in wait, nor seek after wickedness in the house of the
|
|
just, nor spoil his rest.
|
|
|
|
24:16. For a just man shall fall seven times, and shall rise again: but
|
|
the wicked shall fall down into evil.
|
|
|
|
24:17. When thy enemy shall fall, be not glad, and in his ruin let not
|
|
thy heart rejoice:
|
|
|
|
24:18. Lest the Lord see, and it displease him, and he turn away his
|
|
wrath from him.
|
|
|
|
24:19. Contend not with the wicked, nor seek to be like the ungodly.
|
|
|
|
24:20. For evil men have no hope of things to come, and the lamp of the
|
|
wicked shall be put out.
|
|
|
|
24:21. My son, fear the Lord, and the king: and have nothing to do with
|
|
detractors.
|
|
|
|
24:22. For their destruction shall rise suddenly: and who knoweth the
|
|
ruin of both?
|
|
|
|
24:23. These things also to the wise: It is not good to have respect to
|
|
persons in judgment.
|
|
|
|
24:24. They that say to the wicked man: Thou art just: shall be cursed
|
|
by the people, and the tribes shall abhor them.
|
|
|
|
24:25. They that rebuke him shall be praised: and a blessing shall come
|
|
upon them.
|
|
|
|
24:26. He shall kiss the lips, who answereth right words.
|
|
|
|
24:27. Prepare thy work without, and diligently till thy ground: that
|
|
afterward thou mayst build thy house.
|
|
|
|
24:28. Be not witness without cause against thy neighbour: and deceive
|
|
not any man with thy lips.
|
|
|
|
24:29. Say not: I will do to him as he hath done to me: I will render
|
|
to every one according to his work.
|
|
|
|
24:30. I passed by the field of the slothful man, and by the vineyard
|
|
of the foolish man:
|
|
|
|
24:31. And behold it was all filled with nettles, and thorns had
|
|
covered the face thereof, and the stone wall was broken down.
|
|
|
|
24:32. Which when I had seen, I laid it up in my heart, and by the
|
|
example I received instruction.
|
|
|
|
24:33. Thou wilt sleep a little, said I, thou wilt slumber a little,
|
|
thou wilt fold thy hands a little to rest.
|
|
|
|
24:34. And poverty shall come to thee as a runner, and beggary as an
|
|
armed man.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 25
|
|
|
|
|
|
25:1. These are also parables of Solomon, which the men of Ezechias,
|
|
king of Juda, copied out.
|
|
|
|
25:2. It is the glory of God to conceal the word, and the glory of
|
|
kings to search out the speech.
|
|
|
|
25:3. The heaven above and the earth beneath, and the heart of kings is
|
|
unsearchable.
|
|
|
|
25:4. Take away the rust from silver, and there shall come forth a most
|
|
pure vessel:
|
|
|
|
25:5. Take away wickedness from the face of the king, and his throne
|
|
shall be established with justice.
|
|
|
|
25:6. Appear not glorious before the king, and stand not in the place
|
|
of great men.
|
|
|
|
25:7. For it is better that it should be said to thee: Come up hither;
|
|
than that thou shouldst be humbled before the prince.
|
|
|
|
25:8. The things which thy eyes have seen, utter not hastily in a
|
|
quarrel: lest afterward thou mayst not be able to make amends, when
|
|
thou hast dishonoured thy friend.
|
|
|
|
25:9. Treat thy cause with thy friend, and discover not the secret to a
|
|
stranger:
|
|
|
|
25:10. Lest he insult over thee, when he hath heard it, and cease not
|
|
to upbraid thee. Grace and friendship deliver a man: keep these for
|
|
thyself, lest thou fall under reproach.
|
|
|
|
25:11. To speak a word in due time, is like apples of gold on beds of
|
|
silver.
|
|
|
|
25:12. As an earring of gold and a bright pearl, so is he that
|
|
reproveth the wise, and the obedient ear.
|
|
|
|
25:13. As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful
|
|
messenger to him that sent him, for he refresheth his soul.
|
|
|
|
25:14. As clouds, and wind, when no rain followeth, so is the man that
|
|
boasteth, and doth not fulfil his promises.
|
|
|
|
25:15. By patience a prince shall be appeased, and a soft tongue shall
|
|
break hardness.
|
|
|
|
25:16. Thou hast found honey, eat what is sufficient for thee, lest
|
|
being glutted therewith thou vomit it up.
|
|
|
|
25:17. Withdraw thy foot from the house of thy neighbour, lest having
|
|
his fill he hate thee.
|
|
|
|
25:18. A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour, is like
|
|
a dart and a sword and a sharp arrow.
|
|
|
|
25:19. To trust in an unfaithful man in the time of trouble, is like a
|
|
rotten tooth, and weary foot,
|
|
|
|
25:20. And one that looseth his garment in cold weather. As vinegar
|
|
upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to a very evil heart. As a moth
|
|
doth by a garment, and a worm by the wood: so the sadness of a man
|
|
consumeth the heart.
|
|
|
|
25:21. If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat: if he thirst, give him
|
|
water to drink:
|
|
|
|
25:22. For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will
|
|
reward thee.
|
|
|
|
25:23. The north wind driveth away rain, as doth a sad countenance a
|
|
backbiting tongue.
|
|
|
|
25:24. It is better to sit in a corner of the housetop: than with a
|
|
brawling woman, and in a common house.
|
|
|
|
25:25. As cold water to a thirsty soul, so are good tidings from a far
|
|
country.
|
|
|
|
25:26. A just man falling down before the wicked, is as a fountain
|
|
troubled with the foot and a corrupted spring.
|
|
|
|
25:27. As it is not good for a man to eat much honey, so he that is a
|
|
searcher of majesty shall be overwhelmed by glory.
|
|
|
|
Majesty. . .Viz., of God. For to search into that incomprehensible
|
|
Majesty, and to pretend to sound the depths of the wisdom of God, is
|
|
exposing our weak understanding to be blinded with an excess of light
|
|
and glory, which it cannot comprehend.
|
|
|
|
25:28. As a city that lieth open and is not compassed with walls, so is
|
|
a man that cannot refrain his own spirit in speaking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 26
|
|
|
|
|
|
26:1. As snow in summer, and rain in harvest, so glory is not seemly
|
|
for a fool.
|
|
|
|
26:2. As a bird flying to other places, and a sparrow going here or
|
|
there: so a curse uttered without cause shall come upon a man.
|
|
|
|
As a bird, etc. . .The meaning is, that a curse uttered without cause
|
|
shall do no harm to the person that is cursed, but will return upon him
|
|
that curseth, as whithersoever a bird flies, it returns to its own
|
|
nest.
|
|
|
|
26:3. A whip for a horse, and a snaffle for an ass, and a rod for the
|
|
back of fools.
|
|
|
|
26:4. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be made like
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
Answer not a fool, etc. . .Viz., so as to imitate him but only so as to
|
|
reprove his folly.
|
|
|
|
26:5. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he imagine himself to
|
|
be wise.
|
|
|
|
26:6. He that sendeth words by a foolish messenger, is lame of feet and
|
|
drinketh iniquity.
|
|
|
|
26:7. As a lame man hath fair legs in vain: so a parable is unseemly in
|
|
the mouth of fools.
|
|
|
|
26:8. As he that casteth a stone into the heap of Mercury: so is he
|
|
that giveth honour to a fool.
|
|
|
|
26:9. As if a thorn should grow in the hand of a drunkard: so is a
|
|
parable in the mouth of fools.
|
|
|
|
26:10. Judgment determineth causes: and he that putteth a fool to
|
|
silence, appeaseth anger.
|
|
|
|
26:11. As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that
|
|
repeateth his folly.
|
|
|
|
26:12. Hast thou seen a man wise in his own conceit? there shall be
|
|
more hope of a fool than of him.
|
|
|
|
26:13. The slothful man saith: There is a lion in the way, and a
|
|
lioness in the roads.
|
|
|
|
26:14. As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the slothful upon
|
|
his bed.
|
|
|
|
26:15. The slothful hideth his hand under his armpit, and it grieveth
|
|
him to turn it to his mouth.
|
|
|
|
26:16. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit, than seven men that
|
|
speak sentences.
|
|
|
|
26:17. As he that taketh a dog by the ears, so is he that passeth by in
|
|
anger, and meddleth with another man's quarrel.
|
|
|
|
26:18. As he is guilty that shooteth arrows, and lances unto death.
|
|
|
|
26:19. So is the man that hurteth his friend deceitfully: and when he
|
|
is taken, saith: I did it in jest.
|
|
|
|
26:20. When the wood faileth, the fire shall go out: and when the
|
|
talebearer is taken away, contentions shall cease.
|
|
|
|
26:21. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, so an angry man
|
|
stirreth up strife.
|
|
|
|
26:22. The words of a talebearer are as it were simple, but they reach
|
|
to the innermost parts of the belly.
|
|
|
|
26:23. Swelling lips joined with a corrupt heart, are like an earthern
|
|
vessel adorned with silver dross.
|
|
|
|
26:24. An enemy is known by his lips, when in his heart he entertaineth
|
|
deceit.
|
|
|
|
26:25. When he shall speak low, trust him not: because there are seven
|
|
mischiefs in his heart.
|
|
|
|
26:26. He that covereth hatred deceitfully, his malice shall be laid
|
|
open in the public assembly.
|
|
|
|
26:27. He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that rolleth a
|
|
stone, it shall return to him.
|
|
|
|
26:28. A deceitful tongue loveth not truth: and a slippery mouth
|
|
worketh ruin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 27
|
|
|
|
|
|
27:1. Boast not for to morrow, for thou knowest not what the day to
|
|
come may bring forth.
|
|
|
|
27:2. Let another praise thee, and not thy own mouth: a stranger, and
|
|
not thy own lips.
|
|
|
|
27:3. A stone is heavy, and sand weighty: but the anger of a fool is
|
|
heavier than them both.
|
|
|
|
27:4. Anger hath no mercy: nor fury, when it breaketh forth: and who
|
|
can bear the violence of one provoked?
|
|
|
|
27:5. Open rebuke is better than hidden love.
|
|
|
|
27:6. Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of
|
|
an enemy.
|
|
|
|
27:7. A soul that is full shall tread upon the honeycomb: and a soul
|
|
that is hungry shall take even bitter for sweet.
|
|
|
|
27:8. As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that leaveth
|
|
his place.
|
|
|
|
27:9. Ointment and perfumes rejoice the heart: and the good counsels of
|
|
a friend are sweet to the soul.
|
|
|
|
27:10. Thy own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not: and go not
|
|
into thy brother's house in the day of thy affliction. Better is a
|
|
neighbour that is near than a brother afar off.
|
|
|
|
27:11. Study wisdom, my son, and make my heart joyful, that thou mayst
|
|
give an answer to him that reproacheth.
|
|
|
|
27:12. The prudent man seeing evil hideth himself: little ones passing
|
|
on have suffered losses.
|
|
|
|
27:13. Take away his garment that hath been surety for a stranger: and
|
|
take from him a pledge for strangers.
|
|
|
|
27:14. He that blesseth his neighbour with a loud voice, rising in the
|
|
night, shall be like to him that curseth.
|
|
|
|
27:15. Roofs dropping through in a cold day, and a contentious woman
|
|
are alike.
|
|
|
|
27:16. He that retaineth her, is as he that would hold the wind, and
|
|
shall call the oil of his right hand.
|
|
|
|
27:17. Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his
|
|
friend.
|
|
|
|
27:18. He that keepeth the fig tree, shall eat the fruit thereof: and
|
|
he that is the keeper of his master, shall be glorified.
|
|
|
|
27:19. As the faces of them that look therein, shine in the water, so
|
|
the hearts of men are laid open to the wise.
|
|
|
|
27:20. Hell and destruction are never filled: so the eyes of men are
|
|
never satisfied.
|
|
|
|
27:21. As silver is tried in the fining-pot, and gold in the furnace:
|
|
so a man is tried by the mouth of him that praiseth. The heart of the
|
|
wicked seeketh after evils, but the righteous heart seeketh after
|
|
knowledge.
|
|
|
|
27:22. Though thou shouldst bray a fool in the mortar, as when a pestle
|
|
striketh upon sodden barley, his folly would not be taken from him.
|
|
|
|
27:23. Be diligent to know the countenance of thy cattle, and consider
|
|
thy own flocks:
|
|
|
|
27:24. For thou shalt not always have power: but a crown shall be given
|
|
to generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
27:25. The meadows are open, and the green herbs have appeared, and the
|
|
hay is gathered out of the mountains.
|
|
|
|
27:26. Lambs are for thy clothing: and kids for the price of the field.
|
|
|
|
27:27. Let the milk of the goats be enough for thy food, and for the
|
|
necessities of thy house, and for maintenance for thy handmaids.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 28
|
|
|
|
|
|
28:1. The wicked man fleeth, when no man pursueth: but the just, bold
|
|
as a lion, shall be without dread.
|
|
|
|
28:2. For the sins of the land many are the princes thereof: and for
|
|
the wisdom of a man, and the knowledge of those things that are said,
|
|
the life of the prince shall be prolonged.
|
|
|
|
28:3. A poor man that oppresseth the poor, is like a violent shower,
|
|
which bringeth a famine.
|
|
|
|
28:4. They that forsake the law, praise the wicked man: they that keep
|
|
it, are incensed against him.
|
|
|
|
28:5. Evil men think not on judgment: but they that seek after the
|
|
Lord, take notice of all things.
|
|
|
|
28:6. Better is the poor man walking in his simplicity, than the rich
|
|
in crooked ways.
|
|
|
|
28:7. He that keepeth the law, is a wise son: but he that feedeth
|
|
gluttons, shameth his father.
|
|
|
|
28:8. He that heapeth together riches by usury and loan, gathereth them
|
|
for him that will be bountiful to the poor.
|
|
|
|
28:9. He that turneth away his ears from hearing the law, his prayer
|
|
shall be an abomination.
|
|
|
|
28:10. He that deceiveth the just in a wicked way, shall fall in his
|
|
own destruction: and the upright shall possess his goods.
|
|
|
|
28:11. The rich man seemeth to himself wise: but the poor man that is
|
|
prudent shall search him out.
|
|
|
|
28:12. In the joy of the just there is great glory: when the wicked
|
|
reign, men are ruined.
|
|
|
|
28:13. He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper: but he that shall
|
|
confess, and forsake them, shall obtain mercy.
|
|
|
|
28:14. Blessed is the man that is always fearful: but he that is
|
|
hardened in mind shall fall into evil.
|
|
|
|
28:15. As a roaring lion, and a hungry bear, so is a wicked prince over
|
|
the poor people.
|
|
|
|
28:16. A prince void of prudence shall oppress many by calumny: but he
|
|
that hateth covetousness, shall prolong his days.
|
|
|
|
28:17. A man that doth violence to the blood of a person, if he flee
|
|
even to the pit, no man will stay him.
|
|
|
|
28:18. He that walketh uprightly, shall be saved: he that is perverse
|
|
in his ways, shall fall at once.
|
|
|
|
28:19. He that tilleth his ground, shall be filled with bread: but he
|
|
that followeth idleness, shall be filled with poverty.
|
|
|
|
28:20. A faithful man shall be much praised: but he that maketh haste
|
|
to be rich, shall not be innocent.
|
|
|
|
28:21. He that hath respect to a person in judgment, doth not well:
|
|
such a man even for a morsel of bread forsaketh the truth.
|
|
|
|
28:22. A man that maketh haste to be rich, and envieth others, is
|
|
ignorant that poverty shall come upon him.
|
|
|
|
28:23. He that rebuketh a man, shall afterward find favour with him,
|
|
more than he that by a flattering tongue deceiveth him.
|
|
|
|
28:24. He that stealeth any thing from his father, or from his mother:
|
|
and saith, This is no sin, is the partner of a murderer.
|
|
|
|
28:26. He that boasteth and puffeth up himself, stirreth up quarrels:
|
|
but he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be healed.
|
|
|
|
28:26. He that trusteth in his own heart, is a fool: but he that
|
|
walketh wisely, he shall be saved.
|
|
|
|
28:27. He that giveth to the poor shall not want: he that despiseth his
|
|
entreaty, shall suffer indigence.
|
|
|
|
28:28. When the wicked rise up, men shall hide themselves: when they
|
|
perish, the just shall be multiplied.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 29
|
|
|
|
|
|
29:1. The man that with a stiff neck despiseth him that reproveth him,
|
|
shall suddenly be destroyed: and health shall not follow him.
|
|
|
|
29:2. When just men increase, the people shall rejoice: when the wicked
|
|
shall bear rule, the people shall mourn.
|
|
|
|
29:3. A man that loveth wisdom, rejoiceth his father: but he that
|
|
maintaineth harlots, shall squander away his substance.
|
|
|
|
29:4. A just king setteth up the land: a covetous man shall destroy it.
|
|
|
|
29:5. A man that speaketh to his friend with flattering and dissembling
|
|
words, spreadeth a net for his feet.
|
|
|
|
29:6. A snare shall entangle the wicked man when he sinneth: and the
|
|
just shall praise and rejoice.
|
|
|
|
29:7. The just taketh notice of the cause of the poor: the wicked is
|
|
void of knowledge.
|
|
|
|
29:8. Corrupt men bring a city to ruin: but wise men turn away wrath.
|
|
|
|
29:9. If a wise man contend with a fool, whether he be angry, or laugh,
|
|
he shall find no rest.
|
|
|
|
29:10. Bloodthirsty men hate the upright: but just men seek his soul.
|
|
|
|
29:11. A fool uttereth all his mind: a wise man deferreth, and keepeth
|
|
it till afterwards.
|
|
|
|
29:12. A prince that gladly heareth lying words, hath all his servants
|
|
wicked.
|
|
|
|
29:13. The poor man and the creditor have met one another: the Lord is
|
|
the enlightener of them both.
|
|
|
|
29:14. The king that judgeth the poor in truth, his throne shall be
|
|
established for ever.
|
|
|
|
29:15. The rod and reproof give wisdom: but the child that is left to
|
|
his own will, bringeth his mother to shame.
|
|
|
|
29:16. When the wicked are multiplied, crimes shall be multiplied: but
|
|
the just shall see their downfall.
|
|
|
|
29:17. Instruct thy son and he shall refresh thee, and shall give
|
|
delight to thy soul.
|
|
|
|
29:18. When prophecy shall fail, the people shall be scattered abroad:
|
|
but he that keepeth the law, is blessed.
|
|
|
|
29:19. A slave will not be corrected by words: because he understandeth
|
|
what thou sayest, and will not answer.
|
|
|
|
29:20. Hast thou seen a man hasty to speak? folly is rather to be
|
|
looked for, than his amendment.
|
|
|
|
29:21. He that nourisheth his servant delicately from his childhood,
|
|
afterwards shall find him stubborn.
|
|
|
|
29:22. A passionate man provoketh quarrels: and he that is easily
|
|
stirred up to wrath, shall be more prone to sin.
|
|
|
|
29:23. Humiliation followeth the proud: and glory shall uphold the
|
|
humble of spirit.
|
|
|
|
29:24. He that is partaker with a thief, hateth his own soul: he
|
|
heareth one putting him to his oath, and discovereth not.
|
|
|
|
29:25. He that feareth man shall quickly fall: he that trusteth in the
|
|
Lord, shall be set on high.
|
|
|
|
29:26. Many seek the face of the prince: but the judgment of every one
|
|
cometh forth from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
29:27. The just abhor a wicked man: and the wicked loathe them that are
|
|
in the right way. The son that keepeth the word, shall be free from
|
|
destruction.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 30
|
|
|
|
|
|
The wise man thinketh humbly of himself. His prayer and sentiments upon
|
|
certain virtues and vices.
|
|
|
|
30:1. The words of Gatherer the son of Vomiter. The vision which the
|
|
man spoke, with whom God is, and who being strengthened by God, abiding
|
|
with him, said:
|
|
|
|
Gatherer, etc. . .Or, as it is in the Latin, Congregans the son of
|
|
Vomens. The Latin interpreter has given us in this place the
|
|
signification of the Hebrew names, instead of the names themselves,
|
|
which are in the Hebrew, Agur the son of Jakeh. But whether this Agur
|
|
be the same person as Solomon, as many think, or a different person,
|
|
whose doctrine was adopted by Solomon, and inserted among his parables
|
|
or proverbs, is uncertain.
|
|
|
|
30:2. I am the most foolish of men, and the wisdom of men is not with
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
30:3. I have not learned wisdom, and have not known the science of
|
|
saints.
|
|
|
|
30:4. Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended? who hath held
|
|
the wind in his hands? who hath bound up the waters together as in a
|
|
garment? who hath raised up all the borders of the earth? what is his
|
|
name, and what is the name of his son, if thou knowest?
|
|
|
|
30:5. Every word of God is fire tried: he is a buckler to them that
|
|
hope in him.
|
|
|
|
Is fire tried. . .That is, most pure, like gold purified by fire.
|
|
|
|
30:6. Add not any thing to his words, lest thou be reproved and found a
|
|
liar:
|
|
|
|
30:7. Two things I have asked of thee, deny them not to me before I
|
|
die.
|
|
|
|
30:8. Remove far from me vanity, and lying words. Give me neither
|
|
beggary, nor riches: give me only the necessaries of life:
|
|
|
|
30:9. Lest perhaps being filled, I should be tempted to deny, and say:
|
|
Who is the Lord? or being compelled by poverty, I should steal, and
|
|
forswear the name of my God.
|
|
|
|
30:10. Accuse not a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou
|
|
fall.
|
|
|
|
30:11. There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not
|
|
bless their mother.
|
|
|
|
30:12. A generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not
|
|
washed from their filthiness.
|
|
|
|
30:13. A generation, whose eyes are lofty, and their eyelids lifted up
|
|
on high.
|
|
|
|
30:14. A generation that for teeth hath swords, and grindeth with their
|
|
jaw teeth, to devour the needy from off the earth, and the poor from
|
|
among men.
|
|
|
|
30:15. The horseleech hath two daughters that say: Bring, bring. There
|
|
are three things that never are satisfied, and the fourth never saith:
|
|
It is enough.
|
|
|
|
The horseleech. . .Concupiscence, which hath two daughters that are
|
|
never satisfied, viz., lust and avarice.
|
|
|
|
30:16. Hell and the mouth of the womb, and the earth which is not
|
|
satisfied with water: and the fire never saith: It is enough.
|
|
|
|
30:17. The eye that mocketh at his father, and that despiseth the
|
|
labour of his mother in bearing him, let the ravens of the brooks pick
|
|
it out, and the young eagles eat it.
|
|
|
|
30:18. Three things are hard to me, and the fourth I am utterly
|
|
ignorant of.
|
|
|
|
30:19. The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a
|
|
rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man
|
|
in youth.
|
|
|
|
30:20. Such also is the way of an adulterous woman, who eateth and
|
|
wipeth her mouth, and saith: I have done no evil.
|
|
|
|
30:21. By three things the earth is disturbed, and the fourth it cannot
|
|
bear.
|
|
|
|
30:22. By a slave when he reigneth: by a fool when be is filled with
|
|
meat:
|
|
|
|
30:23. By an odious woman when she is married: and by a bondwoman when
|
|
she is heir to her mistress.
|
|
|
|
30:24. There are four very little things of the earth, and they are
|
|
wiser than the wise.
|
|
|
|
30:25. The ants, a feeble people, which provide themselves food in the
|
|
harvest:
|
|
|
|
30:26. The rabbit, a weak people, which maketh its bed in the rock:
|
|
|
|
30:27. The locust hath no king, yet they all go out by their bands:
|
|
|
|
30:28. The stellio supporteth itself on hands, and dwelleth in kings'
|
|
houses.
|
|
|
|
The stellio. . .A kind of house lizard marked with spots like stars,
|
|
from whence it has its name.
|
|
|
|
30:19. There are three things, which go well, and the fourth that
|
|
walketh happily:
|
|
|
|
30:30. A lion, the strongest of beasts, who hath no fear of any thing
|
|
he meeteth:
|
|
|
|
30:31. A cock girded about the loins: and a ram: and a king, whom none
|
|
can resist.
|
|
|
|
30:32. There is that hath appeared a fool after he was lifted up on
|
|
high: for if he had understood, he would have laid his hand upon his
|
|
mouth.
|
|
|
|
30:33. And he that strongly squeezeth the paps to bring out milk,
|
|
straineth out butter: and he that violently bloweth his nose, bringeth
|
|
out blood: and he that provoketh wrath, bringeth forth strife.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Proverbs Chapter 31
|
|
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to chastity, temperance, and works of mercy; with the
|
|
praise of a wise woman.
|
|
|
|
31:1. The words of king Lamuel. The vision wherewith his mother
|
|
instructed him.
|
|
|
|
Lamuel. . .This name signifies God with him, and is supposed to have
|
|
been one of the names of Solomon.
|
|
|
|
31:2. What, O my beloved, what, O the beloved of my womb, what, O the
|
|
beloved of my vows?
|
|
|
|
31:3. Give not thy substance to women, and thy riches to destroy kings.
|
|
|
|
31:4. Give not to kings, O Lamuel, give not wine to kings: because
|
|
there is no secret where drunkenness reigneth:
|
|
|
|
31:5. And lest they drink and forget judgments, and pervert the cause
|
|
of the children of the poor.
|
|
|
|
31:6. Give strong drink to them that are sad; and wine to them that are
|
|
grieved in mind:
|
|
|
|
31:7. Let them drink, and forget their want, and remember their sorrow
|
|
no more.
|
|
|
|
31:8. Open thy mouth for the dumb, and for the causes of all the
|
|
children that pass.
|
|
|
|
31:9. Open thy mouth, decree that which is just, and do justice to the
|
|
needy and poor.
|
|
|
|
31:10. Who shall find a valiant woman? far, and from the uttermost
|
|
coasts is the price of her.
|
|
|
|
31:11. The heart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shall have no
|
|
need of spoils.
|
|
|
|
31:12. She will render him good, and not evil all the days of her life.
|
|
|
|
31:13. She hath sought wool and flax, and hath wrought by the counsel
|
|
of her hands.
|
|
|
|
31:14. She is like the merchant's ship, she bringeth her bread from
|
|
afar.
|
|
|
|
31:15. And she hath risen in the night, and given a prey to her
|
|
household, and victuals to her maidens.
|
|
|
|
31:16. She hath considered a field, and bought it: with the fruit of
|
|
her hands she hath planted a vineyard.
|
|
|
|
31:17. She hath girded her loins with strength, and hath strengthened
|
|
her arm.
|
|
|
|
31:18. She hath tasted, and seen that her traffic is good: her lamp
|
|
shall not be put out in the night.
|
|
|
|
31:19. She hath put out her hand to strong things, and her fingers have
|
|
taken hold of the spindle.
|
|
|
|
31:20. She hath opened her hand to the needy, and stretched out her
|
|
hands to the poor.
|
|
|
|
31:21. She shall not fear for her house in the cold of snow: for all
|
|
her domestics are clothed with double garments.
|
|
|
|
31:22. She hath made for herself clothing of tapestry: fine linen, and
|
|
purple, is her covering.
|
|
|
|
31:23. Her husband is honourable in the gates, when he sitteth among
|
|
the senators of the land.
|
|
|
|
31:24. She made fine linen, and sold it, and delivered a girdle to the
|
|
Chanaanite.
|
|
|
|
The Chanaanite. . .The merchant, for Chanaanite, in Hebrew, signifies a
|
|
merchant.
|
|
|
|
31:25. Strength and beauty are her clothing, and she shall laugh in the
|
|
latter day.
|
|
|
|
31:26. She hath opened her mouth to wisdom, and the law of clemency is
|
|
on her tongue.
|
|
|
|
31:27. She hath looked well on the paths of her house, and hath not
|
|
eaten her bread idle.
|
|
|
|
31:28. Her children rose up, and called her blessed: her husband, and
|
|
he praised her.
|
|
|
|
31:29. Many daughters have gathered together riches: thou hast
|
|
surpassed them all.
|
|
|
|
31:30. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: the woman that feareth
|
|
the Lord, she shall be praised.
|
|
|
|
31:31. Give her of the fruit of her hands: and let her works praise her
|
|
in the gates.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ECCLESIASTES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This Book is called Ecclesiastes, or The Preacher, (in Hebrew,
|
|
Coheleth,) because in it, Solomon, as an excellent preacher, setteth
|
|
forth the vanity of the things of this world: to withdraw the hearts
|
|
and affections of men from such empty toys.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The vanity of all temporal things.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, king of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
1:2. Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes: vanity of vanities, and all
|
|
is vanity.
|
|
|
|
1:3. What hath a man more of all his labour, that he taketh under the
|
|
sun?
|
|
|
|
1:4. One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but
|
|
the earth standeth for ever.
|
|
|
|
1:5. The sun riseth, and goeth down, and returneth to his place: and
|
|
there rising again,
|
|
|
|
1:6. Maketh his round by the south, and turneth again to the north: the
|
|
spirit goeth forward surveying all places round about, and returneth to
|
|
his circuits.
|
|
|
|
1:7. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow:
|
|
unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return, to flow again.
|
|
|
|
1:8. All things are hard: man cannot explain them by word. The eye is
|
|
not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing.
|
|
|
|
1:9. What is it that hath been? the same thing that shall be. What is
|
|
it that hath been done? the same that shall be done.
|
|
|
|
1:10. Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say:
|
|
Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that
|
|
were before us.
|
|
|
|
1:11. There is no remembrance of former things: nor indeed of those
|
|
things which hereafter are to come, shall there be any remembrance with
|
|
them that shall be in the latter end.
|
|
|
|
1:12. I Ecclesiastes was king over Israel in Jerusalem,
|
|
|
|
1:13. And I proposed in my mind to seek and search out wisely
|
|
concerning all things that are done under the sun. This painful
|
|
occupation hath God given to the children of men, to be exercised
|
|
therein.
|
|
|
|
1:14. I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold
|
|
all is vanity, and vexation of spirit.
|
|
|
|
1:15. The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is
|
|
infinite.
|
|
|
|
1:16. I have spoken in my heart, saying: Behold I am become great, and
|
|
have gone beyond all in wisdom, that were before me in Jerusalem: and
|
|
my mind hath contemplated many things wisely, and I have learned.
|
|
|
|
1:17. And I have given my heart to know prudence, and learning, and
|
|
errors, and folly: and I have perceived that in these also there was
|
|
labour, and vexation of spirit,
|
|
|
|
1:18. Because in much wisdom there is much indignation: and he that
|
|
addeth knowledge, addeth also labour.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
The vanity of pleasures, riches, and worldly labours.
|
|
|
|
2:1. I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy
|
|
good things. And I saw that this also was vanity.
|
|
|
|
2:2. Laughter I counted error: and to mirth I said: Why art thou vainly
|
|
deceived?
|
|
|
|
2:3. I thought in my heart, to withdraw my flesh from wine, that I
|
|
might turn my mind to wisdom, and might avoid folly, till I might see
|
|
what was profitable for the children of men: and what they ought to do
|
|
under the sun, all the days of their life.
|
|
|
|
2:4. I made me great works, I built me houses, and planted vineyards,
|
|
|
|
2:5. I made gardens, and orchards, and set them with trees of all
|
|
kinds,
|
|
|
|
2:6. And I made me ponds of water, to water therewith the wood of the
|
|
young trees,
|
|
|
|
2:7. I got me menservants, and maidservants, and had a great family:
|
|
and herds of oxen, and great flocks of sheep, above all that were
|
|
before me in Jerusalem:
|
|
|
|
2:8. I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of
|
|
kings, and provinces: I made me singing men, and singing women, and the
|
|
delights of the sons of men, cups and vessels to serve to pour out
|
|
wine:
|
|
|
|
2:9. And I surpassed in riches all that were before me in Jerusalem: my
|
|
wisdom also remained with me.
|
|
|
|
2:10. And whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not: and I
|
|
withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting
|
|
itself in the things which I had prepared: and esteemed this my
|
|
portion, to make use of my own labour.
|
|
|
|
2:11. And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had
|
|
wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in
|
|
all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting
|
|
under the sun.
|
|
|
|
2:12. I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is
|
|
man, said I that he can follow the King his maker?)
|
|
|
|
2:13. And I saw that wisdom excelled folly, as much as light differeth
|
|
from darkness.
|
|
|
|
2:14. The eyes of a wise man are in his head: the fool walketh in
|
|
darkness: and I learned that they were to die both alike.
|
|
|
|
2:15. And I said in my heart: If the death of the fool and mine shall
|
|
be one, what doth it avail me, that I have applied myself more to the
|
|
study of wisdom? And speaking with my own mind, I perceived that this
|
|
also was vanity.
|
|
|
|
2:16. For there shall be no remembrance of the wise no more than of the
|
|
fool forever, and the times to come shall cover all things together
|
|
with oblivion: the learned dieth in like manner as the unlearned.
|
|
|
|
2:17. And therefore I was weary of my life, when I saw that all things
|
|
under the sun are evil, and all vanity and vexation of spirit.
|
|
|
|
2:18. Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly
|
|
laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after me,
|
|
|
|
2:19. Whom I know not whether he will be a wise man or a fool, and he
|
|
shall have rule over all my labours with which I have laboured and been
|
|
solicitous: and is there anything so vain?
|
|
|
|
2:20. Wherefore I left off and my heart renounced labouring anymore
|
|
under the sun.
|
|
|
|
2:21. For when a man laboureth in wisdom, and knowledge, and
|
|
carefulness, he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man: so this
|
|
also is vanity, and a great evil.
|
|
|
|
2:22. For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation
|
|
of spirit, with which he hath been tormented under the sun?
|
|
|
|
2:23. All his days are full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night
|
|
he doth not rest in mind: and is not this vanity?
|
|
|
|
2:24. Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good
|
|
things of his labours? and this is from the hand of God.
|
|
|
|
2:25. Who shall so feast and abound with delights as I?
|
|
|
|
2:26. God hath given to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and
|
|
knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he hath given vexation, and
|
|
superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together, and to give it to
|
|
him that hath pleased God: but this also is vanity, and a fruitless
|
|
solicitude of the mind.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
All human things are liable to perpetual changes. We are to rest on
|
|
God's providence, and cast away fruitless cares.
|
|
|
|
3:1. All things have their season, and in their times all things pass
|
|
under heaven.
|
|
|
|
3:2. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time
|
|
to pluck up that which is planted.
|
|
|
|
3:3. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time
|
|
to build.
|
|
|
|
3:4. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time
|
|
to dance.
|
|
|
|
3:5. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace,
|
|
and a time to be far from embraces.
|
|
|
|
3:6. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to
|
|
cast away.
|
|
|
|
3:7. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a
|
|
time to speak.
|
|
|
|
3:8. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of
|
|
peace.
|
|
|
|
3:9. What hath man more of his labour?
|
|
|
|
3:10. I have seen the trouble, which God hath given the sons of men to
|
|
be exercised in it.
|
|
|
|
3:11. He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered
|
|
the world to their consideration, so that man cannot find out the work
|
|
which God hath made from the beginning to the end.
|
|
|
|
3:12. And I have known that there was no better thing than to rejoice,
|
|
and to do well in this life.
|
|
|
|
3:13. For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his
|
|
labour, this is the gift of God.
|
|
|
|
3:14. I have learned that all the works which God hath made, continue
|
|
for ever: we cannot add any thing, nor take away from those things
|
|
which God hath made that he may be feared.
|
|
|
|
3:15. That which hath been made, the same continueth: the things that
|
|
shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that which is past.
|
|
|
|
3:16. I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness, and in
|
|
the place of justice iniquity.
|
|
|
|
3:17. And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the
|
|
wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing.
|
|
|
|
3:18. I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God would
|
|
prove them, and shew them to be like beasts.
|
|
|
|
3:19. Therefore the death of man, and of beasts is one, and the
|
|
condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die: all
|
|
things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all things
|
|
are subject to vanity.
|
|
|
|
Man hath nothing more, etc. . .Viz., as to the life of the body.
|
|
|
|
3:20. And all things go to one place: of earth they were made, and into
|
|
earth they return together.
|
|
|
|
3:21. Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward,
|
|
and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward?
|
|
|
|
Who knoweth, etc. . .Viz., experimentally: since no one in this life can
|
|
see a spirit. But as to the spirit of the beasts, which is merely
|
|
animal, and become extinct by the death of the beast, who can tell the
|
|
manner it acts so as to give life and motion, and by death to descend
|
|
downward, that is, to be no more?
|
|
|
|
3:22. And I have found that nothing is better than for a man to rejoice
|
|
in his work, and that this is his portion. For who shall bring him to
|
|
know the things that shall be after him?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other instances of human miseries.
|
|
|
|
4:1. I turned myself to other things, and I saw the oppressions that
|
|
are done under the sun, and the tears of the innocent, and they had no
|
|
comforter; and they were not able to resist their violence, being
|
|
destitute of help from any.
|
|
|
|
4:2. And I praised the dead rather than the living:
|
|
|
|
4:3. And I judged him happier than them both, that is not yet born, nor
|
|
hath seen the evils that are done under the sun.
|
|
|
|
4:4. Again I considered all the labours of men, and I remarked that
|
|
their industries are exposed to the envy of their neighbour: so in this
|
|
also there is vanity, and fruitless care.
|
|
|
|
4:5. The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
4:6. Better is a handful with rest, than both hands full with labour,
|
|
and vexation of mind.
|
|
|
|
4:7. Considering I found also another vanity under the sun:
|
|
|
|
4:8. There is but one, and he hath not a second, no child, no brother,
|
|
and yet he ceaseth not to labour, neither are his eyes satisfied with
|
|
riches, neither doth he reflect, saying: For whom do I labour, and
|
|
defraud my soul of good things? in this also is vanity, and a grievous
|
|
vexation.
|
|
|
|
4:9. It is better therefore that two should be together, than one: for
|
|
they have the advantage of their society:
|
|
|
|
4:10. If one fall he shall be supported by the other: woe to him that
|
|
is alone, for when he falleth, he hath none to lift him up.
|
|
|
|
4:11. And if two lie together, they shall warm one another: how shall
|
|
one alone be warmed?
|
|
|
|
4:12. And if a man prevail against one, two shall withstand him: a
|
|
threefold cord is not easily broken.
|
|
|
|
4:13. Better is a child that is poor and wise, than a king that is old
|
|
and foolish, who knoweth not to foresee for hereafter.
|
|
|
|
4:14. Because out of prison and chains sometimes a man cometh forth to
|
|
a kingdom: and another born king is consumed with poverty.
|
|
|
|
4:15. I saw all men living, that walk under the sun with the second
|
|
young man, who shall rise up in his place.
|
|
|
|
4:16. The number of the people, of all that were before him is
|
|
infinite: and they that shall come afterwards, shall not rejoice in
|
|
him: but this also is vanity, and vexation of spirit.
|
|
|
|
4:17. Keep thy foot, when thou goest into the house of God, and draw
|
|
nigh to hear. For much better is obedience, than the victims of fools,
|
|
who know not what evil they do.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Caution in words. Vows are to be paid. Riches are often pernicious:
|
|
the moderate use of them is the gift of God.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be hasty to
|
|
utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth:
|
|
therefore let thy words be few.
|
|
|
|
5:2. Dreams follow many cares: and in many words shall be found folly.
|
|
|
|
5:3. If thou hast vowed any thing to God, defer not to pay it: for an
|
|
unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him: but whatsoever thou
|
|
hast vowed, pay it.
|
|
|
|
5:4. And it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform
|
|
the things promised.
|
|
|
|
5:5. Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not before
|
|
the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words, and
|
|
destroy all the works of thy hands.
|
|
|
|
5:6. Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and words
|
|
without number: but do thou fear God.
|
|
|
|
5:7. If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and violent
|
|
judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder not at this
|
|
matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others
|
|
still higher than these:
|
|
|
|
5:8. Moreover there is the king that reigneth over all the land subject
|
|
to him.
|
|
|
|
5:9. A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that
|
|
loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is vanity.
|
|
|
|
5:10. Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them.
|
|
And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with
|
|
his eyes?
|
|
|
|
5:11. Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat little or much:
|
|
but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
|
|
|
|
5:12. There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen under the
|
|
sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner.
|
|
|
|
5:13. For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath begotten a
|
|
son, who shall be in extremity of want.
|
|
|
|
5:14. As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he
|
|
return, and shall take nothing away with him of his labour.
|
|
|
|
5:15. A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then
|
|
doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?
|
|
|
|
5:16. All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in many
|
|
cares, and in misery, and sorrow.
|
|
|
|
5:17. This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and
|
|
drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured
|
|
under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and
|
|
this is his portion.
|
|
|
|
5:18. And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and
|
|
hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to
|
|
rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God.
|
|
|
|
5:19. For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God
|
|
entertaineth his heart with delight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
The misery of the covetous man.
|
|
|
|
6:1. There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun, and
|
|
that frequent among men:
|
|
|
|
6:2. A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and honour,
|
|
and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet God doth not
|
|
give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up. This is
|
|
vanity and a great misery.
|
|
|
|
6:3. If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and attain
|
|
to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of his substance,
|
|
and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce, that the untimely
|
|
born is better than he.
|
|
|
|
6:4. For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name shall be
|
|
wholly forgotten.
|
|
|
|
6:5. He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good and evil:
|
|
|
|
6:6. Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good
|
|
things: do not all make haste to one place?
|
|
|
|
6:7. All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul shall not be
|
|
filled.
|
|
|
|
6:8. What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man,
|
|
but to go thither, where there is life?
|
|
|
|
6:9. Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that
|
|
which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of
|
|
spirit.
|
|
|
|
6:10. He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is known,
|
|
that he is a man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that is
|
|
stronger than himself.
|
|
|
|
6:11. There are many words that have much vanity in disputing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prescriptions against worldly vanities: mortification, patience, and
|
|
seeking wisdom.
|
|
|
|
7:1. What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he
|
|
knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of
|
|
his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can
|
|
tell him what shall be after him under the sun?
|
|
|
|
7:2. A good name is better than precious ointments: and the day of
|
|
death than the day of one's birth.
|
|
|
|
7:3. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of
|
|
feasting: for in that we are put in mind of the end of all, and the
|
|
living thinketh what is to come.
|
|
|
|
7:4. Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of the
|
|
countenance the mind of the offender is corrected.
|
|
|
|
Anger. . .That is, correction, or just wrath and zeal against evil.
|
|
|
|
7:5. The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of
|
|
fools where there is mirth.
|
|
|
|
7:6. It is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by
|
|
the flattery of fools.
|
|
|
|
7:7. For as the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the
|
|
laughter of a fool: now this also is vanity.
|
|
|
|
7:8. Oppression troubleth the wise, and shall destroy the strength of
|
|
his heart.
|
|
|
|
7:9. Better is the end of a speech than the beginning. Better is the
|
|
patient man than the presumptuous.
|
|
|
|
7:10. Be not quickly angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of a fool.
|
|
|
|
7:11. Say not: What thinkest thou is the cause that former times were
|
|
better than they are now? for this manner of question is foolish.
|
|
|
|
7:12. Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more
|
|
advantage to them that see the sun.
|
|
|
|
7:13. For as wisdom is a defence, so money is a defence: but learning
|
|
and wisdom excel in this, that they give life to him that possesseth
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
7:14. Consider the works of God, that no man can correct whom he hath
|
|
despised.
|
|
|
|
7:15. In the good day enjoy good things, and beware beforehand of the
|
|
evil day: for God hath made both the one and the other, that man may
|
|
not find against him any just complaint.
|
|
|
|
7:16. These things also I saw in the days of my vanity: A just man
|
|
perisheth in his justice, and a wicked man liveth a long time in his
|
|
wickedness.
|
|
|
|
7:17. Be not over just: and be not more wise than is necessary, lest
|
|
thou become stupid.
|
|
|
|
Over just. . .Viz., By an excessive rigour in censuring the ways of God
|
|
in bearing with the wicked.
|
|
|
|
7:18. Be not overmuch wicked: and be not foolish, lest thou die before
|
|
thy time.
|
|
|
|
Be not overmuch wicked. . .That is, lest by the greatness of your sin
|
|
you leave no room for mercy.
|
|
|
|
7:19. It is good that thou shouldst hold up the just, yea and from him
|
|
withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God, neglecteth nothing.
|
|
|
|
7:20. Wisdom hath strengthened the wise more than ten princes of the
|
|
city.
|
|
|
|
7:21. For there is no just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth
|
|
not.
|
|
|
|
7:22. But do not apply thy heart to all words that are spoken: lest
|
|
perhaps thou hear thy servant reviling thee.
|
|
|
|
7:23. For thy conscience knoweth that thou also hast often spoken evil
|
|
of others.
|
|
|
|
7:24. I have tried all things in wisdom. I have said: I will be wise:
|
|
and it departed farther from me,
|
|
|
|
7:25. Much more than it was: it is a great depth, who shall find it
|
|
out?
|
|
|
|
7:26. I have surveyed all things with my mind, to know, and consider,
|
|
and seek out wisdom and reason: and to know the wickedness of the fool,
|
|
and the error of the imprudent:
|
|
|
|
7:27. And I have found a woman more bitter than death, who is the
|
|
hunter's snare, and her heart is a net, and her hands are bands. He
|
|
that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a sinner, shall
|
|
be caught by her.
|
|
|
|
7:28. Lo this have I found, said Ecclesiastes, weighing one thing after
|
|
another, that I might find out the account,
|
|
|
|
7:29. Which yet my soul seeketh, and I have not found it. One man among
|
|
a thousand I have found, a woman among them all I have not found.
|
|
|
|
7:30. Only this I have found, that God made man right, and he hath
|
|
entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Who is as the wise
|
|
man? and who hath known the resolution of the word?
|
|
|
|
Of the word. . .That is, of this obscure and difficult matter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
True wisdom is to observe God's commandments. The ways of God are
|
|
unsearchable.
|
|
|
|
8:1. The wisdom of a man shineth in his countenance, and the most
|
|
mighty will change his face.
|
|
|
|
8:2. I observe the mouth of the king, and the commandments of the oath
|
|
of God.
|
|
|
|
8:3. Be not hasty to depart from his face, and do not continue in an
|
|
evil work: for he will do all that pleaseth him:
|
|
|
|
8:4. And his word is full of power: neither can any man say to him: Why
|
|
dost thou so?
|
|
|
|
8:5. He that keepeth the commandment, shall find no evil. The heart of
|
|
a wiser man understandeth time and answer.
|
|
|
|
8:6. There is a time and opportunity for every business, and great
|
|
affliction for man:
|
|
|
|
8:7. Because he is ignorant of things past, and things to come he
|
|
cannot know by any messenger.
|
|
|
|
8:8. It is not in man's power to stop the spirit, neither hath he power
|
|
in the day of death, neither is he suffered to rest when war is at
|
|
hand, neither shall wickedness save the wicked.
|
|
|
|
8:9. All these things I have considered, and applied my heart to all
|
|
the works that are done under the sun. Sometimes one man ruleth over
|
|
another to his own hurt.
|
|
|
|
8:10. I saw the wicked buried: who also when they were yet living were
|
|
in the holy place, and were praised in the city as men of just works:
|
|
but this also is vanity.
|
|
|
|
8:11. For because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil,
|
|
the children of men commit evils without any fear.
|
|
|
|
8:12. But though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and by patience be
|
|
borne withal, I know from thence that it shall be well with them that
|
|
fear God, who dread his face.
|
|
|
|
8:13. But let it not be well with the wicked, neither let his days be
|
|
prolonged, but as a shadow let them pass away that fear not the face of
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
8:14. There is also another vanity, which is done upon the earth. There
|
|
are just men to whom evils happen, as though they had done the works of
|
|
the wicked: and there are wicked men, who are as secure as though they
|
|
had the deeds of the just: but this also I judge most vain.
|
|
|
|
8:15. Therefore I commended mirth, because there was no good for a man
|
|
under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry, and that he should
|
|
take nothing else with him of his labour in the days of his life, which
|
|
God hath given him under the sun.
|
|
|
|
No good for a man, etc. . .Some commentators think the wise man here
|
|
speaks in the person of the libertine: representing the objections of
|
|
these men against divine providence, and the inferences they draw from
|
|
thence, which he takes care afterwards to refute. But it may also be
|
|
said, that his meaning is to commend the moderate use of the goods of
|
|
this world, preferably to the cares and solicitudes of worldlings,
|
|
their attachment to vanity and curiosity, and presumptuously diving
|
|
into the unsearchable ways of divine providence.
|
|
|
|
8:16. And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to understand the
|
|
distraction that is upon earth: for there are some that day and night
|
|
take no sleep with their eyes.
|
|
|
|
8:17. And I understood that man can find no reason of all those works
|
|
of God that are done under the sun: and the more he shall labour to
|
|
seek, so much the less shall he find: yea, though the wise man shall
|
|
say, that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to find it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
Man knows not certainty that he is in God's grace. After death no more
|
|
work or merit.
|
|
|
|
9:1. All these things have I considered in my heart, that I might
|
|
carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and their
|
|
works are in the hand of God: and yet man knoweth not whether he be
|
|
worthy of love, or hatred:
|
|
|
|
9:2. But all things are kept uncertain for the time to come, because
|
|
all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to the good
|
|
and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that offereth
|
|
victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the good is, so also
|
|
is the sinner: as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth.
|
|
|
|
9:3. This is a very great evil among all things that are done under the
|
|
sun, that the same things happen to all men: whereby also the hearts of
|
|
the children of men are filled with evil, and with contempt while they
|
|
live, and afterwards they shall be brought down to hell.
|
|
|
|
9:4. There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for this: a
|
|
living dog is better than a dead lion.
|
|
|
|
9:5. For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing
|
|
more, neither have they a reward any more: for the memory of them is
|
|
forgotten.
|
|
|
|
Know nothing more. . .Viz., as to the transactions of this world, in
|
|
which they have now no part, unless it be revealed to them; neither
|
|
have they any knowledge or power now of doing any thing to secure their
|
|
eternal state, (if they have not taken care of it in their lifetime:)
|
|
nor can they now procure themselves any good, as the living always may
|
|
do, by the grace of God.
|
|
|
|
9:6. Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy are all
|
|
perished, neither have they any part in this world, and in the work
|
|
that is done under the sun.
|
|
|
|
9:7. Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with
|
|
gladness: because thy works please God.
|
|
|
|
9:8. At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oil depart
|
|
from thy head.
|
|
|
|
9:9. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of thy
|
|
unsteady life, which are given to thee under the sun, all the time of
|
|
thy vanity: for this is thy portion in life, and in thy labour
|
|
wherewith thou labourest under the sun.
|
|
|
|
9:10. Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither
|
|
work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither
|
|
thou art hastening.
|
|
|
|
9:11. I turned me to another thing, and I saw that under the sun, the
|
|
race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to
|
|
the wise, nor riches to the learned, nor favour to the skilful: but
|
|
time and chance in all.
|
|
|
|
9:12. Man knoweth not his own end: but as fishes are taken with the
|
|
hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the
|
|
evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them.
|
|
|
|
9:13. This wisdom also I have seen under the sun, and it seemed to me
|
|
to be very great:
|
|
|
|
9:14. A little city, and few men in it: there came against it a great
|
|
king, and invested it, and built bulwarks round about it, and the siege
|
|
was perfect.
|
|
|
|
9:15. Now there was found in it a man poor and wise, and he delivered
|
|
the city by his wisdom, and no man afterward remembered that poor man.
|
|
|
|
9:16. And I said that wisdom is better than strength: how then is the
|
|
wisdom of the poor man slighted, and his words not heard?
|
|
|
|
9:17. The words of the wise are heard in silence, more than the cry of
|
|
a prince among fools.
|
|
|
|
9:18. Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend
|
|
in one, shall lose many good things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
Observations on wisdom and folly, ambition and detraction.
|
|
|
|
10:1. Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom and glory
|
|
is more precious than a small and shortlived folly.
|
|
|
|
10:2. The heart of a wise man is in his right hand, and the heart of a
|
|
fool is in his left hand.
|
|
|
|
10:3. Yea, and the fool when he walketh in the way, whereas he himself
|
|
is a fool, esteemeth all men fools.
|
|
|
|
10:4. If the spirit of him that hath power, ascend upon thee, leave not
|
|
thy place: because care will make the greatest sins to cease.
|
|
|
|
10:5. There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were by an
|
|
error proceeding from the face of the prince:
|
|
|
|
10:6. A fool set in high dignity, and the rich sitting beneath.
|
|
|
|
10:7. I have seen servants upon horses: and princes walking on the
|
|
ground as servants.
|
|
|
|
10:8. He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that breaketh a
|
|
hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
|
|
|
|
10:9. He that removeth stones, shall be hurt by them: and he that
|
|
cutteth trees, shall be wounded by them.
|
|
|
|
10:10. If the iron be blunt, and be not as before, but be made blunt,
|
|
with much labour it shall be sharpened: and after industry shall follow
|
|
wisdom.
|
|
|
|
10:11. If a serpent bite in silence, he is nothing better that
|
|
backbiteth secretly.
|
|
|
|
10:12. The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace: but the lips of
|
|
a fool shall throw him down headlong.
|
|
|
|
10:13. The beginning of his words is folly, and the end of his talk is
|
|
a mischievous error.
|
|
|
|
10:14. A fool multiplieth words. A man cannot tell what hath been
|
|
before him: and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
|
|
|
|
10:15. The labour of fools shall afflict them that know not how to go
|
|
to the city.
|
|
|
|
10:16. Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and when the
|
|
princes eat in the morning.
|
|
|
|
10:17. Blessed is the land, whose king is noble, and whose princes eat
|
|
in due season for refreshment, and not for riotousness.
|
|
|
|
10:18. By slothfulness a building shall be brought down, and through
|
|
the weakness of hands, the house shall drop through.
|
|
|
|
10:19. For laughter they make bread, and wine that the living may
|
|
feast: and all things obey money.
|
|
|
|
10:20. Detract not the king, no not in thy thought; and speak not evil
|
|
of the rich man in thy private chamber: because even the birds of the
|
|
air will carry thy voice, and he that hath wings will tell what thou
|
|
hast said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exhortation to works of mercy, while we have time, to diligence in
|
|
good, and to the remembrance of death and judgment.
|
|
|
|
11:1. Cast thy bread upon the running waters: for after a long time
|
|
thou shalt find it again.
|
|
|
|
11:2. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou knowest not
|
|
what evil shall be upon the earth.
|
|
|
|
11:3. If the clouds be full, they will pour out rain upon the earth. If
|
|
the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in what place soever it
|
|
shall fall, there shall it be.
|
|
|
|
If the tree fall, etc. . .The state of the soul is unchangeable when
|
|
once she comes to heaven or hell: and a soul that departs this life in
|
|
the state of grace, shall never fall from grace: as on the other side,
|
|
a soul that dies out of the state of grace, shall never come to it. But
|
|
this does not exclude a place of temporal punishments for such souls as
|
|
die in the state of grace: yet not so as to be entirely pure: and
|
|
therefore they shall be saved, indeed, yet so as by fire. 1 Cor. 3.13,
|
|
14, 15.
|
|
|
|
11:4. He that observeth the wind, shall not sow: and he that
|
|
considereth the clouds, shall never reap.
|
|
|
|
11:5. As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the
|
|
bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child: so
|
|
thou knowest not the works of God, who is the maker of all.
|
|
|
|
11:6. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening let not thy hand
|
|
cease: for thou knowest not which may rather spring up, this or that:
|
|
and if both together, it shall be the better.
|
|
|
|
11:7. The light is sweet, and it is delightful for the eyes to see the
|
|
sun.
|
|
|
|
11:8. If a man live many years, and have rejoiced in them all, he must
|
|
remember the darksome time, and the many days: which when they shall
|
|
come, the things past shall be accused of vanity.
|
|
|
|
11:9. Rejoice therefore, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart
|
|
be in that which is good in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways
|
|
of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes: and know that for all these
|
|
God will bring thee into judgment.
|
|
|
|
11:10. Remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh.
|
|
For youth and pleasure are vain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiastes Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Creator is to be remembered in the days of our youth: all worldly
|
|
things are vain: we should fear God and keep his commandments.
|
|
|
|
12:1. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the time of
|
|
affliction come, and the years draw nigh of which thou shalt say: They
|
|
please me not:
|
|
|
|
12:2. Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars be
|
|
darkened, and the clouds return after the rain:
|
|
|
|
Before the sun, etc. . .That is, before old age: the effects of which
|
|
upon all the senses and faculties are described in the following
|
|
verses, under a variety of figures.
|
|
|
|
12:3. When the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men
|
|
shall stagger, and the grinders shall be idle in a small number, and
|
|
they that look through the holes shall be darkened:
|
|
|
|
12:4. And they shall shut the doors in the street, when the grinder's
|
|
voice shall be low, and they shall rise up at the voice of the bird,
|
|
and all the daughters of music shall grow deaf.
|
|
|
|
12:5. And they shall fear high things, and they shall be afraid in the
|
|
way, the almond tree shall flourish, the locust shall be made fat, and
|
|
the caper tree shall be destroyed: because man shall go into the house
|
|
of his eternity, and the mourners shall go round about in the street.
|
|
|
|
12:6. Before the silver cord be broken, and the golden fillet shrink
|
|
back, and the pitcher be crushed at the fountain, and the wheel be
|
|
broken upon the cistern,
|
|
|
|
12:7. And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was, and the
|
|
spirit return to God, who gave it.
|
|
|
|
12:8. Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, and all things are vanity.
|
|
|
|
12:9. And whereas Ecclesiastes was very wise, he taught the people, and
|
|
declared the things that he had done: and seeking out, he set forth
|
|
many parables.
|
|
|
|
12:10. He sought profitable words, and wrote words most right, and full
|
|
of truth.
|
|
|
|
12:11. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails deeply fastened
|
|
in, which by the counsel of masters are given from one shepherd.
|
|
|
|
12:12. More than these, my son, require not. Of making many books there
|
|
is no end: and much study is an affliction of the flesh.
|
|
|
|
12:13. Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse. Fear
|
|
God, and keep his commandments: for this is all man:
|
|
|
|
All man. . .The whole business and duty of man.
|
|
|
|
12:14. And all things that are done, God will bring into judgment for
|
|
every error, whether it be good or evil.
|
|
|
|
Error. . .Or, hidden and secret thing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SOLOMON'S CANTICLE OF CANTICLES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This Book is called the Canticle of Canticles, that is to say, the most
|
|
excellent of all canticles: because it is full of high mysteries,
|
|
relating to the happy union of Christ and his spouse: which is here
|
|
begun by love; and is to be eternal in heaven. The spouse of Christ is
|
|
the church: more especially as to the happiest part of it, viz.,
|
|
perfect souls, every one of which is his beloved, but, above all
|
|
others, the immaculate and ever blessed virgin mother.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The spouse aspires to an union with Christ, their mutual love for one
|
|
another.
|
|
|
|
1:1. Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth: for thy breasts are
|
|
better than wine,
|
|
|
|
Let him kiss me. . .The church, the spouse of Christ, prays that he may
|
|
love and have peace with her, which the spouse prefers to every thing
|
|
delicious: and therefore expresses (ver. 2) that young maidens, that is
|
|
the souls of the faithful, have loved thee.
|
|
|
|
1:2. Smelling sweet of the best ointments. Thy name is as oil poured
|
|
out: therefore young maidens have loved thee.
|
|
|
|
1:3. Draw me: we will run after thee to the odour of thy ointments. The
|
|
king hath brought me into his storerooms: we will be glad and rejoice
|
|
in thee, remembering thy breasts more than wine: the rightous love
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
Draw me. . .That is, with thy grace: otherwise I should not be able to
|
|
come to thee. This metaphor shews that we cannot of ourselves come to
|
|
Christ our Lord, unless he draws us by his grace, which is laid up in
|
|
his storerooms: that is, in the mysteries of Faith, which God in his
|
|
goodness and love for mankind hath revealed, first by his servant Moses
|
|
in the Old Law in figure only, and afterwards in reality by his only
|
|
begotten Son Jesus Christ.
|
|
|
|
1:4. I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the
|
|
tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
|
|
|
|
I am black but beautiful. . .That is, the church of Christ founded in
|
|
humility appearing outwardly afflicted, and as it were black and
|
|
contemptible; but inwardly, that is, in its doctrine and morality, fair
|
|
and beautiful.
|
|
|
|
1:5. Do not consider me that I am brown, because the sun hath altered
|
|
my colour: the sons of my mother have fought against me, they have made
|
|
me the keeper in the vineyards: my vineyard I have not kept.
|
|
|
|
1:6. Shew me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where
|
|
thou liest in the midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of
|
|
thy companions.
|
|
|
|
1:7. If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth, and
|
|
follow after the steps of the flocks, and feed thy kids beside the
|
|
tents of the shepherds.
|
|
|
|
If thou know not thyself, etc. . .Christ encourages his spouse to follow
|
|
and watch her flock: and though she know not entirely the power at hand
|
|
to assist her, he tells her, ver. 8, my company of horsemen, that is,
|
|
his angels, are always watching and protecting her. And in the
|
|
following verses he reminds her of the virtues and gifts with which he
|
|
has endowed her.
|
|
|
|
1:8. To my company of horsemen, in Pharao's chariots, have I likened
|
|
thee, O my love.
|
|
|
|
1:9. Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove's, thy neck as jewels.
|
|
|
|
1:10. We will make thee chains of gold, inlaid with silver.
|
|
|
|
1:11. While the king was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the
|
|
odour thereof.
|
|
|
|
1:12. A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my
|
|
breasts.
|
|
|
|
1:13. A cluster of cypress my love is to me, in the vineyards of
|
|
Engaddi.
|
|
|
|
1:14. Behold thou are fair, O my love, behold thou are fair, thy eyes
|
|
are as those of doves.
|
|
|
|
1:15. Behold thou art fair, my beloved, and comely. Our bed is
|
|
flourishing.
|
|
|
|
1:16. The beams of our houses are of cedar, our rafters of cypress
|
|
trees.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christ caresses his spouse: he invites her to him.
|
|
|
|
2:1. I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.
|
|
|
|
I am the flower of the field. . .Christ professes himself the flower of
|
|
mankind, yea, the Lord of all creatures: and, ver. 2, declares the
|
|
excellence of his spouse, the true church above all other societies,
|
|
which are to be considered as thorns.
|
|
|
|
2:2. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
|
|
|
|
2:3. As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved
|
|
among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his
|
|
fruit was sweet to my palate.
|
|
|
|
2:4. He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
2:5. Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I
|
|
languish with love.
|
|
|
|
2:6. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
2:7. I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the
|
|
harts of the field, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to
|
|
awake, till she please.
|
|
|
|
2:8. The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the
|
|
mountains, skipping over the hills.
|
|
|
|
The voice of my beloved: that is, the preaching of the gospel
|
|
surmounting difficulties figuratively here expressed by mountains and
|
|
little hills.
|
|
|
|
2:9. My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth
|
|
behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the
|
|
lattices.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my
|
|
dove, my beautiful one, and come.
|
|
|
|
2:11. For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone.
|
|
|
|
2:12. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is
|
|
come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land:
|
|
|
|
2:13. The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower
|
|
yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come:
|
|
|
|
2:14. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the
|
|
wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice
|
|
is sweet, and thy face comely.
|
|
|
|
2:15. Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines: for our
|
|
vineyard hath flourished.
|
|
|
|
Catch us the little foxes. . .Christ commands his pastors to catch false
|
|
teachers, by holding forth their fallacy and erroneous doctrine, which
|
|
like foxes would bite and destroy the vines.
|
|
|
|
2:16. My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies,
|
|
|
|
2:17. Till the day break, and the shadows retire. Return: be like, my
|
|
beloved, to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
The spouse seeks Christ. The glory of his humanity.
|
|
|
|
3:1. In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him,
|
|
and found him not.
|
|
|
|
In my bed by night, etc. . .The Gentiles as in the dark, and seeking in
|
|
heathen delusion what they could not find, the true God, until Christ
|
|
revealed his doctrine to them by his watchmen, (ver. 3,) that is, by
|
|
the apostles, and teachers by whom they were converted to the true
|
|
faith; and holding that faith firmly, the spouse (the Catholic Church)
|
|
declares, ver. 4, That she will not let him go, till she bring him into
|
|
her mother's house, etc., that is, till at last, the Jews also shall
|
|
find him.
|
|
|
|
3:2. I will rise, and will go about the city: in the streets and the
|
|
broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I
|
|
found him not.
|
|
|
|
3:3. The watchmen who keep the city, found me: Have you seen him, whom
|
|
my soul loveth?
|
|
|
|
3:4. When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul
|
|
loveth: I held him: and I will not let him go, till I bring him into my
|
|
mother's house, and into the chamber of her that bore me.
|
|
|
|
3:5. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the harts
|
|
of the fields, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved, till she
|
|
please.
|
|
|
|
3:6. Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of
|
|
aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders
|
|
of the perfumer?
|
|
|
|
3:7. Behold threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel,
|
|
surrounded the bed of Solomon?
|
|
|
|
3:8. All holding swords, and most expert in war: every man's sword upon
|
|
his thigh, because of fears in the night.
|
|
|
|
3:9. King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus:
|
|
|
|
3:10. The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the
|
|
going up of purple: the midst he covered with charity for the daughters
|
|
of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
3:11. Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the
|
|
diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of the joy of his
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christ sets forth the graces of his spouse: and declares his love for
|
|
her.
|
|
|
|
4:1. How beautiful art thou, my love, how beautiful art thou! thy eyes
|
|
are doves' eyes, besides what is hid within. Thy hair is as flocks of
|
|
goats, which come up from mount Galaad.
|
|
|
|
How beautiful art thou. . .Christ again praises the beauties of his
|
|
church, which through the whole of this chapter are exemplified by a
|
|
variety of metaphors, setting forth her purity, her simplicity, and her
|
|
stability.
|
|
|
|
4:2. Thy teeth as flocks of sheep, that are shorn, which come up from
|
|
the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them.
|
|
|
|
4:3. Thy lips are as a scarlet lace: and thy speech sweet. Thy cheeks
|
|
are as a piece of a pomegranate, besides that which lieth hid within.
|
|
|
|
4:4. Thy neck, is as the tower of David, which is built with bulwarks:
|
|
a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men.
|
|
|
|
4:5. Thy two breasts like two young roes that are twins, which feed
|
|
among the lilies.
|
|
|
|
Thy two breasts, etc. . .Mystically to be understood: the love of God
|
|
and the love of our neighbour, which are so united as twins which feed
|
|
among the lilies: that is, the love of God and our neighbour, feeds on
|
|
the divine mysteries and the holy sacraments, left by Christ to his
|
|
spouse to feed and nourish her children.
|
|
|
|
4:6. Till the day break, and the shadows retire, I will go to the
|
|
mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
|
|
|
|
4:7. Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.
|
|
|
|
4:8. Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt
|
|
be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon,
|
|
from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.
|
|
|
|
4:9. Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast
|
|
wounded my heart with one of thy eyes, and with one hair of thy neck.
|
|
|
|
4:10. How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! thy breasts
|
|
are more beautiful than wine, and the sweet smell of thy ointments
|
|
above all aromatical spices.
|
|
|
|
4:11. Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, honey and milk
|
|
are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments, as the smell of
|
|
frankincense.
|
|
|
|
4:12. My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a
|
|
fountain sealed up.
|
|
|
|
My sister, etc., a garden enclosed. . .Figuratively the church is
|
|
enclosed, containing only the faithful. A fountain sealed up. . .That
|
|
none can drink of its waters, that is, the graces and spiritual
|
|
benefits of the holy sacraments, but those who are within its walls.
|
|
|
|
4:13. Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the
|
|
orchard. Cypress with spikenard.
|
|
|
|
4:14. Spikenard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon, with all the
|
|
trees of Libanus, myrrh and aloes with all the chief perfumes.
|
|
|
|
4:15. The fountain of gardens: the well of living waters, which run
|
|
with a strong stream from Libanus.
|
|
|
|
4:16. Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind, blow through my
|
|
garden, and let the aromatical spices thereof flow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christ calls his spouse: she languishes with love: and describes him by
|
|
his graces.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his
|
|
apple trees. I am come into my garden, O my sister, my spouse, I have
|
|
gathered my myrrh, with my aromatical spices: I have eaten the
|
|
honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O
|
|
friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved.
|
|
|
|
Let my beloved come into his garden, etc. . .Garden, mystically the
|
|
church of Christ, abounding with fruit, that is, the good works of the
|
|
elect.
|
|
|
|
5:2. I sleep, and my heart watcheth: the voice of my beloved knocking:
|
|
Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is
|
|
full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the nights.
|
|
|
|
5:3. I have put off my garment, how shall I put it on? I have washed my
|
|
feet, how shall I defile them?
|
|
|
|
5:4. My beloved put his hand through the key hole, and my bowels were
|
|
moved at his touch.
|
|
|
|
My beloved put his hand through the key hole, etc. . .The spouse of
|
|
Christ, his church, at times as it were penned up by its persecutors,
|
|
and in fears, expecting the divine assistance, here signified by his
|
|
hand: and ver. 6, but he had turned aside and was gone, that is, Christ
|
|
permitting a further trial of suffering: and again, ver. 7, the
|
|
keepers, etc., signifying the violent and cruel persecutors of the
|
|
church taking her veil, despoiling the church of its places of worship
|
|
and ornaments for the divine service.
|
|
|
|
5:5. I arose up to open to my beloved: my hands dropped with myrrh, and
|
|
my fingers were full of the choicest myrrh.
|
|
|
|
5:6. I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved: but he had turned
|
|
aside, and was gone. My soul melted when he spoke: I sought him, and
|
|
found him not: I called, and he did not answer me.
|
|
|
|
5:7. The keepers that go about the city found me: they struck me: and
|
|
wounded me: the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
|
|
|
|
5:8. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved,
|
|
that you tell him that I languish with love.
|
|
|
|
5:9. What manner of one is thy beloved of the beloved, O thou most
|
|
beautiful among women? what manner of one is thy beloved of the
|
|
beloved, that thou hast so adjured us?
|
|
|
|
5:10. My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.
|
|
|
|
My beloved, etc. . .In this and the following verses, the church
|
|
mystically describes Christ to those who know him not, that is, to
|
|
infidels in order to convert them to the true faith.
|
|
|
|
5:11. His head is as the finest gold: his locks as branches of palm
|
|
trees, black as a raven.
|
|
|
|
5:12. His eyes as doves upon brooks of waters, which are washed with
|
|
milk, and sit beside the plentiful streams.
|
|
|
|
5:13. His cheeks are as beds of aromatical spices set by the perfumers.
|
|
His lips are as lilies dropping choice myrrh.
|
|
|
|
5:14. His hands are turned and as of gold, full of hyacinths. His belly
|
|
as of ivory, set with sapphires.
|
|
|
|
5:15. His legs as pillars of marble, that are set upon bases of gold.
|
|
His form as of Libanus, excellent as the cedars.
|
|
|
|
5:16. His throat most sweet, and he is all lovely: such is my beloved,
|
|
and he is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
5:17. Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou most beautiful among women?
|
|
whither is thy beloved turned aside, and we will seek him with thee?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
The spouse of Christ is but one: she is fair and terrible.
|
|
|
|
6:1. My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the bed of aromatical
|
|
spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
|
|
|
|
My beloved is gone down into his garden. . .Christ, pleased with the
|
|
good works of his holy and devout servants labouring in his garden, is
|
|
always present with them: but the words is gone down, are to be
|
|
understood, that after trying his Church by permitting persecution, he
|
|
comes to her assistance and she rejoices at his coming.
|
|
|
|
6:2. I to my beloved, and my beloved to me, who feedeth among the
|
|
lilies.
|
|
|
|
6:3. Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem
|
|
terrible as an army set in array.
|
|
|
|
6:4. Turn away thy eyes from me, for they have made me flee away. Thy
|
|
hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from Galaad.
|
|
|
|
6:5. Thy teeth as a flock of sheep, which come up from the washing, all
|
|
with twins, and there is none barren among them.
|
|
|
|
6:6. Thy cheeks are as the bark of a pomegranate, beside what is hidden
|
|
within thee.
|
|
|
|
6:7. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and young
|
|
maidens without number.
|
|
|
|
6:8. One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of
|
|
her mother, the chosen of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and
|
|
declared her most blessed: the queens and concubines, and they praised
|
|
her.
|
|
|
|
One is my dove, etc. . .That is, my church is one, and she only is
|
|
perfect and blessed.
|
|
|
|
6:9. Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the
|
|
moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?
|
|
|
|
Who is she, etc. . .Here is a beautiful metaphor describing the church
|
|
from the beginning. As, the morning rising, signifying the church
|
|
before the written law; fair as the moon, shewing her under the light
|
|
of the gospel: and terrible as an army, the power of Christ's church
|
|
against its enemies.
|
|
|
|
6:10. I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the fruits of the
|
|
valleys, and to look if the vineyard had flourished, and the
|
|
pomegranates budded.
|
|
|
|
6:11. I knew not: my soul troubled me for the chariots of Aminadab.
|
|
|
|
6:12. Return, return, O Sulamitess: return, return that we may behold
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
A further description of the graces of the church the spouse of Christ.
|
|
|
|
7:1. What shalt thou see in the Sulamitess but the companies of camps?
|
|
How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince's daughter! The joints
|
|
of thy thighs are like jewels, that are made by the hand of a skilful
|
|
workman.
|
|
|
|
How beautiful are thy steps, etc. . .By these metaphors are signified
|
|
the power and mission of the church in propagating the true faith.
|
|
|
|
7:2. Thy navel is like a round bowl never wanting cups. Thy belly is
|
|
like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.
|
|
|
|
7:3. Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
|
|
|
|
7:4. Thy neck as a tower of ivory. Thy eyes like the fishpools in
|
|
Hesebon, which are in the gate of the daughter of the multitude. Thy
|
|
nose is as the tower of Libanus, that looketh toward Damascus.
|
|
|
|
7:5. Thy head is like Carmel: and the hairs of thy head as the purple
|
|
of the king bound in the channels.
|
|
|
|
Thy head is like Carmel. . .Christ, the invisible head of his church, is
|
|
here signified.
|
|
|
|
7:6. How beautiful art thou, and how comely, my dearest, in delights!
|
|
|
|
7:7. Thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of
|
|
grapes.
|
|
|
|
7:8. I said: I will go up into the palm tree, and will take hold of the
|
|
fruit thereof: and thy breasts shall be as the clusters of the vine:
|
|
and the odour of thy mouth like apples.
|
|
|
|
7:9. Thy throat like the best wine, worthy for my beloved to drink, and
|
|
for his lips and his teeth to ruminate.
|
|
|
|
7:10. I to my beloved, and his turning is towards me.
|
|
|
|
7:11. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us abide in
|
|
the villages.
|
|
|
|
7:12. Let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vineyard
|
|
flourish, if the flowers be ready to bring forth fruits, if the
|
|
pomegranates flourish: there will I give thee my breasts.
|
|
|
|
7:13. The mandrakes give a smell. In our gates are all fruits: the new
|
|
and the old, my beloved, I have kept for thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
The love of the church to Christ: his love to her.
|
|
|
|
8:1. Who shall give thee to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of
|
|
my mother, that I may find thee without, and kiss thee, and now no man
|
|
may despise me?
|
|
|
|
8:2. I will take hold of thee, and bring thee into my mother's house:
|
|
there thou shalt teach me, and I will give thee a cup of spiced wine
|
|
and new wine of my pomegranates.
|
|
|
|
8:3. His left hand under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.
|
|
|
|
His left hand, etc. . .Words of the church to Christ. His left hand,
|
|
signifying the Old Testament, and his right hand, the New.
|
|
|
|
8:4. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up, nor
|
|
awake my love till she please.
|
|
|
|
8:5. Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights,
|
|
leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I raised thee up: there
|
|
thy mother was corrupted, there she was defloured that bore thee.
|
|
|
|
Who is this, etc. . .The angels with admiration behold the Gentiles
|
|
converted to the faith: coming up from the desert, that is, coming from
|
|
heathenism and false worship: flowing with delights, that is, abounding
|
|
with good works which are pleasing to God: leaning on her beloved, on
|
|
the promise of Christ to his Church, that the gates of hell should not
|
|
prevail against it; and supported by his grace conferred by the
|
|
sacraments. Under the apple tree I raised thee up; that is, that Christ
|
|
redeemed the Gentiles at the foot of the cross, where the synagogue of
|
|
the Jews (the mother church) was corrupted by their denying him, and
|
|
crucifying him.
|
|
|
|
8:6. Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love
|
|
is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are
|
|
fire and flames.
|
|
|
|
8:7. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown
|
|
it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he
|
|
shall despise it as nothing.
|
|
|
|
8:8. Our sister is little, and hath no breasts. What shall we do to our
|
|
sister in the day when she is to be spoken to?
|
|
|
|
Our sister is little, etc. . .Mystically signifies the Jews, who are to
|
|
be spoken to: that is, converted towards the end of the world: and then
|
|
shall become a wall, that is, a part of the building, the church of
|
|
Christ.
|
|
|
|
8:9. If she be a wall: let us build upon it bulwarks of silver: if she
|
|
be a door, let us join it together with boards of cedar.
|
|
|
|
8:10. I am a wall: and my breasts are as a tower since I am become in
|
|
his presence as one finding peace.
|
|
|
|
8:11. The peaceable had a vineyard, in that which hath people: he let
|
|
out the same to keepers, every man bringeth for the fruit thereof a
|
|
thousand pieces of silver.
|
|
|
|
8:12. My vineyard is before me. A thousand are for thee, the peaceable,
|
|
and two hundred for them that keep the fruit thereof.
|
|
|
|
8:13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the friends hearken: make me
|
|
hear thy voice.
|
|
|
|
8:14. Flee away, O my beloved, and be like to the roe, and to the young
|
|
hart upon the mountains of aromatical spices.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE BOOK OF WISDOM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This Book is so called, because it treats of the excellence of WISDOM,
|
|
the means to obtain it, and the happy fruits it produces. It is written
|
|
in the person of Solomon, and contains his sentiments. But it is
|
|
uncertain who was the writer. It abounds with instructions and
|
|
exhortations to kings and all magistrates to minister justice in the
|
|
commonwealth, teaching all kinds of virtues under the general names of
|
|
justice and wisdom. It contains also many prophecies of Christ's
|
|
coming, passion, resurrection, and other Christian mysteries. The whole
|
|
may be divided into three parts. In the first six chapters, the author
|
|
admonishes all superiors to love and exercise justice and wisdom. In
|
|
the next three, he teacheth that wisdom proceedeth only from God, and
|
|
is procured by prayer and a good life. In the other ten chapters, he
|
|
sheweth the excellent effects and utility of wisdom and justice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to seek God sincerely, who cannot be deceived, and
|
|
desireth not our death.
|
|
|
|
1:1. Love justice, you that are the judges of the earth. Think of the
|
|
Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart:
|
|
|
|
1:2. For he is found by them that tempt him not: and he sheweth himself
|
|
to them that have faith in him.
|
|
|
|
1:3. For perverse thoughts separate from God: and his power, when it is
|
|
tried, reproveth the unwise:
|
|
|
|
1:4. For wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a
|
|
body subject to sins.
|
|
|
|
1:5. For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful,
|
|
and will withdraw himself from thoughts that are without understanding,
|
|
and he shall not abide when iniquity cometh in.
|
|
|
|
1:6. For the spirit of wisdom is benevolent, and will not acquit the
|
|
evil speaker from his lips: for God is witness of his reins, and he is
|
|
a true searcher of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue.
|
|
|
|
1:7. For the Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world: and that
|
|
which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice.
|
|
|
|
1:8. Therefore he that speaketh unjust things, cannot be hid, neither
|
|
shall the chastising judgment pass him by.
|
|
|
|
1:9. For inquisition shall be made into the thoughts of the ungodly,
|
|
and the hearing of his words shall come to God, to the chastising of
|
|
his iniquities.
|
|
|
|
1:10. For the ear of jealousy heareth all things, and the tumult of
|
|
murmuring shall not be hid.
|
|
|
|
1:11. Keep yourselves, therefore, from murmuring, which profiteth
|
|
nothing, and refrain your tongue from detraction, for an obscure speech
|
|
shall not go for nought: and the mouth that belieth, killeth the soul.
|
|
|
|
1:12. Seek not death in the error of your life, neither procure ye
|
|
destruction by the works of your hands.
|
|
|
|
1:13. For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the
|
|
destruction of the living.
|
|
|
|
1:14. For he created all things that they might be: and he made the
|
|
nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction
|
|
in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth.
|
|
|
|
1:15. For justice is perpetual and immortal.
|
|
|
|
1:16. But the wicked with works and words have called it to them: and
|
|
esteeming it a friend, have fallen away and have made a covenant with
|
|
it: because they are worthy to be of the part thereof.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
The vain reasonings of the wicked: their persecuting the just,
|
|
especially the Son of God.
|
|
|
|
2:1. For they have said, reasoning with themselves, but not right: The
|
|
time of our life is short and tedious, and in the end of a man there is
|
|
no remedy, and no man hath been known to have returned from hell:
|
|
|
|
2:2. For we are born of nothing, and after this we shall be as if we
|
|
had not been: for the breath in our nostrils is smoke: and speech a
|
|
spark to move our heart,
|
|
|
|
2:3. Which being put out, our body shall be ashes, and our spirit shall
|
|
be poured abroad as soft air, and our life shall pass away as the trace
|
|
of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, which is driven away by
|
|
the beams of the sun, and overpowered with the heat thereof:
|
|
|
|
2:4. And our name in time shall be forgotten, and no man shall have any
|
|
remembrance of our works.
|
|
|
|
2:5. For our time is as the passing of a shadow, and there is no going
|
|
back of our end: for it is fast sealed, and no man returneth:
|
|
|
|
2:6. Come, therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that are
|
|
present, and let us speedily use the creatures as in youth.
|
|
|
|
2:7. Let us fill ourselves with costly wine, and ointments: and let not
|
|
the flower of the time pass by us.
|
|
|
|
2:8. Let us crown ourselves with roses, before they be withered: let no
|
|
meadow escape our riot.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Let none of us go without his part in luxury: let us every where
|
|
leave tokens of joy: for this is our portion, and this our lot.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor
|
|
honour the ancient grey hairs of the aged.
|
|
|
|
2:11. But let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is
|
|
feeble is found to be nothing worth.
|
|
|
|
2:12. Let us, therefore, lie in wait for the just, because he is not
|
|
for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with
|
|
transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way
|
|
of life.
|
|
|
|
2:13. He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth
|
|
himself the son of God.
|
|
|
|
2:14. He is become a censurer of our thoughts.
|
|
|
|
2:15. He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like
|
|
other men's, and his ways are very different.
|
|
|
|
2:16. We are esteemed by him as triflers, and he abstaineth from our
|
|
ways as from filthiness, and he preferreth the latter end of the just,
|
|
and glorieth that he hath God for his father.
|
|
|
|
2:17. Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall
|
|
happen to him, and we shall know what his end shall be.
|
|
|
|
2:18. For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will
|
|
deliver him from the hands of his enemies.
|
|
|
|
2:19. Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his
|
|
meekness, and try his patience.
|
|
|
|
2:20. Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be
|
|
respect had unto him by his words.
|
|
|
|
2:21. These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own
|
|
malice blinded them.
|
|
|
|
2:22. And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of
|
|
justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls.
|
|
|
|
2:23. For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own
|
|
likeness he made him.
|
|
|
|
2:24. But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world:
|
|
|
|
2:25. And they follow him that are of his side.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
The happiness of the just: and the unhappiness of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
3:1. But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment
|
|
of death shall not touch them.
|
|
|
|
3:2. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure
|
|
was taken for misery:
|
|
|
|
3:3. And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are
|
|
in peace.
|
|
|
|
3:4. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope
|
|
is full of immortality.
|
|
|
|
3:5. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded:
|
|
because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.
|
|
|
|
3:6. As gold in the furnace, he hath proved them, and as a victim of a
|
|
holocaust, he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect
|
|
had to them.
|
|
|
|
3:7. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among
|
|
the reeds.
|
|
|
|
3:8. They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord
|
|
shall reign for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:9. They that trust in him shall understand the truth: and they that
|
|
are faithful in love, shall rest in him: for grace and peace are to his
|
|
elect.
|
|
|
|
3:10. But the wicked shall be punished according to their own devices:
|
|
who have neglected the just, and have revolted from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
3:11. For he that rejecteth wisdom, and discipline, is unhappy: and
|
|
their hope is vain, and their labours without fruit, and their works
|
|
unprofitable.
|
|
|
|
3:12. Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked.
|
|
|
|
3:13. Their offspring is cursed, for happy is the barren: and the
|
|
undefiled, that hath not known bed in sin, she shall have fruit in the
|
|
visitation of holy souls.
|
|
|
|
3:14. And the eunuch, that hath not wrought iniquity with his hands,
|
|
nor thought wicked things against God for the precious gift of faith
|
|
shall be given to him, and a most acceptable lot in the temple of God.
|
|
|
|
3:15. For the fruit of good labours is glorious, and the root of wisdom
|
|
never faileth.
|
|
|
|
3:16. But the children of adulterers shall not come to perfection, and
|
|
the seed of the unlawful bed shall be rooted out.
|
|
|
|
3:17. And if they live long, they shall be nothing regarded, and their
|
|
last old age shall be without honour.
|
|
|
|
3:18. And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, nor speech of
|
|
comfort in the day of trial.
|
|
|
|
3:19. For dreadful are the ends of a wicked race.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
The difference between the chaste and the adulterous generations: and
|
|
between the death of the just and the wicked.
|
|
|
|
4:1. How beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for the memory
|
|
thereof is immortal: because it is known both with God and with men.
|
|
|
|
4:2. When it is present, they imitate it: and they desire it, when it
|
|
hath withdrawn itself, and it triumpheth crowned for ever, winning the
|
|
reward of undefiled conflicts.
|
|
|
|
4:3. But the multiplied brood of the wicked shall not thrive, and
|
|
bastard slips shall not take deep root, nor any fast foundation.
|
|
|
|
4:4. And if they flourish in branches for a time, yet standing not
|
|
fast, they shall be shaken with the wind, and through the force of
|
|
winds they shall be rooted out.
|
|
|
|
4:5. For the branches not being perfect, shall be broken, and their
|
|
fruits shall be unprofitable, and sour to eat, and fit for nothing.
|
|
|
|
4:6. For the children that are born of unlawful beds, are witnesses of
|
|
wickedness against their parents in their trial.
|
|
|
|
4:7. But the just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest.
|
|
|
|
4:8. For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the
|
|
number of years: but the understanding of a man is grey hairs.
|
|
|
|
4:9. And a spotless life is old age.
|
|
|
|
4:10. He pleased God, and was beloved, and living among sinners, he was
|
|
translated.
|
|
|
|
4:11. He was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his
|
|
understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.
|
|
|
|
4:12. For the bewitching of vanity obscureth good things, and the
|
|
wandering of concupiscence overturneth the innocent mind.
|
|
|
|
4:13. Being made perfect in a short space, he fulfilled a long time.
|
|
|
|
4:14. For his soul pleased God: therefore he hastened to bring him out
|
|
of the midst of iniquities: but the people see this, and understand
|
|
not, nor lay up such things in their hearts:
|
|
|
|
4:15. That the grace of God, and his mercy is with his saints, and that
|
|
he hath respect to his chosen.
|
|
|
|
4:16. But the just that is dead, condemneth the wicked that are living,
|
|
and youth soon ended, the long life of the unjust.
|
|
|
|
4:17. For they shall see the end of the wise man, and it shall not
|
|
understand what God hath designed for him, and why the Lord hath set
|
|
him in safety.
|
|
|
|
4:18. They shall see him, and shall despise him: but the Lord shall
|
|
laugh them to scorn.
|
|
|
|
4:19. And they shall fall after this without honour, and be a reproach
|
|
among the dead for ever: for he shall burst them puffed up and
|
|
speechless, and shall shake them from the foundations, and they shall
|
|
be utterly laid waste: they shall be in sorrow, and their memory shall
|
|
perish.
|
|
|
|
4:20. They shall come with fear at the thought of their sins, and their
|
|
iniquities shall stand against them to convict them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
The fruitless repentance of the wicked in another world: the reward of
|
|
the just.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that
|
|
have afflicted them, and taken away their labours.
|
|
|
|
5:2. These seeing it, shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall
|
|
be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation,
|
|
|
|
5:3. Saying within themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of
|
|
spirit: These are they, whom we had sometime in derision, and for a
|
|
parable of reproach.
|
|
|
|
5:4. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without
|
|
honour.
|
|
|
|
5:5. Behold, how they are numbered among the children of God, and their
|
|
lot is among the saints.
|
|
|
|
5:6. Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of
|
|
justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not
|
|
risen upon us.
|
|
|
|
5:7. We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and
|
|
have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we have not
|
|
known.
|
|
|
|
5:8. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting
|
|
of riches brought us?
|
|
|
|
5:9. All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post
|
|
that runneth on,
|
|
|
|
5:10. And as a ship, that passeth through the waves: whereof when it is
|
|
gone by, the trace cannot be found. nor the path of its keel in the
|
|
waters:
|
|
|
|
5:11. Or as when a bird flieth through the air, of the passage of which
|
|
no mark can be found, but only the sound of the wings beating the light
|
|
air, and parting it by the force of her flight: she moved her wings,
|
|
and hath flown through, and there is no mark found afterwards of her
|
|
way:
|
|
|
|
5:12. Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the divided air quickly
|
|
cometh together again, so that the passage thereof is not known:
|
|
|
|
5:13. So we also being born, forthwith ceased to be: and have been able
|
|
to shew no mark of virtue: but are consumed in our wickedness.
|
|
|
|
5:14. Such things as these the sinners said in hell:
|
|
|
|
5:15. For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with
|
|
the wind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and a
|
|
smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a
|
|
guest of one day that passeth by.
|
|
|
|
5:16. But the just shall live for evermore: and their reward is with
|
|
the Lord, and the care of them with the most High.
|
|
|
|
5:17. Therefore shall they receive a kingdom of glory, and a crown of
|
|
beauty at the hand of the Lord: for with his right hand he will cover
|
|
them, and with his holy arm he will defend them.
|
|
|
|
5:18. And his zeal will take armour, and he will arm the creature for
|
|
the revenge of his enemies.
|
|
|
|
5:19. He will put on justice as a breastplate, and will take true
|
|
judgment instead of a helmet:
|
|
|
|
5:20. He will take equity for an invincible shield:
|
|
|
|
5:21. And he will sharpen his severe wrath for a spear, and the whole
|
|
world shall fight with him against the unwise.
|
|
|
|
5:22. Then shafts of lightning shall go directly from the clouds, as
|
|
from a bow well bent, they shall be shot out, and shall fly to the
|
|
mark.
|
|
|
|
5:23. And thick hail shall be cast upon them from the stone casting
|
|
wrath: the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the rivers
|
|
shall run together in a terrible manner.
|
|
|
|
5:24. A mighty wind shall stand up against them, and as a whirlwind
|
|
shall divide them: and their iniquity shall bring all the earth to a
|
|
desert, and wickedness shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
An address to princes to seek after wisdom: she is easily found by
|
|
those that seek her.
|
|
|
|
6:1. Wisdom is better than strength: and a wise man is better than a
|
|
strong man.
|
|
|
|
6:2. Hear, therefore, ye kings, and understand, learn ye that are
|
|
judges of the ends of the earth.
|
|
|
|
6:3. Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please yourselves in
|
|
multitudes of nations:
|
|
|
|
6:4. For power is given you by the Lord, and strength by the most High,
|
|
who will examine your works: and search out your thoughts:
|
|
|
|
6:6. Because being ministers of his kingdom, you have not judged
|
|
rightly, nor kept the law of justice, nor walked according to the will
|
|
of God.
|
|
|
|
6:6. Horribly and speedily will he appear to you: for a most severe
|
|
judgment shall be for them that bear rule.
|
|
|
|
6:7. For to him that is little, mercy is granted: but the mighty shall
|
|
be mightily tormented.
|
|
|
|
6:8. For God will not except any man's person, neither will he stand in
|
|
awe of any man's greatness: for he made the little and the great, and
|
|
he hath equally care of all.
|
|
|
|
6:9. But a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty.
|
|
|
|
6:10. To you, therefore, O kings, are these my words, that you may
|
|
learn wisdom, and not fall from it.
|
|
|
|
6:11. For they that have kept just things justly, shall be justified:
|
|
and they that have learned these things, shall find what to answer.
|
|
|
|
6:12. Covet ye, therefore, my words, and love them, and you shall have
|
|
instruction.
|
|
|
|
6:13. Wisdom is glorious, and never fadeth away, and is easily seen by
|
|
them that love her, and is found by them that seek her.
|
|
|
|
6:14. She preventeth them that covet her, so that she first sheweth
|
|
herself unto them.
|
|
|
|
6:15. He that awaketh early to seek her, shall not labour: for he shall
|
|
find her sitting at his door.
|
|
|
|
6:16. To think, therefore, upon her, is perfect understanding: and he
|
|
that watcheth for her, shall quickly be secure.
|
|
|
|
6:17. For she goeth about seeking such as are worthy of her, and she
|
|
sheweth herself to them cheerfully in the ways, and meeteth them with
|
|
all providence.
|
|
|
|
6:18. For the beginning of her is the most true desire of discipline.
|
|
|
|
6:19. And the care of discipline is love: and love is the keeping of
|
|
her laws: and the keeping of her laws is the firm foundation of
|
|
incorruption:
|
|
|
|
6:20. And incorruption bringeth near to God.
|
|
|
|
6:21. Therefore the desire of wisdom bringeth to the everlasting
|
|
kingdom.
|
|
|
|
6:22. If then your delight be in thrones, and sceptres, O ye kings of
|
|
the people, love wisdom, that you may reign for ever.
|
|
|
|
6:23. Love the light of wisdom, all ye that bear rule over peoples.
|
|
|
|
6:24. Now what wisdom is, and what was her origin, I will declare: and
|
|
I will not hide from you the mysteries of God, but will seek her out
|
|
from the beginning of her birth, and bring the knowledge of her to
|
|
light, and will not pass over the truth:
|
|
|
|
6:25. Neither will I go with consuming envy: for such a man shall not
|
|
be partaker of wisdom.
|
|
|
|
6:26. Now the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the whole world:
|
|
and a wise king is the upholding of the people.
|
|
|
|
6:27. Receive, therefore, instruction by my words, and it shall be
|
|
profitable to you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
The excellence of wisdom: how she is to be found.
|
|
|
|
7:1. I myself am a mortal man, like all others, and of the race of him,
|
|
that was first made of the earth, and in the womb of my mother I was
|
|
fashioned to be flesh.
|
|
|
|
7:2. In the time of ten months I was compacted in blood, of the seed of
|
|
man, and the pleasure of sleep concurring.
|
|
|
|
7:3. And being born, I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth,
|
|
that is made alike, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as
|
|
all others do.
|
|
|
|
7:4. I was nursed in swaddling clothes, and with great cares.
|
|
|
|
7:5. For none of the kings had any other beginning of birth.
|
|
|
|
7:6. For all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out.
|
|
|
|
7:7. Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called
|
|
upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me:
|
|
|
|
7:8. And I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed
|
|
riches nothing in comparison of her.
|
|
|
|
7:9. Neither did I compare unto her any precious stone: for all gold,
|
|
in comparison of her, is as a little sand; and silver, in respect to
|
|
her, shall be counted as clay.
|
|
|
|
7:10. I loved her above health and beauty, and chose to have her
|
|
instead of light: for her light cannot be put out.
|
|
|
|
7:11. Now all good things came to me together with her, and innumerable
|
|
riches through her hands,
|
|
|
|
7:12. And I rejoiced in all these: for this wisdom went before me, and
|
|
I knew not that she was the mother of them all.
|
|
|
|
7:13. Which I have learned without guile, and communicate without envy,
|
|
and her riches I hide not.
|
|
|
|
7:14. For she is an infinite treasure to men: which they that use,
|
|
become the friends of God, being commended for the gifts of discipline.
|
|
|
|
7:15. And God hath given to me to speak as I would, and to conceive
|
|
thoughts worthy of those things that are given me: because he is the
|
|
guide of wisdom, and the director of the wise:
|
|
|
|
7:16. For in his hand are both we, and our words, and all wisdom, and
|
|
the knowledge and skill of works.
|
|
|
|
7:17. For he hath given me the true knowledge of the things that are:
|
|
to know the disposition of the whole world, and the virtues of the
|
|
elements,
|
|
|
|
7:18. The beginning, and ending, and midst of the times, the
|
|
alterations of their courses, and the changes of seasons,
|
|
|
|
7:19. The revolutions of the year, and the dispositions of the stars,
|
|
|
|
7:20. The natures of living creatures, and rage of wild beasts, the
|
|
force of winds, and reasonings of men, the diversities of plants, and
|
|
the virtues of roots,
|
|
|
|
7:21. And all such things as are hid, and not foreseen, I have learned:
|
|
for wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me.
|
|
|
|
7:22. For in her is the spirit of understanding; holy, one, manifold,
|
|
subtile, eloquent, active, undefiled, sure, sweet, loving that which is
|
|
good, quick, which nothing hindereth, beneficent,
|
|
|
|
7:23. Gentle, kind, steadfast, assured, secure, having all power,
|
|
overseeing all things, and containing all spirits: intelligible, pure,
|
|
subtile:
|
|
|
|
7:24. For wisdom is more active than all active things; and reacheth
|
|
everywhere, by reason of her purity.
|
|
|
|
7:25. For she is a vapour of the power of God, and a certain pure
|
|
emmanation of the glory of the Almighty God: and therefore no defiled
|
|
thing cometh into her.
|
|
|
|
7:26. For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted
|
|
mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness.
|
|
|
|
7:27. And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in
|
|
herself the same, she reneweth all things, and through nations
|
|
conveyeth herself into holy souls, she maketh the friends of God and
|
|
prophets.
|
|
|
|
7:28. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom.
|
|
|
|
7:29. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order
|
|
of the stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it.
|
|
|
|
7:30. For after this cometh night, but no evil can overcome wisdom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Further praises of wisdom: and her fruits.
|
|
|
|
8:1. She reacheth, therefore, from end to end mightily, and ordereth
|
|
all things sweetly.
|
|
|
|
8:2. Her have I loved, and have sought her out from my youth, and have
|
|
desired to take for my spouse, and I became a lover of her beauty.
|
|
|
|
8:3. She glorifieth her nobility by being conversant with God: yea, and
|
|
the Lord of all things hath loved her.
|
|
|
|
8:4. For it is she that teacheth the knowledge of God and is the
|
|
chooser of his works.
|
|
|
|
8:5. And if riches be desired in life, what is richer than wisdom,
|
|
which maketh all things?
|
|
|
|
8:6. And if sense do work: who is a more artful worker than she of
|
|
those things that are?
|
|
|
|
8:7. And if a man love justice: her labours have great virtues: for she
|
|
teacheth temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which
|
|
are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life.
|
|
|
|
8:8. And if a man desire much knowledge: she knoweth things past, and
|
|
judgeth of things to come: she knoweth the subtilties of speeches, and
|
|
the solutions of arguments: she knoweth signs and wonders before they
|
|
be done, and the events of times and ages.
|
|
|
|
8:9. I purposed, therefore, to take her to me to live with me: knowing
|
|
that she will communicate to me of her good things, and will be a
|
|
comfort in my cares and grief.
|
|
|
|
8:10. For her sake I shall have glory among the multitude, and honour
|
|
with the ancients, though I be young:
|
|
|
|
8:11. And I shall be found of a quick conceit in judgment, and shall be
|
|
admired in the sight of the mighty, and the faces of princes shall
|
|
wonder at me.
|
|
|
|
8:12. They shall wait for me when I hold my peace, and they shall look
|
|
upon me when I speak; and if I talk much, they shall lay their hands on
|
|
their mouth.
|
|
|
|
8:13. Moreover, by the means of her I shall have immortality: and shall
|
|
leave behind me an everlasting memory to them that come after me.
|
|
|
|
8:14. I shall set the people in order: and nations shall be subject to
|
|
me.
|
|
|
|
8:15. Terrible kings hearing, shall be afraid of me: among the
|
|
multitude I shall be found good, and valiant in war.
|
|
|
|
8:16. When I go into my house, I shall repose myself with her: for her
|
|
conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness, but
|
|
joy and gladness.
|
|
|
|
8:17. Thinking these things with myself, and pondering them in my
|
|
heart, that to be allied to wisdom is immortality,
|
|
|
|
8:18. And that there is great delight in her friendship, and
|
|
inexhaustible riches in the works of her hands, and in the exercise of
|
|
conference with her, wisdom, and glory in the communication of her
|
|
words: I went about seeking, that I might take her to myself.
|
|
|
|
8:19. And I was a witty child, and had received a good soul.
|
|
|
|
8:20. And whereas I was more good, I came to a body undefiled.
|
|
|
|
8:21. And as I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God
|
|
gave it, and this also was a point of wisdom, to know whose gift it
|
|
was, I went to the Lord, and besought him, and said with my whole
|
|
heart:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
Solomon's prayer for wisdom.
|
|
|
|
9:1. God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, who hast made all things
|
|
with thy word,
|
|
|
|
9:2. And by thy wisdom hast appointed man, that he should have dominion
|
|
over the creature that was made by thee,
|
|
|
|
9:3. That he should order the world according to equity and justice,
|
|
and execute justice with an upright heart:
|
|
|
|
9:4. Give me wisdom, that sitteth by thy throne, and cast me not off
|
|
from among thy children:
|
|
|
|
9:5. For I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid, a weak man, and
|
|
of short time, and falling short of the understanding of judgment and
|
|
laws.
|
|
|
|
9:6. For if one be perfect among the children of men, yet if thy wisdom
|
|
be not with him, he shall be nothing regarded.
|
|
|
|
9:7. Thou hast chosen me to be king of thy people, and a judge of thy
|
|
sons and daughters:
|
|
|
|
9:8. And hast commanded me to build a temple on thy holy mount, and an
|
|
altar in the city of thy dwelling place, a resemblance of thy holy
|
|
tabernacle, which thou hast prepared from the beginning:
|
|
|
|
9:9. And thy wisdom with thee, which knoweth thy works, which then also
|
|
was present when thou madest the world, and knew what was agreeable to
|
|
thy eyes, and what was right in thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
9:10. Send her out of thy holy heaven, and from the throne of thy
|
|
majesty, that she may be with me, and may labour with me, that I may
|
|
know what is acceptable with thee:
|
|
|
|
9:11. For she knoweth and understandeth all things, and shall lead me
|
|
soberly in my works, and shall preserve me by her power.
|
|
|
|
9:12. So shall my works be acceptable, and I shall govern thy people
|
|
justly, and shall be worthy of the throne of my father.
|
|
|
|
9:13. For who among men is he that can know the counsel of God? or who
|
|
can think what the will of God is?
|
|
|
|
9:14. For the thoughts of mortal men are fearful, and our counsels
|
|
uncertain.
|
|
|
|
9:15. For the corruptible body is a load upon the soul, and the earthly
|
|
habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things.
|
|
|
|
9:16. And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth: and
|
|
with labour do we find the things that are before us. But the things
|
|
that are in heaven, who shall search out?
|
|
|
|
9:17. And who shall know thy thought, except thou give wisdom, and send
|
|
thy holy Spirit from above:
|
|
|
|
9:18. And so the ways of them that are upon earth may be corrected, and
|
|
men may learn the things that please thee?
|
|
|
|
9:19. For by wisdom they were healed, whosoever have pleased thee, O
|
|
Lord, from the beginning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
What wisdom did for Adam, Noe, Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, and the
|
|
people of Israel.
|
|
|
|
10:1. She preserved him, that was first formed by God, the father of
|
|
the world, when he was created alone,
|
|
|
|
10:2. And she brought him out of his sin, and gave him power to govern
|
|
all things.
|
|
|
|
10:3. But when the unjust went away from her in his anger, he perished
|
|
by the fury wherewith he murdered his brother.
|
|
|
|
The unjust. . .Cain.
|
|
|
|
10:4. For whose cause, when water destroyed the earth, wisdom healed it
|
|
again, directing the course of the just by contemptible wood.
|
|
|
|
For whose cause. . .Viz., for the wickedness of the race of Cain.--Ibid.
|
|
The just. . .Noe.
|
|
|
|
10:5. Moreover, when the nations had conspired together to consent to
|
|
wickedness, she knew the just, and preserved him without blame to God,
|
|
and kept him strong against the compassion for his son.
|
|
|
|
She knew the just. . .She found out and approved Abraham. Ibid.
|
|
And kept him strong, etc. . .Gave him strength to stand firm against
|
|
the efforts of his natural tenderness, when he was ordered to sacrifice
|
|
his son.
|
|
|
|
10:6. She delivered the just man, who fled from the wicked that were
|
|
perishing, when the fire came down upon Pentapolis:
|
|
|
|
The just man. . .Lot.--Ibid. Pentapolis. . .The land of the five cities,
|
|
Sodom, Gomorrha, etc.
|
|
|
|
10:7. Whose land, for a testimony of their wickedness, is desolate, and
|
|
smoketh to this day, and the trees bear fruits that ripen not, and a
|
|
standing pillar of salt is a monument of an incredulous soul.
|
|
|
|
10:8. For regarding not wisdom, they did not only slip in this, that
|
|
they were ignorant of good things; but they left also unto men a
|
|
memorial of their folly, so that in the things in which they sinned,
|
|
they could not so much as lie hid.
|
|
|
|
10:9. But wisdom hath delivered from sorrow them that attend upon her.
|
|
|
|
10:10. She conducted the just, when he fled from his brother's wrath,
|
|
through the right ways, and shewed him the kingdom of God, and gave him
|
|
the knowledge of the holy things, made him honourable in his labours,
|
|
and accomplished his labours.
|
|
|
|
The just. . .Jacob.
|
|
|
|
10:11. In the deceit of them that overreached him, she stood by him,
|
|
and made him honourable.
|
|
|
|
10:12. She kept him safe from his enemies, and she defended him from
|
|
seducers, and gave him a strong conflict, that he might overcome, and
|
|
know that wisdom is mightier than all.
|
|
|
|
Conflict. . .Viz., with the angel.
|
|
|
|
10:13. She forsook not the just when he was sold, but delivered him
|
|
from sinners: she went down with him into the pit.
|
|
|
|
The just when he was sold. . .Viz., Joseph.
|
|
|
|
10:14. And in bands she left him not, till she brought him the sceptre
|
|
of the kingdom, and power against those that oppressed him: and shewed
|
|
them to be liars that had accused him, and gave him everlasting glory.
|
|
|
|
10:15. She delivered the just people, and blameless seed, from the
|
|
nations that oppressed them.
|
|
|
|
10:16. She entered into the soul of the servant of God and stood
|
|
against dreadful kings in wonders and signs.
|
|
|
|
The servant of God. . .Viz., Moses.
|
|
|
|
10:17. And she rendered to the just the wages of their labours, and
|
|
conducted them in a wonderful way: and she was to them for a covert by
|
|
day, and for the light of stars by night:
|
|
|
|
10:18. And she brought them through the Red Sea, and carried them over
|
|
through a great water.
|
|
|
|
10:19. But their enemies she drowned in the sea, and from the depth of
|
|
hell she brought them out. Therefore the just took the spoils of the
|
|
wicked.
|
|
|
|
10:20. And they sung to thy holy name, O Lord, and they praised with
|
|
one accord thy victorious hand.
|
|
|
|
10:21. For wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of
|
|
infants eloquent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other benefits of wisdom to the people of God.
|
|
|
|
11:1. She prospered their works in the hands of the holy prophet.
|
|
|
|
The holy prophet. . .Moses.
|
|
|
|
11:2. They went through wildernesses that were not inhabited, and in
|
|
desert places they pitched their tents.
|
|
|
|
11:3. They stood against their enemies, and revenged themselves of
|
|
their adversaries.
|
|
|
|
Their enemies. . .The Amalecites.
|
|
|
|
11:4. They were thirsty, and they called upon thee, and water was given
|
|
them out of the high rock, and a refreshment of their thirst out of the
|
|
hard stone.
|
|
|
|
11:5. For by what things their enemies were punished, when their drink
|
|
failed them, while the children of Israel abounded therewith, and
|
|
rejoiced:
|
|
|
|
By what things, etc. . .The meaning is, that God, who wrought a miracle
|
|
to punish the Egyptians by thirst, when he turned all their waters into
|
|
blood, (at which time the Israelites, who were exempt from those
|
|
plagues, had plenty of water,) wrought another miracle in favour of his
|
|
own people in their thirst, by giving them water out of the rock.
|
|
|
|
11:6. By the same things they in their need were benefited.
|
|
|
|
11:7. For instead of a fountain of an ever running river, thou gavest
|
|
human blood to the unjust.
|
|
|
|
11:8. And whilst they were diminished for a manifest reproof of their
|
|
murdering the infants, thou gavest to thine abundant water unlooked
|
|
for:
|
|
|
|
11:9. Shewing by the thirst that was then, how thou didst exalt thine,
|
|
and didst kill their adversaries.
|
|
|
|
11:10. For when they were tried, and chastised with mercy, they knew
|
|
how the wicked were judged with wrath, and tormented.
|
|
|
|
11:11. For thou didst admonish and try them as a father: but the
|
|
others, as a severe king, thou didst examine and condemn.
|
|
|
|
11:12. For whether absent or present, they were tormented alike.
|
|
|
|
11:13. For a double affliction came upon them, and a groaning for the
|
|
remembrance of things past.
|
|
|
|
11:14. For when they heard that by their punishments the others were
|
|
benefited, they remembered the Lord, wondering at the end of what was
|
|
come to pass.
|
|
|
|
By their punishments, etc. . .That is, that the Israelites had been
|
|
benefited and miraculously favoured in the same kind, in which they had
|
|
been punished.
|
|
|
|
11:15. For whom they scorned before, when he was thrown out at the time
|
|
of his being wickedly exposed to perish, him they admired in the end,
|
|
when they saw the event: their thirsting being unlike to that of the
|
|
just.
|
|
|
|
11:16. But for the foolish devices of their iniquity, because some
|
|
being deceived worshipped dumb serpents and worthless beasts, thou
|
|
didst send upon them a multitude of dumb beasts for vengeance:
|
|
|
|
Dumb beasts. . .Viz., frogs, sciniphs, flies, and locusts.
|
|
|
|
11:17. That they might know that by what things a man sinneth, by the
|
|
same also he is tormented.
|
|
|
|
11:18. For thy almighty hand, which made the world of matter without
|
|
form, was not unable to send upon them a multitude of bears, or fierce
|
|
lions,
|
|
|
|
11:19. Or unknown beasts of a new kind, full of rage; either breathing
|
|
out a fiery vapour, or sending forth a stinking smoke, or shooting
|
|
horrible sparks out of their eyes:
|
|
|
|
11:20. Whereof not only the hurt might be able to destroy them, but
|
|
also the very sight might kill them through fear.
|
|
|
|
11:21. Yea, and without these, they might have been slain with one
|
|
blast, persecuted by their own deeds, and scattered by the breath of
|
|
thy power: but thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and
|
|
weight.
|
|
|
|
11:22. For great power always belonged to thee alone: and who shall
|
|
resist the strength of thy arm?
|
|
|
|
11:23. For the whole world before thee is as the least grain of the
|
|
balance, and as a drop of the morning dew, that falleth down upon tho
|
|
earth.
|
|
|
|
11:24. But thou hast mercy upon all, because thou canst do all things,
|
|
and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance.
|
|
|
|
11:25. For thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the
|
|
things which thou hast made: for thou didst not appoint, or make any
|
|
thing hating it.
|
|
|
|
11:26. And how could any thing endure, if thou wouldst not? or be
|
|
preserved, if not called by thee?
|
|
|
|
11:27. But thou sparest all: because they are thine, O Lord, who lovest
|
|
souls.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's wisdom and mercy in his proceedings with the Chanaanites.
|
|
|
|
12:1. O how good and sweet is thy Spirit, O Lord, in all things!
|
|
|
|
12:2. And therefore thou chastisest them that err, by little and
|
|
little: and admonishest them, and speakest to them, concerning the
|
|
things wherein they offend: that leaving their wickedness, they may
|
|
believe in thee, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
12:3. For those ancient inhabitants of thy holy land, whom thou didst
|
|
abhor,
|
|
|
|
12:4. Because they did works hateful to thee by their sorceries, and
|
|
wicked sacrifices,
|
|
|
|
12:5. And those merciless murderers of their own children, and eaters
|
|
of men's bowels, and devourers of blood from the midst of thy
|
|
consecration,
|
|
|
|
From the midst of thy consecration. . .Literally, sacrament. That is,
|
|
the land sacred to thee, in which thy temple was to be established, and
|
|
man's redemption to be wrought.
|
|
|
|
12:6. And those parents sacrificing with their own hands helpless
|
|
souls, it was thy will to destroy by the hands of our parents,
|
|
|
|
12:7. That the land which of all is most dear to thee, might receive a
|
|
worthy colony of the children of God.
|
|
|
|
12:8. Yet even those thou sparedst as men, and didst send wasps
|
|
forerunners of thy host, to destroy them by little and little.
|
|
|
|
12:9. Not that thou wast unable to bring the wicked under the just by
|
|
war, or by cruel beasts, or with one rough word to destroy them at
|
|
once:
|
|
|
|
12:10. But executing thy judgments by degrees, thou gavest them place
|
|
of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a wicked generation,
|
|
and their malice natural, and that their thought could never be
|
|
changed.
|
|
|
|
12:11. For it was a cursed seed from the beginning: neither didst thou
|
|
for fear of any one give pardon to their sins.
|
|
|
|
12:12. For who shall say to thee: What hast thou done? or who shall
|
|
withstand thy judgment? or who shall come before thee to be a revenger
|
|
of wicked men? or who shall accuse thee, if the nations perish, which
|
|
thou hast made ?
|
|
|
|
12:13. For there is no other God but thou, who hast care of all, that
|
|
thou shouldst shew that thou dost not give judgment unjustly.
|
|
|
|
12:14. Neither shall king, nor tyrant, in thy sight inquire about them
|
|
whom thou hast destroyed.
|
|
|
|
12:15. For so much then, as thou art just, thou orderest all things
|
|
justly: thinking it not agreeable to the power, to condemn him who
|
|
deserveth not to be punished.
|
|
|
|
12:16. For thy power is the beginning of justice: and because thou art
|
|
Lord of all, thou makest thyself gracious to all.
|
|
|
|
12:17. For thou shewest thy power, when men will not believe thee to be
|
|
absolute in power, and thou convincest the boldness of them that know
|
|
thee not.
|
|
|
|
12:18. But thou being master of power, judgest with tranquillity, and
|
|
with great favour disposest of us: for thy power is at hand when thou
|
|
wilt.
|
|
|
|
12:19. But thou hast taught thy people by such works, that they must be
|
|
just and humane, and hast made thy children to be of a good hope:
|
|
because in judging, thou givest place for repentance for sins.
|
|
|
|
12:20. For if thou didst punish the enemies of thy servants, and that
|
|
deserved to die, with so great deliberation, giving them time and place
|
|
whereby they might be changed from their wickedness:
|
|
|
|
12:21. With what circumspection hast thou judged thy own children, to
|
|
whose parents thou hast sworn, and made covenants of good promises?
|
|
|
|
12:22. Therefore whereas thou chastisest us, thou scourgest our enemies
|
|
very many ways, to the end that when we judge we may think on thy
|
|
goodness: and when we are judged, we may hope for thy mercy.
|
|
|
|
12:23. Wherefore thou hast also greatly tormented them, who, in their
|
|
life, have lived foolishly and unjustly, by the same things which they
|
|
worshipped.
|
|
|
|
12:24. For they went astray for a long time in the ways of error,
|
|
holding those things for gods which are the most worthless among
|
|
beasts, living after the manner of children without understanding.
|
|
|
|
12:25. Therefore thou hast sent a judgment upon them, as senseless
|
|
children, to mock them.
|
|
|
|
12:26. But they that were not amended by mockeries and reprehensions,
|
|
experienced the worthy judgment of God.
|
|
|
|
12:27. For seeing, with indignation, that they suffered by those very
|
|
things which they took for gods, when they were destroyed by the same,
|
|
they acknowledged him the true God, whom in time past they denied that
|
|
they knew: for which cause the end also of their condemnation came upon
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
Idolaters are inexcusable: and those most of all that worship for gods
|
|
the works of the hands of men.
|
|
|
|
13:1. But all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God:
|
|
and who by these good things that are seen, could not understand him
|
|
that is, neither by attending to the works have acknowledged who was
|
|
the workman:
|
|
|
|
13:2. But have imagined either the fire, or the wind, or the swift air,
|
|
or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun and moon, to
|
|
be the gods that rule the world.
|
|
|
|
13:3. With whose beauty, if they, being delighted, took them to be
|
|
gods: let them know how much the Lord of them is more beautiful than
|
|
they: for the first author of beauty made all those things.
|
|
|
|
13:4. Or if they admired their power, and their effects, let them
|
|
understand by them, that he that made them, is mightier than they:
|
|
|
|
13:5. For by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature, the
|
|
creator of them may be seen, so as to be known thereby.
|
|
|
|
13:6. But yet as to these they are less to be blamed. For they perhaps
|
|
err, seeking God, and desirous to find him.
|
|
|
|
13:7. For being conversant among his works, they search: and they are
|
|
persuaded that the things are good which are seen.
|
|
|
|
13:8. But then again they are not to be pardoned.
|
|
|
|
13:9. For if they were able to know so much as to make a judgment of
|
|
the world: how did they not more easily find out the Lord thereof?
|
|
|
|
13:10. But unhappy are they, and their hope is among the dead, who have
|
|
called gods the works of the hand of men, gold and silver, the
|
|
inventions of art, and the resemblances of beasts, or an unprofitable
|
|
stone the work of an ancient hand.
|
|
|
|
13:11. Or if an artist, a carpenter, hath cut down a tree proper for
|
|
his use in the wood, and skilfully taken off all the bark thereof, and
|
|
with his art, diligently formeth a vessel profitable for the common
|
|
uses of life,
|
|
|
|
13:12. And useth the chips of his work to dress his meat:
|
|
|
|
13:13. And taking what was left thereof, which is good for nothing,
|
|
being a crooked piece of wood, and full of knots, carveth it diligently
|
|
when he hath nothing else to do, and by the skill of his art fashioneth
|
|
it, and maketh it like the image of a man:
|
|
|
|
13:14. Or the resemblance of some beast, laying it over with vermilion,
|
|
and painting it red, and covering every spot that is in it:
|
|
|
|
13:15. And maketh a convenient dwelling place for it, and setting it in
|
|
a wall, and fastening it with iron,
|
|
|
|
13:16. Providing for it, lest it should fall, knowing that it is unable
|
|
to help itself: for it is an image, and hath need of help.
|
|
|
|
13:17. And then maketh prayer to it, enquiring concerning his
|
|
substance, and his children, or his marriage. And he is not ashamed to
|
|
speak to that which hath no life:
|
|
|
|
13:18. And for health he maketh supplication to the weak, and for life
|
|
prayeth to that which is dead, and for help calleth upon that which is
|
|
unprofitable:
|
|
|
|
13:19. And for a good journey he petitioneth him that cannot walk: and
|
|
for getting, and for working, and for the event of all things he asketh
|
|
him that is unable to do any thing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
The beginning of worshipping idols: and the effects thereof.
|
|
|
|
14:1. Again, another designing to sail, and beginning to make his
|
|
voyage through the raging waves, calleth upon a piece of wood more
|
|
frail than the wood that carrieth him.
|
|
|
|
14:2. For this the desire of gain devised, and the workman built it by
|
|
his skill.
|
|
|
|
14:3. But thy providence, O Father, governeth it: for thou hast made a
|
|
way even in the sea, and a most sure path among the waves,
|
|
|
|
14:4. Shewing that thou art able to save out of all things, yea, though
|
|
a man went to sea without art.
|
|
|
|
14:5. But that the works of thy wisdom might not be idle: therefore men
|
|
also trust their lives even to a little wood, and passing over the sea
|
|
by ship, are saved.
|
|
|
|
14:6. And from the beginning also, when the proud giants perished, the
|
|
hope of the world fleeing to a vessel, which was governed by thy hand,
|
|
left to the world seed of generation.
|
|
|
|
14:7. For blessed is the wood, by which justice cometh
|
|
|
|
14:8. But the idol that is made by hands, is cursed, as well it, as he
|
|
that made it: he because he made it; and it because being frail it is
|
|
called a god.
|
|
|
|
14:9. But to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike.
|
|
|
|
14:10. For that which is made, together with him that made it, shall
|
|
suffer torments.
|
|
|
|
14:11. Therefore there shall be no respect had even to the idols of the
|
|
Gentiles: because the creatures of God are turned to an abomination,
|
|
and a temptation to the souls of men, and a snare to the feet of the
|
|
unwise.
|
|
|
|
14:12. For the beginning of fornication is the devising of idols: and
|
|
the invention of them is the corruption of life.
|
|
|
|
14:13. For neither were they from the beginning, neither shall they be
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
14:14. For by the vanity of men they came into the world: and therefore
|
|
they shall be found to come shortly to an end.
|
|
|
|
14:15. For a father being afflicted with bitter grief, made to himself
|
|
the image of his son, who was quickly taken away: and him who then had
|
|
died as a man, he began now to worship as a god, and appointed him
|
|
rites and sacrifices among his servants.
|
|
|
|
14:16. Then, in process of time, wicked custom prevailing, this error
|
|
was kept as a law, and statues were worshipped by the commandment of
|
|
tyrants.
|
|
|
|
14:17. And those whom men could not honour in presence, because they
|
|
dwelt far off, they brought their resemblance from afar, and made an
|
|
express image of the king, whom they had a mind to honour: that by this
|
|
their diligence, they might honour as present, him that was absent.
|
|
|
|
14:18. And to the worshipping of these, the singular diligence also of
|
|
the artificer helped to set forward the ignorant.
|
|
|
|
14:19. For he being willing to please him that employed him, laboured
|
|
with all his art to make the resemblance in the best manner.
|
|
|
|
14:20. And the multitude of men, carried away by the beauty of the
|
|
work, took him now for a god, that little before was but honoured as a
|
|
man.
|
|
|
|
14:21. And this was the occasion of deceiving human life: for men
|
|
serving either their affection, or their kings, gave the incommunicable
|
|
name to stones and wood.
|
|
|
|
14:22. And it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of
|
|
God, but whereas they lived in a great war of ignorance, they call so
|
|
many and so great evils peace.
|
|
|
|
14:23. For either they sacrifice their own children, or use hidden
|
|
sacrifices, or keep watches full of madness,
|
|
|
|
14:24. So that now they neither keep life, nor marriage undefiled, but
|
|
one killeth another through envy, or grieveth him by adultery:
|
|
|
|
14:25. And all things are mingled together, blood, murder, theft, and
|
|
dissimulation, corruption and unfaithfulness, tumults and perjury,
|
|
disquieting of the good,
|
|
|
|
14:26. Forgetfulness of God, defiling of souls, changing of nature,
|
|
disorder in marriage, and the irregularity of adultery and uncleanness.
|
|
|
|
14:27. For the worship of abominable idols is the cause, and the
|
|
beginning and end of all evil.
|
|
|
|
14:28. For either they are mad when they are merry: or they prophesy
|
|
lies, or they live unjustly, or easily forswear themselves.
|
|
|
|
14:29. For whilst they trust in idols, which are without life, though
|
|
they swear amiss, they look not to be hurt.
|
|
|
|
14:30. But for both these things they shall be justly punished, because
|
|
they have thought not well of God, giving heed to idols, and have sworn
|
|
unjustly, in guile despising justice.
|
|
|
|
14:31. For it is not the power of them, by whom they swear, but the
|
|
just vengeance of sinners always punisheth the transgression of the
|
|
unjust.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 15
|
|
|
|
|
|
The servants of God praise him who hath delivered them from idolatry;
|
|
condemning both the makers and the worshippers of idols.
|
|
|
|
15:1. But thou, our God, art gracious and true, patient, and ordering
|
|
all things in mercy.
|
|
|
|
15:2. For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy greatness: and if we sin
|
|
not, we know that we are counted with thee.
|
|
|
|
15:3. For to know thee is perfect justice: and to know thy justice, and
|
|
thy power, is the root of immortality.
|
|
|
|
15:4. For the invention of mischievous men hath not deceived us, nor
|
|
the shadow of a picture, a fruitless labour, a graven figure with
|
|
divers colours,
|
|
|
|
15:5. The sight whereof enticeth the fool to lust after it, and he
|
|
loveth the lifeless figure of a dead image.
|
|
|
|
15:6. The lovers of evil things deserve to have no better things to
|
|
trust in, both they that make them, and they that love them, and they
|
|
that worship them.
|
|
|
|
15:7. The potter also tempering soft earth, with labour fashioneth
|
|
every vessel for our service, and of the same clay he maketh both
|
|
vessels that are for clean uses, and likewise such as serve to the
|
|
contrary: but what is the use of these vessels, the potter is the
|
|
judge.
|
|
|
|
15:8. And of the same clay by a vain labour he maketh a god: he who a
|
|
little before was made of earth himself, and a little after returneth
|
|
to the same out of which he was taken, when his life, which was lent
|
|
him, shall be called for again.
|
|
|
|
15:9. But his care is, not that he shall labour, nor that his life is
|
|
short, but he striveth with the goldsmiths and silversmiths: and he
|
|
endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it a glory
|
|
to make vain things.
|
|
|
|
15:10. For his heart is ashes, and his hope vain earth and his life
|
|
more base than clay:
|
|
|
|
15:11. Forasmuch as he knew not his maker, and him that inspired into
|
|
him the soul that worketh, and that breathed into him a living spirit.
|
|
|
|
15:12. Yea, and they have counted our life a pastime and the business
|
|
of life to be gain, and that we must be getting every way, even out of
|
|
evil.
|
|
|
|
15:13. For that man knoweth that he offendeth above all others, who of
|
|
earthly matter maketh brittle vessels, and graven gods.
|
|
|
|
15:14. But all the enemies of thy people that hold them in subjection,
|
|
are foolish, and unhappy, and proud beyond measure:
|
|
|
|
15:15. For they have esteemed all the idols of the heathens for gods,
|
|
which neither have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath,
|
|
nor ears to hear, nor fingers of hands to handle, and as for their
|
|
feet, they are slow to walk.
|
|
|
|
15:16. For man made them: and he that borroweth his own breath,
|
|
fashioned them. For no man can make a god like to himself.
|
|
|
|
15:17. For being mortal himself, he formeth a dead thing with his
|
|
wicked hands. For he is better than they whom he worshippeth, because
|
|
he indeed hath lived, though he were mortal, but they never.
|
|
|
|
15:18. Moreover, they worship also the vilest creatures: but things
|
|
without sense, compared to these, are worse than they.
|
|
|
|
15:19. Yea, neither by sight can any man see good of these beasts. But
|
|
they have fled from the praise of God, and from his blessing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 16
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's different dealings with the Egyptians and with his own people.
|
|
|
|
16:1. For these things, and by the like things to these, they were
|
|
worthily punished, and were destroyed by a multitude of beasts.
|
|
|
|
16:2. Instead of which punishment, dealing well with thy people, thou
|
|
gavest them their desire of delicious food, of a new taste, preparing
|
|
for them quails for their meat:
|
|
|
|
16:3. To the end, that they indeed desiring food, by means of those
|
|
things that were shewn and sent among them, might loath even that which
|
|
was necessary to satisfy their desire. But these, after suffering want
|
|
for a short time, tasted a new meat.
|
|
|
|
They indeed desiring food, etc. . .He means the Egyptians; who were
|
|
restrained even from that food which was necessary, by the frogs and
|
|
the flies that were sent amongst them, and spoiled all their
|
|
meats.--Ibid. But these. . .Viz., the Israelites.
|
|
|
|
16:4. For it was requisite that inevitable destruction should come upon
|
|
them that exercised tyranny: but to these it should only be shewn how
|
|
their enemies were destroyed.
|
|
|
|
16:5. For when the fierce rage of beasts came upon these, they were
|
|
destroyed by the bitings of crooked serpents.
|
|
|
|
16:6. But thy wrath endured not for ever, but they were troubled for a
|
|
short time for their correction, having a sign of salvation, to put
|
|
them in remembrance of the commandment of thy law.
|
|
|
|
Sign of salvation. . .The brazen serpent, an emblem of Christ our
|
|
Saviour.
|
|
|
|
16:7. For he that turned to it, was not healed by that which he saw,
|
|
but by thee, the Saviour of all.
|
|
|
|
16:8. And in this thou didst shew to our enemies, that thou art he who
|
|
deliverest from all evil.
|
|
|
|
16:9. For the bitings of locusts, and of flies, killed them, and there
|
|
was found no remedy for their life: because they were worthy to be
|
|
destroyed by such things.
|
|
|
|
16:10. But not even the teeth of venomous serpents overcame thy
|
|
children: for thy mercy came and healed them.
|
|
|
|
16:11. For they were examined for the remembrance of thy words, and
|
|
were quickly healed, lest falling into deep forgetfulness, they might
|
|
not be able to use thy help.
|
|
|
|
16:12. For it was neither herb, nor mollifying plaster, that healed
|
|
them, but thy word, O Lord, which healeth all things.
|
|
|
|
16:13. For it is thou, O Lord, that hast power of life and death, and
|
|
leadest down to the gates of death, and bringest back again:
|
|
|
|
16:14. A man indeed killeth through malice, and when the spirit is gone
|
|
forth, it shall not return, neither shall he call back the soul that is
|
|
received:
|
|
|
|
16:15. But it is impossible to escape thy hand:
|
|
|
|
16:16. For the wicked that denied to know thee, were scourged by the
|
|
strength of thy arm, being persecuted by strange waters, and hail, and
|
|
rain, and consumed by fire.
|
|
|
|
16:17. And which was wonderful, in water, which extinguisheth all
|
|
things, the fire had more force: for the world fighteth for the just.
|
|
|
|
The fire had more force. . .Viz., when the fire and hail mingled
|
|
together laid waste the land of Egypt. Ex. 9.
|
|
|
|
16:18. For at one time the fire was mitigated, that the beasts which
|
|
were sent against the wicked might not be burnt, but that they might
|
|
see, and perceive that they were persecuted by the judgment of God.
|
|
|
|
16:19. And at another time the fire, above its own power, burnt in the
|
|
midst of water, to destroy the fruits of a wicked land.
|
|
|
|
16:20. Instead of which things, thou didst feed thy people with the
|
|
food of angels, and gavest them bread from heaven, prepared without
|
|
labour; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every
|
|
taste.
|
|
|
|
16:21. For thy sustenance shewed thy sweetness to thy children, and
|
|
serving every man's will, it was turned to what every man liked.
|
|
|
|
16:22. But snow and ice endured the force of fire, and melted not: that
|
|
they might know that the fire, burning in the hail, and flashing in the
|
|
rain, destroyed the fruits of the enemies.
|
|
|
|
16:23. But this same again, that the just might be nourished, did even
|
|
forget its own strength.
|
|
|
|
16:24. For the creature serving thee, the Creator, is made fierce
|
|
against the unjust for their punishment: and abateth its strength for
|
|
the benefit of them that trust in thee.
|
|
|
|
16:25. Therefore even then it was transformed into all things, and was
|
|
obedient to thy grace, that nourisheth all, according to the will of
|
|
them that desired it of thee:
|
|
|
|
16:26. That thy children, O Lord, whom thou lovedst, might know that it
|
|
is not the growing of fruits that nourisheth men, but thy word
|
|
preserveth them that believe in thee.
|
|
|
|
16:27. For that which could not be destroyed by fire, being warmed with
|
|
a little sunbeam, presently melted away:
|
|
|
|
16:28. That it might be known to all, that we ought to prevent the sun
|
|
to bless thee, and adore thee at the dawning of the light.
|
|
|
|
16:29. For the hope of the unthankful shall melt away as the winter's
|
|
ice, and shall run off as unprofitable water.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 17
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Egyptian darkness.
|
|
|
|
17:1. For thy judgments, O Lord, are great, and thy words cannot be
|
|
expressed: therefore undisciplined souls have erred.
|
|
|
|
17:2. For while the wicked thought to be able to have dominion over the
|
|
holy nation, they themselves being fettered with the bonds of darkness,
|
|
and a long night, shut up in their houses, lay there exiled from the
|
|
eternal providence.
|
|
|
|
17:3. And while they thought to lie hid in their obscure sins, they
|
|
were scattered under a dark veil of forgetfullness, being horribly
|
|
afraid, and troubled with exceeding great astonishment.
|
|
|
|
17:4. For neither did the den that held them, keep them from fear: for
|
|
noises coming down troubled them, and sad visions appearing to them,
|
|
affrighted them.
|
|
|
|
17:5. And no power of fire could give them light, neither could the
|
|
bright flames of the stars enlighten that horrible night.
|
|
|
|
17:6. But there appeared to them a sudden fire, very dreadful: and
|
|
being struck with the fear of that face, which was not seen, they
|
|
thought the things which they saw to be worse:
|
|
|
|
17:7. And the delusions of their magic art were put down, and their
|
|
boasting of wisdom was reproachfully rebuked.
|
|
|
|
17:8. For they who promised to drive away fears and troubles from a
|
|
sick soul, were sick themselves of a fear worthy to be laughed at.
|
|
|
|
17:9. For though no terrible thing disturbed them: yet being scared
|
|
with the passing by of beasts, and hissing of serpents, they died for
|
|
fear and denying that they saw the air, which could by no means be
|
|
avoided.
|
|
|
|
17:10. For whereas wickedness is fearful, it beareth witness of its
|
|
condemnation: for a troubled conscience always forecasteth grievous
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
17:11. For fear is nothing else but a yielding up of the succours from
|
|
thought.
|
|
|
|
17:12. And while there is less expectation from within, the greater
|
|
doth it count the ignorance of that cause which bringeth the torment.
|
|
|
|
17:13. But they that during that night, in which nothing could be done,
|
|
and which came upon them from the lowest and deepest hell, slept the
|
|
same sleep,
|
|
|
|
17:14. Were sometimes molested with the fear of monsters, sometimes
|
|
fainted away, their soul failing them: for a sudden and unlooked for
|
|
fear was come upon them.
|
|
|
|
17:15. Moreover, if any of them had fallen down, he was kept shut up in
|
|
prison without irons.
|
|
|
|
17:16. For if any one were a husbandman, or a shepherd, or a labourer
|
|
in the field, and was suddenly overtaken, he endured a necessity from
|
|
which he could not fly.
|
|
|
|
17:17. For they were all bound together with one chain of darkness.
|
|
Whether it were a whistling wind, or the melodious voice of birds,
|
|
among the spreading branches of trees, or a fall of water running down
|
|
with violence,
|
|
|
|
17:18. Or the mighty noise of stones tumbling down, or the running that
|
|
could not be seen of beasts playing together, or the roaring voice of
|
|
wild beasts, or a rebounding echo from the highest mountains: these
|
|
things made them to swoon for fear.
|
|
|
|
17:19. For the whole world was enlightened, with a clear light, and
|
|
none were hindered in their labours.
|
|
|
|
17:20. But over them only was spread a heavy night, an image of that
|
|
darkness which was to come upon them. But they were to themselves more
|
|
grievous than the darkness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 18
|
|
|
|
|
|
The slaughter of the firstborn in Egypt: the efficacy of Aaron's
|
|
intercession, in the sedition on occasion of Core.
|
|
|
|
18:1. But thy saints had a very great light, and they heard their voice
|
|
indeed, but did not see their shape. And because they also did not
|
|
suffer the same things, they glorified thee:
|
|
|
|
18:2. And they that before had been wronged, gave thanks, because they
|
|
were not hurt now: and asked this gift, that there might be a
|
|
difference.
|
|
|
|
18:3. Therefore they received a burning pillar of fire for a guide of
|
|
the way which they knew not, and thou gavest them a harmless sun of a
|
|
good entertainment.
|
|
|
|
A harmless sun. . .A light that should not hurt or molest them; but that
|
|
should be an agreeable guest to them.
|
|
|
|
18:4. The others indeed were worthy to be deprived of light, and
|
|
imprisoned in darkness, who kept thy children shut up, by whom the pure
|
|
light of the law was to be given to the world.
|
|
|
|
18:5. And whereas they thought to kill the babes of the just: one child
|
|
being cast forth, and saved to reprove them, thou tookest away a
|
|
multitude of their children, and destroyedst them altogether in a
|
|
mighty water.
|
|
|
|
One child. . .Viz., Moses.
|
|
|
|
18:6. For that night was known before by our fathers, that assuredly
|
|
knowing what oaths they had trusted to, they might be of better
|
|
courage.
|
|
|
|
18:7. So thy people received the salvation of the just, and destruction
|
|
of the unjust.
|
|
|
|
18:8. For as thou didst punish the adversaries so thou didst also
|
|
encourage and glorify us.
|
|
|
|
18:9. For the just children of good men were offering sacrifice
|
|
secretly, and they unanimously ordered a law of justice: that the just
|
|
should receive both good and evil alike, singing now the praises of the
|
|
fathers.
|
|
|
|
Of good men. . .Viz., of the patriarchs. Their children, the Israelites,
|
|
offered in private the sacrifice of the paschal lamb; and were
|
|
regulating what they were to do in their journey, when that last and
|
|
most dreadful plague was coming upon their enemies.
|
|
|
|
18:10. But on the other side there sounded an ill according cry of the
|
|
enemies, and a lamentable mourning was heard for the children that were
|
|
bewailed.
|
|
|
|
18:11. And the servant suffered the same punishment as the master, and
|
|
a common man suffered in like manner as the king.
|
|
|
|
18:12. So all alike had innumerable dead, with one kind of death.
|
|
Neither were the living sufficient to bury them: for in one moment the
|
|
noblest offspring of them was destroyed.
|
|
|
|
The noblest offspring. . .That is, the firstborn.
|
|
|
|
18:13. For whereas they would not believe any thing before by reason of
|
|
the enchantments, then first upon the destruction of the firstborn,
|
|
they acknowledged the people to be of God.
|
|
|
|
18:14. For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in
|
|
the midst of her course,
|
|
|
|
18:15. Thy Almighty word leaped down from heaven from thy royal throne,
|
|
as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction,
|
|
|
|
18:16. With a sharp sword carrying thy unfeigned commandment, and he
|
|
stood and filled all things with death, and standing on the earth,
|
|
reached even to heaven.
|
|
|
|
18:17. Then suddenly visions of evil dreams troubled them, and fears
|
|
unlooked for came upon them.
|
|
|
|
18:18. And one thrown here, another there, half dead, shewed the cause
|
|
of his death.
|
|
|
|
18:19. For the visions that troubled them foreshewed these things, lest
|
|
they should perish, and not know why they suffered these evils.
|
|
|
|
18:20. But the just also were afterwards touched by an assault of
|
|
death, and there was a disturbance of the multitude in the wilderness:
|
|
but thy wrath did not long continue;
|
|
|
|
18:21. For a blameless man made haste to pry for the people, bringing
|
|
forth the shield of his ministry, prayer, and by incense making
|
|
supplication, withstood the wrath, and put an end to the calamity,
|
|
shewing that he was thy servant.
|
|
|
|
18:22. And he overcame the disturbance, not by strength of body nor
|
|
with force of arms, but with a word he subdued him that punished them,
|
|
alleging the oath and covenant made with the fathers.
|
|
|
|
18:23. For when they were now fallen down dead by heaps one upon
|
|
another, he stood between and stayed the assault, and cut off the way
|
|
to the living.
|
|
|
|
18:24. For in the priestly robe which he wore, was the whole world: and
|
|
in the four rows of the stones, the glory of the fathers was graven,
|
|
and thy majesty was written upon the diadem of his head.
|
|
|
|
18:26. And to these the destroyer gave place, and was afraid of them:
|
|
for the proof only of wrath was enough.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom Chapter 19
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why God shewed no mercy to the Egyptians. His favour to the Israelites.
|
|
All creatures obey God's orders for the service of the good, and the
|
|
punishment of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
19:1. But as to the wicked, even to the end there came upon them wrath
|
|
without mercy. For he knew before also what they would do:
|
|
|
|
19:2. For when they had given them leave to depart and had sent them
|
|
away with great care, they repented and pursued after them.
|
|
|
|
19:3. For whilst they were yet mourning, and lamenting at the graves of
|
|
the dead, they took up another foolish device: and pursued them as
|
|
fugitives whom they had pressed to be gone:
|
|
|
|
19:4. For a necessity, of which they were worthy, brought them to this
|
|
end: and they lost the remembrance of those things which had happened,
|
|
that their punishment might fill up what was wanting to their torments:
|
|
|
|
19:5. And that thy people might wonderfully pass through, but they
|
|
might find a new death.
|
|
|
|
19:6. For every creature, according to its kind was fashioned again as
|
|
from the beginning, obeying thy commandments, that thy children might
|
|
be kept without hurt.
|
|
|
|
19:7. For a cloud overshadowed their camps and where water was before,
|
|
dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea a way without hindrance, and out
|
|
of the great deep a springing field:
|
|
|
|
19:8. Through which all the nation passed which was protected with thy
|
|
hand, seeing thy miracles and wonders.
|
|
|
|
19:9. For they fed on their food like horses, and they skipped like
|
|
lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.
|
|
|
|
19:10. For they were yet mindful of those things which had been done in
|
|
the time of their sojourning, how the ground brought forth flies
|
|
instead of cattle, and how the river cast up a multitude of frogs
|
|
instead of fishes.
|
|
|
|
19:11. And at length they saw a new generation of birds, when being led
|
|
by their appetite, they asked for delicate meats.
|
|
|
|
19:12. For to satisfy their desire, the quail came up to them from the
|
|
sea: and punishments came upon the sinners, not without foregoing signs
|
|
by the force of thunders: for they suffered justly according to their
|
|
own wickedness.
|
|
|
|
19:13. For they exercised a more detestable inhospitality than any:
|
|
others indeed received not strangers unknown to them, but these brought
|
|
their guests into bondage that had deserved well of them.
|
|
|
|
19:14. And not only so, but in another respect also they were worse:
|
|
for the others against their will received the strangers.
|
|
|
|
19:15. But these grievously afflicted them whom they had received with
|
|
joy, and who lived under the same laws.
|
|
|
|
19:16. But they were struck with blindness: as those others were at the
|
|
doors of the just man, when they were covered with sudden darkness, and
|
|
every one sought the passage of his own door.
|
|
|
|
19:17. For while the elements are changed in themselves, as in an
|
|
instrument the sound of the quality is changed, yet all keep their
|
|
sound: which may clearly be perceived by the very sight.
|
|
|
|
Elements are changed, etc. . .The meaning is, that whatever changes God
|
|
wrought in the elements by miracles in favour of his people, they still
|
|
kept their harmony by obeying his will.
|
|
|
|
19:18. For the things of the land were turned into things of the water:
|
|
and the things that before swam in the water passed upon the land.
|
|
|
|
19:19. The fire had power in water above its own virtue, and the water
|
|
forgot its quenching nature.
|
|
|
|
19:20. On the other side, the flames wasted not the flesh of
|
|
corruptible animals walking therein, neither did they melt that good
|
|
food, which was apt to melt as ice. For in all things thou didst
|
|
magnify thy people, O Lord, and didst honour them, and didst not
|
|
despise them, but didst assist them at all times, and in every place.
|
|
|
|
That good food. . .The manna.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ECCLESIASTICUS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This Book is so called from a Greek word that signifies a preacher:
|
|
because, like an excellent preacher, it gives admirable lessons of all
|
|
virtues. The author was Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem, who
|
|
flourished about two hundred years before Christ. As it was written
|
|
after the time of Esdras, it is not in the Jewish canon; but is
|
|
received as canonical and divine by the Catholic Church, instructed by
|
|
apostolical tradition, and directed by the spirit of God. It was first
|
|
written in the Hebrew, but afterwards translated into Greek, by another
|
|
Jesus, the grandson of the author, whose prologue to this book is the
|
|
following:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROLOGUE.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The knowledge of many and great things hath been shewn us by the law,
|
|
and the prophets, and others that have followed them: for which things
|
|
Israel is to be commended for doctrine and wisdom, because not only
|
|
they that speak must needs be skilful, but strangers also, both
|
|
speaking and writing, may by their means become most learned. My
|
|
grandfather Jesus, after he had much given himself to a diligent
|
|
reading of the law, and the prophets, and other books, that were
|
|
delivered to us from our fathers, had a mind also to write something
|
|
himself, pertaining to doctrine and wisdom; that such as are desirous
|
|
to learn, and are made knowing in these things, may be more and more
|
|
attentive in mind, and be strengthened to live according to the law. I
|
|
entreat you therefore to come with benevolence, and to read with
|
|
attention, and to pardon us for those things wherein we may seem, while
|
|
we follow the image of wisdom, to come short in the composition of
|
|
words; for the Hebrew words have not the same force in them when
|
|
translated into another tongue. And not only these, but the law also
|
|
itself, and the prophets, and the rest of the books, have no small
|
|
difference, when they are spoken in their own language. For in the
|
|
eight and thirtieth year coming into Egypt, when Ptolemy Evergetes was
|
|
king, and continuing there a long time, I found there books left, of no
|
|
small nor contemptible learning. Therefore I thought it good, and
|
|
necessary for me to bestow some diligence and labour to interpret this
|
|
book; and with much watching and study in some space of time, I brought
|
|
the book to an end, and set it forth for the service of them that are
|
|
willing to apply their mind, and to learn how they ought to conduct
|
|
themselves, who purpose to lead their life according to the law of the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
All wisdom is from God, and is given to them that fear and love God.
|
|
|
|
1:1. All wisdom is from the Lord God, and hath been always with him,
|
|
and is before all time.
|
|
|
|
1:2. Who hath numbered the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and
|
|
the days of the world? Who hath measured the height of heaven, and the
|
|
breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss?
|
|
|
|
1:3. Who hath searched out the wisdom of God that goeth before all
|
|
things?
|
|
|
|
1:4. Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding
|
|
of prudence from everlasting.
|
|
|
|
1:5. The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom, and her ways
|
|
are everlasting commandments.
|
|
|
|
1:6. To whom hath the root of wisdom been revealed, and who hath known
|
|
her wise counsels?
|
|
|
|
1:7. To whom hath the discipline of wisdom been revealed and made
|
|
manifest? and who hath understood the multiplicity of her steps?
|
|
|
|
1:8. There is one most high Creator Almighty, and a powerful king, and
|
|
greatly to be feared, who sitteth upon his throne, and is the God of
|
|
dominion.
|
|
|
|
1:9. He created her in the Holy Ghost, and saw her, and numbered her,
|
|
and measured her.
|
|
|
|
1:10. And he poured her out upon all his works, and upon all flesh
|
|
according to his gift, and hath given her to them that love him.
|
|
|
|
1:11. The fear of the Lord is honour, and glory, and gladness, and a
|
|
crown of joy.
|
|
|
|
1:12. The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give joy,
|
|
and gladness, and length of days.
|
|
|
|
1:13. With him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter
|
|
end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed.
|
|
|
|
1:14. The love of God is honourable wisdom.
|
|
|
|
1:15. And they to whom she shall shew herself love her by the sight,
|
|
and by the knowledge of her great works.
|
|
|
|
1:16. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and was created
|
|
with the faithful in the womb, it walketh with chosen women, and is
|
|
known with the just and faithful.
|
|
|
|
1:17. The fear of the Lord is the religiousness of knowledge.
|
|
|
|
1:18. Religiousness shall keep and justify the heart, it shall give joy
|
|
and gladness.
|
|
|
|
1:19. It shall go well with him that feareth the Lord, and in the days
|
|
of his end he shall be blessed.
|
|
|
|
1:20. To fear God is the fulness of wisdom, and fulness is from the
|
|
fruits thereof.
|
|
|
|
1:21. She shall fill all her house with her increase, and the
|
|
storehouses with her treasures.
|
|
|
|
1:22. The fear of the Lord is a crown of wisdom, filling up peace and
|
|
the fruit of salvation:
|
|
|
|
1:23. And it hath seen, and numbered her: but both are the gifts of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
1:24. Wisdom shall distribute knowledge, and understanding of prudence:
|
|
and exalteth the glory of them that hold her.
|
|
|
|
1:25. The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord: and the branches thereof
|
|
are long-lived.
|
|
|
|
1:26. In the treasures of wisdom is understanding, and religiousness of
|
|
knowledge: but to sinners wisdom is an abomination.
|
|
|
|
1:27. The fear of the Lord driveth out sin:
|
|
|
|
1:28. For he that is without fear, cannot be justified: for the wrath
|
|
of his high spirits is his ruin.
|
|
|
|
1:29. A patient man shall bear for a time, and afterwards joy shall be
|
|
restored to him.
|
|
|
|
1:30. A good understanding will hide his words for a time, and the lips
|
|
of many shall declare his wisdom.
|
|
|
|
1:31. In the treasures of wisdom is the signification of discipline:
|
|
|
|
1:32. But the worship of God is an abomination to a sinner.
|
|
|
|
1:33. Son, if thou desire wisdom, keep justice, and God will give her
|
|
to thee.
|
|
|
|
1:34. For the fear of the Lord is wisdom and discipline: and that which
|
|
is agreeable to him,
|
|
|
|
1:35. Is faith, and meekness: and he will fill up his treasures.
|
|
|
|
1:36. Be not incredulous to the fear of the Lord: and come not to him
|
|
with a double heart.
|
|
|
|
1:37. Be not a hypocrite in the sight of men, and let not thy lips be a
|
|
stumblingblock to thee.
|
|
|
|
1:38. Watch over them, lest thou fall, and bring dishonour upon thy
|
|
soul,
|
|
|
|
1:39. And God discover thy secrets, and cast thee down in the midst of
|
|
the congregation.
|
|
|
|
1:40. Because thou camest to the Lord wickedly, and thy heart is full
|
|
of guile and deceit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's servants must look for temptations: and must arm themselves with
|
|
patience and confidence in God.
|
|
|
|
2:1. Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and
|
|
in fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.
|
|
|
|
2:2. Humble thy heart, and endure: incline thy ear, and receive the
|
|
words of understanding: and make not haste in the time of clouds.
|
|
|
|
2:3. Wait on God with patience: join thyself to God, and endure, that
|
|
thy life may be increased in the latter end.
|
|
|
|
2:4. Take all that shall be brought upon thee: and in thy sorrow
|
|
endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience.
|
|
|
|
2:5. For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in
|
|
the furnace of humiliation.
|
|
|
|
2:6. Believe God, and he will recover thee: and direct thy way, and
|
|
trust in him. Keep his fear, and grow old therein.
|
|
|
|
2:7. Ye that fear the Lord, wait for his mercy: and go not aside from
|
|
him lest ye fall.
|
|
|
|
2:8. Ye that fear the Lord, believe him: and your reward shall not be
|
|
made void.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Ye that fear the Lord hope in him, and mercy shall come to you for
|
|
your delight.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Ye that fear the Lord, love him, and your hearts shall be
|
|
enlightened.
|
|
|
|
2:11. My children behold the generations of men: and know ye that no
|
|
one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded.
|
|
|
|
2:12. For who hath continued in his commandment, and hath been
|
|
forsaken? or who hath called upon him, and he despised him?
|
|
|
|
2:13. For God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in
|
|
the day of tribulation: and he is a protector to all that seek him in
|
|
truth.
|
|
|
|
2:14. Woe to them that are of a double heart and to wicked lips, and to
|
|
the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goeth on the earth two
|
|
ways.
|
|
|
|
2:15. Woe to them that are fainthearted, who believe not God: and
|
|
therefore they shall not be protected by him.
|
|
|
|
2:16. Woe to them that have lost patience, and that have forsaken the
|
|
right ways, and have gone aside into crooked ways.
|
|
|
|
2:17. And what will they do, when the Lord shall begin to examine?
|
|
|
|
2:18. They that fear the Lord, will not be incredulous to his word: and
|
|
they that love him, will keep his way.
|
|
|
|
2:19. They that fear the Lord, will seek after the things that are well
|
|
pleasing to him: and they that love him, shall be filled with his law.
|
|
|
|
2:20. They that fear the Lord, will prepare their hearts, and in his
|
|
sight will sanctify their souls,
|
|
|
|
2:21. They that fear the Lord, keep his commandments, and will have
|
|
patience even until his visitation,
|
|
|
|
2:22. Saying: If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the
|
|
Lord, and not into the hands of men.
|
|
|
|
2:23. For according to his greatness, so also is his mercy with him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lessons concerning the honour of parents, and humility, and avoiding
|
|
curiosity.
|
|
|
|
3:1. The sons of wisdom are the church of the just: and their
|
|
generation, obedience and love.
|
|
|
|
3:2. Children, hear the judgment of your father, and so do that you may
|
|
be saved.
|
|
|
|
3:3. For God hath made the father honourable to the children: and
|
|
seeking the judgment of the mothers, hath confirmed it upon the
|
|
children.
|
|
|
|
3:4. He that loveth God, shall obtain pardon for his sins by prayer,
|
|
and shall refrain himself from them, and shall be heard in the prayer
|
|
of days.
|
|
|
|
3:5. And he that honoureth his mother is as one that layeth up a
|
|
treasure.
|
|
|
|
3:6. He that honoureth his father shall have joy in his own children,
|
|
and in the day of his prayer he shall be heard.
|
|
|
|
3:7. He that honoureth his father shall enjoy a long life: and he that
|
|
obeyeth the father, shall be a comfort to his mother.
|
|
|
|
3:8. He that feareth the Lord, honoureth his parents, and will serve
|
|
them as his masters that brought him into the world.
|
|
|
|
3:9. Honour thy father, in work and word, and all patience,
|
|
|
|
3:10. That a blessing may come upon thee from him, and his blessing may
|
|
remain in the latter end.
|
|
|
|
3:11. The father's blessing establisheth the houses of the children:
|
|
but the mother's curse rooteth up the foundation.
|
|
|
|
3:12. Glory not in the dishonour of thy father: for his shame is no
|
|
glory to thee.
|
|
|
|
3:13. For the glory of a man is from the honour of his father, and a
|
|
father without honour is the disgrace of the son.
|
|
|
|
3:14. Son, support the old age of thy father, and grieve him not in his
|
|
life;
|
|
|
|
3:15. And if his understanding fail, have patience with him, and
|
|
despise him not when thou art in thy strength: for the relieving of the
|
|
father shall not be forgotten.
|
|
|
|
3:16. For good shall be repaid to thee for the sin of thy mother.
|
|
|
|
3:17. And in justice thou shalt be built up, and in the day of
|
|
affliction thou shalt be remembered: and thy sins shall melt away as
|
|
the ice in the fair warm weather.
|
|
|
|
3:18. Of what an evil fame is he that forsaketh his father: and he is
|
|
cursed of God that angereth his mother.
|
|
|
|
3:19. My son, do thy works in meekness, and thou shalt be beloved above
|
|
the glory of men.
|
|
|
|
3:20. The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things, and
|
|
thou shalt find grace before God:
|
|
|
|
3:21. For great is the power of God alone, and he is honoured by the
|
|
humble.
|
|
|
|
3:22. Seek not the things that are too high for thee, and search not
|
|
into things above thy ability: but the things that God hath commanded
|
|
thee, think on them always, and in many of his works be not curious.
|
|
|
|
3:23. For it is not necessary for thee to see with thy eyes those
|
|
things that are hid.
|
|
|
|
3:24. In unnecessary matters be not over curious, and in many of his
|
|
works thou shalt not be inquisitive.
|
|
|
|
3:25. For many things are shewn to thee above the understanding of men.
|
|
|
|
3:26. And the suspicion of them hath deceived many, and hath detained
|
|
their minds in vanity.
|
|
|
|
3:27. A hard heart shall fear evil at the last: and he that loveth
|
|
danger shall perish in it.
|
|
|
|
3:28. A heart that goeth two ways shall not have success, and the
|
|
perverse of heart shall be scandalized therein.
|
|
|
|
3:29. A wicked heart shall be laden with sorrows, and the sinner will
|
|
add sin to sin.
|
|
|
|
3:30. The congregation of the proud shall not be healed: for the plant
|
|
of wickedness shall take root in them, and it shall not be perceived.
|
|
|
|
3:31. The heart of the wise is understood in wisdom, and a good ear
|
|
will hear wisdom with all desire.
|
|
|
|
3:32. A wise heart, and which hath understanding, will abstain from
|
|
sins, and in the works of justice shall have success.
|
|
|
|
3:33. Water quencheth a flaming fire, and alms resisteth sins:
|
|
|
|
3:34. And God provideth for him that sheweth favour: he remembereth him
|
|
afterwards, and in the time of his fall he shall find a sure stay.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to works of mercy, and to the love of wisdom.
|
|
|
|
4:1. Son, defraud not the poor of alms, and turn not away thy eyes from
|
|
the poor.
|
|
|
|
4:2. Despise not the hungry soul: and provoke not the poor in his want.
|
|
|
|
4:3. Afflict not the heart of the needy, and defer not to gibe to him
|
|
that is in distress.
|
|
|
|
4:4. Reject not the petition of the afflicted: and turn not away thy
|
|
face from the needy.
|
|
|
|
4:5. Turn not away thy eyes from the poor for fear of anger: and leave
|
|
not to them that ask of thee to curse thee behind thy back.
|
|
|
|
4:6. For the prayer of him that curseth thee in the bitterness of his
|
|
soul, shall be heard, for he that made him will hear him.
|
|
|
|
4:7. Make thyself affable to the congregation of the poor, and humble
|
|
thy soul to the ancient, and bow thy head to a great man.
|
|
|
|
4:8. Bow down thy ear cheerfully to the poor, and pay what thou owest,
|
|
and answer him peaceable words with mildness.
|
|
|
|
4:9. Deliver him that suffereth wrong out of the hand of the proud: and
|
|
be not fainthearted in thy soul.
|
|
|
|
4:10. In judging be merciful to the fatherless as a father, and as a
|
|
husband to their mother.
|
|
|
|
4:11. And thou shalt be as the obedient son of the most High, and he
|
|
will have mercy on thee more than a mother.
|
|
|
|
4:12. Wisdom inspireth life into her children, and protecteth them that
|
|
seek after her, and will go before them in the way of justice.
|
|
|
|
4:13. And he that loveth her, loveth life: and they that watch for her,
|
|
shall embrace her sweetness.
|
|
|
|
4:14. They that hold her fast, shall inherit life: and whithersoever
|
|
she entereth, God will give a blessing.
|
|
|
|
4:15. They that serve her, shall be servants to the holy one: and God
|
|
loveth them that love her.
|
|
|
|
4:16. He that hearkeneth to her, shall judge nations: and he that
|
|
looketh upon her, shall remain secure.
|
|
|
|
4:17. If he trust to her, he shall inherit her, and his generation
|
|
shall be in assurance.
|
|
|
|
4:18. For she walketh with him in temptation, and at the first she
|
|
chooseth him.
|
|
|
|
In temptation, etc. . .The meaning is, that before wisdom will choose
|
|
any for her favourite, she will try them by leading them through
|
|
contradictions, afflictions, and temptations, the usual noviceship of
|
|
the children of God.
|
|
|
|
4:19. She will bring upon him fear and dread and trial: and she will
|
|
scourge him with the affliction of her discipline, till she try him by
|
|
her laws, and trust his soul.
|
|
|
|
4:20. Then she will strengthen him, and make a straight way to him, and
|
|
give him joy,
|
|
|
|
4:21. And will disclose her secrets to him, and will heap upon him
|
|
treasures of knowledge and understanding of justice.
|
|
|
|
4:22. But if he go astray, she will forsake him, and deliver him into
|
|
the hands of his enemy.
|
|
|
|
4:23. Son, observe the time, and fly from evil.
|
|
|
|
4:24. For thy soul be not ashamed to say the truth.
|
|
|
|
4:25. For there is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that
|
|
bringeth glory and grace.
|
|
|
|
4:26. Accept no person against thy own person, nor against thy soul a
|
|
lie.
|
|
|
|
4:27. Reverence not thy neighbour in his fall:
|
|
|
|
4:28. And refrain not to speak in the time of salvation. Hide not thy
|
|
wisdom in her beauty.
|
|
|
|
4:29. For by the tongue wisdom is discerned: and understanding, and
|
|
knowledge, and learning by the word of the wise, and steadfastness in
|
|
the works of justice.
|
|
|
|
4:30. In nowise speak against the truth, but be ashamed of the lie of
|
|
thy ignorance.
|
|
|
|
4:31. Be not ashamed to confess thy sins, but submit not thyself to
|
|
every man for sin.
|
|
|
|
4:32. Resist not against the face of the mighty, and do not strive
|
|
against the stream of the river.
|
|
|
|
4:33. Strive for justice for thy soul, and even unto death fight for
|
|
justice, and God will overthrow thy enemies for thee.
|
|
|
|
4:34. Be not hasty in thy tongue: and slack and remiss in thy works.
|
|
|
|
4:35. Be not as a lion in thy house, terrifying them of thy household,
|
|
and oppressing them that are under thee.
|
|
|
|
4:36. Let not thy hand be stretched out to receive, and shut when thou
|
|
shouldst give.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
We must not presume of our wealth or strength: nor of the mercy of God,
|
|
to go on in sin: we must be steadfast in virtue and truth.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Set not thy heart upon unjust possessions, and say not: I have
|
|
enough to live on: for it shall be of no service in the time of
|
|
vengeance and darkness.
|
|
|
|
5:2. Follow not in thy strength the desires of thy heart:
|
|
|
|
5:3. And say not: How mighty am I? and who shall bring me under for my
|
|
deeds? for God will surely take revenge.
|
|
|
|
5:4. Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me? for the
|
|
most High is a patient rewarder.
|
|
|
|
5:5. Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin:
|
|
|
|
5:6. And say not: The mercy of the Lord is great, he will have mercy on
|
|
the multitude of my sins.
|
|
|
|
5:7. For mercy and wrath quickly come from him, and his wrath looketh
|
|
upon sinners.
|
|
|
|
5:8. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day
|
|
to day.
|
|
|
|
5:9. For his wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance
|
|
he will destroy thee.
|
|
|
|
5:10. Be not anxious for goods unjustly gotten: for they shall not
|
|
profit thee in the day of calamity and revenge.
|
|
|
|
5:11. Winnow not with every wind, and go not into every way: for so is
|
|
every sinner proved by a double tongue.
|
|
|
|
5:12. Be steadfast in the way of the Lord, and in the truth of thy
|
|
judgment, and in knowledge, and let the word of peace and justice keep
|
|
with thee.
|
|
|
|
5:13. Be meek to hear the word, that thou mayst understand: and return
|
|
a true answer with wisdom.
|
|
|
|
5:14. If thou have understanding, answer thy neighbour: but if not, let
|
|
thy hand be upon thy mouth, lest thou be surprised in an unskilful
|
|
word, and be confounded.
|
|
|
|
5:15. Honour and glory is in the word of the wise, but the tongue of
|
|
the fool is his ruin.
|
|
|
|
5:16. Be not called a whisperer, and be not taken in thy tongue, and
|
|
confounded.
|
|
|
|
5:17. For confusion and repentance is upon a thief, and an evil mark of
|
|
disgrace upon the double tongued, but to the whisperer hatred, and
|
|
enmity, and reproach.
|
|
|
|
5:18. Justify alike the small and the great.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of true and false friends: and of the of the fruits of wisdom.
|
|
|
|
6:1. Instead of a friend become not an enemy to thy neighbour: for an
|
|
evil man shall inherit reproach and shame, so shall every sinner that
|
|
is envious and double tongued.
|
|
|
|
6:2. Extol not thyself in the thoughts of thy soul like a bull: lest
|
|
thy strength be quashed by folly,
|
|
|
|
6:3. And it eat up thy leaves, and destroy thy fruit, and thou be left
|
|
as a dry tree in the wilderness.
|
|
|
|
6:4. For a wicked soul shall destroy him that hath it, and maketh him
|
|
to be a joy to his enemies, and shall lead him into the lot of the
|
|
wicked.
|
|
|
|
6:5. A sweet word multiplieth friends, and appeaseth enemies, and a
|
|
gracious tongue in a good man aboundeth.
|
|
|
|
6:6. Be in peace with many, but let one of a thousand be thy
|
|
counsellor.
|
|
|
|
6:7. If thou wouldst get a friend, try him before thou takest him, and
|
|
do not credit him easily.
|
|
|
|
6:8. For there is a friend for his own occasion, and he will not abide
|
|
in the day of thy trouble.
|
|
|
|
6:9. And there is a friend that turneth to enmity; and there is a
|
|
friend that will disclose hatred and strife and reproaches.
|
|
|
|
6:10. And there is a friend a companion at the table, and he will not
|
|
abide in the day of distress.
|
|
|
|
6:11. A friend if he continue steadfast, shall be to thee as thyself,
|
|
and shall act with confidence among them of thy household.
|
|
|
|
6:12. If he humble himself before thee, and hide himself from thy face,
|
|
thou shalt have unanimous friendship for good.
|
|
|
|
6:13. Separate thyself from thy enemies, and take heed of thy friends.
|
|
|
|
6:14. A faithful friend is a strong defence: and he that hath found
|
|
him, hath found a treasure.
|
|
|
|
6:15. Nothing can be compared to a faithful friend, and no weight of
|
|
gold and silver is able to countervail the goodness of his fidelity.
|
|
|
|
6:16. A faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality: and
|
|
they that fear the Lord, shall find him.
|
|
|
|
6:17. He that feareth God, shall likewise have good friendship: because
|
|
according to him shall his friend be.
|
|
|
|
6:18. My son, from thy youth up receive instruction, and even to thy
|
|
grey hairs thou shalt find wisdom.
|
|
|
|
6:19. Come to her as one that plougheth, and soweth, and wait for her
|
|
good fruits:
|
|
|
|
6:20. For in working about her thou shalt labour a little, and shalt
|
|
quickly eat of her fruits.
|
|
|
|
6:21. How very unpleasant is wisdom to the unlearned, and the unwise
|
|
will not continue with her.
|
|
|
|
6:22. She shall be to them as a mighty stone of trial, and they will
|
|
cast her from them before it be long.
|
|
|
|
6:23. For the wisdom of doctrine is according to her name, and she is
|
|
not manifest unto many, but with them to whom she is known, she
|
|
continueth even to the sight of God.
|
|
|
|
6:24. Give ear, my son, and take wise counsel, and cast not away my
|
|
advice.
|
|
|
|
6:25. Put thy feet into her fetters, and thy neck into her chains:
|
|
|
|
6:26. Bow down thy shoulder, and bear her, and be not grieved with her
|
|
bands.
|
|
|
|
6:27. Come to her with all thy mind, and keep her ways with all thy
|
|
power.
|
|
|
|
6:28. Search for her, and she shall be made known to thee, and when
|
|
thou hast gotten her, let her not go:
|
|
|
|
6:29. For in the latter end thou shalt find rest in her, and she shall
|
|
be turned to thy joy.
|
|
|
|
6:30. Then shall her fetters be a strong defence for thee, and a firm
|
|
foundation, and her chain a robe of glory:
|
|
|
|
6:31. For in her is the beauty of life, and her bands are a healthful
|
|
binding.
|
|
|
|
6:32. Thou shalt put her on as a robe of glory, and thou shalt set her
|
|
upon thee as a crown of joy.
|
|
|
|
6:33. My son, if thou wilt attend to me, thou shalt learn: and if thou
|
|
wilt apply thy mind, thou shalt be wise.
|
|
|
|
6:34. If thou wilt incline thy ear, thou shalt receive instruction: and
|
|
if thou love to hear, thou shalt be wise.
|
|
|
|
6:35. Stand in the multitude of ancients that are wise, and join
|
|
thyself from thy heart to their wisdom, that thou mayst hear every
|
|
discourse of God, and the sayings of praise may not escape thee.
|
|
|
|
6:36. And if thou see a man of understanding, go to him early in the
|
|
morning, and let thy foot wear the steps of his doors.
|
|
|
|
6:37. Let thy thoughts be upon the precepts of God, and meditate
|
|
continually on his commandments: and he will give thee a heart, and the
|
|
desire of wisdom shall be given to thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
Religious and moral duties.
|
|
|
|
7:1. Do no evils, and no evils shall lay hold of thee.
|
|
|
|
7:2. Depart from the unjust, and evils shall depart from thee.
|
|
|
|
7:3. My son, sow not evils in the furrows of injustice, and thou shalt
|
|
not reap them sevenfold.
|
|
|
|
7:4. Seek not of the Lord a preeminence, nor of the king the seat of
|
|
honour.
|
|
|
|
7:5. Justify not thyself before God, for he knoweth the heart: and
|
|
desire not to appear wise before the king.
|
|
|
|
7:6. Seek not to be made a judge, unless thou have strength enough to
|
|
extirpate iniquities: lest thou fear the person of the powerful, and
|
|
lay a stumblingblock for thy integrity.
|
|
|
|
7:7. Offend not against the multitude of a city, neither cast thyself
|
|
in upon the people,
|
|
|
|
7:8. Nor bind sin to sin: for even in one thou shalt not be unpunished.
|
|
|
|
7:9. Be not fainthearted in thy mind:
|
|
|
|
7:10. Neglect not to pray, and to give alms.
|
|
|
|
7:11. Say not: God will have respect to the multitude of my gifts, and
|
|
when I offer to the most high God, he will accept my offerings.
|
|
|
|
7:12. Laugh no man to scorn in the bitterness of his soul: for there is
|
|
one that humbleth and exalteth, God who seeth all.
|
|
|
|
7:13. Devise not a lie against thy brother: neither do the like against
|
|
thy friend.
|
|
|
|
7:14. Be not willing to make any manner of lie: for the custom thereof
|
|
is not good.
|
|
|
|
7:15. Be not full of words in a multitude of ancients, and repeat not
|
|
the word in thy prayer.
|
|
|
|
Repeat not, etc. . .Make not much babbling by repetition of words: but
|
|
aim more at fervour of heart.
|
|
|
|
7:16. Hate not laborious works, nor husbandry ordained by the most
|
|
High.
|
|
|
|
7:17. Number not thyself among the multitude of the disorderly.
|
|
|
|
7:18. Remember wrath, for it will not tarry long.
|
|
|
|
7:19. Humble thy spirit very much: for the vengeance on the flesh of
|
|
the ungodly is fire and worms.
|
|
|
|
7:20. Do not transgress against thy friend deferring money, nor despise
|
|
thy dear brother for the sake of gold.
|
|
|
|
7:21. Depart not from a wise and good wife, whom thou hast gotten in
|
|
the fear of the Lord: for the grace of her modesty is above gold.
|
|
|
|
7:22. Hurt not the servant that worketh faithfully, nor the hired man
|
|
that giveth thee his life.
|
|
|
|
7:23. Let a wise servant be dear to thee as thy own soul, defraud him
|
|
not of liberty, nor leave him needy.
|
|
|
|
7:24. Hast thou cattle? have an eye to them: and if they be for thy
|
|
profit, keep them with thee.
|
|
|
|
7:25. Hast thou children? instruct them, and bow down their neck from
|
|
their childhood.
|
|
|
|
7:26. Hast thou daughters? have a care of their body, and shew not thy
|
|
countenance gay towards them.
|
|
|
|
7:27. Marry thy daughter well, and thou shalt do a great work, and give
|
|
her to a wise man.
|
|
|
|
7:28. If thou hast a wife according to thy soul, cast her not off: and
|
|
to her that is hateful, trust not thyself. With thy whole heart,
|
|
|
|
7:29. Honour thy father, and forget not the groanings of thy mother:
|
|
|
|
7:30. Remember that thou hadst not been born but through them: and make
|
|
a return to them as they have done for thee.
|
|
|
|
7:31. With all thy soul fear the Lord, and reverence his priests.
|
|
|
|
7:32. With all thy strength love him that made thee: and forsake not
|
|
his ministers.
|
|
|
|
7:33. Honour God with all thy soul and give honour to the priests, and
|
|
purify thyself with thy arms.
|
|
|
|
Thy arms. . .That is, with all thy power: or else by arms (brachiis) are
|
|
here signified the right shoulders of the victims, which by the law
|
|
fell to the priests. See ver. 35.
|
|
|
|
7:34. Give them their portion, as it is commanded thee, of the
|
|
firstfruits and of purifications: and for thy negligences purify
|
|
thyself with a few.
|
|
|
|
7:35. Offer to the Lord the gift of thy shoulders, and the sacrifice of
|
|
sanctification, and the firstfruits of the holy things:
|
|
|
|
7:36. And stretch out thy hand to the poor, that thy expiation and thy
|
|
blessing may be perfected.
|
|
|
|
7:37. A gift hath grace in the sight of all the living, and restrain
|
|
not grace from the dead.
|
|
|
|
And restrain not grace from the dead. . .That is, withhold not from them
|
|
the benefit of alms, prayers, and sacrifices. Such was the doctrine and
|
|
practice of the church of God even in the time of the Old Testament.
|
|
And the same has always been continued from the days of the apostles in
|
|
the church of the New Testament.
|
|
|
|
7:38. Be not wanting in comforting them that weep, and walk with them
|
|
that mourn.
|
|
|
|
7:39. Be not slow to visit the sick: for by these things thou shalt be
|
|
confirmed in love.
|
|
|
|
7:40. In all thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other lessons of wisdom and virtue.
|
|
|
|
8:1. Strive not with a powerful man, lest thou fall into his hands.
|
|
|
|
8:2. Contend not with a rich man, lest he bring an action against thee.
|
|
|
|
8:3. For gold and silver hath destroyed many, and hath reached even to
|
|
the heart of kings, and perverted them.
|
|
|
|
8:4. Strive not with a man that is full of tongue, and heap not wood
|
|
upon his fire.
|
|
|
|
8:5. Communicate not with an ignorant man, lest he speak ill of thy
|
|
family.
|
|
|
|
8:6. Despise not a man that turneth away from sin, nor reproach him
|
|
therewith: remember that we are all worthy of reproof.
|
|
|
|
8:7. Despise not a man in his old age; for we also shall become old.
|
|
|
|
8:8. Rejoice not at the death of thy enemy; knowing that we all die,
|
|
and are not willing that others should rejoice at our death.
|
|
|
|
8:9. Despise not the discourse of them that are ancient and wise, but
|
|
acquaint thyself with their proverbs.
|
|
|
|
8:10. For of them thou shalt learn wisdom, and instruction of
|
|
understanding, and to serve great men without blame.
|
|
|
|
8:11. Let not the discourse of the ancients escape thee, for they have
|
|
learned of their fathers:
|
|
|
|
8:12. For of them thou shalt learn understanding, and to give an answer
|
|
in time of need.
|
|
|
|
8:13. Kindle not the coals of sinners by rebuking them, lest thou be
|
|
burnt with the flame of the fire of their sins.
|
|
|
|
8:14. Stand not against the face of an injurious person, lest he sit as
|
|
a spy to entrap thee in thy words.
|
|
|
|
8:15. Lend not to a man that is mightier than thyself: and if thou
|
|
lendest, count it as lost.
|
|
|
|
8:16. Be not surety above thy power: and if thou be surety, think as if
|
|
thou wert to pay it.
|
|
|
|
8:17. Judge not against a judge: for he judgeth according to that which
|
|
is just.
|
|
|
|
8:18. Go not on the way with a bold man, lest he burden thee with his
|
|
evils: for he goeth according to his own will, and thou shalt perish
|
|
together with his folly.
|
|
|
|
8:19. Quarrel not with a passionate man, and go not into the desert
|
|
with a bold man: for blood is as nothing in his sight, and where there
|
|
is no help he will overthrow thee.
|
|
|
|
8:20. Advise not with fools, for they cannot love but such things as
|
|
please them.
|
|
|
|
8:21. Before a stranger do no matter of counsel: for thou knowest not
|
|
what he will bring forth.
|
|
|
|
8:22. Open not thy heart to every man: lest he repay thee with an evil
|
|
turn, and speak reproachfully to thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cautions with regard to women, and dangerous conversations.
|
|
|
|
9:1. Be not jealous over the wife of thy bosom, lest she shew in thy
|
|
regard the malice of a wicked lesson.
|
|
|
|
9:2. Give not the power of thy soul to a woman, lest she enter upon thy
|
|
strength, and thou be confounded.
|
|
|
|
9:3. Look not upon a woman that hath a mind for many: lest thou fall
|
|
into her snares.
|
|
|
|
9:4. Use not much the company of her that is a dancer, and hearken not
|
|
to her, lest thou perish by the force of her charms.
|
|
|
|
9:5. Gaze not upon a maiden, lest her beauty be a stumblingblock to
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
9:6. Give not thy soul to harlots in any point: lest thou destroy
|
|
thyself and thy inheritance.
|
|
|
|
9:7. Look not round about thee in the ways of the city, nor wander up
|
|
and down in the streets thereof.
|
|
|
|
9:8. Turn away thy face from a woman dressed up, and gaze not about
|
|
upon another's beauty.
|
|
|
|
9:9. For many have perished by the beauty of a woman, and hereby lust
|
|
is enkindled as a fire.
|
|
|
|
9:10. Every woman that is a harlot, shall be trodden upon as dung in
|
|
the way.
|
|
|
|
9:11. Many by admiring the beauty of another man's wife, have become
|
|
reprobate, for her conversation burneth as fire.
|
|
|
|
9:12. Sit not at all with another man's wife, nor repose upon the bed
|
|
with her:
|
|
|
|
9:13. And strive not with her over wine, lest thy heart decline towards
|
|
her and by thy blood thou fall into destruction.
|
|
|
|
9:14. Forsake not an old friend, for the new will not be like to him.
|
|
|
|
9:15. A new friend is as new wine: it shall grow old, and thou shalt
|
|
drink it with pleasure.
|
|
|
|
9:16. Envy not the glory and riches of a sinner: for thou knowest not
|
|
what his ruin shall be.
|
|
|
|
9:17. Be not pleased with the wrong done by the unjust, knowing that
|
|
even to hell the wicked shall not please.
|
|
|
|
9:18. Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill, so thou shalt
|
|
not suspect the fear of death.
|
|
|
|
9:19. And if thou come to him, commit no fault, lest he take away thy
|
|
life.
|
|
|
|
9:20. Know it to be a communication with death: for thou art going in
|
|
the midst of snares, and walking upon the arms of them that are
|
|
grieved.
|
|
|
|
9:21. According to thy power beware of thy neighbour, and treat with
|
|
the wise and prudent.
|
|
|
|
9:22. Let just men be thy guests, and let thy glory be in the fear of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
9:23. And let the thought of God be in thy mind, and all thy discourse
|
|
on the commandments of the Highest.
|
|
|
|
9:24. Works shall be praised for the hand of the artificers, and the
|
|
prince of the people for the wisdom of his speech, but the word of the
|
|
ancients for the sense.
|
|
|
|
9:25. A man full of tongue is terrible in his city, and he that is rash
|
|
in his word shall be hateful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
The virtues and vices of men in power: the great evil of pride.
|
|
|
|
10:1. A wise judge shall judge his people, and the government of a
|
|
prudent man shall be steady.
|
|
|
|
Judge his people. . .In the Greek it is, instruct his people.
|
|
|
|
10:2. As the judge of the people is himself, so also are his ministers:
|
|
and what manner of man the ruler of a city is, such also are they that
|
|
dwell therein.
|
|
|
|
10:3. An unwise king shall be the ruin of his people: and cities shall
|
|
be inhabited through the prudence of the rulers.
|
|
|
|
10:4. The power of the earth is in the hand of God, and in his time he
|
|
will raise up a profitable ruler over it.
|
|
|
|
10:5. The prosperity of man is in the hand of God, and upon the person
|
|
of the scribe he shall lay his honour.
|
|
|
|
The scribe. . .That is, the man that is wise and learned in the law.
|
|
|
|
10:6. Remember not any injury done thee by thy neighbour, and do thou
|
|
nothing by deeds of injury.
|
|
|
|
10:7. Pride is hateful before God and men: and all iniquity of nations
|
|
is execrable.
|
|
|
|
10:8. A kingdom is translated from one people to another, because of
|
|
injustices, and wrongs, and injuries, and divers deceits.
|
|
|
|
10:9. But nothing is more wicked than the covetous man. Why is earth,
|
|
and ashes proud?
|
|
|
|
10:10. There is not a more wicked thing than to love money: for such a
|
|
one setteth even his own soul to sale: because while he liveth he hath
|
|
cast away his bowels.
|
|
|
|
10:11. All power is of short life. A long sickness is troublesome to
|
|
the physician.
|
|
|
|
10:12. The physician cutteth off a short sickness: so also a king is to
|
|
day, and to morrow he shall die.
|
|
|
|
10:13. For when a man shall die, he shall inherit serpents, and beasts,
|
|
and worms.
|
|
|
|
10:14. The beginning of the pride of man, is to fall off from God:
|
|
|
|
10:15. Because his heart is departed from him that made him: for pride
|
|
is the beginning of all sin: he that holdeth it, shall be filled with
|
|
maledictions, and it shall ruin him in the end.
|
|
|
|
10:16. Therefore hath the Lord disgraced the assemblies of the wicked,
|
|
and hath utterly destroyed them.
|
|
|
|
10:17. God hath overturned the thrones of proud princes, and hath set
|
|
up the meek in their stead.
|
|
|
|
10:18. God hath made the roots of proud nations to wither, and hath
|
|
planted the humble of these nations.
|
|
|
|
10:19. The Lord hath overthrown the lands of the Gentiles, and hath
|
|
destroyed them even to the foundation.
|
|
|
|
10:20. He hath made some of them to wither away, and hath destroyed
|
|
them, and hath made the memory of them to cease from the earth.
|
|
|
|
10:21. God hath abolished the memory of the proud, and hath preserved
|
|
the memory of them that are humble in mind.
|
|
|
|
10:22. Pride was not made for men: nor wrath for the race of women.
|
|
|
|
10:23. That seed of men shall be honoured, which feareth God: but that
|
|
seed shall be dishonoured, which transgresseth the commandments of the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
10:24. In the midst of brethren their chief is honourable: so shall
|
|
they that fear the Lord, be in his eyes.
|
|
|
|
10:25. The fear of God is the glory of the rich, and of the honourable,
|
|
and of the poor.
|
|
|
|
10:26. Despise not a just man that is poor, and do not magnify a sinful
|
|
man that is rich.
|
|
|
|
10:27. The great man, and the judge, and the mighty is in honour: and
|
|
there is none greater than he that feareth God.
|
|
|
|
10:28. They that are free shall serve a servant that is wise: and a man
|
|
that is prudent and well instructed will not murmur when he is
|
|
reproved; and he that is ignorant, shall not be honoured.
|
|
|
|
10:29. Extol not thyself in doing thy work, and linger not in the time
|
|
of distress;
|
|
|
|
10:30. Better is he that laboureth, and aboundeth in all things, than
|
|
he that boasteth himself and wanteth bread.
|
|
|
|
10:31. My son, keep thy soul in meekness, and give it honour according
|
|
to its desert.
|
|
|
|
10:32. Who will justify him that sinneth against his own soul? and who
|
|
will honour him that dishonoureth his own soul?
|
|
|
|
10:33. The poor man is glorified by his discipline and fear, and there
|
|
is a man that is honoured for his wealth.
|
|
|
|
10:34. But he that is glorified in poverty, how much more in wealth?
|
|
and he that is glorified in wealth, let him fear poverty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lessons of humility and moderation in all things.
|
|
|
|
11:1. The wisdom of the humble shall exalt his head, and shall make him
|
|
sit in the midst of great men.
|
|
|
|
11:2. Praise not a man for his beauty, neither despise a man for his
|
|
look.
|
|
|
|
11:3. The bee is small among flying things but her fruit hath the
|
|
chiefest sweetness.
|
|
|
|
11:4. Glory not in apparel at any time, and be not exalted in the day
|
|
of thy honour: for the works of the Highest only are wonderful, and his
|
|
works are glorious, and secret, and hidden.
|
|
|
|
11:5. Many tyrants have sat on the throne, and he whom no man would
|
|
think on, hath worn the crown.
|
|
|
|
11:6. Many mighty men have been greatly brought down, and the glorious
|
|
have been delivered into the hand of others.
|
|
|
|
11:7. Before thou inquire, blame no man: and when thou hast inquired,
|
|
reprove justly.
|
|
|
|
11:8. Before thou hear, answer not a word: and interrupt not others in
|
|
the midst of their discourse.
|
|
|
|
11:9. Strive not in a matter which doth not concern thee, and sit not
|
|
in judgment with sinners.
|
|
|
|
11:10. My son, meddle not with many matters: and if thou be rich, thou
|
|
shalt not be free from sin: for if thou pursue after thou shalt not
|
|
overtake; and if thou run before thou shalt not escape.
|
|
|
|
11:11. There is an ungodly man that laboureth, and maketh haste, and is
|
|
in sorrow, and is so much the more in want.
|
|
|
|
11:12. Again, there is an inactive man that wanteth help, is very weak
|
|
in ability, and full of poverty:
|
|
|
|
11:13. Yet the eye of God hath looked upon him for good, and hath
|
|
lifted him up from his low estate, and hath exalted his head: and many
|
|
have wondered at him, and have glorified God.
|
|
|
|
11:14. Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are
|
|
from God.
|
|
|
|
11:15. Wisdom and discipline, and the knowledge of the law are with
|
|
God. Love and the ways of good things are with him.
|
|
|
|
11:16. Error and darkness are created with sinners: and they that glory
|
|
in evil things, grow old in evil.
|
|
|
|
11:17. The gift of God abideth with the just, and his advancement shall
|
|
have success for ever.
|
|
|
|
11:18. There is one that is enriched by living sparingly, and this is
|
|
the portion of his reward.
|
|
|
|
11:19. In that he saith: I have found me rest, and now I will eat of my
|
|
goods alone:
|
|
|
|
11:20. And he knoweth not what time shall pass, and that death
|
|
approacheth, and that he must leave all to others, and shall die.
|
|
|
|
11:21. Be steadfast in thy covenant, and be conversant therein, and
|
|
grow old in the work of thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
11:22. Abide not in the works of sinners. But trust in God, and stay in
|
|
thy place,
|
|
|
|
11:23. For it is easy in the eyes of God on a sudden to make the poor
|
|
man rich.
|
|
|
|
11:24. The blessing of God maketh haste to reward the just, and in a
|
|
swift hour his blessing beareth fruit.
|
|
|
|
11:25. Say not: What need I, and what good shall I have by this?
|
|
|
|
11:26. Say not: I am sufficient for myself: and what shall I be made
|
|
worse by this?
|
|
|
|
11:27. In the day of good things be not unmindful of evils: and in the
|
|
day of evils be not unmindful of good things:
|
|
|
|
11:28. For it is easy before God in the day of death to reward every
|
|
one according to his ways.
|
|
|
|
11:29. The affliction of an hour maketh one forget great delights, and
|
|
in the end of a man is the disclosing of his works.
|
|
|
|
11:30. Praise not any man before death, for a man is known by his
|
|
children.
|
|
|
|
11:31. Bring not every man into thy house: for many are the snares of
|
|
the deceitful.
|
|
|
|
11:32. For as corrupted bowels send forth stinking breath, and as the
|
|
partridge is brought into the cage, and as the roe into the snare: so
|
|
also is the heart of the proud, and as a spy that looketh on the fall
|
|
of his neighbour.
|
|
|
|
11:33. For he lieth in wait and turneth good into evil, and on the
|
|
elect he will lay a blot.
|
|
|
|
11:34. Of one spark cometh a great fire, and of one deceitful man much
|
|
blood: and a sinful man lieth in wait for blood.
|
|
|
|
11:35. Take heed to thyself of a mischievous man, for he worketh evils:
|
|
lest he bring upon thee reproach for ever.
|
|
|
|
11:36. Receive a stranger in, and he shall overthrow thee with a
|
|
whirlwind, and shall turn thee out of thy own.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
We are to be liberal to the just: and not to trust the wicked.
|
|
|
|
12:1. If thou do good, know to whom thou dost it, and there shall be
|
|
much thanks for thy good deeds.
|
|
|
|
12:2. Do good to the just, and thou shalt find great recompense: and if
|
|
not of him, assuredly of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
12:3. For there is no good for him that is always occupied in evil, and
|
|
that giveth no alms: for the Highest hateth sinners, and hath mercy on
|
|
the penitent.
|
|
|
|
12:4. Give to the merciful and uphold not the sinner: God will repay
|
|
vengeance to the ungodly and to sinners, and keep them against the day
|
|
of vengeance.
|
|
|
|
12:5. Give to the good, and receive not a sinner.
|
|
|
|
12:6. Do good to the humble, and give not to the ungodly: hold back thy
|
|
bread, and give it not to him, lest thereby he overmaster thee.
|
|
|
|
12:7. For thou shalt receive twice as much evil for all the good thou
|
|
shalt have done to him: for the Highest also hateth sinners, and will
|
|
repay vengeance to the ungodly.
|
|
|
|
12:8. A friend shall not be known in prosperity, and an enemy shall not
|
|
be hidden in adversity.
|
|
|
|
12:9. In the prosperity of a man, his enemies are grieved: and a friend
|
|
is known in his adversity.
|
|
|
|
12:10. Never trust thy enemy for as a brass pot his wickedness rusteth:
|
|
|
|
12:11. Though he humble himself and go crouching, yet take good heed
|
|
and beware of him.
|
|
|
|
12:12. Set him not by thee, neither let him sit on thy right hand, lest
|
|
he turn into thy place, and seek to take thy seat and at the last thou
|
|
acknowledge my words, and be pricked with my sayings.
|
|
|
|
12:13. Who will pity an enchanter struck by a serpent, or any that come
|
|
near wild beasts? so is it with him that keepeth company with a wicked
|
|
man, and is involved in his sins.
|
|
|
|
12:14. For an hour he will abide with thee: but if thou begin to
|
|
decline, he will not endure it.
|
|
|
|
12:15. An enemy speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he
|
|
lieth in wait, to throw thee into a pit.
|
|
|
|
12:16. An enemy weepeth with his eyes: but if he find an opportunity he
|
|
will not be satisfied with blood:
|
|
|
|
12:17. And if evils come upon thee, thou shalt find him there first.
|
|
|
|
12:18. An enemy hath tears in his eyes, and while he pretendeth to help
|
|
thee, will undermine thy feet.
|
|
|
|
12:19. He will shake his head, and clap his hands, and whisper much,
|
|
and change his countenance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cautions in the choice of company.
|
|
|
|
13:1. He that toucheth pitch, shall be defiled with it: and he that
|
|
hath fellowship with the proud, shall put on pride.
|
|
|
|
13:2. He shall take a burden upon him that hath fellowship with one
|
|
more honourable than himself. And have no fellowship with one that is
|
|
richer than thyself.
|
|
|
|
13:3. What agreement shall the earthen pot have with the kettle? for if
|
|
they knock one against the other, it shall be broken.
|
|
|
|
13:4. The rich man hath done wrong, and yet he will fume: but the poor
|
|
is wronged and must hold his peace.
|
|
|
|
13:5. If thou give, he will make use of thee: and if thou have nothing,
|
|
he will forsake thee.
|
|
|
|
13:6. If thou have any thing, he will live with thee, and will make
|
|
thee bare, and he will not be sorry for thee.
|
|
|
|
13:7. If he have need of thee he will deceive thee, and smiling upon
|
|
thee will put thee in hope; he will speak thee fair, and will say: What
|
|
wantest thou?
|
|
|
|
13:8. And he will shame thee by his meats, till he have drawn thee dry
|
|
twice or thrice, and at last he will laugh at thee: and afterward when
|
|
he seeth thee, he will forsake thee, and shake his head at thee.
|
|
|
|
13:9. Humble thyself to God, and wait for his hands.
|
|
|
|
13:10. Beware that thou be not deceived into folly, and be humbled.
|
|
|
|
13:11. Be not lowly in thy wisdom, lest being humbled thou be deceived
|
|
into folly.
|
|
|
|
13:12. If thou be invited by one that is mightier, withdraw thyself:
|
|
for so he will invite thee the more.
|
|
|
|
13:13. Be not troublesome to him, lest thou be put back: and keep not
|
|
far from him, lest thou be forgotten.
|
|
|
|
13:14. Affect not to speak with him as an equal, and believe not his
|
|
many words: for by much talk he will sift thee, and smiling will
|
|
examine thee concerning thy secrets.
|
|
|
|
13:15. His cruel mind will lay up thy words: and he will not spare to
|
|
do thee hurt, and to cast thee into prison.
|
|
|
|
13:16. Take heed to thyself, and attend diligently to what thou
|
|
hearest: for thou walkest in danger of thy ruin.
|
|
|
|
13:17. When thou hearest those things, see as it were in sleep, and
|
|
thou shalt awake.
|
|
|
|
13:18. Love God all thy life, and call upon him for thy salvation.
|
|
|
|
13:19. Every beast loveth its like: so also every man him that is
|
|
nearest to himself.
|
|
|
|
13:20. All flesh shall consort with the like to itself, and every man
|
|
shall associate himself to his like.
|
|
|
|
13:21. If the wolf shall at any time have fellowship with the lamb, so
|
|
the sinner with the just.
|
|
|
|
13:22. What fellowship hath a holy man with a dog, or what part hath
|
|
the rich with the poor?
|
|
|
|
13:23. The wild ass is the lion's prey in the desert: so also the poor
|
|
are devoured by the rich.
|
|
|
|
13:24. And as humility is an abomination to the proud: so also the rich
|
|
man abhorreth the poor.
|
|
|
|
13:25. When a rich man is shaken, he is kept up by his friends: but
|
|
when a poor man is fallen down, he is thrust away even by his
|
|
acquaintance.
|
|
|
|
13:26. When a rich man hath been deceived, he hath many helpers: he
|
|
hath spoken proud things, and they have justified him.
|
|
|
|
13:27. The poor man was deceived, and he is rebuked also: he hath
|
|
spoken wisely, and could have no place.
|
|
|
|
13:28. The rich man spoke, and all held their peace, and what he said
|
|
they extol even to the clouds.
|
|
|
|
13:29. The poor man spoke, and they say: Who is this? and if he
|
|
stumble, they will overthrow him.
|
|
|
|
13:30. Riches are good to him that hath no sin in his conscience: and
|
|
poverty is very wicked in the mouth of the ungodly.
|
|
|
|
13:31. The heart of a man changeth his countenance, either for good, or
|
|
for evil.
|
|
|
|
13:32. The token of a good heart, and a good countenance thou shalt
|
|
hardly find, and with labour.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
The evil of avarice: works of mercy are recommended, and the love of
|
|
wisdom.
|
|
|
|
14:1. Blessed is the man that hath not slipped by a word out of his
|
|
mouth, and is not pricked with the remorse of sin.
|
|
|
|
14:2. Happy is he that hath had no sadness of his mind, and who is not
|
|
fallen from his hope.
|
|
|
|
14:3. Riches are not comely for a covetous man and a niggard, and what
|
|
should an envious man do with gold?
|
|
|
|
14:4. He that gathereth together by wronging his own soul, gathereth
|
|
for others, and another will squander away his goods in rioting.
|
|
|
|
14:5. He that is evil to himself, to whom will he be good? and he shall
|
|
not take pleasure in his goods.
|
|
|
|
14:6. There is none worse than he that envieth himself, and this is the
|
|
reward of his wickedness:
|
|
|
|
14:7. And if he do good, he doth it ignorantly, and unwillingly: and at
|
|
the last he discovereth his wickedness.
|
|
|
|
14:8. The eye of the envious is wicked: and he turneth away his face,
|
|
and despiseth his own soul.
|
|
|
|
14:9. The eye of the covetous man is insatiable in his portion of
|
|
iniquity: he will not be satisfied till he consume his own soul, drying
|
|
it up.
|
|
|
|
14:10. An evil eye is towards evil things: and he shall not have his
|
|
fill of bread, but shall be needy and pensive at his own table.
|
|
|
|
14:11. My son, if thou have any thing, do good to thyself, and offer to
|
|
God worthy offerings.
|
|
|
|
14:12. Remember that death is not slow, and that the covenant of hell
|
|
hath been shewn to thee: for the covenant of this world shall surely
|
|
die.
|
|
|
|
Covenant of hell. . .The decree by which all are to go down to the
|
|
regions of death.
|
|
|
|
14:13. Do good to thy friend before thou die, and according to thy
|
|
ability, stretching out thy hand give to the poor.
|
|
|
|
14:14. Defraud not thyself of the good day, and let not the part of a
|
|
good gift overpass thee.
|
|
|
|
14:15. Shalt thou not leave to others to divide by lot thy sorrows and
|
|
labours?
|
|
|
|
14:16. Give and take, and justify thy soul.
|
|
|
|
14:17. Before thy death work justice: for in hell there is no finding
|
|
food.
|
|
|
|
14:18. All flesh shall fade as grass, and as the leaf that springeth
|
|
out on a green tree.
|
|
|
|
14:19. Some grow, and some fall off: so is the generation of flesh and
|
|
blood, one cometh to an end, and another is born.
|
|
|
|
14:20. Every work that is corruptible shall fail in the end: and the
|
|
worker thereof shall go with it.
|
|
|
|
14:21. And every excellent work shall be justified: and the worker
|
|
thereof shall be honoured therein.
|
|
|
|
14:22. Blessed is the man that shall continue in wisdom, and that shall
|
|
meditate in his justice, and in his mind shall think of the all seeing
|
|
eye of God.
|
|
|
|
14:23. He that considereth her ways in his heart, and hath
|
|
understanding in her secrets, who goeth after her as one that traceth,
|
|
and stayeth in her ways.
|
|
|
|
14:24. He who looketh in at her windows, and hearkeneth at her door.
|
|
|
|
14:25. He that lodgeth near her house, and fastening a pin in her walls
|
|
shall set up his tent high unto her, where good things shall rest in
|
|
his lodging for ever.
|
|
|
|
14:26. He shall set his children under her shelter, and shall lodge
|
|
under her branches:
|
|
|
|
14:27. He shall be protected under her covering from the heat, and
|
|
shall rest in her glory.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 15
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom embraceth them that fear God. God is not the author of sin.
|
|
|
|
15:1. He that feareth God, will do good: and he that possesseth
|
|
justice, shall lay hold on her,
|
|
|
|
15:2. And she will meet him as an honourable mother, and will receive
|
|
him as a wife married of a virgin.
|
|
|
|
15:3. With the bread of life and understanding, she shall feed him, and
|
|
give him the water of wholesome wisdom to drink: and she shall be made
|
|
strong in him, and he shall not be moved.
|
|
|
|
15:4. And she shall hold him fast, and he shall not be confounded: and
|
|
she shall exalt him among his neighbours.
|
|
|
|
15:5. And in the midst of the church she shall open his mouth, and
|
|
shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and shall
|
|
clothe him with a robe of glory.
|
|
|
|
15:6. She shall heap upon him a treasure of joy and gladness, and shall
|
|
cause him to inherit an everlasting name.
|
|
|
|
15:7. But foolish men shall not obtain her, and wise men shall meet
|
|
her, foolish men shall not see her: for she is far from pride and
|
|
deceit.
|
|
|
|
15:8. Lying men shall be mindful of her: but men that speak truth shall
|
|
be found with her, and shall advance, even till they come to the sight
|
|
of God.
|
|
|
|
15:9. Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner:
|
|
|
|
15:10. For wisdom came forth from God: for praise shall be with the
|
|
wisdom of God, and shall abound in a faithful mouth, and the sovereign
|
|
Lord will give praise unto it.
|
|
|
|
15:11. Say not: It is through God, that she is not with me: for do not
|
|
thou the things that he hateth.
|
|
|
|
15:12. Say not: He hath caused me to err: for he hath no need of wicked
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
15:13. The Lord hateth all abomination of error, and they that fear him
|
|
shall not love it.
|
|
|
|
15:14. God made man from the beginning, and left him in the hand of his
|
|
own counsel.
|
|
|
|
15:15. He added his commandments and precepts.
|
|
|
|
15:16. If thou wilt keep the commandments and perform acceptable
|
|
fidelity for ever, they shall preserve thee.
|
|
|
|
15:17. He hath set water and fire before thee: stretch forth thy hand
|
|
to which thou wilt.
|
|
|
|
15:18. Before man is life and death, good and evil, that which he shall
|
|
choose shall be given him:
|
|
|
|
15:19. For the wisdom of God is great, and he is strong in power,
|
|
seeing all men without ceasing.
|
|
|
|
15:20. The eyes of the Lord are towards them that fear him, and he
|
|
knoweth al the work of man.
|
|
|
|
15:21. He hath commanded no man to do wickedly, and he hath given no
|
|
man license to sin;
|
|
|
|
15:22. For he desireth not a multitude of faithless and unprofitable
|
|
children.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 16
|
|
|
|
|
|
It is better to have none than many wicked children. Of the justice and
|
|
mercy of God. His ways are unsearchable.
|
|
|
|
16:1. Rejoice not in ungodly children, if they be multiplied: neither
|
|
be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them.
|
|
|
|
16:2. Trust not to their life, and respect not their labours.
|
|
|
|
16:3. For better is one that feareth God, than a thousand ungodly
|
|
children.
|
|
|
|
16:4. And it is better to die without children, than to leave ungodly
|
|
children.
|
|
|
|
16:5. By one that is wise a country shall be inhabited, the tribe of
|
|
the ungodly shall become desolate.
|
|
|
|
16:6. Many such things hath my eyes seen, and greater things than these
|
|
my ear hath heard.
|
|
|
|
16:7. In the congregation of sinners a fire shall be kindled, and in an
|
|
unbelieving nation wrath shall flame out.
|
|
|
|
16:8. The ancient giants did not obtain pardon for their sins, who were
|
|
destroyed trusting to their own strength:
|
|
|
|
16:9. And he spared not the place where Lot sojourned, but abhorred
|
|
them for the pride of their word.
|
|
|
|
16:10. He had not pity on them, destroying the whole nation that
|
|
extolled themselves in their sins.
|
|
|
|
16:11. So did he with the six hundred thousand footmen, who were
|
|
gathered together in the hardness of their heart: and if one had been
|
|
stiffnecked, it is a wonder if he had escaped unpunished:
|
|
|
|
Six hundred thousand footmen, etc. . .Viz., the children of Israel, whom
|
|
he sentenced to die in the wilderness. Num. 14.
|
|
|
|
16:12. For mercy and wrath are with him. He is mighty to forgive, and
|
|
to pour out indignation:
|
|
|
|
16:13. According as his mercy is, so his correction judgeth a man
|
|
according to his works.
|
|
|
|
16:14. The sinner shall not escape in his rapines, and the patience of
|
|
him that sheweth mercy shall not be put off.
|
|
|
|
16:15. All mercy shall make a place for every man according to the
|
|
merit of his works, and according to the wisdom of his sojournment.
|
|
|
|
16:16. Say not: I shall be hidden from God, and who shall remember me
|
|
from on high?
|
|
|
|
16:17. In such a multitude I shall not be known: for what is my soul in
|
|
such an immense creation?
|
|
|
|
16:18. Behold the heaven, and the heavens of heavens, the deep, and all
|
|
the earth, and the things that are in them, shall be moved in his
|
|
sight,
|
|
|
|
16:19. The mountains also, and the hills, and the foundations of the
|
|
earth: when God shall look upon them, they shall be shaken with
|
|
trembling.
|
|
|
|
16:20. And in all these things the heart is senseless: and every heart
|
|
is understood by him.
|
|
|
|
16:21. And his ways who shall understand, and the storm, which no eye
|
|
of man shall see?
|
|
|
|
16:22. For many of his works are hidden, but the works of his justice
|
|
who shall declare? or who shall endure? for the testament is far from
|
|
some, and the examination of all is in the end.
|
|
|
|
16:23. He that wanteth understanding thinketh vain things, and the
|
|
foolish, and erring man, thinketh foolish things.
|
|
|
|
16:24. Hearken to me, my son, and learn the discipline of
|
|
understanding, and attend to my words in thy heart.
|
|
|
|
16:25. And I will shew forth good doctrine in equity, and will seek to
|
|
declare wisdom: and attend to my words in thy heart, whilst with equity
|
|
of spirit I tell thee the virtues that God hath put upon his works from
|
|
the beginning, and I shew forth in truth his knowledge.
|
|
|
|
16:26. The works of God are done in judgment from the beginning, and
|
|
from the making of them he distinguished their parts, and their
|
|
beginnings in their generations.
|
|
|
|
16:27. He beautified their works for ever, they have neither hungered,
|
|
nor laboured, and they have not ceased from their works.
|
|
|
|
16:28. Nor shall any of them straiten his neighbour at any time.
|
|
|
|
16:29. Be not thou incredulous to his word.
|
|
|
|
16:30. After this God looked upon the earth, and filled it with his
|
|
goods.
|
|
|
|
16:31. The soul of every living thing hath shewn forth before the face
|
|
thereof, and into it they return again.
|
|
|
|
Shewn forth. . .Viz., the glory and power of God upon the earth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 17
|
|
|
|
|
|
The creation and favour of God to man. An exhortation to turn to God.
|
|
|
|
17:1. God created man of the earth, and made him after his own image.
|
|
|
|
17:2. And he turned him into it again, and clothed him with strength
|
|
according to himself.
|
|
|
|
17:3. He gave him the number of his days and time, and gave him power
|
|
over all things that are upon the earth.
|
|
|
|
17:4. He put the fear of him upon all flesh, and he had dominion over
|
|
beasts and fowls.
|
|
|
|
17:5. He created of him a helpmate like to himself, he gave them
|
|
counsel, and a tongue, and eyes, and ears, and a heart to devise: and
|
|
he filled them with the knowledge of understanding.
|
|
|
|
17:6. He created in them the science of the spirit, he fired their
|
|
heart with wisdom, and shewed them both good and evil.
|
|
|
|
17:7. He set his eye upon their hearts to shew them the greatness of
|
|
his works:
|
|
|
|
17:8. That they might praise the name which he hath sanctified: and
|
|
glory in his wondrous act that they might declare the glorious things
|
|
of his works.
|
|
|
|
17:9. Moreover he gave them instructions, and the law of life for an
|
|
inheritance.
|
|
|
|
17:10. He made an everlasting covenant with them, and he shewed them
|
|
his justice and judgments.
|
|
|
|
17:11. And their eye saw the majesty of his glory, and their ears heard
|
|
his glorious voice, and he said to them: Beware of all iniquity.
|
|
|
|
Their eye saw, etc. . .Viz., when he gave the law on mount Sinai.
|
|
|
|
17:12. And he gave to every one of them commandment concerning his
|
|
neighbour.
|
|
|
|
17:13. Their ways are always before him, they are not hidden from his
|
|
eyes.
|
|
|
|
17:14. Over every nation he set a ruler.
|
|
|
|
17:15. And Israel was made the manifest portion of God.
|
|
|
|
17:16. And all their works are as the sun in the sight of God: and his
|
|
eyes are continually upon their ways.
|
|
|
|
17:17. Their covenants were not hid by their iniquity, and all their
|
|
iniquities are in the sight of God.
|
|
|
|
17:18. The alms of a man is as a signet with him, and shall preserve
|
|
the grace of a man as the apple of the eye:
|
|
|
|
17:19. And afterward he shall rise up, and shall render them their
|
|
reward, to every one upon their own head, and shall turn them down into
|
|
the bowels of the earth.
|
|
|
|
17:20. But to the penitent he hath given the way of justice, and he
|
|
hath strengthened them that were fainting in patience, and hath
|
|
appointed to them the lot of truth.
|
|
|
|
17:21. Turn to the Lord, and forsake thy sins:
|
|
|
|
17:22. Make thy prayer before the face of the Lord, and offend less.
|
|
|
|
Offend less. . .Minue offendicula. That is, remove sins and the
|
|
occasions of sins.
|
|
|
|
17:23. Return to the Lord, and turn away from thy injustice, and
|
|
greatly hate abomination.
|
|
|
|
17:24. And know the justices and judgments of God, and stand firm in
|
|
the lot set before thee, and in prayer to the most high God.
|
|
|
|
17:25. Go to the side of the holy age, with them that live and give
|
|
praise to God.
|
|
|
|
Go to the side, etc. . .Fly from the side of Satan and sin, and join
|
|
with the holy ones, that follow God and godliness.
|
|
|
|
17:26. Tarry not in the error of the ungodly, give glory before death.
|
|
Praise perisheth from the dead as nothing.
|
|
|
|
17:27. Give thanks whilst thou art living, whilst thou art alive and in
|
|
health thou shalt give thanks, and shalt praise God, and shalt glory in
|
|
his mercies.
|
|
|
|
17:28. How great is the mercy of the Lord, and his forgiveness to them
|
|
that turn to him !
|
|
|
|
17:29. For all things cannot be in men, because the son of man is not
|
|
immortal, and they are delighted with the vanity of evil.
|
|
|
|
17:30. What is brighter than the sun; yet it shall be eclipsed. Or what
|
|
is more wicked than that which flesh and blood hath invented? and this
|
|
shall be reproved.
|
|
|
|
17:31. He beholdeth the power of the height of heaven: and all men are
|
|
earth and ashes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 18
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's works are wonderful: we must serve him, and not our lusts.
|
|
|
|
18:1. He that liveth for ever created all things together. God only
|
|
shall be justified, and he remaineth an invincible king for ever.
|
|
|
|
18:2. Who is able to declare his works?
|
|
|
|
18:3. For who shall search out his glorious acts?
|
|
|
|
18:4. And who shall show forth the power of his majesty? or who shall
|
|
be able to declare his mercy?
|
|
|
|
18:5. Nothing may be taken away, nor added, neither is it possible to
|
|
find out the glorious works of God.
|
|
|
|
18:6. When a man hath done, then shall he begin: and when he leaveth
|
|
off, he shall be at a loss.
|
|
|
|
Then shall he begin. . .God is so great and incomprehensible, that when
|
|
man has done all that he can to find out his greatness and boundless
|
|
perfections, he is still to begin: for what he has found out, is but a
|
|
mere nothing in comparison with his infinity.
|
|
|
|
18:7. What is man, and what is his grace? and what is his good, or what
|
|
is his evil?
|
|
|
|
18:8. The number of the days of men at the most are a hundred years, as
|
|
a drop of water of the sea are they esteemed: and as a pebble of the
|
|
sand, so are a few years compared to eternity.
|
|
|
|
18:9. Therefore God is patient in them, and poureth forth his mercy
|
|
upon them.
|
|
|
|
18:10. He hath seen the presumption of their heart that it is wicked,
|
|
and hath known their end that it is evil.
|
|
|
|
18:11. Therefore hath he filled up his mercy in their favour, and hath
|
|
shewn them the way of justice.
|
|
|
|
18:12. The compassion of man is toward his neighbour: but the mercy of
|
|
God is upon all flesh.
|
|
|
|
18:13. He hath mercy, and teacheth, and correcteth, as a shepherd doth
|
|
his flock.
|
|
|
|
18:14. He hath mercy on him that receiveth the discipline of mercy, and
|
|
that maketh haste in his judgments.
|
|
|
|
18:15. My son, in thy good deeds, make no complaint, and when thou
|
|
givest any thing, add not grief by an evil word.
|
|
|
|
18:16. Shall not the dew assuage the heat? so also the good word is
|
|
better than the gift.
|
|
|
|
18:17. Lo, is not a word better than a gift? but both are with a
|
|
justified man.
|
|
|
|
18:18. A fool will upbraid bitterly: and a gift of one ill taught
|
|
consumeth the eyes.
|
|
|
|
18:19. Before judgment prepare thee justice, and learn before thou
|
|
speak.
|
|
|
|
18:20. Before sickness take a medicine, and before judgment examine
|
|
thyself, and thou shalt find mercy in the sight of God.
|
|
|
|
18:21. Humble thyself before thou art sick, and in the time of sickness
|
|
shew thy conversation.
|
|
|
|
18:22. Let nothing hinder thee from praying always, and be not afraid
|
|
to be justified even to death: for the reward of God continueth for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
18:23. Before prayer prepare thy soul: and be not as a man that
|
|
tempteth God.
|
|
|
|
18:24. Remember the wrath that shall be at the last day, and the time
|
|
of repaying when he shall turn away his face.
|
|
|
|
18:25. Remember poverty in the time of abundance, and the necessities
|
|
of poverty in the day of riches.
|
|
|
|
18:26. From the morning until the evening the time shall be changed,
|
|
and all these are swift in the eyes of God.
|
|
|
|
18:27. A wise man will fear in every thing, and in the days of sins
|
|
will beware of sloth.
|
|
|
|
18:28. Every man of understanding knoweth wisdom, and will give praise
|
|
to him that findeth her.
|
|
|
|
18:29. They that were of good understanding in words, have also done
|
|
wisely themselves: and have understood truth and justice, and have
|
|
poured forth proverbs and judgments.
|
|
|
|
18:30. Go not after thy lusts, but turn away from thy own will.
|
|
|
|
18:31. If thou give to thy soul her desires, she will make thee a joy
|
|
to thy enemies.
|
|
|
|
18:32. Take no pleasure in riotous assemblies, be they ever so small:
|
|
for their concertation is continual.
|
|
|
|
18:33. Make not thyself poor by borrowing to contribute to feasts when
|
|
thou hast nothing in thy purse: for thou shalt be an enemy to thy own
|
|
life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 19
|
|
|
|
|
|
Admonition against sundry vices.
|
|
|
|
19:1. A workman that is a drunkard shall not be rich: and he that
|
|
contemneth small things, shall fall by little and little.
|
|
|
|
19:2. Wine and women make wise men fall off, and shall rebuke the
|
|
prudent:
|
|
|
|
19:3. And he that joineth himself to harlots, will be wicked.
|
|
Rottenness and worms shall inherit him, and he shall be lifted up for a
|
|
greater example, and his soul shall be taken away out of the number.
|
|
|
|
19:4. He that is hasty to give credit, is light of heart, and shall be
|
|
lessened: and he that sinneth against his own soul, shall be despised.
|
|
|
|
19:5. He that rejoiceth in iniquity, shall be censured, and he that
|
|
hateth chastisement, shall have less life: and he that hateth babbling,
|
|
extinguisheth evil.
|
|
|
|
19:6. He that sinneth against his own soul, shall repent: and he that
|
|
is delighted with wickedness, shall be condemned.
|
|
|
|
19:7. Rehearse not again a wicked and harsh word, and thou shalt not
|
|
fare the worse.
|
|
|
|
19:8. Tell not thy mind to friend or foe: and if there be a sin with
|
|
thee, disclose it not.
|
|
|
|
19:9. For he will hearken to thee, and will watch thee, and as it were
|
|
defending thy sin he will hate thee, and so will he be with thee
|
|
always.
|
|
|
|
19:10. Hast thou heard a word against thy neighbour? let it die within
|
|
thee, trusting that it will not burst thee.
|
|
|
|
19:11. At the hearing of a word the fool is in travail, as a woman
|
|
groaning in the bringing forth a child.
|
|
|
|
19:12. As an arrow that sticketh in a man's thigh: so is a word in the
|
|
heart of a fool.
|
|
|
|
19:13. Reprove a friend, lest he may not have understood, and say: I
|
|
did it not: or if he did it, that he may do it no more.
|
|
|
|
19:14. Reprove thy neighbour, for it may be he hath not said it: and if
|
|
he hath said it, that he may not say it again.
|
|
|
|
19:15. Admonish thy friend: for there is often a fault committed.
|
|
|
|
19:16. And believe not every word. There is one, that slippeth with the
|
|
tongue, but not from his heart.
|
|
|
|
19:17. For who is there that hath not offended with his tongue?
|
|
Admonish thy neighbour before thou threaten him.
|
|
|
|
19:18. And give place to the fear of the most High: for the fear of God
|
|
is all wisdom, and therein is to fear God, and the disposition of the
|
|
law is in all wisdom.
|
|
|
|
19:19. But the learning of wickedness is not wisdom: and the device of
|
|
sinners is not prudence.
|
|
|
|
19:20. There is a subtle wickedness, and the same is detestable: and
|
|
there is a man that is foolish, wanting in wisdom.
|
|
|
|
19:21. Better is a man that hath less wisdom, and wanteth
|
|
understanding, with the fear of God, than he that aboundeth in
|
|
understanding, and transgresseth the law of the most High.
|
|
|
|
19:22. There is an exquisite subtilty, and the same is unjust.
|
|
|
|
19:23. And there is one that uttereth an exact word telling the truth.
|
|
There is one that humbleth himself wickedly, and his interior is full
|
|
of deceit:
|
|
|
|
19:24. And there is one that submitteth himself exceedingly with a
|
|
great lowliness: and there is one that casteth down his countenance,
|
|
and maketh as if he did not see that which is unknown:
|
|
|
|
19:25. And if he be hindered from sinning for want of power, if he
|
|
shall find opportunity to do evil, he will do it.
|
|
|
|
19:26. A man is known by his look, and a wise man, when thou meetest
|
|
him, is known by his countenance.
|
|
|
|
19:27. The attire of the body, and the laughter of the teeth, and the
|
|
gait of the man, shew what he is.
|
|
|
|
19:28. There is a lying rebuke in the anger of an injurious man: and
|
|
there is a judgment that is not allowed to be good: and there is one
|
|
that holdeth his peace, he is wise.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 20
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rules with regard to correction, discretion, and avoiding lies.
|
|
|
|
20:1. How much better is it to reprove, than to be angry, and not to
|
|
hinder him that confesseth in prayer.
|
|
|
|
20:2. The lust of an eunuch shall deflour a young maiden:
|
|
|
|
20:3. So is he that by violence executeth of the unwise.
|
|
|
|
20:4. How good is it, when thou art reproved, to shew repentance! for
|
|
so thou shalt escape wilful sin.
|
|
|
|
20:5. There is one that holdeth his peace, that is found wise: and
|
|
there is another that is hateful, that is bold in speech.
|
|
|
|
20:6. There is one that holdeth his peace, because he knoweth not what
|
|
to say: and there is another that holdeth his peace, knowing the proper
|
|
time.
|
|
|
|
20:7. A wise man will hold his peace till he see opportunity: but a
|
|
babbler, and a fool, will regard no time.
|
|
|
|
20:8. He that useth many words shall hurt his own soul: and he that
|
|
taketh authority to himself unjustly shall be hated.
|
|
|
|
20:9. There is success in evil things to a man without discipline, and
|
|
there is a finding that turneth to loss.
|
|
|
|
20:10. There is a gift that is not profitable: and there is a gift, the
|
|
recompense of which is double.
|
|
|
|
20:11. There is an abasement because of glory: and there is one that
|
|
shall lift up his head from a low estate.
|
|
|
|
20:12. There is that buyeth much for a small price, and restoreth the
|
|
same sevenfold.
|
|
|
|
20:13. A man wise in words shall make himself beloved: but the graces
|
|
of fools shall be poured out.
|
|
|
|
20:14. The gift of the fool shall do thee no good: for his eyes are
|
|
sevenfold.
|
|
|
|
20:15. He will give a few things, and upbraid much: and the opening of
|
|
his mouth is the kindling of a fire.
|
|
|
|
20:16. To day a man lendeth, and to morrow he asketh it again: such a
|
|
man as this is hateful.
|
|
|
|
20:17. A fool shall have no friend, and there shall be no thanks for
|
|
his good deeds.
|
|
|
|
20:18. For they that eat his bread, are of a false tongue. How often,
|
|
and how many will laugh him to scorn!
|
|
|
|
20:19. For he doth not distribute with right understanding that which
|
|
was to be had: in like manner also that which was not to be had.
|
|
|
|
20:20. The slipping of a false tongue is as one that falleth on the
|
|
pavement: so the fall of the wicked shall come speedily.
|
|
|
|
20:21. A man without grace is as a vain fable, it shall be continually
|
|
in the mouth of the unwise.
|
|
|
|
20:22. A parable coming out of a fool's mouth shall be rejected: for he
|
|
doth not speak it in due season.
|
|
|
|
20:23. There is that is hindered from sinning through want, and in his
|
|
rest he shall be pricked.
|
|
|
|
20:24. There is that will destroy his own soul through shamefacedness,
|
|
and by occasion of an unwise person he will destroy it: and by respect
|
|
of person he will destroy himself.
|
|
|
|
20:25. There is that for bashfulness promiseth to his friend, and
|
|
maketh him his enemy for nothing.
|
|
|
|
20:26. A lie is a foul blot in a man, and yet it will be continually in
|
|
the mouth of men without discipline.
|
|
|
|
20:27. A thief is better than a man that is always lying: but both of
|
|
them shall inherit destruction.
|
|
|
|
20:28. The manners of lying men are without honour: and their confusion
|
|
is with them without ceasing.
|
|
|
|
20:29. A wise man shall advance himself with his words, and a prudent
|
|
man shall please the great ones.
|
|
|
|
20:30. He that tilleth his land shall make a high heap of corn: and he
|
|
that worketh justice shall be exalted: and he that pleaseth great men
|
|
shall escape iniquity.
|
|
|
|
20:31. Presents and gifts blind the eyes of judges, and make them dumb
|
|
in the mouth, so that they cannot correct.
|
|
|
|
20:32. O Wisdom that is hid, and treasure that is not seen: what profit
|
|
is there in them both?
|
|
|
|
20:33. Better is he that hideth his folly, than the man that hideth his
|
|
wisdom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 21
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cautions against sin in general, and some sins in particular.
|
|
|
|
21:1. My son, hast thou sinned? do so no more: but for thy former sins
|
|
also pray that they may be forgiven thee.
|
|
|
|
21:2. Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent: for if thou comest
|
|
near them, they will take hold of thee.
|
|
|
|
21:3. The teeth thereof are the teeth of a lion, killing the souls of
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
21:4. All iniquity is like a two-edged sword, there is no remedy for
|
|
the wound thereof.
|
|
|
|
21:5. Injuries and wrongs will waste riches: and the house that is very
|
|
rich shall be brought to nothing by pride: so the substance of the
|
|
proud shall be rooted out.
|
|
|
|
21:6. The prayer out of the mouth of the poor shall reach the ears of
|
|
God, and judgment shall come for him speedily.
|
|
|
|
21:7. He that hateth to be reproved walketh in the trace of a sinner:
|
|
and he that feareth God will turn to his own heart.
|
|
|
|
21:8. He that is mighty by a bold tongue is known afar off, but a wise
|
|
man knoweth to slip by him.
|
|
|
|
21:9. He that buildeth his house at other men's charges, is as he that
|
|
gathereth himself stones to build in the winter.
|
|
|
|
21:10. The congregation of sinners is like tow heaped together, and the
|
|
end of them is a flame of fire.
|
|
|
|
21:11. The way of sinners is made plain with stones, and in their end
|
|
is hell, and darkness, and pains.
|
|
|
|
21:12. He that keepeth justice shall get the understanding thereof.
|
|
|
|
21:13. The perfection of the fear of God is wisdom and understanding.
|
|
|
|
21:14. He that is not wise in good, will not be taught.
|
|
|
|
21:15. But there is a wisdom that aboundeth in evil: and there is no
|
|
understanding where there is bitterness.
|
|
|
|
21:16. The knowledge of a wise man shall abound like a flood, and his
|
|
counsel continueth like a fountain of life.
|
|
|
|
21:17. The heart of a fool is like a broken vessel, and no wisdom at
|
|
all shall it hold.
|
|
|
|
21:18. A man of sense will praise every wise word he shall hear, and
|
|
will apply it to himself: the luxurious man hath heard it, and it shall
|
|
displease him, and he will cast it behind his back.
|
|
|
|
21:19. The talking of a fool is like a burden in the way: but in the
|
|
lips of the wise, grace shall be found.
|
|
|
|
21:20. The mouth of the prudent is sought after in the church, and they
|
|
will think upon his words in their hearts.
|
|
|
|
21:21. As a house that is destroyed, so is wisdom to a fool: and the
|
|
knowledge of the unwise is as words without sense.
|
|
|
|
21:22. Doctrine to a fool is as fetters on the feet, and like manacles
|
|
on the right hand.
|
|
|
|
21:23. A fool lifteth up his voice in laughter: but a wise man will
|
|
scarce laugh low to himself.
|
|
|
|
21:24. Learning to the prudent is as an ornament of gold, and like a
|
|
bracelet upon his right arm.
|
|
|
|
21:25. The foot of a fool is soon in his neighbour's house: but a man
|
|
of experience will be abashed at the person of the mighty.
|
|
|
|
21:26. A fool will peep through the window into the house: but he that
|
|
is well taught will stand without.
|
|
|
|
21:27. It is the folly of a man to hearken at the door: and a wise man
|
|
will be grieved with the disgrace.
|
|
|
|
21:28. The lips of the unwise will be telling foolish things: but the
|
|
words of the wise shall be weighed in a balance.
|
|
|
|
21:29. The heart of fools is in their mouth: and the mouth of wise men
|
|
is in their heart.
|
|
|
|
21:30. While the ungodly curseth the devil, he curseth his own soul.
|
|
|
|
While the ungodly, etc. . .He condemneth and curseth himself: inasmuch
|
|
as by sin he takes part with the devil, and is, as it were, his member
|
|
and subject.
|
|
|
|
21:31. The talebearer shall defile his own soul, and shall be hated by
|
|
all: and he that shall abide with him shall be hateful: the silent and
|
|
wise man shall be honoured.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 22
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wise sayings on divers subjects.
|
|
|
|
22:1. The sluggard is pelted with a dirty stone, and all men will speak
|
|
of his disgrace.
|
|
|
|
22:2. The sluggard is pelted with the dung of oxen: and every one that
|
|
toucheth him will shake his hands.
|
|
|
|
22:3. A son ill taught is the confusion of the father: and a foolish
|
|
daughter shall be to his loss.
|
|
|
|
22:4. A wise daughter shall bring an inheritance to her husband: but
|
|
she that confoundeth, becometh a disgrace to her father.
|
|
|
|
22:5. She that is bold shameth both her father and husband, and will
|
|
not be inferior to the ungodly: and shall be disgraced by them both.
|
|
|
|
22:6. A tale out of time is like music in mourning: but the stripes and
|
|
instruction of wisdom are never out of time.
|
|
|
|
22:7. He that teacheth a fool, is like one that glueth a potsherd
|
|
together.
|
|
|
|
22:8. He that telleth a word to him that heareth not, is like one that
|
|
waketh a man out of a deep sleep.
|
|
|
|
22:9. He speaketh with one that is asleep, who uttereth wisdom to a
|
|
fool: and in the end of the discourse he saith: Who is this?
|
|
|
|
22:10. Weep for the dead, for his light hath failed: and weep for the
|
|
fool, for his understanding faileth.
|
|
|
|
For the fool. . .In the language of the Holy Ghost, he is styled a fool,
|
|
that turns away from God to follow vanity and sin. And what is said by
|
|
the wise man against fools is meant of such fools as these.
|
|
|
|
22:11. Weep but a little for the dead, for he is at rest.
|
|
|
|
22:12. For the wicked life of a wicked fool is worse than death.
|
|
|
|
22:13. The mourning for the dead is seven days: but for a fool and an
|
|
ungodly man all the days of their life.
|
|
|
|
22:14. Talk not much with a fool and go not with him that hath no
|
|
sense.
|
|
|
|
22:15. Keep thyself from him, that thou mayst not have trouble, and
|
|
thou shalt not be defiled with his sin.
|
|
|
|
22:16. Turn away from him, and thou shalt find rest, and shalt not be
|
|
wearied out with his folly.
|
|
|
|
22:17. What is heavier than lead? and what other name hath he but fool?
|
|
|
|
22:18. Sand and salt, and a mass of iron is easier to bear, than a man
|
|
without sense, that is both foolish and wicked.
|
|
|
|
22:19. A frame of wood bound together in the foundation of a building,
|
|
shall not be loosed: so neither shall the heart that is established by
|
|
advised counsel.
|
|
|
|
22:20. The thought of him that is wise at all times, shall not be
|
|
depraved by fear.
|
|
|
|
22:21. As pales set in high places, and plasterings made without cost,
|
|
will not stand against the face of the wind:
|
|
|
|
22:22. So also a fearful heart in the imagination of a fool shall not
|
|
resist against the violence of fear.
|
|
|
|
22:23. As a fearful heart in the thought of a fool at all times will
|
|
not fear, so neither shall he that continueth always in the
|
|
commandments of God.
|
|
|
|
22:24. He that pricketh the eye, bringeth out tears: and he that
|
|
pricketh the heart, bringeth forth resentment.
|
|
|
|
22:25. He that flingeth a stone at birds, shall drive them away: so he
|
|
that upbraideth his friend, breaketh friendship.
|
|
|
|
22:26. Although thou hast drawn a sword at a friend, despair not: for
|
|
there may be a returning. To a friend,
|
|
|
|
22:27. If thou hast opened a sad mouth, fear not, for there may be a
|
|
reconciliation: except upbraiding, and reproach, and pride, and
|
|
disclosing of secrets, or a treacherous wound: for in all these cases a
|
|
friend will flee away.
|
|
|
|
22:28. Keep fidelity with a friend in his poverty, that in his
|
|
prosperity also thou mayst rejoice.
|
|
|
|
22:29. In the time of his trouble continue faithful to him, that thou
|
|
mayst also be heir with him in his inheritance.
|
|
|
|
22:30. As the vapour of a chimney, and the smoke of the fire goeth up
|
|
before the fire: so also injurious words, and reproaches, and threats,
|
|
before blood.
|
|
|
|
22:31. I will not be ashamed to salute a friend, neither will I hide
|
|
myself from his face: and if any evil happen to me by him, I will bear
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
22:32. But every one that shall hear it, will beware of him.
|
|
|
|
22:33. Who will set a guard before my mouth, and a sure seal upon my
|
|
lips, that I fall not by them, and that my tongue destroy me not?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 23
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prayer for grace to flee sin: cautions against profane swearing and
|
|
other vices.
|
|
|
|
23:1. O Lord, father, and sovereign ruler of my life, leave me not to
|
|
their counsel: nor suffer me to fall by them.
|
|
|
|
By them. . .Viz., the tongue and the lips, mentioned in the last verse
|
|
of the foregoing chapter.
|
|
|
|
23:2. Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of
|
|
wisdom over my heart, that they spare me not in their ignorances, and
|
|
that their sins may not appear:
|
|
|
|
That they spare me not in their ignorances, etc. . .That is, that the
|
|
scourges and discipline of wisdom may restrain the ignorances, that is,
|
|
the slips and offences which are usually committed by the tongue and
|
|
the lips.
|
|
|
|
23:3. Lest my ignorances increase, and my offences be multiplied, and
|
|
my sins abound, and I fall before my adversaries, and my enemy rejoice
|
|
over me?
|
|
|
|
23:4. O Lord, father, and God of my life, leave me not to their
|
|
devices.
|
|
|
|
23:5. Give me not haughtiness of my eyes, and turn away from me all
|
|
coveting.
|
|
|
|
23:6. Take from me the greediness of the belly, and let not the lusts
|
|
of the flesh take hold of me, and give me not over to a shameless and
|
|
foolish mind.
|
|
|
|
23:7. Hear, O ye children, the discipline of the mouth, and he that
|
|
will keep it shall not perish by his lips, nor be brought to fall into
|
|
most wicked works.
|
|
|
|
23:8. A sinner is caught in his own vanity, and the proud and the evil
|
|
speakers shall fall thereby.
|
|
|
|
23:9. Let not thy mouth be accustomed to swearing: for in it there are
|
|
many falls.
|
|
|
|
23:10. And let not the naming of God be usual in thy mouth, and meddle
|
|
not with the names of saints, for thou shalt not escape free from them.
|
|
|
|
23:11. For as a slave daily put to the question, is never without a
|
|
blue mark: so every one that sweareth, and nameth, shall not be wholly
|
|
pure from sin.
|
|
|
|
23:12. A man that sweareth much, shall be filled with iniquity, and a
|
|
scourge shall not depart from his house.
|
|
|
|
23:13. And if he make it void, his sin shall be upon him, and if he
|
|
dissemble it, he offendeth double:
|
|
|
|
23:14. And if he swear in vain, he shall not be justified: for his
|
|
house shall be filled with his punishment.
|
|
|
|
23:15. There is also another speech opposite to death, let it not be
|
|
found in the inheritance of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
23:16. For from the merciful all these things shall be taken away, and
|
|
they shall not wallow in sins.
|
|
|
|
23:17. Let not thy mouth be accustomed to indiscreet speech: for
|
|
therein is the word of sin.
|
|
|
|
23:18. Remember thy father and thy mother, for thou sittest in the
|
|
midst of great men:
|
|
|
|
23:19. Lest God forget thee in their sight, and thou, by thy daily
|
|
custom be infatuated and suffer reproach: and wish that thou hadst not
|
|
been born, and curse the day of thy nativity.
|
|
|
|
23:20. The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words, will never be
|
|
corrected all the days of his life.
|
|
|
|
23:21. Two sorts of men multiply sins, and the third bringeth wrath and
|
|
destruction.
|
|
|
|
23:22. A hot soul is a burning fire, it will never be quenched, till it
|
|
devour some thing.
|
|
|
|
23:23. And a man that is wicked in the mouth of his flesh, will not
|
|
leave off till he hath kindled a fire.
|
|
|
|
23:24. To a man that is a fornicator all bread is sweet, he will not be
|
|
weary of sinning unto the end.
|
|
|
|
23:25. Every man that passeth beyond his own bed, despising his own
|
|
soul, and saying: Who seeth me?
|
|
|
|
23:26. Darkness compasseth me about, and the walls cover me, and no man
|
|
seeth me: whom do I fear? the most High will not remember my sins.
|
|
|
|
23:27. And he understandeth not that his eye seeth all things, for such
|
|
a man's fear driveth him from the fear of God, and the eyes of men
|
|
fearing him:
|
|
|
|
23:28. And he knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are far brighter
|
|
than the sun, beholding round about all the ways of men, and the bottom
|
|
of the deep, and looking into the hearts of men, into the most hidden
|
|
parts.
|
|
|
|
23:29. For all things were known to the Lord God, before they were
|
|
created: so also after they were perfected he beholdeth all things.
|
|
|
|
23:30. This man shall be punished in the streets of the city, and he
|
|
shall be chased as a colt: and where he suspected not, he shall be
|
|
taken.
|
|
|
|
23:31. And he shall be in disgrace with all men, because he understood
|
|
not the fear of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:32. So every woman also that leaveth her husband, and bringeth in an
|
|
heir by another:
|
|
|
|
23:33. For first she hath been unfaithful to the law of the most High:
|
|
and secondly, she hath offended against her husband: thirdly, she hath
|
|
fornicated in adultery, and hath gotten her children of another man.
|
|
|
|
23:34. This woman shall be brought into the assembly, and inquisition
|
|
shall be made of her children.
|
|
|
|
23:35. Her children shall not take root, and her branches shall bring
|
|
forth no fruit.
|
|
|
|
23:36. She shall leave her memory to be cursed, and her infamy shall
|
|
not be blotted out.
|
|
|
|
23:37. And they that remain shall know, that there is nothing better
|
|
than the fear of God: and that there is nothing sweeter than to have
|
|
regard to the commandments of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:38. It is great glory to follow the Lord: for length of days shall
|
|
be received from him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 24
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wisdom praiseth herself: her origin, her dwelling, her dignity, and her
|
|
fruits.
|
|
|
|
24:1. Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God,
|
|
and shall glory in the midst of her people,
|
|
|
|
24:2. And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and
|
|
shall glorify herself in the sight of his power,
|
|
|
|
24:3. And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and
|
|
shall be admired in the holy assembly.
|
|
|
|
24:4. And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and
|
|
among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying:
|
|
|
|
24:5. I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before
|
|
all creatures:
|
|
|
|
24:6. I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never
|
|
faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:
|
|
|
|
24:7. I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a
|
|
cloud.
|
|
|
|
24:8. I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated
|
|
into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,
|
|
|
|
24:9. And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,
|
|
|
|
24:10. And in every nation I have had the chief rule:
|
|
|
|
24:11. And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all
|
|
the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in
|
|
the inheritance of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
24:12. Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he
|
|
that made me, rested in my tabernacle,
|
|
|
|
24:13. And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy
|
|
inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.
|
|
|
|
24:14. From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and
|
|
unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy
|
|
dwelling place I have ministered before him.
|
|
|
|
24:15. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise
|
|
I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
24:16. And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of
|
|
my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.
|
|
|
|
24:17. I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on
|
|
mount Sion.
|
|
|
|
24:18. I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in
|
|
Jericho:
|
|
|
|
24:19. As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the
|
|
water in the streets, was I exalted.
|
|
|
|
24:20. I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon, and aromatical balm: I
|
|
yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh:
|
|
|
|
24:21. And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx,
|
|
and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the
|
|
purest balm.
|
|
|
|
24:22. I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my
|
|
branches are of honour and grace.
|
|
|
|
24:23. As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my
|
|
flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
|
|
|
|
24:24. I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and
|
|
of holy hope.
|
|
|
|
24:25. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all
|
|
hope of life and of virtue.
|
|
|
|
24:26. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my
|
|
fruits.
|
|
|
|
24:27. For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above
|
|
honey and the honeycomb.
|
|
|
|
24:28. My memory is unto everlasting generations.
|
|
|
|
24:29. They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me,
|
|
shall yet thirst.
|
|
|
|
24:30. He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that
|
|
work by me, shall not sin.
|
|
|
|
24:31. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.
|
|
|
|
24:32. All these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the
|
|
most High, and the knowledge of truth.
|
|
|
|
24:33. Moses commanded a law in the precepts of justices, and an
|
|
inheritance to the house of Jacob, and the promises to Israel.
|
|
|
|
24:34. He appointed to David his servant to raise up of him a most
|
|
mighty king, and sitting on the throne of glory for ever.
|
|
|
|
A most mighty king. . .Viz., Christ, who by his gospel, like an
|
|
overflowing river, has enriched the earth with heavenly wisdom.
|
|
|
|
24:35. Who filleth up wisdom as the Phison, and as the Tigris in the
|
|
days of the new fruits.
|
|
|
|
24:36. Who maketh understanding to abound as the Euphrates, who
|
|
multiplieth it as the Jordan in the time of harvest.
|
|
|
|
24:37. Who sendeth knowledge as the light, and riseth up as Gehon in
|
|
the time of the vintage.
|
|
|
|
24:38. Who first hath perfect knowledge of her, and a weaker shall not
|
|
search her out.
|
|
|
|
Who first hath perfect knowledge of her. . .Christ was the first that
|
|
had perfect knowledge of heavenly wisdom.
|
|
|
|
24:39. For her thoughts are more vast than the sea, and her counsels
|
|
more deep than the great ocean.
|
|
|
|
24:40. I, wisdom, have poured out rivers.
|
|
|
|
24:41. I, like a brook out of a river of a mighty water; I, like a
|
|
channel of a river, and like an aqueduct, came out of paradise.
|
|
|
|
24:42. I said: I will water my garden of plants, and I will water
|
|
abundantly the fruits of my meadow.
|
|
|
|
24:43. And behold my brook became a great river, and my river came near
|
|
to a sea:
|
|
|
|
24:44. For I make doctrine to shine forth to all as the morning light,
|
|
and I will declare it afar off.
|
|
|
|
24:45. I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will
|
|
behold all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord.
|
|
|
|
24:46. I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and will leave it to
|
|
them that seek wisdom, and will not cease to instruct their offspring
|
|
even to the holy age.
|
|
|
|
24:47. See ye that I have not laboured myself only, but for all that
|
|
seek out the truth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 25
|
|
|
|
|
|
Documents of wisdom on several subjects.
|
|
|
|
25:1. With three things my spirit is pleased, which are approved before
|
|
God and men:
|
|
|
|
25:2. The concord of brethren, and the love of neighbours, and man and
|
|
wife that agree well together.
|
|
|
|
25:3. Three sorts my soul hateth, and I am greatly grieved at their
|
|
life:
|
|
|
|
25:4. A poor man that is proud: a rich man that is a liar: an old man
|
|
that is a fool, and doting.
|
|
|
|
25:5. The things that thou hast not gathered in thy youth, how shalt
|
|
thou find them in thy old age?
|
|
|
|
25:6. O how comely is judgment for a grey head, and for ancients to
|
|
know counsel!
|
|
|
|
25:7. O how comely is wisdom for the aged, and understanding and
|
|
counsel to men of honour!
|
|
|
|
25:8. Much experience is the crown of old men, and the fear of God is
|
|
their glory.
|
|
|
|
25:9. Nine things that are not to be imagined by the heart have I
|
|
magnified, and the tenth I will utter to men with my tongue.
|
|
|
|
25:10. A man that hath joy of his children: and he that liveth and
|
|
seeth the fall of his enemies.
|
|
|
|
25:11. Blessed is he that dwelleth with a wise woman, and that hath not
|
|
slipped with his tongue, and that hath not served such as are unworthy
|
|
of him.
|
|
|
|
25:12. Blessed is he that findeth a true friend, and that declareth
|
|
justice to an ear that heareth.
|
|
|
|
25:13. How great is he that findeth wisdom and knowledge! but there is
|
|
none above him that feareth the Lord.
|
|
|
|
25:14. The fear of God hath set itself above all things:
|
|
|
|
25:15. Blessed is the man, to whom it is given to have the fear of God:
|
|
he that holdeth it, to whom shall he be likened?
|
|
|
|
25:16. The fear of God is the beginning of his love: and the beginning
|
|
of faith is to be fast joined unto it.
|
|
|
|
25:17. The sadness of the heart is every plague: and the wickedness of
|
|
a woman is all evil.
|
|
|
|
25:18. And a man will choose any plague, but the plague of the heart:
|
|
|
|
25:19. And any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman:
|
|
|
|
25:20. And any affliction, but the affliction from them that hate him:
|
|
|
|
25:21. And any revenge, but the revenge of enemies.
|
|
|
|
25:22. There is no head worse than the head of a serpent:
|
|
|
|
25:23. And there is no anger above the anger of a woman. It will be
|
|
more agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell with a
|
|
wicked woman.
|
|
|
|
25:24. The wickedness of a woman changeth her face: and she darkeneth
|
|
her countenance as a bear: and sheweth it like sackcloth. In the midst
|
|
of her neighbours,
|
|
|
|
25:25. Her husband groaned, and hearing he sighed a little.
|
|
|
|
25:26. All malice is short to the malice of a woman, let the lot of
|
|
sinners fall upon her.
|
|
|
|
25:27. As the climbing of a sandy way is to the feet of the aged, so is
|
|
a wife full of tongue to a quiet man.
|
|
|
|
25:28. Look not upon a woman's beauty, and desire not a woman for
|
|
beauty.
|
|
|
|
25:29. A woman's anger, and impudence, and confusion is great.
|
|
|
|
25:30. A woman, if she have superiority, is contrary to her husband.
|
|
|
|
25:31. A wicked woman abateth the courage, and maketh a heavy
|
|
countenance, and a wounded heart.
|
|
|
|
25:32. Feeble hands, and disjointed knees, a woman that doth not make
|
|
her husband happy.
|
|
|
|
25:33. From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die.
|
|
|
|
25:34. Give no issue to thy water, no, not a little: nor to a wicked
|
|
woman liberty to gad abroad.
|
|
|
|
25:35. If she walk not at thy hand, she will confound thee in the sight
|
|
of thy enemies.
|
|
|
|
25:36. Cut her off from thy flesh, lest she always abuse thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 26
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of good and bad women.
|
|
|
|
26:1. Happy is the husband of a good wife: for the number of his years
|
|
is double.
|
|
|
|
26:2. A virtuous woman rejoiceth her husband, and shall fulfil the
|
|
years of his life in peace.
|
|
|
|
26:3. A good wife is a good portion, she shall be given in the portion
|
|
of them that fear God, to a man for his good deeds.
|
|
|
|
26:4. Rich or poor, if his heart is good, his countenance shall be
|
|
cheerful at all times.
|
|
|
|
26:5. Of three things my heart hath been afraid, and at the fourth my
|
|
face hath trembled:
|
|
|
|
26:6. The accusation of a city, and the gathering together of the
|
|
people:
|
|
|
|
26:7. And a false calumny, all are more grievous than death.
|
|
|
|
26:8. A jealous woman is the grief and mourning of the heart.
|
|
|
|
26:9. With a jealous woman is a scourge of the tongue which
|
|
communicateth with all.
|
|
|
|
26:10. As a yoke of oxen that is moved to and fro, so also is a wicked
|
|
woman: he that hath hold of her, is as he that taketh hold of a
|
|
scorpion.
|
|
|
|
26:11. A drunken woman is a great wrath: and her reproach and shame
|
|
shall not be hid.
|
|
|
|
26:12. The fornication of a woman shall be known by the haughtiness of
|
|
her eyes and by her eyelids.
|
|
|
|
26:13. On a daughter that turneth not away herself, set a strict watch:
|
|
lest finding an opportunity she abuse herself.
|
|
|
|
26:14. Take heed of the impudence of her eyes, and wonder not if she
|
|
slight thee.
|
|
|
|
26:15. She will open her mouth as a thirsty traveller to the fountain,
|
|
and will drink of every water near her, and will sit down by every
|
|
hedge, and open her quiver against every arrow, until she fail.
|
|
|
|
26:16. The grace of a diligent woman shall delight her husband, and
|
|
shall fat his bones.
|
|
|
|
26:17. Her discipline is the gift of God.
|
|
|
|
26:18. Such is a wise and silent woman, and there is nothing so much
|
|
worth as a well instructed soul.
|
|
|
|
26:19. A holy and shamefaced woman is grace upon grace.
|
|
|
|
26:20. And no price is worthy of a continent soul.
|
|
|
|
26:21. As the sun when it riseth to the world in the high places of
|
|
God, so is the beauty of a good wife for the ornament of her house.
|
|
|
|
26:22. As the lamp shining upon the holy candlestick, so is the beauty
|
|
of the face in a ripe age,
|
|
|
|
26:23. As golden pillars upon bases of silver, so are the firm feet
|
|
upon the soles of a steady woman.
|
|
|
|
26:24. As everlasting foundations upon a solid rock, so the
|
|
commandments of God in the heart of a holy woman.
|
|
|
|
26:25. At two things my heart is grieved, and the third bringeth anger
|
|
upon me.
|
|
|
|
26:26. A man of war fainting through poverty, and a man of sense
|
|
despised:
|
|
|
|
26:27. And he that passeth over from justice to sin, God hath prepared
|
|
such an one for the sword.
|
|
|
|
26:28. Two sorts of callings have appeared to me hard and dangerous: a
|
|
merchant is hardly free from negligence: and a huckster shall not be
|
|
justified from the sins of the lips.
|
|
|
|
From negligence. . .That is, from the neglect of the service of God:
|
|
because the eager pursuit of the mammon of this world, is apt to make
|
|
men of that calling forget the great duties of loving God above all
|
|
things, and their neighbours as themselves.--Ibid. A huckster. . .Or, a
|
|
retailer of wine. Men of that profession are both greatly exposed to
|
|
danger of sin themselves, and are too often accessary to the sins of
|
|
others.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 27
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dangers of sin from several heads: the fear of God is the best
|
|
preservative. He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it.
|
|
|
|
27:1. Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeketh to be
|
|
enriched, turneth away his eye.
|
|
|
|
27:2. As a stake sticketh fast in the midst of the joining of stones,
|
|
so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall stick fast.
|
|
|
|
27:3. Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner.
|
|
|
|
27:4. Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy
|
|
house shall quickly be overthrown.
|
|
|
|
27:5. As when one sifteth with a sieve, the dust will remain: so will
|
|
the perplexity of a man in his thoughts.
|
|
|
|
27:6. The furnace trieth the potter's vessels, and the trial of
|
|
affliction just men.
|
|
|
|
27:7. As the dressing of a tree sheweth the fruit thereof, so a word
|
|
out of the thought of the heart of man.
|
|
|
|
27:8. Praise not a man before he speaketh, for this is the trial of
|
|
men.
|
|
|
|
27:9. If thou followest justice, thou shalt obtain her: and shalt put
|
|
her on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with her: and she
|
|
shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment thou
|
|
shalt find a strong foundation.
|
|
|
|
27:10. Birds resort unto their like: so truth will return to them that
|
|
practise her.
|
|
|
|
27:11. The lion always lieth in wait for prey: so do sins for them that
|
|
work iniquities.
|
|
|
|
27:12. A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is
|
|
changed as the moon.
|
|
|
|
27:13. In the midst of the unwise keep in the word till its time: but
|
|
be continually among men that think.
|
|
|
|
27:14. The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at
|
|
the pleasures of sin.
|
|
|
|
27:15. The speech that sweareth much shall make the hair of the head
|
|
stand upright: and its irreverence shall make one stop his ears.
|
|
|
|
27:16. In the quarrels of the road is the shedding of blood: and their
|
|
cursing is a grievous hearing.
|
|
|
|
27:17. He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth his credit, and
|
|
shall never find a friend to his mind.
|
|
|
|
27:18. Love thy neighbour, and be joined to him with fidelity.
|
|
|
|
27:19. But if thou discover his secrets, follow no more after him.
|
|
|
|
27:20. For as a man that destroyeth his friend, so is he that
|
|
destroyeth the friendship of his neighbour.
|
|
|
|
27:21. And as one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so hast thou
|
|
let thy neighbour go, and thou shalt not get him again.
|
|
|
|
27:22. Follow after him no more, for he is gone afar off, he is fled,
|
|
as a roe escaped out of the snare because his soul is wounded.
|
|
|
|
27:23. Thou canst no more bind him up. And of a curse there is
|
|
reconciliation:
|
|
|
|
And of a curse there is reconciliation. . .That is, it is easier to
|
|
obtain a reconciliation after a curse, than after disclosing a secret.
|
|
|
|
27:24. But to disclose the secrets of a friend, leaveth no hope to an
|
|
unhappy soul.
|
|
|
|
27:25. He that winketh with the eye forgeth wicked things, and no man
|
|
will cast him off:
|
|
|
|
27:26. In the sight of thy eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will
|
|
admire thy words: but at the last he will writhe his mouth, and on thy
|
|
words he will lay a stumblingblock.
|
|
|
|
27:27. I have hated many things but not like him, and the Lord will
|
|
hate him.
|
|
|
|
27:28. If one cast a stone on high, it will fall upon his own head: and
|
|
the deceitful stroke will wound the deceitful.
|
|
|
|
27:29. He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a
|
|
stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it: and he that layeth a
|
|
snare for another, shall perish in it.
|
|
|
|
27:30. A mischievous counsel shall be rolled back upon the author, and
|
|
he shall not know from whence it cometh to him.
|
|
|
|
27:31. Mockery and reproach are of the proud, and vengeance as a lion
|
|
shall lie in wait for him.
|
|
|
|
27:32. They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of
|
|
the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die.
|
|
|
|
27:33. Anger and fury are both of them abominable, and the sinful man
|
|
shall be subject to them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 28
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lessons against revenge and quarrels. The evils of the tongue.
|
|
|
|
28:1. He that seeketh to revenge himself, shall find vengeance from the
|
|
Lord, and he will surely keep his sins in remembrance.
|
|
|
|
28:2. Forgive thy neighbour if he hath hurt thee: and then shall thy
|
|
sins be forgiven to thee when thou prayest.
|
|
|
|
28:3. Man to man reserveth anger, and doth he seek remedy of God?
|
|
|
|
28:4. He hath no mercy on a man like himself, and doth he entreat for
|
|
his own sins?
|
|
|
|
28:5. He that is but flesh, nourisheth anger, and doth he ask
|
|
forgiveness of God? who shall obtain pardon for his sins?
|
|
|
|
28:6. Remember thy last things, and let enmity cease:
|
|
|
|
28:7. For corruption and death hang over in his commandments.
|
|
|
|
In his commandments. . .Supply the sentence out of the Greek thus:
|
|
Remember corruption and death, and abide in the commandments.
|
|
|
|
28:8. Remember the fear of God, and be not angry with thy neighbour.
|
|
|
|
28:9. Remember the covenant of the most High, and overlook the
|
|
ignorance of thy neighbour.
|
|
|
|
28:10. Refrain from strife, and thou shalt diminish thy sins.
|
|
|
|
28:11. For a passionate man kindleth strife, and a sinful man will
|
|
trouble his friends, and bring in debate in the midst of them that are
|
|
at peace.
|
|
|
|
28:12. For as the wood of the forest is, so the fire burneth, and as a
|
|
man's strength is, so shall his anger be, and according to his riches
|
|
he shall increase his anger.
|
|
|
|
28:13. A hasty contention kindleth a fire and a hasty quarrel sheddeth
|
|
blood and a tongue that beareth witness bringeth death.
|
|
|
|
28:14. If thou blow the spark, it shall burn as a fire: and if thou
|
|
spit upon it, it shall be quenched: both come out of the mouth.
|
|
|
|
28:15. The whisperer and the double tongue is accursed: for he hath
|
|
troubled many that were at peace.
|
|
|
|
28:16. The tongue of a third person hath disquieted many, and scattered
|
|
them from nation to nation.
|
|
|
|
28:17. It hath destroyed the strong cities of the rich, and hath
|
|
overthrown the houses of great men.
|
|
|
|
28:18. It hath cut in pieces the forces of people, and undone strong
|
|
nations.
|
|
|
|
28:19. The tongue of a third person hath cast out valiant women, and
|
|
deprived them of their labours.
|
|
|
|
28:20. He that hearkeneth to it, shall never have rest, neither shall
|
|
he have a friend in whom he may repose.
|
|
|
|
28:21. The stroke of a whip maketh a blue mark: but the stroke of the
|
|
tongue will break the bones.
|
|
|
|
28:22. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as
|
|
have perished by their own tongue.
|
|
|
|
28:23. Blessed is he that is defended from a wicked tongue, that hath
|
|
not passed into the wrath thereof, and that hath not drawn the yoke
|
|
thereof, and hath not been bound in its bands.
|
|
|
|
28:24. For its yoke is a yoke of iron: and its bands are bands of
|
|
brass.
|
|
|
|
28:25. The death thereof is a most evil death: and hell is preferable
|
|
to it.
|
|
|
|
28:26. Its continuance shall not be for a long time, but it shall
|
|
possess the ways of the unjust: and the just shall not be burnt with
|
|
its flame.
|
|
|
|
28:27. They that forsake God shall fall into it, and it shall burn in
|
|
them, and shall not be quenched, and it shall be sent upon them as a
|
|
lion, and as a leopard it shall tear them.
|
|
|
|
28:28. Hedge in thy ears with thorns, hear not a wicked tongue, and
|
|
make doors and bars to thy mouth.
|
|
|
|
28:29. Melt down thy gold and silver, and make a balance for thy words,
|
|
and a just bridle for thy mouth:
|
|
|
|
28:30. And take heed lest thou slip with thy tongue, and fall in the
|
|
sight of thy enemies who lie in wait for thee, and thy fall be
|
|
incurable unto death.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 29
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of charity in lending money, and justice in repaying. Of alms, and of
|
|
being surety.
|
|
|
|
29:1. He that sheweth mercy, lendeth to his neighbour: and he that is
|
|
stronger in hand, keepeth the commandments.
|
|
|
|
And he that is stronger in hand. . .That is, he that is hearty and
|
|
bountiful in lending to his neighbour in his necessity.
|
|
|
|
29:2. Lend to thy neighbour in the time of his need, and pay thou thy
|
|
neighbour again in due time.
|
|
|
|
29:3. Keep thy word, and deal faithfully with him: and thou shalt
|
|
always find that which is necessary for thee.
|
|
|
|
29:4. Many have looked upon a thing lent as a thing found, and have
|
|
given trouble to them that helped them.
|
|
|
|
29:5. Till they receive, they kiss the hands of the lender, and in
|
|
promises they humble their voice:
|
|
|
|
29:6. But when they should repay, they will ask time, and will return
|
|
tedious and murmuring words, and will complain of the time:
|
|
|
|
29:7. And if he be able to pay, he will stand off, he will scarce pay
|
|
one half, and will count it as if he had found it:
|
|
|
|
29:8. But if not, he will defraud him of his money, and he shall get
|
|
him for an enemy without cause.
|
|
|
|
29:9. And he will pay him with reproaches and curses, and instead of
|
|
honour and good turn will repay him injuries.
|
|
|
|
29:10. Many have refused to lend, not out of wickedness, but they were
|
|
afraid to be defrauded without cause.
|
|
|
|
29:11. But yet towards the poor be thou more hearty, and delay not to
|
|
shew him mercy.
|
|
|
|
29:12. Help the poor because of the commandment: and send him not away
|
|
empty handed because of his poverty.
|
|
|
|
29:13. Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend: and hide it not
|
|
under a stone to be lost.
|
|
|
|
29:14. Place thy treasure in the commandments of the most High, and it
|
|
shall bring thee more profit than gold.
|
|
|
|
29:15. Shut up alms in the heart of the poor, and it shall obtain help
|
|
for thee against all evil.
|
|
|
|
29:16. Better than the shield of the mighty, and better than the spear:
|
|
|
|
29:17. It shall fight for thee against thy enemy.
|
|
|
|
29:18. A good man is surety for his neighbour: and he that hath lost
|
|
shame, will leave him to himself.
|
|
|
|
29:19. Forget not the kindness of thy surety: for he hath given his
|
|
life for thee.
|
|
|
|
29:20. The sinner and the unclean fleeth from his surety.
|
|
|
|
29:21. A sinner attributeth to himself the goods of his surety: and he
|
|
that is of an unthankful mind will leave him that delivered him.
|
|
|
|
29:22. A man is surety for his neighbour: and when he hath lost all
|
|
shame, he shall forsake him.
|
|
|
|
29:23. Evil suretyship hath undone many of good estate, and hath tossed
|
|
them as a wave of the sea.
|
|
|
|
29:24. It hath made powerful men to go from place to place round about,
|
|
and they have wandered in strange countries.
|
|
|
|
29:25. A sinner that transgresseth the commandment of the Lord, shall
|
|
fall into an evil suretyship: and he that undertaketh many things,
|
|
shall fall into judgment.
|
|
|
|
29:26. Recover thy neighbour according to thy power, and take heed to
|
|
thyself that thou fall not.
|
|
|
|
29:27. The chief thing for man's life is water and bread, and clothing,
|
|
and a house to cover shame.
|
|
|
|
29:28. Better is the poor man's fare under a roof of boards, than
|
|
sumptuous cheer abroad in another man's house.
|
|
|
|
29:29. Be contented with little instead of much, and thou shalt not
|
|
hear the reproach of going abroad.
|
|
|
|
29:30. It is a miserable life to go as a guest from house to house: for
|
|
where a man is a stranger, he shall not deal confidently, nor open his
|
|
mouth.
|
|
|
|
29:31. He shall entertain and feed, and give drink to the unthankful,
|
|
and moreover he shall hear bitter words.
|
|
|
|
29:32. Go, stranger, and furnish the table, and give others to eat what
|
|
thou hast in thy hand.
|
|
|
|
29:33. Give place to the honourable presence of my friends: for I want
|
|
my house, my brother being to be lodged with me.
|
|
|
|
29:34. These things are grievous to a man of understanding: the
|
|
upbraiding of houseroom, and the reproaching of the lender.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 30
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of correction of children. Health is better than wealth. Excessive
|
|
grief is hurtful.
|
|
|
|
30:1. He that loveth his son, frequently chastiseth him, that he may
|
|
rejoice in his latter end, and not grope after the doors of his
|
|
neighbours.
|
|
|
|
30:2. He that instructeth his son shall be praised in him, and shall
|
|
glory in him in the midst of them of his household.
|
|
|
|
30:3. He that teacheth his son, maketh his enemy jealous, and in the
|
|
midst of his friends he shall glory in him.
|
|
|
|
30:4. His father is dead, and he is as if he were not dead: for he hath
|
|
left one behind him that is like himself.
|
|
|
|
30:5. While he lived he saw and rejoiced in him: and when he died he
|
|
was not sorrowful, neither was he confounded before his enemies.
|
|
|
|
30:6. For he left behind him a defender of his house against his
|
|
enemies, and one that will requite kindness to his friends.
|
|
|
|
30:7. For the souls of his sons he shall bind up his wounds, and at
|
|
every cry his bowels shall be troubled.
|
|
|
|
30:8. A horse not broken becometh stubborn, and a child left to himself
|
|
will become headstrong.
|
|
|
|
30:9. Give thy son his way, and he shall make thee afraid: play with
|
|
him, and he shall make thee sorrowful.
|
|
|
|
30:10. Laugh not with him, lest thou have sorrow, and at the last thy
|
|
teeth be set on edge.
|
|
|
|
30:11. Give him not liberty in his youth, and wink not at his devices.
|
|
|
|
30:12. Bow down his neck while he is young, and beat his sides while he
|
|
is a child, lest he grow stubborn, and regard thee not, and so be a
|
|
sorrow of heart to thee.
|
|
|
|
30:13. Instruct thy son, and labour about him, lest his lewd behaviour
|
|
be an offence to thee.
|
|
|
|
30:14. Better is a poor man who is sound, and strong of constitution,
|
|
than a rich man who is weak and afflicted with evils.
|
|
|
|
30:15. Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better than all
|
|
gold and silver: and a sound body, than immense revenues.
|
|
|
|
30:16. There is no riches above the riches of the health of the body:
|
|
and there is no pleasure above the joy of the heart.
|
|
|
|
30:17. Better is death than a bitter life, and everlasting rest, than
|
|
continual sickness.
|
|
|
|
30:18. Good things that are hidden in a mouth that is shut, are as
|
|
messes of meat set about a grave.
|
|
|
|
30:19. What good shall an offering do to an idol? for it can neither
|
|
eat, nor smell:
|
|
|
|
30:20. So is he that is persecuted by the Lord, bearing the reward of
|
|
his iniquity:
|
|
|
|
30:21. He seeth with his eyes, and groaneth, as an eunuch embracing a
|
|
virgin, and sighing.
|
|
|
|
30:22. Give not up thy soul to sadness, and afflict not thyself in thy
|
|
own counsel.
|
|
|
|
30:23. The joyfulness of the heart, is the life of a man, and a never
|
|
failing treasure of holiness: and the joy of a man is length of life.
|
|
|
|
30:24. Have pity on thy own soul, pleasing God, and contain thyself:
|
|
gather up thy heart in his holiness: and drive away sadness far from
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
30:25. For sadness hath killed many, and there is no profit in it.
|
|
|
|
30:26. Envy and anger shorten a man's days, and pensiveness will bring
|
|
old age before the time.
|
|
|
|
30:27. A cheerful and good heart is always feasting: for his banquets
|
|
are prepared with diligence.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 31
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of the desire of riches, and of moderation in eating and drinking.
|
|
|
|
31:1. Watching for riches consumeth the flesh, and the thought thereof
|
|
driveth away sleep.
|
|
|
|
31:2. The thinking beforehand turneth away the understanding, and a
|
|
grievous sickness maketh the soul sober.
|
|
|
|
31:3. The rich man hath laboured in gathering riches together, and when
|
|
he resteth he shall be filled with his goods.
|
|
|
|
31:4. The poor man hath laboured in his low way of life, and in the end
|
|
he is still poor.
|
|
|
|
31:5. He that loveth gold, shall not be justified: and he that
|
|
followeth after corruption, shall be filled with it.
|
|
|
|
31:6. Many have been brought to fall for gold, and the beauty thereof
|
|
hath been their ruin.
|
|
|
|
31:7. Gold is a stumblingblock to them that sacrifice to it: woe to
|
|
them that eagerly follow after it, and every fool shall perish by it.
|
|
|
|
31:8. Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish: and that
|
|
hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures.
|
|
|
|
31:9. Who is he, and we will praise him? for he hath done wonderful
|
|
things in his life.
|
|
|
|
31:10. Who hath been tried thereby, and made perfect, he shall have
|
|
glory everlasting. He that could have transgressed, and hath not
|
|
transgressed: and could do evil things, and hath not done them:
|
|
|
|
31:11. Therefore are his goods established in the Lord, and all the
|
|
church of the saints shall declare his alms.
|
|
|
|
31:12. Art thou set at a great table? be not the first to open thy
|
|
mouth upon it.
|
|
|
|
31:13. Say not: There are many things which are upon it.
|
|
|
|
31:14. Remember that a wicked eye is evil.
|
|
|
|
31:15. What is created more wicked than an eye? therefore shall it weep
|
|
over all the face when it shall see.
|
|
|
|
31:16. Stretch not out thy hand first, lest being disgraced with envy
|
|
thou be put to confusion.
|
|
|
|
31:17. Be not hasty in a feast.
|
|
|
|
31:18. Judge of the disposition of thy neighbour by thyself.
|
|
|
|
31:19. Use as a frugal man the things that are set before thee: lest if
|
|
thou eatest much, thou be hated.
|
|
|
|
31:20. Leave off first, for manners' sake: and exceed not, lest thou
|
|
offend.
|
|
|
|
31:21. And if thou sittest among many, reach not thy hand out first of
|
|
all, and be not the first to ask for drink.
|
|
|
|
31:22. How sufficient is a little wine for a man well taught, and in
|
|
sleeping thou shalt not be uneasy with it, and thou shalt feel no pain.
|
|
|
|
31:23. Watching, and choler, and gripes, are with an intemperate man:
|
|
|
|
31:24. Sound and wholesome sleep with a moderate man: he shall sleep
|
|
till morning, and his soul shall be delighted with him.
|
|
|
|
31:25. And if thou hast been forced to eat much, arise, go out, and
|
|
vomit: and it shall refresh thee, and thou shalt not bring sickness
|
|
upon thy body.
|
|
|
|
31:26. Hear me, my son, and despise me not: and in the end thou shalt
|
|
find my words.
|
|
|
|
31:27. In all thy works be quick, and no infirmity shall come to thee.
|
|
|
|
31:28. The lips of many shall bless him that is liberal of his bread,
|
|
and the testimony of his truth is faithful.
|
|
|
|
31:29. Against him that is niggardly of his bread, the city will
|
|
murmur, and the testimony of his niggardliness is true.
|
|
|
|
31:30. Challenge not them that love wine: for wine hath destroyed very
|
|
many.
|
|
|
|
31:31. Fire trieth hard iron: so wine drunk to excess shall rebuke the
|
|
hearts of the proud.
|
|
|
|
31:32. Wine taken with sobriety is equal life to men: if thou drink it
|
|
moderately, thou shalt be sober.
|
|
|
|
31:33. What is his life, who is diminished with wine?
|
|
|
|
31:34. What taketh away life? death.
|
|
|
|
31:35. Wine was created from the beginning to make men joyful, and not
|
|
to make them drunk.
|
|
|
|
31:36. Wine drunken with moderation is the joy of the soul and the
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
31:37. Sober drinking is health to soul and body.
|
|
|
|
31:38. Wine drunken with excess raiseth quarrels, and wrath, and many
|
|
ruins.
|
|
|
|
31:39. Wine drunken with excess is bitterness of the soul.
|
|
|
|
31:40. The heat of drunkenness is the stumblingblock of the fool,
|
|
lessening strength and causing wounds.
|
|
|
|
31:41. Rebuke not thy neighbour in a banquet of wine: and despise him
|
|
not in his mirth.
|
|
|
|
31:42. Speak not to him words of reproach: and press him not in
|
|
demanding again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 32
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lessons for superiors and inferiors. Advantages of fearing God, and
|
|
doing nothing without counsel.
|
|
|
|
32:1. Have they made thee ruler? be not lifted up: be among them as one
|
|
of them.
|
|
|
|
32:2. Have care of them, and so sit down, and when thou hast acquitted
|
|
thyself of all thy charge, take thy place:
|
|
|
|
32:3. That thou mayst rejoice for them, and receive a crown as an
|
|
ornament of grace, and get the honour of the contribution.
|
|
|
|
32:4. Speak, thou that art elder: for it becometh thee,
|
|
|
|
32:5. To speak the first word with careful knowledge, and hinder not
|
|
music.
|
|
|
|
32:6. Where there is no hearing, pour not out words, and be not lifted
|
|
up out of season with thy wisdom.
|
|
|
|
32:7. A concert of music in a banquet of wine is as a carbuncle set in
|
|
gold.
|
|
|
|
32:8. As a signet of an emerald in a work of gold: so is the melody of
|
|
music with pleasant and moderate wine.
|
|
|
|
32:9. Hear in silence, and for thy reverence good grace shall come to
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
32:10. Young man, scarcely speak in thy own cause.
|
|
|
|
32:11. If thou be asked twice, let thy answer be short.
|
|
|
|
32:12. In many things be as if thou wert ignorant, and hear in silence
|
|
and withal seeking.
|
|
|
|
32:13. In the company of great men take not upon thee: and when the
|
|
ancients are present, speak not much.
|
|
|
|
32:14. Before a storm goeth lightning: and before shamefacedness goeth
|
|
favour: and for thy reverence good grace shall come to thee.
|
|
|
|
32:15. And at the time of rising be not slack: but be first to run home
|
|
to thy house, and there withdraw thyself, and there take thy pastime.
|
|
|
|
32:16. And do what thou hast a mind, but not in sin or proud speech.
|
|
|
|
32:17. And for all these things bless the Lord, that made thee, and
|
|
that replenisheth thee with all his good things.
|
|
|
|
32:18. He that feareth the Lord, will receive his discipline: and they
|
|
that will seek him early, shall find a blessing.
|
|
|
|
32:19. He that seeketh the law, shall be filled with it: and he that
|
|
dealeth deceitfully, shall meet with a stumblingblock therein.
|
|
|
|
32:20. They that fear the Lord, shall find just judgment, and shall
|
|
kindle justice as a light.
|
|
|
|
32:21. A sinful man will flee reproof, and will find an excuse
|
|
according to his will.
|
|
|
|
32:22. A man of counsel will not neglect understanding, a strange and
|
|
proud man will not dread fear:
|
|
|
|
32:23. Even after he hath done with fear without counsel, he shall be
|
|
controlled by the things of his own seeking.
|
|
|
|
32:24. My son, do thou nothing without counsel, and thou shalt not
|
|
repent when thou hast done.
|
|
|
|
32:25. Go not in the way of ruin, and thou shalt not stumble against
|
|
the stones: trust not thyself to a rugged way, lest thou set a
|
|
stumblingblock to thy soul.
|
|
|
|
32:26. And beware of thy own children, and take heed of them of thy
|
|
household.
|
|
|
|
32:27. In every work of thine regard thy soul in faith: for this is the
|
|
keeping of the commandments.
|
|
|
|
In faith. . .That is, follow sincerely thy soul in her faith and
|
|
conscience.
|
|
|
|
32:28. He that believeth God, taketh heed to the commandments: and he
|
|
that trusteth in him, shall fare never the worse.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 33
|
|
|
|
|
|
The fear of God is the best security. Times and men are in the hands of
|
|
God. Take care of thyself as long as thou livest, and look to thy
|
|
servants.
|
|
|
|
33:1. No evils shall happen to him that feareth the Lord, but in
|
|
temptation God will keep him and deliver him from evils.
|
|
|
|
33:2. A wise man hateth not the commandments and justices, and he shall
|
|
not be dashed in pieces as a ship in a storm.
|
|
|
|
33:3. A man of understanding is faithful to the law of God, and the law
|
|
is faithful to him.
|
|
|
|
33:4. He that cleareth up a question, shall prepare what to say, and so
|
|
having prayed he shall be heard, and shall keep discipline, and then he
|
|
shall answer.
|
|
|
|
33:5. The heart of a fool is as a wheel of a cart: and his thoughts are
|
|
like a rolling axletree.
|
|
|
|
33:6. A friend that is a mocker, is like a stallion horse: he neigheth
|
|
under every one that sitteth upon him.
|
|
|
|
33:7. Why doth one day excel another, and one light another, and one
|
|
year another year, when all come of the sun?
|
|
|
|
33:8. By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished, the sun
|
|
being made, and keeping his commandment.
|
|
|
|
33:9. And he ordered the seasons, and holidays of them, and in them
|
|
they celebrated festivals at an hour.
|
|
|
|
33:10. Some of them God made high and great days, and some of them he
|
|
put in the number of ordinary days. And all men are from the ground,
|
|
and out of the earth, from whence Adam was created.
|
|
|
|
33:11. With much knowledge the Lord hath divided them and diversified
|
|
their ways.
|
|
|
|
33:12. Some of them hath he blessed, and exalted: and some of them hath
|
|
he sanctified, and set near himself: and some of them hath he cursed
|
|
and brought low, and turned them from their station.
|
|
|
|
33:13. As the potter's clay is in his hand, to fashion and order it:
|
|
|
|
33:14. All his ways are according to his ordering: so man is in the
|
|
hand of him that made him, and he will render to him according to his
|
|
judgment.
|
|
|
|
33:15. Good is set against evil, and life against death: so also is the
|
|
sinner against a just man. And so look upon all the works of the most
|
|
High. Two and two, and one against another.
|
|
|
|
33:16. And I awaked last of all, and as one that gathereth after the
|
|
grapegatherers.
|
|
|
|
33:17. In the blessing of God I also have hoped: and as one that
|
|
gathereth grapes, have I filled the winepress.
|
|
|
|
33:18. See that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that
|
|
seek discipline.
|
|
|
|
33:19. Hear me, ye great men, and all ye people, and hearken with your
|
|
ears, ye rulers of the church.
|
|
|
|
33:20. Give not to son or wife, brother or friend, power over thee
|
|
while thou livest; and give not thy estate to another, lest thou
|
|
repent, and thou entreat for the same.
|
|
|
|
33:21. As long as thou livest, and hast breath in thee, let no man
|
|
change thee.
|
|
|
|
Change thee. . .That is, so as to have this power over thee.
|
|
|
|
33:22. For it is better that thy children should ask of thee, than that
|
|
thou look toward the hands of thy children.
|
|
|
|
33:23. In all thy works keep the pre-eminence.
|
|
|
|
The pre-eminence. . .That is, be master in thy own house, and part not
|
|
with thy authority.
|
|
|
|
33:24. Let no stain sully thy glory. In the time when thou shalt end
|
|
the days of thy life, and in the time of thy decease, distribute thy
|
|
inheritance.
|
|
|
|
33:25. Fodder, and a wand, and a burden are for an ass: bread, and
|
|
correction, and work for a slave.
|
|
|
|
33:26. He worketh under correction, and seeketh to rest: let his hands
|
|
be idle, and he seeketh liberty.
|
|
|
|
33:27. The yoke and the thong bend a stiff neck, and continual labours
|
|
bow a slave.
|
|
|
|
33:28. Torture and fetters are for a malicious slave: send him to work,
|
|
that he be not idle:
|
|
|
|
33:29. For idleness hath taught much evil.
|
|
|
|
33:30. Set him to work: for so it is fit for him. And if he be not
|
|
obedient, bring him down with fetters, but be not excessive towards any
|
|
one, and do no grievous thing without judgment.
|
|
|
|
33:31. If thou have a faithful servant, let him be to thee as thy own
|
|
soul: treat him as a brother: because in the blood of thy soul thou
|
|
hast gotten him.
|
|
|
|
33:32. If thou hurt him unjustly, he will run away:
|
|
|
|
33:33. And if he rise up and depart, thou knowest not whom to ask, and
|
|
in what way to seek him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 34
|
|
|
|
|
|
The vanity of dreams. The advantage of experience, and of the fear of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
34:1. The hopes of a man that is void of understanding are vain and
|
|
deceitful: and dreams lift up fools.
|
|
|
|
34:2. The man that giveth heed to lying visions, is like to him that
|
|
catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind.
|
|
|
|
34:3. The vision of dreams is the resemblance of one thing to another:
|
|
as when a man's likeness is before the face of a man.
|
|
|
|
34:4. What can be made clean by the unclean? and what truth can come
|
|
from that which is false?
|
|
|
|
34:5. Deceitful divinations and lying omens and the dreams of
|
|
evildoers, are vanity:
|
|
|
|
34:6. And the heart fancieth as that of a woman in travail: except it
|
|
be a vision sent forth from the most High, set not thy heart upon them.
|
|
|
|
34:7. For dreams have deceived many, and they have failed that put
|
|
their trust in them.
|
|
|
|
34:8. The word of the law shall be fulfilled without a lie, and wisdom
|
|
shall be made plain in the mouth of the faithful.
|
|
|
|
34:9. What doth he know, that hath not been tried? A man that hath much
|
|
experience, shall think of many things: and he that hath learned many
|
|
things, shall shew forth understanding.
|
|
|
|
34:10. He that hath no experience, knoweth little: and he that hath
|
|
been experienced in many things, multiplieth prudence.
|
|
|
|
34:11. He that hath not been tried, what manner of things doth he know?
|
|
he that hath been surprised, shall abound with subtlety.
|
|
|
|
34:12. I have seen many things by travelling, and many customs of
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
34:13. Sometimes I have been in danger of death for these things, and I
|
|
have been delivered by the grace of God.
|
|
|
|
34:14. The spirit of those that fear God, is sought after, and by his
|
|
regard shall be blessed.
|
|
|
|
34:15. For their hope is on him that saveth them, and the eyes of God
|
|
are upon them that love him.
|
|
|
|
34:16. He that feareth the Lord shall tremble at nothing, and shall not
|
|
be afraid: for he is his hope.
|
|
|
|
34:17. The soul of him that feareth the Lord is blessed.
|
|
|
|
34:18. To whom doth he look, and who is his strength?
|
|
|
|
34:19. The eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him, he is their
|
|
powerful protector, and strong stay, a defence from the heat, and a
|
|
cover from the sun at noon,
|
|
|
|
34:20. A preservation from stumbling, and a help from falling: he
|
|
raiseth up the soul, and enlighteneth the eyes, and giveth health, and
|
|
life, and blessing.
|
|
|
|
34:21. The offering of him that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully
|
|
gotten, is stained, and the mockeries of the unjust are not acceptable.
|
|
|
|
34:22. The Lord is only for them that wait upon him in the way of truth
|
|
and justice.
|
|
|
|
34:23. The most High approveth not the gifts of the wicked: neither
|
|
hath he respect to the oblations of the unjust, nor will he be pacified
|
|
for sins by the multitude of their sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
34:24. He that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor, is as one
|
|
that sacrificeth the son in the presence of his father.
|
|
|
|
34:25. The bread of the needy, is the life of the poor: he that
|
|
defraudeth them thereof, is a man of blood.
|
|
|
|
34:26. He that taketh away the bread gotten by sweat, is like him that
|
|
killeth his neighbour.
|
|
|
|
34:27. He that sheddeth blood, and he that defraudeth the laborer of
|
|
his hire, are brothers.
|
|
|
|
34:28. When one buildeth up, and another pulleth down: what profit have
|
|
they but the labour?
|
|
|
|
34:29. When one prayeth, and another curseth: whose voice will God
|
|
hear?
|
|
|
|
34:30. He that washeth himself after touching the dead, if he toucheth
|
|
him again, what doth his washing avail?
|
|
|
|
34:31. So a man that fasteth for his sins, and doth the same again,
|
|
what doth his humbling himself profit him? who will hear his prayer?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 35
|
|
|
|
|
|
What sacrifices are pleasing to God.
|
|
|
|
35:1. He that keepeth the law, multiplieth offerings.
|
|
|
|
35:2. It is a wholesome sacrifice to take heed to the commandments, and
|
|
to depart from all iniquity.
|
|
|
|
35:3. And to depart from injustice, is to offer a propitiatory
|
|
sacrifice for injustices, and a begging of pardon for sins.
|
|
|
|
35:4. He shall return thanks, that offereth fine flour: and he that
|
|
doth mercy, offereth sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
35:5. To depart from iniquity is that which pleaseth the Lord, and to
|
|
depart from injustice, is an entreaty for sins.
|
|
|
|
35:6. Thou shalt not appear empty in the sight of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
35:7. For all these things are to be done because of the commandment of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
35:8. The oblation of the just maketh the altar fat, and is an odour of
|
|
sweetness in the sight of the most High.
|
|
|
|
35:9. The sacrifice of the just is acceptable, and the Lord will not
|
|
forget the memorial thereof.
|
|
|
|
35:10. Give glory to God with a good heart: and diminish not the
|
|
firstfruits of thy hands.
|
|
|
|
35:11. In every gift shew a cheerful countenance, and sanctify thy
|
|
tithes with joy.
|
|
|
|
35:12. Give to the most High according to what he hath given to thee,
|
|
and with a good eye do according to the ability of thy hands:
|
|
|
|
35:13. For the Lord maketh recompense, and will give thee seven times
|
|
as much.
|
|
|
|
35:14. Do not offer wicked gifts, for such he will not receive.
|
|
|
|
35:15. And look not upon an unjust sacrifice, for the Lord is judge,
|
|
and there is not with him respect of person.
|
|
|
|
35:16. The Lord will not accept any person against a poor man, and he
|
|
will hear the prayer of him that is wronged.
|
|
|
|
35:17. He will not despise the prayers of the fatherless: nor the
|
|
widow, when she poureth out her complaint.
|
|
|
|
35:18. Do not the widow's tears run down the cheek, and her cry against
|
|
him that causeth them to fall?
|
|
|
|
35:19. For from the cheek they go up even to heaven, and the Lord that
|
|
heareth will not be delighted with them.
|
|
|
|
35:20. He that adoreth God with joy, shall be accepted, and his prayer
|
|
shall approach even to the clouds.
|
|
|
|
35:21. The prayer of him that humbleth himself, shall pierce the
|
|
clouds: and till it come nigh he will not be comforted: and he will not
|
|
depart till the most High behold.
|
|
|
|
35:22. And the Lord will not be slack, but will judge for the just, and
|
|
will do judgment: and the Almighty will not have patience with them,
|
|
that he may crush their back:
|
|
|
|
35:23. And he will repay vengeance to the Gentiles, till he have taken
|
|
away the multitude of the proud, and broken the sceptres of the unjust,
|
|
|
|
35:24. Till he have rendered to men according to their deeds: and
|
|
according to the works of Adam, and according to his presumption,
|
|
|
|
35:25. Till he have judged the cause of his people, and he shall
|
|
delight the just with his mercy.
|
|
|
|
35:26. The mercy of God is beautiful in the time of affliction, as a
|
|
cloud of rain in the time of drought.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 36
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prayer for the church of God. Of a good heart, and a good wife.
|
|
|
|
36:1. Have mercy upon us, O God of all, and behold us, and shew us the
|
|
light of thy mercies:
|
|
|
|
36:2. And send thy fear upon the nations, that have not sought after
|
|
thee: that they may know that there is no God beside thee, and that
|
|
they may shew forth thy wonders.
|
|
|
|
36:3. Lift up thy hand over the strange nations, that they may see thy
|
|
power.
|
|
|
|
36:4. For as thou hast been sanctified in us in their sight, so thou
|
|
shalt be magnified among them in our presence,
|
|
|
|
36:5. That they may know thee, as we also have known thee, that there
|
|
is no God beside thee, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
36:6. Renew thy signs, and work new miracles.
|
|
|
|
36:7. Glorify thy hand, and thy right arm.
|
|
|
|
36:8. Raise up indignation, and pour out wrath.
|
|
|
|
36:9. Take away the adversary, and crush the enemy.
|
|
|
|
36:10. Hasten the time, and remember the end, that they may declare thy
|
|
wonderful works.
|
|
|
|
36:11. Let him that escapeth be consumed by the rage of the fire: and
|
|
let them perish that oppress thy people.
|
|
|
|
36:12. Crush the head of the princes of the enemies that say: There is
|
|
no other beside us.
|
|
|
|
36:13. Gather together all the tribes of Jacob: that they may know that
|
|
there no God besides thee, and may declare thy great works: and thou
|
|
shalt inherit them as from the beginning.
|
|
|
|
36:14. Have mercy on thy people, upon whom thy name is invoked: and
|
|
upon Israel, whom thou hast raised up to be thy firstborn.
|
|
|
|
36:15. Have mercy on Jerusalem, the city which thou hast sanctified,
|
|
the city of thy rest.
|
|
|
|
36:16. Fill Sion with thy unspeakable words, and thy people with thy
|
|
glory.
|
|
|
|
36:17. Give testimony to them that are thy creatures from the
|
|
beginning, and raise up the prophecies which the former prophets spoke
|
|
in thy name.
|
|
|
|
36:18. Reward them that patiently wait for thee, that thy prophets may
|
|
be found faithful: and hear the prayers of thy servants,
|
|
|
|
36:19. According to the blessing of Aaron over thy people, and direct
|
|
us into the way of justice, and let all know that dwell upon the earth,
|
|
that thou art God the beholder of all ages.
|
|
|
|
36:20. The belly will devour all meat, yet one is better than another.
|
|
|
|
36:21. The palate tasteth venison and the wise heart false speeches.
|
|
|
|
36:22. A perverse heart will cause grief, and a man of experience will
|
|
resist it.
|
|
|
|
36:23. A woman will receive every man: yet one daughter is better than
|
|
another.
|
|
|
|
A woman will receive every man. . .That is, any man that her parents
|
|
propose to her to marry, though she does not like him, but marries in
|
|
obedience to her parents, who make the choice for her.
|
|
|
|
36:24. The beauty of a woman cheereth the countenance of her husband,
|
|
and a man desireth nothing more.
|
|
|
|
36:25. If she have a tongue that can cure, and likewise mitigate and
|
|
shew mercy: her husband is not like other men.
|
|
|
|
36:26. He that possesseth a good wife, beginneth a possession: she is a
|
|
help like to himself, and a pillar of rest.
|
|
|
|
36:27. Where there is no hedge, the possession shall be spoiled: and
|
|
where there is no wife, he mourneth that is in want.
|
|
|
|
36:28. Who will trust him that hath no rest, and that lodgeth
|
|
wheresoever the night taketh him, as a robber well appointed, that
|
|
skippeth from city to city.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 37
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of the choice of friends and counsellors.
|
|
|
|
37:1. Every friend will say: I also am his friend: but there is a
|
|
friend, that is only a friend in name. Is not this a grief even to
|
|
death?
|
|
|
|
37:2. But a companion and a friend shall be turned to an enemy.
|
|
|
|
37:3. O wicked presumption, whence camest thou to cover the earth with
|
|
thy malice, and deceitfulness?
|
|
|
|
37:4. There is a companion who rejoiceth with his friend in his joys,
|
|
but in the time of trouble, he will be against him.
|
|
|
|
37:5. There is a companion who condoleth with his friend for his
|
|
belly's sake, and he will take up a shield against the enemy.
|
|
|
|
37:6. Forget not thy friend in thy mind, and be not unmindful of him in
|
|
thy riches.
|
|
|
|
37:7. Consult not with him that layeth a snare for thee, and hide thy
|
|
counsel from them that envy thee.
|
|
|
|
37:8. Every counsellor giveth out counsel, but there is one that is a
|
|
counsellor for himself.
|
|
|
|
37:9. Beware of a counsellor. And know before what need he hath: for he
|
|
will devise to his own mind:
|
|
|
|
37:10. Lest he thrust a stake into the ground, and say to thee:
|
|
|
|
37:11. Thy way is good; and then stand on the other side to see what
|
|
shall befall thee.
|
|
|
|
37:12. Treat not with a man without religion concerning holiness, nor
|
|
with an unjust man concerning justice, nor with a woman touching her of
|
|
whom she is jealous, nor with a coward concerning war, nor with a
|
|
merchant about traffic, nor with a buyer of selling, nor with an
|
|
envious man of giving thanks,
|
|
|
|
37:13. Nor with the ungodly of piety, nor with the dishonest of
|
|
honesty, nor with the field laborer of every work,
|
|
|
|
37:14. Nor with him that worketh by the year of the finishing of the
|
|
year, nor with an idle servant of much business: give no heed to these
|
|
in any matter of counsel.
|
|
|
|
37:15. But be continually with a holy man, whomsoever thou shalt know
|
|
to observe the fear of God,
|
|
|
|
37:16. Whose soul is according to thy own soul: and who, when thou
|
|
shalt stumble in the dark, will be sorry for thee.
|
|
|
|
37:17. And establish within thyself a heart of good counsel: for there
|
|
is no other thing of more worth to thee than it.
|
|
|
|
37:18. The soul of a holy man discovereth sometimes true things, more
|
|
than seven watchmen that sit in a high place to watch.
|
|
|
|
37:19. But above all these things pray to the most High, that he may
|
|
direct thy way in truth.
|
|
|
|
37:20. In all thy works let the true word go before thee, and steady
|
|
counsel before every action.
|
|
|
|
37:21. A wicked word shall change the heart: out of which four manner
|
|
of things arise, good and evil, life and death: and the tongue is
|
|
continually the ruler of them. There is a man that is subtle and a
|
|
teacher of many, and yet is unprofitable to his own soul.
|
|
|
|
37:22. A skilful man hath taught many, and is sweet to his own soul.
|
|
|
|
37:23. He that speaketh sophistically, is hateful: he shall be
|
|
destitute of every thing.
|
|
|
|
37:24. Grace is not given him from the Lord: for he is deprived of all
|
|
wisdom.
|
|
|
|
37:25. There is a wise man that is wise to his own soul: and the fruit
|
|
of his understanding is commendable.
|
|
|
|
37:26. A wise man instructeth his own people, and the fruits of his
|
|
understanding are faithful.
|
|
|
|
37:27. A wise man shall be filled with blessings, and they that see
|
|
shall praise him.
|
|
|
|
37:28. The life of a man is in the number of his days: but the days of
|
|
Israel are innumerable.
|
|
|
|
37:29. A wise man shall inherit honour among his people, and his name
|
|
shall live for ever.
|
|
|
|
37:30. My son, prove thy soul in thy life: and if it be wicked, give it
|
|
no power:
|
|
|
|
37:31. For all things are not expedient for all, and every kind
|
|
pleaseth not every soul.
|
|
|
|
37:32. Be not greedy in any feasting, and pour not out thyself upon any
|
|
meat:
|
|
|
|
37:33. For in many meats there will be sickness, and greediness will
|
|
turn to choler.
|
|
|
|
37:34. By surfeiting many have perished, but he that is temperate,
|
|
shall prolong life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 38
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of physicians and medicines: what is to be done in sickness, and how we
|
|
are to mourn for the dead. Of the employments of labourers and
|
|
artificers.
|
|
|
|
38:1. Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the most
|
|
High hath created him.
|
|
|
|
38:2. For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the
|
|
king.
|
|
|
|
38:3. The skill of the physician shall lift up his head, and in the
|
|
sight of great men he shall be praised.
|
|
|
|
38:4. The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise
|
|
man will not abhor them.
|
|
|
|
38:5. Was not bitter water made sweet with wood?
|
|
|
|
38:6. The virtue of these things is come to the knowledge of men, and
|
|
the most High hath given knowledge to men, that he may be honoured in
|
|
his wonders.
|
|
|
|
38:7. By these he shall cure and shall allay their pains, and of these
|
|
the apothecary shall make sweet confections, and shall make up
|
|
ointments of health, and of his works there shall be no end.
|
|
|
|
38:8. For the peace of God is over all the face of the earth.
|
|
|
|
38:9. My son, in thy sickness neglect not thyself, but pray to the
|
|
Lord, and he shall heal thee.
|
|
|
|
38:10. Turn away from sin and order thy hands aright, and cleanse thy
|
|
heart from all offence.
|
|
|
|
38:11. Give a sweet savour, and a memorial of fine flour, and make a
|
|
fat offering, and then give place to the physician.
|
|
|
|
38:12. For the Lord created him: and let him not depart from thee, for
|
|
his works are necessary.
|
|
|
|
38:13. For there is a time when thou must fall into their hands:
|
|
|
|
38:14. And they shall beseech the Lord, that he would prosper what they
|
|
give for ease and remedy, for their conversation.
|
|
|
|
38:15. He that sinneth in the sight of his Maker, shall fall into the
|
|
hands of the physician.
|
|
|
|
38:16. My son, shed tears over the dead, and begin to lament as if thou
|
|
hadst suffered some great harm, and according to judgment cover his
|
|
body, and neglect not his burial.
|
|
|
|
38:17. And for fear of being ill spoken of weep bitterly for a day, and
|
|
then comfort thyself in thy sadness.
|
|
|
|
38:18. And make mourning for him according to his merit for a day, or
|
|
two, for fear of detraction.
|
|
|
|
38:19. For of sadness cometh death, and it overwhelmeth the strength,
|
|
and the sorrow of the heart boweth down the neck.
|
|
|
|
38:20. In withdrawing aside sorrow remaineth: and the substance of the
|
|
poor is according to his heart.
|
|
|
|
38:21. Give not up thy heart to sadness, but drive it from thee: and
|
|
remember the latter end.
|
|
|
|
38:22. Forget it not: for there is no returning, and thou shalt do him
|
|
no good, and shalt hurt thyself.
|
|
|
|
38:23. Remember my judgment: for thine also shall be so: yesterday for
|
|
me, and to day for thee.
|
|
|
|
38:24. When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest, and comfort
|
|
him in the departing of his spirit.
|
|
|
|
38:25. The wisdom of a scribe cometh by his time of leisure: and he
|
|
that is less in action, shall receive wisdom.
|
|
|
|
A scribe. . .That is, a doctor of the law, or, a learned man.
|
|
|
|
38:26. With what wisdom shall he be furnished that holdeth the plough,
|
|
and that glorieth in the goad, that driveth the oxen therewith, and is
|
|
occupied in their labours, and his whole talk is about the offspring of
|
|
bulls?
|
|
|
|
38:27. He shall give his mind to turn up furrows, and his care is to
|
|
give the kine fodder.
|
|
|
|
38:28. So every craftsman and workmaster that laboureth night and day,
|
|
he who maketh graven seals, and by his continual diligence varieth the
|
|
figure: he shall give his mind to the resemblance of the picture, and
|
|
by his watching shall finish the work.
|
|
|
|
38:29. So doth the smith sitting by the anvil and considering the iron
|
|
work. The vapour of the fire wasteth his flesh, and he fighteth with
|
|
the heat of the furnace.
|
|
|
|
38:30. The noise of the hammer is always in his ears, and his eye is
|
|
upon the pattern of the vessel he maketh.
|
|
|
|
38:31. He setteth his mind to finish his work, and his watching to
|
|
polish them to perfection.
|
|
|
|
38:32. So doth the potter sitting at his work, turning the wheel about
|
|
with his feet, who is always carefully set to his work, and maketh all
|
|
his work by number:
|
|
|
|
38:33. He fashioneth the clay with his arm, and boweth down his
|
|
strength before his feet:
|
|
|
|
38:34. He shall give his mind to finish the glazing, and his watching
|
|
to make clean the furnace.
|
|
|
|
38:35. All these trust to their hands, and every one is wise in his own
|
|
art.
|
|
|
|
38:36. Without these a city is not built.
|
|
|
|
38:37. And they shall not dwell, nor walk about therein, and they shall
|
|
not go up into the assembly.
|
|
|
|
38:38. Upon the judges' seat they shall not sit, and the ordinance of
|
|
judgment they shall not understand, neither shall they declare
|
|
discipline and judgment, and they shall not be found where parables are
|
|
spoken:
|
|
|
|
38:39. But they shall strengthen the state of the world, and their
|
|
prayer shall be in the work of their craft, applying their soul, and
|
|
searching in the law of the most High.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 39
|
|
|
|
|
|
The exercises of the wise man. The Lord is to be glorified for his
|
|
works.
|
|
|
|
39:1. The wise man will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and
|
|
will be occupied in the prophets.
|
|
|
|
39:2. He will keep the sayings of renowned men, and will enter withal
|
|
into the subtilties of parables.
|
|
|
|
39:3. He will search out the hidden meanings of proverbs, and will be
|
|
conversant in the secrets of parables.
|
|
|
|
39:4. He shall serve among great men, and appear before the governor.
|
|
|
|
39:5. He shall pass into strange countries: for he shall try good and
|
|
evil among men.
|
|
|
|
39:6. He will give his heart to resort early to the Lord that made him,
|
|
and he will pray in the sight of the most High.
|
|
|
|
39:7. He will open his mouth in prayer, and will make supplication for
|
|
his sins.
|
|
|
|
39:8. For if it shall please the great Lord, he will fill him with the
|
|
spirit of understanding:
|
|
|
|
39:9. And he will pour forth the words of his wisdom as showers, and in
|
|
his prayer he will confess to the Lord.
|
|
|
|
39:10. And he shall direct his counsel, and his knowledge, and in his
|
|
secrets shall he meditate.
|
|
|
|
39:11. He shall shew forth the discipline he hath learned, and shall
|
|
glory in the law of the covenant of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
39:12. Many shall praise his wisdom, and it shall never be forgotten.
|
|
|
|
39:13. The memory of him shall not depart away, and his name shall be
|
|
in request from generation to generation.
|
|
|
|
39:14. Nations shall declare his wisdom, and the church shall shew
|
|
forth his praise.
|
|
|
|
39:15. If he continue, he shall leave a name above a thousand: and if
|
|
he rest, it shall be to his advantage.
|
|
|
|
39:16. I will yet meditate that I may declare: for I am filled as with
|
|
a holy transport.
|
|
|
|
39:17. By a voice he saith: Hear me, ye divine offspring, and bud forth
|
|
as the rose planted by the brooks of waters.
|
|
|
|
Ye divine offspring. . .He speaks to the children of Israel, the people
|
|
of God: whom he exhorts to bud forth and flourish with virtue.
|
|
|
|
39:18. Give ye a sweet odour as frankincense.
|
|
|
|
39:19. Send forth flowers, as the lily, and yield a smell, and bring
|
|
forth leaves in grace, and praise with canticles, and bless the Lord in
|
|
his works.
|
|
|
|
39:20. Magnify his name, and give glory to him with the voice of your
|
|
lips, and with the canticles of your mouths, and with harps, and in
|
|
praising him, you shall say in this manner:
|
|
|
|
39:21. All the works of the Lord are exceeding good.
|
|
|
|
39:22. At his word the waters stood as a heap: and at the words of his
|
|
mouth the receptacles of waters:
|
|
|
|
39:23. For at his commandment favour is shewn, and there is no
|
|
diminishing of his salvation.
|
|
|
|
39:24. The works of all flesh are before him, and there is nothing hid
|
|
from his eyes.
|
|
|
|
39:25. He seeth from eternity to eternity, and there is nothing
|
|
wonderful before him.
|
|
|
|
39:26. There is no saying: What is this, or what is that? for all
|
|
things shall be sought in their time.
|
|
|
|
39:27. His blessing hath overflowed like a river.
|
|
|
|
39:28. And as a flood hath watered the earth; so shall his wrath
|
|
inherit the nations, that have not sought after him.
|
|
|
|
39:29. Even as he turned the waters into a dry land, and the earth was
|
|
made dry: and his ways were made plain for their journey: so to sinners
|
|
they are stumblingblocks in his wrath.
|
|
|
|
39:30. Good things were created for the good from the beginning, so for
|
|
the wicked, good and evil things.
|
|
|
|
39:31. The principal things necessary for the life of men, are water,
|
|
fire, and iron, salt, milk, and bread of flour, and honey, and the
|
|
cluster of the grape, and oil, and clothing.
|
|
|
|
39:32. All these things shall be for good to the holy, so to the
|
|
sinners and the ungodly they shall be turned into evil.
|
|
|
|
39:33. There are spirits that are created for vengeance, and in their
|
|
fury they lay on grievous torments.
|
|
|
|
39:34. In the time of destruction they shall pour out their force: and
|
|
they shall appease the wrath of him that made them.
|
|
|
|
39:35. Fire, hail, famine, and death, all these were created for
|
|
vengeance.
|
|
|
|
39:36. The teeth of beasts, and scorpions, and serpents, and the sword
|
|
taking vengeance upon the ungodly unto destruction.
|
|
|
|
39:37. In his commandments they shall feast, and they shall be ready
|
|
upon earth when need is, and when their time is come they shall not
|
|
transgress his word.
|
|
|
|
39:38. Therefore from the beginning I was resolved, and I have
|
|
meditated, and thought on these things and left them in writing,
|
|
|
|
39:39. All the works of the Lord are good, and he will furnish every
|
|
work in due time.
|
|
|
|
39:40. It is not to be said: This is worse than that: for all shall be
|
|
well approved in their time.
|
|
|
|
39:41. Now therefore with the whole heart and mouth praise ye him, and
|
|
bless the name of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 40
|
|
|
|
|
|
The miseries of the life of man are relieved by the grace of God and
|
|
his fear.
|
|
|
|
40:1. Great labour is created for all men, and a heavy yoke is upon the
|
|
children of Adam from the day of their coming out of their mother's
|
|
womb, until the day of their burial into the mother of all.
|
|
|
|
40:2. Their thoughts, and fears of the heart, their imagination of
|
|
things to come, and the day of their end:
|
|
|
|
40:3. From him that sitteth on a glorious throne, unto him that is
|
|
humbled in earth and ashes:
|
|
|
|
40:4. From him that weareth purple, and beareth the crown, even to him
|
|
that is covered with rough linen: wrath, envy, trouble, unquietness,
|
|
and the fear of death, continual anger, and strife,
|
|
|
|
40:5. And in the time of rest upon his bed, the sleep of the night
|
|
changeth his knowledge.
|
|
|
|
40:6. A little and as nothing is his rest, and afterward in sleep, as
|
|
in the day of keeping watch.
|
|
|
|
40:7. He is troubled in the vision of his heart, as if he had escaped
|
|
in the day of battle. In the time of his safety he rose up, and
|
|
wondereth that there is no fear.
|
|
|
|
40:8. Such things happen to all flesh, from man even to beast, and upon
|
|
sinners are sevenfold more.
|
|
|
|
40:9. Moreover, death, and bloodshed, strife, and sword, oppressions,
|
|
famine, and affliction, and scourges:
|
|
|
|
40:10. All these things are created for the wicked, and for their sakes
|
|
came the flood.
|
|
|
|
40:11. All things that are of the earth, shall return to the earth
|
|
again, and all waters shall return to the sea.
|
|
|
|
40:12. All bribery, and injustice shall be blotted out, and fidelity
|
|
shall stand for ever.
|
|
|
|
40:13. The riches of the unjust shall be dried up like a river, and
|
|
shall pass away with a noise like a great thunder in rain.
|
|
|
|
40:14. While he openeth his hands he shall rejoice: but transgressors
|
|
shall pine away in the end.
|
|
|
|
40:15. The offspring of the ungodly shall not bring forth many
|
|
branches, and make a noise as unclean roots upon the top of a rock.
|
|
|
|
40:16. The weed growing over every water, and at the bank of the river,
|
|
shall be pulled up before all grass.
|
|
|
|
40:17. Grace is like a paradise in blessings, and mercy remaineth for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
40:18. The life of a laborer that is content with what he hath, shall
|
|
be sweet, and in it thou shalt find a treasure.
|
|
|
|
40:19. Children, and the building of a city shall establish a name, but
|
|
a blameless wife shall be counted above them both.
|
|
|
|
40:20. Wine and music rejoice the heart, but the love of wisdom is
|
|
above them both.
|
|
|
|
40:21. The flute and the psaltery make a sweet melody, but a pleasant
|
|
tongue is above them both.
|
|
|
|
40:22. Thy eye desireth favour and beauty, but more than these green
|
|
sown fields.
|
|
|
|
40:23. A friend and companion meeting together in season, but above
|
|
them both is a wife with her husband.
|
|
|
|
40:24. Brethren are a help in the time of trouble, but mercy shall
|
|
deliver more than they.
|
|
|
|
40:25. Gold and silver make the feet stand sure: but wise counsel is
|
|
above them both.
|
|
|
|
40:26. Riches and strength lift up the heart: but above these is the
|
|
fear of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
40:27. There is no want in the fear of the Lord, and it needeth not to
|
|
seek for help.
|
|
|
|
40:28. The fear of the Lord is like a paradise of blessing, and they
|
|
have covered it above all glory.
|
|
|
|
40:29. My son, in thy lifetime be not indigent: for it is better to die
|
|
than to want.
|
|
|
|
40:30. The life of him that looketh toward another man's table is not
|
|
to be counted a life: for he feedeth his soul with another man's meat.
|
|
|
|
40:31. But a man, well instructed and taught, will look to himself.
|
|
|
|
40:32. Begging will be sweet in the mouth of the unwise, but in his
|
|
belly there shall burn a fire.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 41
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of the remembrance of death: of an evil and of a good name: of what
|
|
things we ought to be ashamed.
|
|
|
|
41:1. O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that hath
|
|
peace in his possessions!
|
|
|
|
41:2. To a man that is at rest, and whose ways are prosperous in all
|
|
things, and that is yet able to take meat!
|
|
|
|
41:3. O death thy sentence is welcome to the man that is in need, and
|
|
to him whose strength faileth:
|
|
|
|
41:4. Who is in a decrepit age, and that is in care about all things,
|
|
and to the distrustful that loseth patience!
|
|
|
|
41:5. Fear not the sentence of death. Remember what things have been
|
|
before thee, and what shall come after thee: this sentence is from the
|
|
Lord upon all flesh.
|
|
|
|
41:6. And what shall come upon thee by the good pleasure of the most
|
|
High? whether ten, or a hundred, or a thousand years.
|
|
|
|
41:7. For among the dead there is no accusing of life.
|
|
|
|
41:8. The children of sinners become children of abominations, and they
|
|
that converse near the houses of the ungodly.
|
|
|
|
41:9. The inheritance of the children of sinners shall perish, and with
|
|
their posterity shall be a perpetual reproach.
|
|
|
|
41:10. The children will complain of an ungodly father, because for his
|
|
sake they are in reproach.
|
|
|
|
41:11. Woe to you, ungodly men, who have forsaken the law of the most
|
|
high Lord.
|
|
|
|
41:12. And if you be born, you shall be born in malediction: and if you
|
|
die, in malediction shall be your portion.
|
|
|
|
41:13. All things that are of the earth, shall return into the earth:
|
|
so the ungodly shall from malediction to destruction.
|
|
|
|
41:14. The mourning of men is about their body, but the name of the
|
|
ungodly shall be blotted out.
|
|
|
|
41:15. Take care of a good name: for this shall continue with thee,
|
|
more than a thousand treasures precious and great.
|
|
|
|
41:16. A good life hath its number of days: but a good name shall
|
|
continue for ever.
|
|
|
|
41:17. My children, keep discipline in peace: for wisdom that is hid,
|
|
and a treasure that is not seen, what profit is there in them both?
|
|
|
|
41:18. Better is the man that hideth his folly, than the man that
|
|
hideth his wisdom.
|
|
|
|
41:19. Wherefore have a shame of these things I am now going to speak
|
|
of.
|
|
|
|
Have a shame, etc. . .That is to say, be ashamed of doing any of these
|
|
things, which I am now going to mention; for though sometimes
|
|
shamefacedness is not to be indulged: yet it is often good and
|
|
necessary: as in the following cases.
|
|
|
|
41:20. For it is not good to keep all shamefacedness: and all things do
|
|
not please all men in opinion.
|
|
|
|
41:21. Be ashamed of fornication before father and mother: and of a lie
|
|
before a governor and a man in power:
|
|
|
|
41:22. Of an offence before a prince, and a judge: of iniquity before a
|
|
congregation and a people:
|
|
|
|
41:23. Of injustice before a companion and friend: and in regard to the
|
|
place where thou dwellest,
|
|
|
|
41:24. Of theft, and of the truth of God, and the covenant: of leaning
|
|
with thy elbow over meat, and of deceit in giving and taking:
|
|
|
|
41:25. Of silence before them that salute thee: of looking upon a
|
|
harlot: and of turning away thy face from thy kinsman.
|
|
|
|
41:26. Turn not away thy face from thy neighbour, and of taking away a
|
|
portion and not restoring.
|
|
|
|
41:27. Gaze not upon another man's wife, and be not inquisitive after
|
|
his handmaid, and approach not her bed.
|
|
|
|
41:28. Be ashamed of upbraiding speeches before friends: and after thou
|
|
hast given, upbraid not.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 42
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of what things we ought not to be ashamed. Cautions with regard to
|
|
women. The works and greatness of God.
|
|
|
|
42:1. Repeat not the word which thou hast heard, and disclose not the
|
|
thing that is secret; so shalt thou be truly without confusion, and
|
|
shalt find favour before all men: be not ashamed of any of these
|
|
things, and accept no person to sin thereby:
|
|
|
|
42:2. Of the law of the most High, and of his covenant, and of judgment
|
|
to justify the ungodly:
|
|
|
|
42:3. Of the affair of companions and travellers, and of the gift of
|
|
the inheritance of friends:
|
|
|
|
42:4. Of exactness of balance and weights, of getting much or little:
|
|
|
|
42:5. Of the corruption of buying, and of merchants, and of much
|
|
correction of children, and to make the side of a wicked slave to
|
|
bleed.
|
|
|
|
42:6. Sure keeping is good over a wicked wife.
|
|
|
|
42:7. Where there are many hands, shut up, and deliver all things in
|
|
number, and weight: and put all in writing that thou givest out or
|
|
receivest in.
|
|
|
|
42:8. Be not ashamed to inform the unwise and foolish, and the aged,
|
|
that are judged by young men: and thou shalt be well instructed in all
|
|
things, and well approved in the sight of all men living.
|
|
|
|
42:9. The father waketh for the daughter when no man knoweth, and the
|
|
care for her taketh away his sleep, when she is young, lest she pass
|
|
away the flower of her age, and when she is married, lest she should be
|
|
hateful:
|
|
|
|
42:10. In her virginity, lest she should be corrupted, and be found
|
|
with child in her father's house: and having a husband, lest she should
|
|
misbehave herself, or at the least become barren.
|
|
|
|
42:11. Keep a sure watch over a shameless daughter: lest at anytime she
|
|
make thee become a laughingstock to thy enemies, and a byword in the
|
|
city, and a reproach among the people, and she make thee ashamed before
|
|
all the multitude.
|
|
|
|
42:12. Behold not everybody's beauty: and tarry not among women.
|
|
|
|
42:13. For from garments cometh a moth, and from a woman the iniquity
|
|
of a man.
|
|
|
|
42:14. For better is the iniquity of a man, than a woman doing a good
|
|
turn, and a woman bringing shame and reproach.
|
|
|
|
Better is the iniquity, etc. . .That is, there is, commonly speaking,
|
|
less danger to be apprehended to the soul from the churlishness, or
|
|
injuries we receive from men, than from the flattering favours and
|
|
familiarity of women.
|
|
|
|
42:15. I will now remember the works of the Lord, and I will declare
|
|
the things I have seen. By the words of the Lord are his works.
|
|
|
|
42:16. The sun giving light hath looked upon all things, and full of
|
|
the glory of the Lord is his work.
|
|
|
|
42:17. Hath not the Lord made the saints to declare all his wonderful
|
|
works, which the Lord Almighty hath firmly settled to be established
|
|
for his glory?
|
|
|
|
42:18. He hath searched out the deep, and the heart of men: and
|
|
considered their crafty devices.
|
|
|
|
42:19. For the Lord knoweth all knowledge, and hath beheld the signs of
|
|
the world, he declareth the things that are past, and the things that
|
|
are to come, and revealeth the traces of hidden things.
|
|
|
|
42:20. No thought escapeth him, and no word can hide itself from him.
|
|
|
|
42:21. He hath beautified the glorious works of his wisdom: and he is
|
|
from eternity to eternity, and to him nothing may be added,
|
|
|
|
42:22. Nor can he be diminished, and he hath no need of any counsellor.
|
|
|
|
42:23. O how desirable are all his works, and what we can know is but
|
|
as a spark!
|
|
|
|
42:24. All these things live, and remain for ever, and for every use
|
|
all things obey him.
|
|
|
|
42:25. All things are double, one against another, and he hath made
|
|
nothing defective.
|
|
|
|
42:26. He hath established the good things of every one. And who shall
|
|
be filled with beholding his glory?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 43
|
|
|
|
|
|
The works of God are exceedingly glorious and wonderful: no man is able
|
|
sufficiently to praise him.
|
|
|
|
43:1. The firmament on high is his beauty, the beauty of heaven with
|
|
its glorious shew.
|
|
|
|
43:2. The sun when he appeareth shewing forth at his rising, an
|
|
admirable instrument, the work of the most High.
|
|
|
|
43:3. At noon he burneth the earth, and who can abide his burning heat?
|
|
As one keeping a furnace in the works of heat:
|
|
|
|
43:4. The sun three times as much, burneth the mountains, breathing out
|
|
fiery vapours, and shining with his beams, he blindeth the eyes.
|
|
|
|
43:5. Great is the Lord that made him, and at his words he hath
|
|
hastened his course.
|
|
|
|
43:6. And the moon in all in her season, is for a declaration of times
|
|
and a sign of the world.
|
|
|
|
43:7. From the moon is the sign of the festival day, a light that
|
|
decreaseth in her perfection.
|
|
|
|
43:8. The month is called after her name, increasing wonderfully in her
|
|
perfection.
|
|
|
|
43:9. Being an instrument of the armies on high, shining gloriously in
|
|
the firmament of heaven.
|
|
|
|
43:10. The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven; the Lord
|
|
enlighteneth the world on high.
|
|
|
|
43:11. By the words of the holy one they stand in judgment, and shall
|
|
never fall in their watches.
|
|
|
|
43:12. Look upon the rainbow, and bless him that made it: it is very
|
|
beautiful in its brightness.
|
|
|
|
43:13. It encompasseth the heaven about with the circle of its glory,
|
|
the hands of the most High have displayed it.
|
|
|
|
43:14. By his commandment he maketh the snow to fall apace, and sendeth
|
|
forth swiftly the lightnings of his judgment.
|
|
|
|
43:15. Through this are the treasures opened, and the clouds fly out
|
|
like birds.
|
|
|
|
43:16. By his greatness he hath fixed the clouds, and the hailstones
|
|
are broken.
|
|
|
|
43:17. At his sight shall the mountains be shaken, and at his will the
|
|
south wind shall blow.
|
|
|
|
43:18. The noise of his thunder shall strike the earth, so doth the
|
|
northern storm, and the whirlwind:
|
|
|
|
43:19. And as the birds lighting upon the earth, he scattereth snow,
|
|
and the falling thereof, is as the coming down of locusts.
|
|
|
|
43:20. The eye admireth at the beauty of the whiteness thereof, and the
|
|
heart is astonished at the shower thereof.
|
|
|
|
43:21. He shall pour frost as salt upon the earth: and when it
|
|
freezeth, it shall become like the tops of thistles.
|
|
|
|
43:22. The cold north wind bloweth, and the water is congealed into
|
|
crystal; upon every gathering together of waters it shall rest, and
|
|
shall clothe the waters as a breastplate.
|
|
|
|
43:23. And it shall devour the mountains, and burn the wilderness, and
|
|
consume all that is green as with fire.
|
|
|
|
43:24. A present remedy of all is the speedy coming of a cloud, and a
|
|
dew that meeteth it, by the heat that cometh, shall overpower it.
|
|
|
|
43:25. At his word the wind is still, and with his thought he appeaseth
|
|
the deep, and the Lord hath planted islands therein.
|
|
|
|
43:26. Let them that sail on the sea, tell the dangers thereof: and
|
|
when we hear with our ears, we shall admire.
|
|
|
|
43:27. There are great and wonderful works: a variety of beasts, and of
|
|
all living things, and the monstrous creatures of whales.
|
|
|
|
43:28. Through him is established the end of their journey, and by his
|
|
word all things are regulated.
|
|
|
|
43:29. We shall say much, and yet shall want words: but the sum of our
|
|
words is, He is all.
|
|
|
|
43:30. What shall we be able to do to glorify him? for the Almighty
|
|
himself is above all his works.
|
|
|
|
43:31. The Lord is terrible, and exceeding great, and his power is
|
|
admirable.
|
|
|
|
43:32. Glorify the Lord as much as ever you can, for he will yet far
|
|
exceed, and his magnificence is wonderful.
|
|
|
|
43:33. Blessing the Lord, exalt him as much as you can; for he is above
|
|
all praise.
|
|
|
|
43:34. When you exalt him put forth all your strength, and be not
|
|
weary: for you can never go far enough.
|
|
|
|
43:35. Who shall see him, and declare him? and who shall magnify him as
|
|
he is from the beginning?
|
|
|
|
43:36. There are many things hidden from us that are greater than
|
|
these: for we have seen but a few of his works.
|
|
|
|
43:37. But the Lord hath made all things, and to the godly he hath
|
|
given wisdom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 44
|
|
|
|
|
|
The praises of the holy fathers, in particular of Enoch, Noe, Abraham,
|
|
Isaac, and Jacob.
|
|
|
|
44:1. Let us now praise men of renown and our fathers in their
|
|
generation.
|
|
|
|
44:2. The Lord hath wrought great glory through his magnificence from
|
|
the beginning.
|
|
|
|
44:3. Such as have borne rule in their dominions, men of great power,
|
|
and endued with their wisdom, shewing forth in the prophets the dignity
|
|
of prophets,
|
|
|
|
44:4. And ruling over the present people, and by the strength of wisdom
|
|
instructing the people in most holy words.
|
|
|
|
44:5. Such as by their skill sought out musical tunes, and published
|
|
canticles of the scriptures.
|
|
|
|
44:6. Rich men in virtue, studying beautifulness: living at peace in
|
|
their houses.
|
|
|
|
44:7. All these have gained glory in their generations, and were
|
|
praised in their days.
|
|
|
|
44:8. They that were born of them have left a name behind them, that
|
|
their praises might be related:
|
|
|
|
44:9. And there are some, of whom there is no memorial: who are
|
|
perished, as if they had never been: and are become as if they had
|
|
never been born, and their children with them.
|
|
|
|
44:10. But these were men of mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed:
|
|
|
|
44:11. Good things continue with their seed,
|
|
|
|
44:12. Their posterity are a holy inheritance, and their seed hath
|
|
stood in the covenants.
|
|
|
|
44:13. And their children for their sakes remain for ever: their seed
|
|
and their glory shall not be forsaken.
|
|
|
|
44:14. Their bodies are buried in peace, and their name liveth unto
|
|
generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
44:15. Let the people shew forth their wisdom, and the church declare
|
|
their praise.
|
|
|
|
44:16. Henoch pleased God, and was translated into paradise, that he
|
|
may give repentance to the nations.
|
|
|
|
44:17. Noe was found perfect, just, and in the time of wrath he was
|
|
made a reconciliation.
|
|
|
|
44:18. Therefore was there a remnant left to the earth, when the flood
|
|
came.
|
|
|
|
44:19. The covenants of the world were made with him, that all flesh
|
|
should no more be destroyed with the flood.
|
|
|
|
44:20. Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations, and
|
|
there was not found the like to him in glory, who kept the law of the
|
|
most High, and was in covenant with him.
|
|
|
|
44:21. In his flesh he established the covenant, and in temptation he
|
|
was found faithful.
|
|
|
|
44:22. Therefore by an oath he gave him glory in his posterity, that he
|
|
should increase as the dust of the earth,
|
|
|
|
44:23. And that he would exalt his seed as the stars, and they should
|
|
inherit from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.
|
|
|
|
44:24. And he did in like manner with Isaac for the sake of Abraham his
|
|
father.
|
|
|
|
44:25. The Lord gave him the blessing of all nations, and confirmed his
|
|
covenant upon the head of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
44:26. He acknowledged him in his blessings, and gave him an
|
|
inheritance, and divided him his portion in twelve tribes.
|
|
|
|
44:27. And he preserved for him men of mercy, that found grace in the
|
|
eyes of all flesh.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 45
|
|
|
|
|
|
The praises of Moses, of Aaron, and of Phinees.
|
|
|
|
45:1. Moses was beloved of God, and men: whose memory is in
|
|
benediction.
|
|
|
|
45:2. He made him like the saints in glory, and magnified him in the
|
|
fear of his enemies, and with his words he made prodigies to cease.
|
|
|
|
45:3. He glorified him in the sight of kings, and gave him commandments
|
|
in the sight of his people, and shewed him his glory.
|
|
|
|
45:4. He sanctified him in his faith, and meekness, and chose him out
|
|
of all flesh.
|
|
|
|
45:5. For he heard him, and his voice, and brought him into a cloud.
|
|
|
|
45:6. And he gave him commandments before his face, and a law of life
|
|
and instruction, that he might teach Jacob his covenant, and Israel his
|
|
judgments.
|
|
|
|
45:7. He exalted Aaron his brother, and like to himself of the tribe of
|
|
Levi:
|
|
|
|
45:8. He made an everlasting covenant with him, and gave him the
|
|
priesthood of the nation, and made him blessed in glory,
|
|
|
|
45:9. And he girded him about with a glorious girdle, and clothed him
|
|
with a robe of glory, and crowned him with majestic attire.
|
|
|
|
45:10. He put upon him a garment to the feet, and breeches, and an
|
|
ephod, and he compassed him with many little bells of gold all round
|
|
about,
|
|
|
|
45:11. That as he went there might be a sound, and a noise made that
|
|
might be heard in the temple, for a memorial to the children of his
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
45:12. He gave him a holy robe of gold, and blue, and purple, a woven
|
|
work of a wise man, endued with judgment and truth:
|
|
|
|
45:13. Of twisted scarlet the work of an artist, with precious stones
|
|
cut and set in gold, and graven by the work of a lapidary for a
|
|
memorial, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
|
|
|
|
45:14. And a crown of gold upon his mitre wherein was engraved
|
|
Holiness, an ornament of honour: a work of power, and delightful to the
|
|
eyes for its beauty.
|
|
|
|
45:15. Before him there were none so beautiful, even from the
|
|
beginning.
|
|
|
|
45:16. No stranger was ever clothed with them, but only his children
|
|
alone, and his grandchildren for ever.
|
|
|
|
45:17. His sacrifices were consumed with fire every day.
|
|
|
|
45:18. Moses filled his hands and anointed him with holy oil.
|
|
|
|
45:19. This was made to him for an everlasting testament, and to his
|
|
seed as the days of heaven, to execute the office of the priesthood,
|
|
and to have praise, and to glorify his people in his name.
|
|
|
|
45:20. He chose him out of all men living, to offer sacrifice to God,
|
|
incense, and a good savour, for a memorial to make reconciliation for
|
|
his people:
|
|
|
|
45:21. And he gave him power in his commandments, in the covenants of
|
|
his judgments, that he should teach Jacob his testimonies, and give
|
|
light to Israel in his law.
|
|
|
|
45:22. And strangers stood up against him, and through envy the men
|
|
that were with Dathan and Abiron, compassed him about in the
|
|
wilderness, and the congregation of Core in their wrath.
|
|
|
|
45:23. The Lord God saw and it pleased him not, and they were consumed
|
|
in his wrathful indignation.
|
|
|
|
45:24. He wrought wonders upon them, and consumed them with a flame of
|
|
fire.
|
|
|
|
45:25. And he added glory to Aaron, and gave him an inheritance, and
|
|
divided unto him the firstfruits of the increase of the earth.
|
|
|
|
45:26. He prepared them bread in the first place unto fulness: for the
|
|
sacrifices also of the Lord they shall eat, which he gave to him, and
|
|
to his seed.
|
|
|
|
45:27. But he shall not inherit among the people in the land, and he
|
|
hath no portion among the people: for he himself is his portion and
|
|
inheritance.
|
|
|
|
45:28. Phinees the son of Eleazar is the third in glory, by imitating
|
|
him in the fear of the Lord:
|
|
|
|
45:29. And he stood up in the shameful fall of the people: in the
|
|
goodness and readiness of his soul he appeased God for Israel.
|
|
|
|
45:30. Therefore he made to him a covenant of peace, to be the prince
|
|
of the sanctuary, and of his people, that the dignity of priesthood
|
|
should be to him and to his seed for ever.
|
|
|
|
45:31. And a covenant to David the king, the son of Jesse of the tribe
|
|
of Juda, an inheritance to him and to his seed, that he might give
|
|
wisdom into our heart to judge his people in justice, that their good
|
|
things might not be abolished, and he made their glory in their nation
|
|
everlasting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 46
|
|
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The praise of Josue, of Caleb, and of Samuel.
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|
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|
46:1. Valiant in war was Jesus the son of Nave, who was successor of
|
|
Moses among the prophets, who was great according to his name,
|
|
|
|
Jesus the son of Nave. . .So Josue is named in the Greek Bibles. For
|
|
Josue and Jesus signify the same thing, viz., a saviour.
|
|
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|
46:2. Very great for the saving the elect of God, to overthrow the
|
|
enemies that rose up against them, that he might get the inheritance
|
|
for Israel.
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|
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|
46:3. How great glory did he gain when he lifted up his hands, and
|
|
stretched out swords against the cities?
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|
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|
46:4. Who before him hath so resisted? for the Lord himself brought the
|
|
enemies.
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|
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|
46:5. Was not the sun stopped in his anger, and one day made as two?
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|
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|
46:6. He called upon the most high Sovereign when the enemies assaulted
|
|
him on every side, and the great and holy God heard him by hailstones
|
|
of exceeding great force.
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|
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|
46:7. He made a violent assault against the nation of his enemies, and
|
|
in the descent he destroyed the adversaries.
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|
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|
And in the descent. . .Of Beth-horon (Jos. 10.).
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46:8. That the nations might know his power, that it is not easy to
|
|
fight against God. And he followed the mighty one:
|
|
|
|
46:9. And in the days of Moses he did a work of mercy, he and Caleb the
|
|
son of Jephone, in standing against the enemy, and withholding the
|
|
people from sins, and appeasing the wicked murmuring.
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|
|
|
46:10. And they two being appointed, were delivered out of the danger
|
|
from among the number of six hundred thousand men on foot, to bring
|
|
them into their inheritance, into the land that floweth with milk and
|
|
honey.
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|
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|
46:11. And the Lord gave strength also to Caleb, and his strength
|
|
continued even to his old age, so that he went up to the high places of
|
|
the land, and his seed obtained it for an inheritance:
|
|
|
|
46:12. That all the children of Israel might see, that it is good to
|
|
obey the holy God.
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|
|
|
46:13. Then all the judges, every one by name, whose heart was not
|
|
corrupted: who turned not away from the Lord,
|
|
|
|
46:14. That their memory might be blessed, and their bones spring up
|
|
out of their place,
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|
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|
46:15. And their name continue for ever, the glory of the holy men
|
|
remaining unto their children.
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|
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|
46:16. Samuel the prophet of the Lord, the beloved of the Lord his God,
|
|
established a new government, and anointed princes over his people.
|
|
|
|
46:17. By the law of the Lord he judged the congregation, and the God
|
|
of Jacob beheld, and by his fidelity he was proved a prophet.
|
|
|
|
46:18. And he was known to be faithful in his words, because he saw the
|
|
God of light:
|
|
|
|
46:19. And called upon the name of the Lord Almighty, in fighting
|
|
against the enemies who beset him on every side, when he offered a lamb
|
|
without blemish.
|
|
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|
46:20. And the Lord thundered from heaven, and with a great noise made
|
|
his voice to be heard.
|
|
|
|
46:21. And he crushed the princes of the Tyrians, and all the lords of
|
|
the Philistines:
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|
|
|
46:22. And before the time of the end of his life in the world, he
|
|
protested before the Lord, and his anointed: money, or any thing else,
|
|
even to a shoe, he had not taken of any man, and no man did accuse him.
|
|
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|
46:23. And after this he slept, and he made known to the king, and
|
|
shewed him the end of his life, and he lifted up his voice from the
|
|
earth in prophecy to blot out the wickedness of the nation.
|
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|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 47
|
|
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|
|
|
The praise of Nathan, of David, and of Solomon: Of his fall and
|
|
punishment.
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|
47:1. Then Nathan the prophet arose in the days of David.
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|
47:2. And as the fat taken away from the flesh, so was David chosen
|
|
from among the children of Israel.
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|
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|
47:3. He played with lions as with lambs: and with bears he did in like
|
|
manner as with the lambs of the flock, in his youth.
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|
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|
47:4. Did not he kill the giant, and take away reproach from his
|
|
people?
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|
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|
47:5. In lifting up his hand, with the stone in the sling he beat down
|
|
the boasting of Goliath:
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|
|
|
47:6. For he called upon the Lord the Almighty, and he gave strength in
|
|
his right hand, to take away the mighty warrior, and to set up the horn
|
|
of his nation.
|
|
|
|
47:7. So in ten thousand did he glorify him, and praised him in the
|
|
blessings of the Lord, in offering to him a crown of glory:
|
|
|
|
47:8. For he destroyed the enemies on every side, and extirpated the
|
|
Philistines the adversaries unto this day: he broke their horn for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
47:9. In all his works he gave thanks to the holy one, and to the most
|
|
High, with words of glory.
|
|
|
|
47:10. With his whole heart he praised the Lord, and loved God that
|
|
made him: and he gave him power against his enemies:
|
|
|
|
47:11. And he set singers before the altar, and by their voices he made
|
|
sweet melody.
|
|
|
|
47:12. And to the festivals he added beauty, and set in order the
|
|
solemn times even to the end of his life, that they should praise the
|
|
holy name of the Lord, and magnify the holiness of God in the morning.
|
|
|
|
47:13. The Lord took away his sins, and exalted his horn for ever: and
|
|
he gave him a covenant of the kingdom, and a throne of glory in Israel.
|
|
|
|
47:14. After him arose up a wise son, and for his sake he cast down all
|
|
the power of the enemies.
|
|
|
|
47:15. Solomon reigned in days of peace, and God brought all his
|
|
enemies under him, that he might build a house in his name, and prepare
|
|
a sanctuary for ever: O how wise wast thou in thy youth!
|
|
|
|
47:16. And thou wast filled as a river with wisdom, and thy soul
|
|
covered the earth.
|
|
|
|
47:17. And thou didst multiply riddles in parables: thy name went
|
|
abroad to the islands far off, and thou wast beloved in thy peace.
|
|
|
|
47:18. The countries wondered at thee for thy canticles, and proverbs,
|
|
and parables, and interpretations,
|
|
|
|
47:19. And at the name of the Lord God, whose surname is, God of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
47:20. Thou didst gather gold as copper, and didst multiply silver as
|
|
lead,
|
|
|
|
47:21. And thou didst bow thyself to women: and by thy body thou wast
|
|
brought under subjection.
|
|
|
|
47:22. Thou hast stained thy glory, and defiled thy seed so as to bring
|
|
wrath upon thy children, and to have thy folly kindled,
|
|
|
|
47:23. That thou shouldst make the kingdom to be divided, and out of
|
|
Ephraim a rebellious kingdom to rule.
|
|
|
|
47:24. But God will not leave off his mercy, and he will not destroy,
|
|
nor abolish his own works, neither will he cut up by the roots the
|
|
offspring of his elect: and he will not utterly take away the seed of
|
|
him that loveth the Lord.
|
|
|
|
47:25. Wherefore he gave a remnant to Jacob, and to David of the same
|
|
stock.
|
|
|
|
47:26. And Solomon had an end with his fathers.
|
|
|
|
47:27. And he left behind him of his seed, the folly of the nation,
|
|
|
|
47:28. Even Roboam that had little wisdom, who turned away the people
|
|
through his counsel:
|
|
|
|
47:29. And Jeroboam the son of Nabat, who caused Israel to sin, and
|
|
shewed Ephraim the way of sin, and their sins were multiplied
|
|
exceedingly.
|
|
|
|
47:30. They removed them far away from their land.
|
|
|
|
47:31. And they sought out all iniquities, till vengeance came upon
|
|
them, and put an end to all their sins.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 48
|
|
|
|
|
|
The praise of Elias, of Eliseus, of Ezechias, and of Isaias.
|
|
|
|
48:1. And Elias the prophet stood up, as a fire, and his word burnt
|
|
like a torch.
|
|
|
|
48:2. He brought a famine upon them, and they that provoked him in
|
|
their envy, were reduced to a small number, for they could not endure
|
|
the commandments of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
48:3. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and he brought
|
|
down fire from heaven thrice.
|
|
|
|
48:4. Thus was Elias magnified in his wondrous works. And who can glory
|
|
like to thee?
|
|
|
|
48:5. Who raisedst up a dead man from below, from the lot of death, by
|
|
the word of the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
48:6. Who broughtest down kings to destruction, and brokest easily
|
|
their power in pieces, and the glorious from their bed.
|
|
|
|
48:7. Who heardest judgment in Sina, and in Horeb the judgments of
|
|
vengeance.
|
|
|
|
48:8. Who anointedst kings to penance, and madest prophets successors
|
|
after thee.
|
|
|
|
48:9. Who wast taken up in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot of fiery
|
|
horses.
|
|
|
|
48:10. Who art registered in the judgments of times to appease the
|
|
wrath of the Lord, to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and
|
|
to restore the tribes of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
48:11. Blessed are they that saw thee, and were honoured with thy
|
|
friendship.
|
|
|
|
48:12. For we live only in our life, but after death our name shall not
|
|
be such.
|
|
|
|
48:13. Elias was indeed covered with the whirlwind, and his spirit was
|
|
filled up in Eliseus: in his days he feared not the prince, and no man
|
|
was more powerful than he.
|
|
|
|
48:14. No word could overcome him, and after death his body prophesied.
|
|
|
|
48:15. In his life he did great wonders, and in death he wrought
|
|
miracles.
|
|
|
|
48:16. For all this the people repented not, neither did they depart
|
|
from their sins till they were cast out of their land, and were
|
|
scattered through all the earth.
|
|
|
|
48:17. And there was left but a small people, and a prince in the house
|
|
of David.
|
|
|
|
48:18. Some of these did that which pleased God: but others committed
|
|
many sins.
|
|
|
|
48:19. Ezechias fortified his city, and brought in water into the midst
|
|
thereof, and he digged a rock with iron, and made a well for water.
|
|
|
|
48:20. In his days Sennacherib came up, and sent Rabsaces, and lifted
|
|
up his hand against them, and he stretched out his hand against Sion,
|
|
and became proud through his power.
|
|
|
|
48:21. Then their hearts and hands trembled, and they were in pain as
|
|
women in travail.
|
|
|
|
48:22. And they called upon the Lord who is merciful, and spreading
|
|
their hands, they lifted them up to heaven: and the holy Lord God
|
|
quickly heard their voice.
|
|
|
|
48:23. He was not mindful of their sins, neither did he deliver them up
|
|
to their enemies, but he purified them by the hand of Isaias, the holy
|
|
prophet.
|
|
|
|
48:24. He overthrew the army of the Assyrians, and the angel of the
|
|
Lord destroyed them.
|
|
|
|
48:25. For Ezechias did that which pleased God, and walked valiantly in
|
|
the way of David his father, which Isaias, the great prophet, and
|
|
faithful in the sight of God, had commanded him.
|
|
|
|
48:26. In his days the sun wen backward, and he lengthened the king's
|
|
life.
|
|
|
|
48:27. With a great spirit he saw the things that are to come to pass
|
|
at last, and comforted the mourners in Sion.
|
|
|
|
48:28. He showed what should come to pass for ever, and secret things
|
|
before they came.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 49
|
|
|
|
|
|
The praise of Josias, of Jeremias, Ezechiel, and the twelve prophets.
|
|
Also of Zorobabel, Jesus the son of Josedech, Nehemias, Enoch, Joseph,
|
|
Seth, Sem, and Adam.
|
|
|
|
49:1. The memory of Josias is like the composition of a sweet smell
|
|
made by the art of a perfumer:
|
|
|
|
49:2. His remembrance shall be sweet as honey in every mouth, and as
|
|
music at a banquet of wine.
|
|
|
|
49:3. He was directed by God unto the repentance of the nation, and he
|
|
took away the abominations of wickedness.
|
|
|
|
49:4. And he directed his heart towards the Lord, and in the days of
|
|
sinners he strengthened godliness.
|
|
|
|
49:5. Except David, and Ezechias and Josias, all committed sin.
|
|
|
|
49:6. For the kings of Juda forsook the law of the most High, and
|
|
despised the fear of God.
|
|
|
|
49:7. So they gave their kingdom to others, and their glory to a
|
|
strange nation,
|
|
|
|
49:8. They burnt the chosen city of holiness, and made the streets
|
|
thereof desolate according to the prediction of Jeremias.
|
|
|
|
49:9. For they treated him evil, who was consecrated a prophet from his
|
|
mother's womb, to overthrow, and pluck up, and destroy, and to build
|
|
again, and renew.
|
|
|
|
49:10. It was Ezechiel that saw the glorious vision, which was shewn
|
|
him upon the chariot of cherubims.
|
|
|
|
49:11. For he made mention of the enemies under the figure of rain, and
|
|
of doing good to them that shewed right ways.
|
|
|
|
49:12. And may the bones of the twelve prophets spring up out of their
|
|
place: for they strengthened Jacob, and redeemed themselves by strong
|
|
faith.
|
|
|
|
49:13. How shall we magnify Zorobabel? for he was as a signet on the
|
|
right hand;
|
|
|
|
49:14. In like manner Jesus the son of Josedec who in their days built
|
|
the house, and set up a holy temple to the Lord, prepared for
|
|
everlasting glory.
|
|
|
|
49:15. And let Nehemias be a long time remembered, who raised up for us
|
|
our walls that were cast down, and set up the gates and the bars, who
|
|
rebuilt our houses.
|
|
|
|
49:16. No man was born upon earth like Henoch: for he also was taken up
|
|
from the earth.
|
|
|
|
49:17. Nor as Joseph, who was a man born prince of his brethren, the
|
|
support of his family, the ruler of his brethren, the stay of the
|
|
people:
|
|
|
|
49:18. And his bones were visited, and after death they prophesied.
|
|
|
|
They prophesied. . .That is, by their being carried out of Egypt they
|
|
verified the prophetic prediction of Joseph. Gen. 50.
|
|
|
|
49:19. Seth and Sem obtained glory among men: and above every soul Adam
|
|
in the beginning,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 50
|
|
|
|
|
|
The praises of Simon the high priest. The conclusion.
|
|
|
|
50:1. Simon the high priest, the son of Onias, who in his life propped
|
|
up the house, and in his days fortified the temple.
|
|
|
|
50:2. By him also the height of the temple was founded, the double
|
|
building and the high walls of the temple.
|
|
|
|
50:3. In his days the wells of water flowed out, and they were filled
|
|
as the sea above measure.
|
|
|
|
50:4. He took care of his nation, and delivered it from destruction.
|
|
|
|
50:5. He prevailed to enlarge the city, and obtained glory in his
|
|
conversation with the people: and enlarged the entrance of the house
|
|
and the court.
|
|
|
|
50:6. He shone in his days as the morning star in the midst of a cloud,
|
|
and as the moon at the full.
|
|
|
|
50:7. And as the sun when it shineth, so did he shine in the temple of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
50:8. And as the rainbow giving light in bright clouds, and as the
|
|
flower of roses in the days of the spring, and as the lilies that are
|
|
on the brink of the water, and as the sweet smelling frankincense in
|
|
the time of summer.
|
|
|
|
50:9. As a bright fire, and frankincense burning in the fire.
|
|
|
|
50:10. As a massy vessel of gold, adorned with every precious stone.
|
|
|
|
50:11. As an olive tree budding forth, and a cypress tree rearing
|
|
itself on high, when he put on the robe of glory, and was clothed with
|
|
the perfection of power.
|
|
|
|
Clothed with the perfection of power. . .That is, with all the vestments
|
|
denoting his dignity and authority.
|
|
|
|
50:12. When he went up to the holy altar, he honoured the vesture of
|
|
holiness.
|
|
|
|
50:13. And when he took the portions out of the hands of the priests,
|
|
he himself stood by the altar. And about him was the ring of his
|
|
brethren: and as the cedar planted in mount Libanus,
|
|
|
|
50:14. And as branches of palm trees, they stood round about him, and
|
|
all the sons of Aaron in their glory.
|
|
|
|
50:15. And the oblation of the Lord was in their hands, before all the
|
|
congregation of Israel: and finishing his service, on the altar, to
|
|
honour the offering of the most high King,
|
|
|
|
50:16. He stretched forth his hand to make a libation, and offered of
|
|
the blood of the grape.
|
|
|
|
50:17. He poured out at the foot of the altar a divine odour to the
|
|
most high Prince.
|
|
|
|
50:18. Then the sons of Aaron shouted, they sounded with beaten
|
|
trumpets, and made a great noise to be heard for a remembrance before
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
50:19. Then all the people together made haste, and fell down to the
|
|
earth upon their faces, to adore the Lord their God, and to pray to the
|
|
Almighty God the most High.
|
|
|
|
50:20. And the singers lifted up their voices, and in the great house
|
|
the sound of sweet melody was increased.
|
|
|
|
50:21. And the people in prayer besought the Lord the most High, until
|
|
the worship of the Lord was perfected, and they had finished their
|
|
office.
|
|
|
|
50:22. Then coming down, he lifted up his hands over all the
|
|
congregation of the children of Israel, to give glory to God with his
|
|
lips, and to glory in his name:
|
|
|
|
50:23. And he repeated his prayer, willing to shew the power of God.
|
|
|
|
50:24. And now pray ye to the God of all, who hath done great things in
|
|
all the earth, who hath increased our days from our mother's womb, and
|
|
hath done with us according to his mercy.
|
|
|
|
50:25. May he grant us joyfulness of heart, and that there be peace in
|
|
our days in Israel for ever:
|
|
|
|
50:26. That Israel may believe that the mercy of God is with us, to
|
|
deliver us in his days.
|
|
|
|
50:27. There are two nations which my soul abhorreth: and the third is
|
|
no nation: which I hate:
|
|
|
|
Abhorreth. . .Viz., with a holy indignation, as enemies of God and
|
|
persecutors of his people. Such were then the Edomites who abode in
|
|
mount Seir, the Philistines, and the Samaritans who dwelt in Sichem,
|
|
and had their schismatical temple in that neighbourhood.
|
|
|
|
50:28. They that sit on mount Seir, and the Philistines, and the
|
|
foolish people that dwell in Sichem.
|
|
|
|
50:29. Jesus the son of Sirach, of Jerusalem, hath written in this book
|
|
the doctrine of wisdom and instruction, who renewed wisdom from his
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
50:30. Blessed is he that is conversant in these good things and he
|
|
that layeth them up in his heart, shall be wise always.
|
|
|
|
50:31. For if he do them, he shall be strong to do all things: because
|
|
the light of God guideth his steps.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ecclesiasticus Chapter 51
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
|
|
|
|
51:1. A prayer of Jesus the son of Sirach. I will give glory to thee, O
|
|
Lord, O King, and I will praise thee, O God my Saviour.
|
|
|
|
51:2. I will give glory to thy name: for thou hast been a helper and
|
|
protector to me.
|
|
|
|
51:3. And hast preserved my body from destruction, from the snare of an
|
|
unjust tongue, and from the lips of them that forge lies, and in the
|
|
sight of them that stood by, thou hast been my helper.
|
|
|
|
51:4. And thou hast delivered me, according to the multitude of the
|
|
mercy of thy name, from them that did roar, prepared to devour.
|
|
|
|
51:5. Out of the hands of them that sought my life, and from the gates
|
|
of afflictions, which compassed me about:
|
|
|
|
51:6. From the oppression of the flame which surrounded me, and in the
|
|
midst of the fire I was not burnt.
|
|
|
|
51:7. From the depth of the belly of hell, and from an unclean tongue,
|
|
and from lying words, from an unjust king, and from a slanderous
|
|
tongue:
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|
|
51:8. My soul shall praise the Lord even to death.
|
|
|
|
51:9. And my life was drawing near to hell beneath.
|
|
|
|
51:10. They compassed me on every side, and there was no one that would
|
|
help me. I looked for the succour of men, and there was none.
|
|
|
|
51:11. I remembered thy mercy, O Lord, and thy works, which are from
|
|
the beginning of the world.
|
|
|
|
51:12. How thou deliverest them that wait for thee, O Lord, and savest
|
|
them out of the hands of the nations.
|
|
|
|
51:13. Thou hast exalted my dwelling place upon the earth and I have
|
|
prayed for death to pass away.
|
|
|
|
51:14. I called upon the Lord, the father of my Lord, that he would not
|
|
leave me in the day of my trouble, and in the time of the proud without
|
|
help.
|
|
|
|
51:15. I will praise thy name continually, and will praise it with
|
|
thanksgiving, and my prayer was heard.
|
|
|
|
51:16. And thou hast saved me from destruction, and hast delivered me
|
|
from the evil time.
|
|
|
|
51:17. Therefore I will give thanks, and praise thee, and bless the
|
|
name of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
51:18. When I was yet young, before I wandered about, I sought for
|
|
wisdom openly in my prayer.
|
|
|
|
51:19. I prayed for her before the temple, and unto the very end I will
|
|
seek after her, and she flourished as a grape soon ripe.
|
|
|
|
51:20. My heart delighted in her, my foot walked in the right way, from
|
|
my youth up I sought after her.
|
|
|
|
51:21. I bowed down my ear a little, and received her.
|
|
|
|
51:22. I found much wisdom in myself, and profited much therein.
|
|
|
|
51:23. To him that giveth me wisdom, will I give glory.
|
|
|
|
51:24. For I have determined to follow her: I have had a zeal for good,
|
|
and shall not be confounded.
|
|
|
|
51:25. My soul hath wrestled for her, and in doing it I have been
|
|
confirmed.
|
|
|
|
51:26. I stretched forth my hands on high, and I bewailed my ignorance
|
|
of her.
|
|
|
|
51:27. I directed my soul to her, and in knowledge I found her.
|
|
|
|
51:28. I possessed my heart with her from the beginning: therefore I
|
|
shall not be forsaken.
|
|
|
|
51:29. My entrails were troubled in seeking her: therefore shall I
|
|
possess a good possession.
|
|
|
|
51:30. The Lord hath given me a tongue for my reward: and with it I
|
|
will praise him.
|
|
|
|
51:31. Draw near to me, ye unlearned, and gather yourselves together
|
|
into the hours of discipline.
|
|
|
|
51:32. Why are ye slow and what do you say of these things? your souls
|
|
are exceeding thirsty.
|
|
|
|
51:33. I have opened my mouth, and have spoken: buy her for yourselves
|
|
without silver,
|
|
|
|
51:34. And submit your neck to the yoke, and let your soul receive
|
|
discipline: for she is near at hand to be found.
|
|
|
|
51:35. Behold with your eyes how I have laboured a little, and have
|
|
found much rest to myself.
|
|
|
|
51:36. Receive ye discipline as a great sum of money, and possess
|
|
abundance of gold by her.
|
|
|
|
51:37. Let your soul rejoice in his mercy and you shall not be
|
|
confounded in his praise.
|
|
|
|
51:38. Work your work before the time, and he will give you your reward
|
|
in his time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This inspired writer is called by the Holy Ghost, the great prophet,
|
|
(Ecclesiasticus 48.25,) from the greatness of his prophetic spirit, by
|
|
which he hath foretold so long before, and in so clear a manner, the
|
|
coming of Christ, the mysteries of our redemption, the calling of the
|
|
Gentiles, and the glorious establishment, and perpetual flourishing of
|
|
the church of Christ: insomuch that he may seem to have been rather an
|
|
evangelist than a prophet. His very name is not without mystery; for
|
|
Isaias in Hebrew signifies the salvation of the Lord, or Jesus is the
|
|
Lord. He was, according to the tradition of the Hebrews, of the blood
|
|
royal of the kings of Juda: and after a most holy life, ended his days
|
|
by a glorious martyrdom; being sawed in two, at the command of his
|
|
wicked son in law, King Manasses, for reproving his evil ways.
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet complains of the sins of Juda and Jerusalem, and exhorts
|
|
them to a sincere conversion.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The vision of Isaias the Son of Amos, which he saw concerning Juda
|
|
and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings
|
|
of Juda.
|
|
|
|
1:2. Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath
|
|
spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have
|
|
despised me.
|
|
|
|
1:3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but
|
|
Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.
|
|
|
|
1:4. Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked
|
|
seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have
|
|
blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards.
|
|
|
|
1:5. For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase
|
|
transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.
|
|
|
|
1:6. From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no
|
|
soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not
|
|
bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.
|
|
|
|
1:7. Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your
|
|
country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as
|
|
when wasted by enemies.
|
|
|
|
1:8. And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard,
|
|
and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid
|
|
waste.
|
|
|
|
1:9. Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom,
|
|
and we should have been like to Gomorrha.
|
|
|
|
1:10. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the
|
|
law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.
|
|
|
|
1:11. To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims,
|
|
saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of
|
|
fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.
|
|
|
|
1:12. When you came to appear before me, who required these things at
|
|
your hands, that you should walk in my courts?
|
|
|
|
1:13. Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me.
|
|
The new moons, and the sabbaths and other festivals I will not abide,
|
|
your assemblies are wicked.
|
|
|
|
1:14. My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are
|
|
become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.
|
|
|
|
1:15. And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes
|
|
from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands
|
|
are full of blood.
|
|
|
|
1:16. Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices
|
|
from my eyes, cease to do perversely,
|
|
|
|
1:17. Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for
|
|
the fatherless, defend the widow.
|
|
|
|
1:18. And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as
|
|
scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as
|
|
crimson, they shall be white as wool.
|
|
|
|
1:19. If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good
|
|
things of the land.
|
|
|
|
1:20. But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword
|
|
shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
|
|
|
|
1:21. How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a
|
|
harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.
|
|
|
|
1:22. Thy silver is turned into dross: thy wine is mingled with water.
|
|
|
|
1:23. Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love
|
|
bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and
|
|
the widow's cause cometh not in to them.
|
|
|
|
1:24. Therefore saith the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of
|
|
Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be
|
|
revenged of my enemies.
|
|
|
|
1:25. And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will clean purge away thy
|
|
dross, and I will take away all thy tin.
|
|
|
|
1:26. And I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy
|
|
counsellors as of old. After this thou shalt be called the city of the
|
|
just, a faithful city.
|
|
|
|
1:27. Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back
|
|
in justice.
|
|
|
|
1:28. And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and
|
|
they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.
|
|
|
|
1:29. For they shall be confounded for the idols, to which they have
|
|
sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have
|
|
chosen.
|
|
|
|
1:30. When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a
|
|
garden without water.
|
|
|
|
1:31. And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as
|
|
a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to
|
|
quench it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
All nations shall flow to the church of Christ. The Jews shall be
|
|
rejected for their sins. Idolatry shall be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
2:1. The word that Isaias the son of Amos saw, concerning Juda and
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
2:2. And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall
|
|
be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the
|
|
hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.
|
|
|
|
The last days. . .The whole time of the new law, from the coming of
|
|
Christ till the end of the world, is called in the scripture the last
|
|
days; because no other age or time shall come after it, but only
|
|
eternity.--Ibid. On the top of mountains, etc. . .This shews the
|
|
perpetual visibility of the church of Christ: for a mountain upon the
|
|
top of mountains cannot be hid.
|
|
|
|
2:3. And many people shall go, and say: Come and let us go up to the
|
|
mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will
|
|
teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall
|
|
come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
2:4. And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they
|
|
shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into
|
|
sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
|
|
they be exercised any more to war.
|
|
|
|
2:5. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:6. For thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob: because
|
|
they are filled as in times past, and have had soothsayers as the
|
|
Philistines, and have adhered to strange children.
|
|
|
|
2:7. Their land is filled with silver and gold: and there is no end of
|
|
their treasures.
|
|
|
|
2:8. And their land is filled with horses: and their chariots are
|
|
innumerable. Their land also is full of idols: they have adored the
|
|
work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made.
|
|
|
|
2:9. And man hath bowed himself down, and man hath been debased:
|
|
therefore forgive them not.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face
|
|
of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty.
|
|
|
|
2:11. The lofty eyes of man are humbled, and the haughtiness of men
|
|
shall be made to stoop: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that
|
|
day.
|
|
|
|
2:12. Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that
|
|
is proud and highminded, and upon every one that is arrogant, and he
|
|
shall be humbled.
|
|
|
|
2:13. And upon all the tall and lofty cedars of Libanus, and upon all
|
|
the oaks of Basan.
|
|
|
|
2:14. And upon all the high mountains and upon all the elevated hills.
|
|
|
|
2:15. And upon every high tower, and every fenced wall.
|
|
|
|
2:16. And upon all the ships of Tharsis, and upon all that is fair to
|
|
behold.
|
|
|
|
2:17. And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness
|
|
of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that
|
|
day.
|
|
|
|
2:18. And idols shall be utterly destroyed.
|
|
|
|
Idols shall be utterly destroyed. . .or utterly pass away. This was
|
|
verified by the establishment of Christianity. And by this and other
|
|
texts of the like nature, the wild system of some modern sectaries is
|
|
abundantly confuted, who charge the whole Christian church with
|
|
worshipping idols, for many ages.
|
|
|
|
2:19. And they shall go into the holes of rocks, and into the caves of
|
|
the earth from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of
|
|
his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth.
|
|
|
|
2:20. In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his
|
|
idols of gold, which he had made for himself to adore, moles and bats.
|
|
|
|
2:21. And he shall go into the clefts of rocks, and into the holes of
|
|
stones from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his
|
|
majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth.
|
|
|
|
2:22. Cease ye therefore from the man, whose breath is in his nostrils,
|
|
for he is reputed high.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
The confusion and other evils that shall come upon the Jews for their
|
|
sins. The pride of their women shall be punished.
|
|
|
|
3:1. For behold the sovereign Lord of hosts shall take away from
|
|
Jerusalem, and from Juda the valiant and the strong, the whole strength
|
|
of bread, and the whole strength of water.
|
|
|
|
3:2. The strong man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet and
|
|
the cunning man, and the ancient.
|
|
|
|
3:3. The captain over fifty, and the honourable in countenance, and the
|
|
counsellor, and the architect, and the skilful in eloquent speech.
|
|
|
|
3:4. And I will give children to be their princes, and the effeminate
|
|
shall rule over them.
|
|
|
|
3:5. And the people shall rush one upon another, and every man against
|
|
his neighbour: the child shall make a tumult against the ancient, and
|
|
the base against the honourable.
|
|
|
|
3:6. For a man shall take hold of his brother, one of the house of his
|
|
father, saying: Thou hast a garment, be thou our ruler, and let this
|
|
ruin be under thy hand.
|
|
|
|
3:7. In that day he shall answer, saying: I am no healer, and in my
|
|
house there is no bread, nor clothing: make me not ruler of the people.
|
|
|
|
3:8. For Jerusalem is ruined, and Juda is fallen: because their tongue,
|
|
and their devices are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his
|
|
majesty.
|
|
|
|
3:9. The shew of their countenance hath answered them: and they have
|
|
proclaimed abroad their sin as Sodom, and they have not hid it: woe to
|
|
their souls, for evils are rendered to them.
|
|
|
|
3:10. Say to the just man that it is well, for he shall eat the fruit
|
|
of his doings.
|
|
|
|
3:11. Woe to the wicked unto evil: for the reward of his hands shall be
|
|
given him.
|
|
|
|
3:12. As for my people, their oppressors have stripped them, and women
|
|
have ruled over them. O my people, they that call thee blessed, the
|
|
same deceive thee, and destroy the way of thy steps.
|
|
|
|
3:13. The Lord standeth up to judge, and he standeth to judge the
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
3:14. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his
|
|
people, and its princes: for you have devoured the vineyard, and the
|
|
spoil of the poor is in your house.
|
|
|
|
3:15. Why do you consume my people, and grind the faces of the poor?
|
|
saith the Lord the God of hosts.
|
|
|
|
3:16. And the Lord said: Because the daughters of Sion are haughty, and
|
|
have walked with stretched out necks, and wanton glances of their eyes,
|
|
and made a noise as they walked with their feet and moved in a set
|
|
pace:
|
|
|
|
3:17. The Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of
|
|
Sion, and the Lord will discover their hair.
|
|
|
|
3:18. In that day the Lord will take away the ornaments of shoes, and
|
|
little moons,
|
|
|
|
3:19. And chains and necklaces, and bracelets, and bonnets,
|
|
|
|
3:20. And bodkins, and ornaments of the legs, and tablets, and sweet
|
|
balls, and earrings,
|
|
|
|
3:21. And rings, and jewels hanging on the forehead,
|
|
|
|
3:22. And changes of apparel, and short cloaks, and fine linen, and
|
|
crisping pins,
|
|
|
|
3:23. And lookingglasses, and lawns, and headbands, and fine veils.
|
|
|
|
3:24. And instead of a sweet smell there shall be stench, and instead
|
|
of a girdle, a cord, and instead of curled hair, baldness, and instead
|
|
of a stomacher, haircloth.
|
|
|
|
3:25. Thy fairest men also shall fall by the sword, and thy valiant
|
|
ones in battle.
|
|
|
|
3:26. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall sit desolate
|
|
on the ground.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
After an extremity of evils that shall fall upon the Jews, a remnant
|
|
shall be comforted by Christ.
|
|
|
|
4:1. And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying: We
|
|
will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called
|
|
by thy name, take away our reproach.
|
|
|
|
4:2. In that day the bud of the Lord shall be in magnificence and
|
|
glory, and the fruit of the earth shall be high, and a great joy to
|
|
them that shall have escaped of Israel.
|
|
|
|
The bud of the Lord. . .That is, Christ.
|
|
|
|
4:3. And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall be left in
|
|
Sion, and that shall remain in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, every
|
|
one that is written in life in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
4:4. If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion,
|
|
and shall wash away the blood of Jerusalem out of the midst thereof, by
|
|
the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.
|
|
|
|
4:5. And the Lord will create upon every place of mount Sion, and where
|
|
he is called upon, a cloud by day, and a smoke and the brightness of a
|
|
flaming fire in the night: for over all the glory shall be a
|
|
protection.
|
|
|
|
4:6. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from
|
|
the heat, and for a security and covert from the whirlwind, and from
|
|
rain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
The reprobation of the Jews is foreshewn under the parable of a
|
|
vineyard. A woe is pronounced against sinners: the army of God shall
|
|
send against them.
|
|
|
|
5:1. I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his
|
|
vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place.
|
|
|
|
My cousin. . .So the prophet calls Christ, as being of his family and
|
|
kindred, by descending from the house of David. Ibid. On a hill,
|
|
etc. . .Literally, in the horn, the son of oil.
|
|
|
|
5:2. And he fenced it in, and picked the stones out of it, and planted
|
|
it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and
|
|
set up a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth
|
|
grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
|
|
|
|
5:3. And now, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Juda, judge
|
|
between me and my vineyard.
|
|
|
|
5:4. What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have
|
|
not done to it? was it that I looked that it should bring forth grapes,
|
|
and it hath brought forth wild grapes?
|
|
|
|
5:5. And now I will shew you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take
|
|
away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted: I will break down the
|
|
wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.
|
|
|
|
5:6. And I will make it desolate: it shall not be pruned, and it shall
|
|
not be digged: but briers and thorns shall come up: and I will command
|
|
the clouds to rain no rain upon it.
|
|
|
|
5:7. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and
|
|
the man of Juda, his pleasant plant: and I looked that he should do
|
|
judgment, and behold iniquity: and do justice, and behold a cry.
|
|
|
|
5:8. Woe to you that join house to house and lay field to field, even
|
|
to the end of the place: shall you alone dwell in the midst of the
|
|
earth?
|
|
|
|
5:9. These things are in my ears, saith the Lord of hosts: Unless many
|
|
great and fair houses shall become desolate, without an inhabitant.
|
|
|
|
5:10. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one little measure, and
|
|
thirty bushels of seed shall yield three bushels.
|
|
|
|
5:11. Woe to you that rise up early in the morning to follow
|
|
drunkenness, and to drink in the evening, to be inflamed with wine.
|
|
|
|
5:12. The harp, and the lyre, and, the timbrel and the pipe, and wine
|
|
are in your feasts: and the work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you
|
|
consider the works of his hands.
|
|
|
|
5:13. Therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not
|
|
knowledge, and their nobles have perished with famine, and their
|
|
multitude were dried up with thirst.
|
|
|
|
5:14. Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth
|
|
without any bounds, and their strong ones, and their people, and their
|
|
high and glorious ones shall go down into it.
|
|
|
|
5:15. And man shall be brought down, and man shall be humbled, and the
|
|
eyes of the lofty shall be brought low.
|
|
|
|
5:16. And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and the holy
|
|
God shall be sanctified in justice.
|
|
|
|
5:17. And the lambs shall feed according to their order, and strangers
|
|
shall eat the deserts turned into fruitfulness.
|
|
|
|
5:18. Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as
|
|
the rope of a cart.
|
|
|
|
5:19. That say: Let him make haste, and let his work come quickly, that
|
|
we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that
|
|
we may know it.
|
|
|
|
5:20. Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness
|
|
for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet
|
|
for bitter.
|
|
|
|
5:21. Woe to you that are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your
|
|
own conceits.
|
|
|
|
5:22. Woe to you that are mighty to drink wine, and stout men at
|
|
drunkenness.
|
|
|
|
5:23. That justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of
|
|
the just from him.
|
|
|
|
5:24. Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and
|
|
the heat of the flame consumeth it: so shall their root be as ashes,
|
|
and their bud shall go up as dust: for they have cast away the law of
|
|
the Lord of hosts, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
5:25. Therefore is the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people,
|
|
and he hath stretched out his hand upon them, and struck them: and the
|
|
mountains were troubles, and their carcasses became as dung in the
|
|
midst of the streets. For after this his anger is not turned away, but
|
|
his hand is stretched out still.
|
|
|
|
5:26. And he will lift up a sign to the nations afar off, and will
|
|
whistle to them from the ends of the earth: and behold they shall come
|
|
with speed swiftly.
|
|
|
|
5:27. There is none that shall faint, nor labour among them: they shall
|
|
not slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of their loins be
|
|
loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken.
|
|
|
|
5:28. Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. The hoofs of
|
|
their horses shall be like the flint, and their wheels like the
|
|
violence of a tempest.
|
|
|
|
5:29. Their roaring like that of a lion, they shall roar like young
|
|
lions: yea they shall roar, and take hold of the prey, and they shall
|
|
keep fast hold of it, and there shall be none to deliver it.
|
|
|
|
5:30. And they shall make a noise against them that day, like the
|
|
roaring of the sea; we shall look towards the land, and behold darkness
|
|
of tribulation, and the light is darkened with the mist thereof.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
A glorious vision, in which the prophet's lips are cleansed: he
|
|
foretelleth the obstinacy of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
6:1. In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a
|
|
throne high and elevated: and his train filled the temple.
|
|
|
|
6:2. Upon it stood the seraphims: the one had six wings, and the other
|
|
had six wings: with two they covered his face, and with two they
|
|
covered his feet, and with two they flew.
|
|
|
|
6:3. And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, holy, holy, the
|
|
Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory,
|
|
|
|
6:4. And the lintels of the doors were moved at the voice of him that
|
|
cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
|
|
|
|
6:5. And I said: Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am
|
|
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath
|
|
unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
6:6. And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live
|
|
coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar.
|
|
|
|
6:7. And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this hath touched thy
|
|
lips, and thy iniquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be
|
|
cleansed.
|
|
|
|
6:8. And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send? and
|
|
who shall go for us? And I said: Lo, here am I, send me.
|
|
|
|
6:9. And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Hearing, hear,
|
|
and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not.
|
|
|
|
6:10. Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and
|
|
shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their
|
|
ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
6:11. And I said: How long, O Lord? And he said: Until the cities be
|
|
wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land
|
|
shall be left desolate.
|
|
|
|
6:12. And the Lord shall remove men far away, and she shall be
|
|
multiplied that was left in the midst of the earth.
|
|
|
|
6:13. And there shall be still a tithing therein, and she shall turn,
|
|
and shall be made a show as a turpentine tree, and as an oak that
|
|
spreadeth its branches: that which shall stand therein, shall be a holy
|
|
seed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet assures king Achaz that the two kings his enemies shall not
|
|
take Jerusalem. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son.
|
|
|
|
7:1. And it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Joathan, the
|
|
son of Ozias, king of Juda, that Rasin king of Syria and Phacee the son
|
|
of Romelia king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem, to fight against it:
|
|
but they could not prevail over it.
|
|
|
|
7:2. And they told the house of David, saying: Syria hath rested upon
|
|
Ephraim, and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the
|
|
trees of the woods are moved with the wind.
|
|
|
|
7:3. And the Lord said to Isaias: Go forth to meet Achaz, thou and
|
|
Jasub thy son that is left, to the conduit of the upper pool in the way
|
|
of the fuller's field.
|
|
|
|
7:4. And thou shalt say to him: See thou be quiet: fear not, and let
|
|
not thy heart be afraid of the two tails of these firebrands, smoking
|
|
with the wrath of the fury of Rasin king of Syria, and of the son of
|
|
Romelia.
|
|
|
|
7:5. Because Syria hath taken counsel against thee, unto the evil of
|
|
Ephraim and the son of Romelia, saying:
|
|
|
|
7:6. Let us go up to Juda, and rouse it up, and draw it away to us, and
|
|
make the son of Tabeel king in the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
7:7. Thus saith the Lord God: It shall not stand, and this shall not
|
|
be.
|
|
|
|
7:8. But the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is
|
|
Rasin: and within threescore and five years, Ephraim shall cease to be
|
|
a people:
|
|
|
|
7:9. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the
|
|
son of Romelia. If you will not believe, you shall not continue.
|
|
|
|
7:10. And the Lord spoke again to Achaz, saying:
|
|
|
|
7:11. Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, either unto the depth of
|
|
hell, or unto the height above.
|
|
|
|
7:12. And Achaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord.
|
|
|
|
7:13. And he said: Hear ye therefore, O house of David: Is it a small
|
|
thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God
|
|
also?
|
|
|
|
7:14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin
|
|
shall conceive, and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel.
|
|
|
|
7:15. He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the
|
|
evil, and to choose the good.
|
|
|
|
7:16. For before the child know to refuse the evil and to choose the
|
|
good, the land which thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of the face of
|
|
her two kings.
|
|
|
|
7:17. The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon the
|
|
house of thy father, days that have not come since the time of the
|
|
separation of Ephraim from Juda with the king of the Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
7:18. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss
|
|
for the fly, that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and
|
|
for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
|
|
|
|
7:19. And they shall come, and shall all of them rest in the torrents
|
|
of the valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all places set
|
|
with shrubs, and in all hollow places.
|
|
|
|
7:20. In that day the Lord shall shave with a razor that is hired by
|
|
them that are beyond the river, by the king of the Assyrians, the head
|
|
and the hairs of the feet, and the whole beard.
|
|
|
|
7:21. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a
|
|
young cow, and two sheep.
|
|
|
|
7:22. And for the abundance of milk he shall eat butter: for butter and
|
|
honey shall every one eat that shall be left in the midst of the land.
|
|
|
|
7:23. And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place where
|
|
there were a thousand vines, at a thousand pieces of silver, shall
|
|
become thorns and briers.
|
|
|
|
7:24. With arrows and with bows they shall go in thither: for briers
|
|
and thorns shall be in all the land.
|
|
|
|
7:25. And as for the hills that shall be raked with a rake, the fear of
|
|
thorns and briers shall not come thither, but they shall be for the ox
|
|
to feed on, and the lesser cattle to tread upon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
The name of a child that is to be born: many evils shall come upon the
|
|
Jews for their sins.
|
|
|
|
8:1. And the Lord said to me: Take thee a great book, and write in it
|
|
with a man's pen. Take away the spoils with speed, quickly take the
|
|
prey.
|
|
|
|
8:2. And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, and
|
|
Zacharias the son of Barachias.
|
|
|
|
8:3. And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son.
|
|
And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Hasten to take away the spoils:
|
|
Make hast to take away the prey.
|
|
|
|
8:4. For before the child know to call his father and his mother, the
|
|
strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away
|
|
before the king of the Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
8:5. And the Lord spoke to me again, saying:
|
|
|
|
8:6. Forasmuch as this people hath cast away the waters of Siloe, that
|
|
go with silence, and hath rather taken Rasin, and the son of Romelia:
|
|
|
|
8:7. Therefore behold the Lord will bring upon them the waters of the
|
|
river strong and many, the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory:
|
|
and he shall come up over all his channels, and shall overflow all his
|
|
banks.
|
|
|
|
8:8. And shall pass through Juda, overflowing, and going over shall
|
|
reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill
|
|
the breadth of thy, land, O Emmanuel.
|
|
|
|
8:9. Gather yourselves together, O ye people, and be overcome, and give
|
|
ear, all ye lands afar off: strengthen yourselves, and be overcome,
|
|
gird yourselves, and be overcome.
|
|
|
|
8:10. Take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word,
|
|
and it shall not be done: because God is with us.
|
|
|
|
8:11. For thus saith the Lord to me: As he hath taught me, with a
|
|
strong arm, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:
|
|
|
|
8:12. Say ye not: A conspiracy: for all that this people speaketh, is a
|
|
conspiracy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
|
|
|
|
8:13. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: and let him be your fear, and
|
|
let him be your dread.
|
|
|
|
8:14. And he shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone of
|
|
stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, for a
|
|
snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
8:15. And very many of them shall stumble and fall, and shall be broken
|
|
in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken.
|
|
|
|
8:16. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
|
|
|
|
8:17. And I will wait for the Lord, who hath hid his face from the
|
|
house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
|
|
|
|
8:18. Behold I and my children, whom the Lord hath given me for a sign,
|
|
and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in
|
|
mount Sion.
|
|
|
|
8:19. And when they shall say to you: Seek of pythons, and of diviners,
|
|
who mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek of their
|
|
God, for the living of the dead?
|
|
|
|
Seek of pythons. . .That is, people pretending to tell future things by
|
|
a prophesying spirit.--Ibid. Should not the people seek of their God,
|
|
for the living of the dead?. . .Here is signified, that it is to God we
|
|
should pray to be directed, and not to seek of the dead, (that is, of
|
|
fortune-tellers dead in sin,) for the health of the living.
|
|
|
|
8:20. To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not
|
|
according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.
|
|
|
|
8:21. And they shall pass by it, they shall fall, and be hungry: and
|
|
when they shall be hungry, they will be angry, and curse their king,
|
|
and their God, and look upwards.
|
|
|
|
8:22. And they shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and
|
|
darkness, weakness and distress, and a mist following them, and they
|
|
cannot fly away from their distress.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
What joy shall come after afflictions by the birth and kingdom of
|
|
Christ; which shall flourish for ever. Judgments upon Israel for their
|
|
sins.
|
|
|
|
9:1. At the first time the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtali
|
|
was lightly touched: and at the last the way of the sea beyond the
|
|
Jordan of the Galilee of the Gentiles was heavily loaded.
|
|
|
|
9:2. The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to
|
|
them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.
|
|
|
|
9:3. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy.
|
|
They shall rejoice before thee, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as
|
|
conquerors rejoice after taking a prey, when they divide the spoils.
|
|
|
|
9:4. For the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and
|
|
the sceptre of their oppressor thou hast overcome, as in the day of
|
|
Madian.
|
|
|
|
9:5. For every violent taking of spoils, with tumult, and garment
|
|
mingled with blood, shall be burnt, and be fuel for the fire.
|
|
|
|
9:6. For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the
|
|
government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
|
|
Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come,
|
|
the Prince of Peace.
|
|
|
|
9:7. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of
|
|
peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to
|
|
establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from
|
|
henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform
|
|
this.
|
|
|
|
9:8. The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.
|
|
|
|
9:9. And all the people of Ephraim shall know, and the inhabitants of
|
|
Samaria that say in the pride and haughtiness of their heart:
|
|
|
|
9:10. The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with square stones:
|
|
they have cut down the sycamores, but we will change them for cedars.
|
|
|
|
9:11. And the Lord shall set up the enemies of Rasin over him, and
|
|
shall bring on his enemies in a crowd:
|
|
|
|
9:12. The Syrians from the east, and, the Philistines from the west:
|
|
and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his
|
|
indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
|
|
|
|
9:13. And the people are not returned to him who hath struck them, and
|
|
have not sought after the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
9:14. And the Lord shall destroy out of Israel the head and the tail,
|
|
him that bendeth down, and him that holdeth back, in one day.
|
|
|
|
9:15. The aged and honourable, he is the head: and the prophet that
|
|
teacheth lies, he is the tail.
|
|
|
|
9:16. And they that call this people blessed, shall cause them to err:
|
|
and they that are called blessed, shall be thrown down, headlong.
|
|
|
|
9:17. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men: neither
|
|
shall he have mercy on their fatherless, and widows: for every one is a
|
|
hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth hath spoken folly. For all this
|
|
his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out
|
|
still.
|
|
|
|
9:18. For wickedness is kindled as a fire, it shall devour the brier
|
|
and the thorn: and shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, and it
|
|
shall be wrapped up in smoke ascending on high.
|
|
|
|
9:19. By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is troubled, and the
|
|
people shall be as fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother.
|
|
|
|
9:20. And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and
|
|
shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled: every one shall
|
|
eat the flesh of his own arm: Manasses Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasses,
|
|
and they together shall be against Juda.
|
|
|
|
9:21. After all these things his indignation is not turned away, but
|
|
his hand is stretched out still.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
Woe to the makers of wicked laws. The Assyrian shall be a rod for
|
|
punishing Israel: but for their pride they shall be destroyed: and a
|
|
remnant of Israel saved.
|
|
|
|
10:1. Woe to them that make wicked laws: and when they write, write
|
|
injustice:
|
|
|
|
10:2. To oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of
|
|
the humble of my people: that widows might be their prey, and that they
|
|
might rob the fatherless.
|
|
|
|
10:3. What will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity
|
|
which cometh from afar? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will
|
|
ye leave your glory?
|
|
|
|
10:4. That you be not bowed down under the bond, and fall with the
|
|
slain? In all these things his anger is not turned away, but his hand
|
|
is stretched out still.
|
|
|
|
10:5. Woe to the Assyrian, he is the rod and the staff of my anger, and
|
|
my indignation is in their hands.
|
|
|
|
10:6. I will send him to a deceitful nation, and I will give him a
|
|
charge against the people of my wrath, to take away the spoils, and to
|
|
lay hold on the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the
|
|
streets.
|
|
|
|
10:7. But he shall not take it so, and his heart shall not think so:
|
|
but his heart shall be set to destroy, and to cut off nations not a
|
|
few.
|
|
|
|
10:8. For he shall say:
|
|
|
|
10:9. Are not my princes as so many kings? is not Calano as Charcamis:
|
|
and Emath as Arphad? is not Samaria as Damascus?
|
|
|
|
10:10. As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idol, so also their
|
|
idols of Jerusalem, and of Samaria.
|
|
|
|
10:11. Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to
|
|
Jerusalem and her idols?
|
|
|
|
10:12. And it shall come to pass, that when the Lord shall have
|
|
performed all his works in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, I will visit
|
|
the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of
|
|
the haughtiness of his eyes.
|
|
|
|
10:13. For he hath said: By the strength of my own hand I have done it,
|
|
and by my own wisdom I have understood: and I have removed the bounds
|
|
of the people, and have taken the spoils of the princes, and as a
|
|
mighty man hath pulled down them that sat on high.
|
|
|
|
10:14. And my hand hath found the strength of the people as a nest; and
|
|
as eggs are gathered, that are left, so have I gathered all the earth:
|
|
and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or made
|
|
the least noise.
|
|
|
|
10:15. Shall the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it? or
|
|
shall the saw exalt itself against him by whom it is drawn? as if a rod
|
|
should lift itself up against him that lifteth it up, and a staff exalt
|
|
itself, which is but wood.
|
|
|
|
10:16. Therefore the sovereign Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall send
|
|
leanness among his fat ones: and under his glory shall be kindled a
|
|
burning, as it were the burning of a fire.
|
|
|
|
10:17. And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and the Holy One
|
|
thereof as a flame: and his thorns and his briers shall be set on fire,
|
|
and shall be devoured in one day.
|
|
|
|
10:18. And the glory of his forest, and of his beautiful hill, shall be
|
|
consumed from the soul even to the flesh, and he shall run away through
|
|
fear.
|
|
|
|
10:19. And they that remain of the trees of his forest shall be so few,
|
|
that they shall easily be numbered, and a child shall write them down.
|
|
|
|
10:20. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of
|
|
Israel, and they that shall escape of the house of Jacob, shall lean no
|
|
more upon him that striketh them: but they shall lean upon the Lord the
|
|
Holy One of Israel, in truth.
|
|
|
|
10:21. The remnant shall be converted, the remnant, I say, of Jacob, to
|
|
the mighty God.
|
|
|
|
10:22. For if thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a
|
|
remnant of them shall be converted, the consumption abridged shall
|
|
overflow with justice.
|
|
|
|
A remnant of them shall be converted. . .This was partly verified in the
|
|
children of Israel who remained after the devastations of the
|
|
Assyrians, in the time of king Ezechias: and partly in the conversion
|
|
of a remnant of the Jews to the faithful of Christ.--Ibid. The
|
|
consumption abridged, etc. . .That is, the number of them cut short, and
|
|
reduced to few, shall flourish in abundance of justice.
|
|
|
|
10:23. For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, and an
|
|
abridgment in the midst of all the land.
|
|
|
|
10:24. Therefore, thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: O my people
|
|
that dwellest in Sion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall strike
|
|
thee with his rod, and he shall lift up his staff over thee in the way
|
|
of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
10:25. For yet a little and a very little while, and my indignation
|
|
shall cease, and my wrath shall be upon their wickedness.
|
|
|
|
10:26. And the Lord of hosts shall raise up a scourge against him,
|
|
according to the slaughter of Madian in the rock of Oreb, and his rod
|
|
over the sea, and he shall lift it up in the way of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
10:27. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be
|
|
taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and
|
|
the yoke shall putrefy at the presence of the oil.
|
|
|
|
At the presence of the oil. . .That is, by the sweet unction of divine
|
|
mercy.
|
|
|
|
10:28. He shall come into Aiath, he shall pass into Magron: at Machmas
|
|
he shall lay up his carriages.
|
|
|
|
Into Aiath, etc. . .Here the prophet describes the march of the
|
|
Assyrians under Sennacherib; and the terror they should carry with
|
|
them; and how they should suddenly be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
10:29. They have passed in haste, Gaba is our lodging: Rama was
|
|
astonished, Gabaath of Saul fled away.
|
|
|
|
10:30. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim, attend, O Laisa, poor
|
|
Anathoth.
|
|
|
|
10:31. Medemena is removed: ye inhabitants of Gabim, take courage.
|
|
|
|
10:32. It is yet day enough, to remain in Nobe: he shall shake his hand
|
|
against the mountain of the daughter of Sion, the hill of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
10:33. Behold the sovereign Lord of hosts shall break the earthen
|
|
vessel with terror, and the tall of stature shall be cut down, and the
|
|
lofty shall be humbled.
|
|
|
|
10:34. And the thickets of the forest shall be cut down with iron, and
|
|
Libanus with its high ones shall fall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, to which all nations shall repair.
|
|
|
|
11:1. And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a
|
|
flower shall rise up out of his root.
|
|
|
|
11:2. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of
|
|
wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude,
|
|
the spirit of knowledge, and of godliness.
|
|
|
|
11:3. And he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord,
|
|
He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove
|
|
according to the hearing of the ears.
|
|
|
|
11:4. But he shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with
|
|
equity the meek of the earth: and he shall strike the earth with the
|
|
rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the
|
|
wicked.
|
|
|
|
11:5. And justice shall be the girdle of his loins: and faith the
|
|
girdle of his reins.
|
|
|
|
11:6. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie
|
|
down with the kid: the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall abide
|
|
together, and a little child shall lead them.
|
|
|
|
11:7. The calf and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall rest
|
|
together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
|
|
|
|
11:8. And the sucking child shall play on other hole of the asp: and
|
|
the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk.
|
|
|
|
11:9. They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain,
|
|
for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the covering
|
|
waters of the sea.
|
|
|
|
11:10. In that day the root of Jesse, who standeth for an ensign of the
|
|
people, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be
|
|
glorious.
|
|
|
|
11:11. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set
|
|
his hand the second time to possess the remnant of his people, which
|
|
shall be left from the Assyrians, and from Egypt, and from Phetros, and
|
|
from Ethiopia, and from Elam, and from Sennaar, and from Emath, and
|
|
from the islands of the sea.
|
|
|
|
11:12. And he shall set up a standard unto the nations, and shall
|
|
assemble the fugitives of Israel, and shall gather together the
|
|
dispersed of Juda from the four quarters of the earth.
|
|
|
|
11:13. And the envy of Ephraim shall be taken away, and the enemies of
|
|
Juda shall perish: Ephraim shall not envy Juda, and Juda shall not
|
|
fight against Ephraim.
|
|
|
|
11:14. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines by the
|
|
sea, they together shall spoil the children of the east: Edom, till
|
|
Moab shall be under the rule of their hand, and the children of Ammon
|
|
shall be obedient.
|
|
|
|
11:15. And the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and
|
|
shall lift up his hand over the river in the strength of his spirit:
|
|
and he shall strike it in the seven streams, so that men may pass
|
|
through it in their shoes.
|
|
|
|
11:16. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of my people, which
|
|
shall be left from the Assyrians: as there was for Israel in the day
|
|
that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
A canticle of thanksgiving for the benefits of Christ.
|
|
|
|
12:1. And thou shalt say in that day: I will give thanks to thee, O
|
|
Lord, for thou wast angry with me: thy wrath is turned away, and thou
|
|
hast comforted me.
|
|
|
|
12:2. Behold, God is my saviour, I will deal confidently, and will not
|
|
fear: because the Lord is my strength, and my praise, and he is become
|
|
my salvation.
|
|
|
|
12:3. Thou shall draw waters with joy out of the saviour's fountains:
|
|
|
|
12:4. And you shall say in that day: Praise ye the Lord, and call upon
|
|
his name: make his works known among the people: remember that his name
|
|
is high.
|
|
|
|
12:5. Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath done great things: shew this
|
|
forth in all the earth.
|
|
|
|
12:6. Rejoice, and praise, O thou habitation of Sion: for great is he
|
|
that is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
The desolation of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
13:1. The burden of Babylon which Isaias the son of Amos saw.
|
|
|
|
The burden of Babylon. . .That is, a prophecy against Babylon.
|
|
|
|
13:2. Upon the dark mountain lift ye up a banner, exalt the voice, lift
|
|
up the hand, and let the rulers go into the gates.
|
|
|
|
13:3. I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my strong
|
|
ones in my wrath, them that rejoice in my glory.
|
|
|
|
13:4. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as it were of many
|
|
people, the noise of the sound of kings, of nations gathered together:
|
|
the Lord of hosts hath given charge to the troops of war.
|
|
|
|
13:5. To them that come from a country afar off, from the end of
|
|
heaven: the Lord and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole
|
|
land.
|
|
|
|
13:6. Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near: it shall come as a
|
|
destruction from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
13:7. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every heart of man shall
|
|
melt,
|
|
|
|
13:8. And shall be broken. Gripings and pains, shall take hold of them,
|
|
they shall be in pain as a woman in labour. Every one shall be amazed
|
|
at his neighbour, their countenances shall be as faces burnt.
|
|
|
|
13:9. Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of
|
|
indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to
|
|
destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
|
|
|
|
13:10. For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display
|
|
their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon
|
|
shall not shine with her light.
|
|
|
|
13:11. And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked
|
|
for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and
|
|
will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty.
|
|
|
|
13:12. A man shall be more precious than gold, yea a man than the
|
|
finest of gold.
|
|
|
|
13:13. For this I will trouble the heaven: and the earth shall be moved
|
|
out of her place, for the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and for the
|
|
day of his fierce wrath.
|
|
|
|
13:14. And they shall be as a doe fleeing away, and as a sheep: and
|
|
there shall be none to gather them together: every man shall turn to
|
|
his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land.
|
|
|
|
13:15. Every one that shall be found, shall be slain: and every one
|
|
that shall come to their aid, shall fall by the sword.
|
|
|
|
13:16. Their inhabitants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes:
|
|
their houses shall be pillaged, and their wives shall be ravished.
|
|
|
|
13:17. Behold I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not seek
|
|
silver, nor desire gold:
|
|
|
|
13:18. But with their arrows they shall kill the children, and shall
|
|
have no pity upon the sucklings of the womb, and their eye shall not
|
|
spare their sons.
|
|
|
|
13:19. And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, the famous pride of
|
|
the Chaldeans, shall be even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha.
|
|
|
|
13:20. It shall no more be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be
|
|
founded unto generation and generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch
|
|
his tents there, nor shall shepherds rest there.
|
|
|
|
13:21. But wild beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be
|
|
filled with serpents, and ostriches shall dwell there, and the hairy
|
|
ones shall dance there:
|
|
|
|
13:22. And owls shall answer one another there, in the houses thereof,
|
|
and sirens in the temples of pleasure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
The restoration of Israel after their captivity. The parable or song
|
|
insulting over the king of Babylon. A prophecy against the Philistines.
|
|
|
|
14:1. Her time is near at hand, and her days shall not be prolonged.
|
|
For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose out of
|
|
Israel, and will make them rest upon their own ground: and the stranger
|
|
shall be joined with them, and shall adhere to the house of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
14:2. And the people shall take them, and bring them into their place:
|
|
and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for
|
|
servants and handmaids: and they shall make them captives that had
|
|
taken them, and shall subdue their oppressors.
|
|
|
|
14:3. And it shall come to pass in that day, that when God shall give
|
|
thee rest from thy labour, and from thy vexation, and from the hard
|
|
bondage, wherewith thou didst serve before,
|
|
|
|
14:4. Thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and
|
|
shalt say: How is the oppressor come to nothing, the tribute hath
|
|
ceased?
|
|
|
|
14:5. The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the
|
|
rulers,
|
|
|
|
14:6. That struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, that
|
|
brought nations under in fury, that persecuted in a cruel manner.
|
|
|
|
14:7. The whole earth is quiet and still, it is glad and hath rejoiced.
|
|
|
|
14:8. The fir trees also have rejoiced over thee, and the cedars of
|
|
Libanus, saying: Since thou hast slept, there hath none come up to cut
|
|
us down.
|
|
|
|
14:9. Hell below was in an uproar to meet thee at thy coming, it
|
|
stirred up the giants for thee. All the princes of the earth are risen
|
|
up from their thrones, all the princes of nations.
|
|
|
|
14:10. All shall answer, and say to thee: Thou also art wounded as well
|
|
as we, thou art become like unto us.
|
|
|
|
14:11. Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcass is fallen down:
|
|
under thee shall the moth be strewed, and worms shall be thy covering.
|
|
|
|
14:12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in
|
|
the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the
|
|
nations?
|
|
|
|
O Lucifer. . .O day star. All this, according to the letter, is spoken
|
|
of the king of Babylon. It may also be applied, in a spiritual sense,
|
|
to Lucifer the prince of devils, who was created a bright angel, but
|
|
fell by pride and rebellion against God.
|
|
|
|
14:13. And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will
|
|
exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of
|
|
the covenant, in the sides of the north.
|
|
|
|
14:14. I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the
|
|
most High.
|
|
|
|
14:15. But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of
|
|
the pit.
|
|
|
|
14:16. They that shall see thee, shall turn toward thee, and behold
|
|
thee. Is this the man that troubled the earth, that shook kingdoms,
|
|
|
|
14:17. That made the world a wilderness, and destroyed the cities
|
|
thereof, that opened not the prison to his prisoners?
|
|
|
|
14:18. All the kings of the nations have all of them slept in glory,
|
|
every one in his own house.
|
|
|
|
14:19. But thou art cast out of thy grave, as an unprofitable branch
|
|
defiled, and wrapped up among them that were slain by the sword, and
|
|
art gone down to the bottom of the pit, as a rotten carcass.
|
|
|
|
14:20. Thou shalt not keep company with them, even in burial: for thou
|
|
hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people: the seed of the
|
|
wicked shall not be named for ever.
|
|
|
|
14:21. Prepare his children for slaughter for the iniquity of their
|
|
fathers: they shall not rise up, nor inherit the land, nor fill the
|
|
face of the world with cities.
|
|
|
|
14:22. And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts: and I
|
|
will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remains, and the bud, and the
|
|
offspring, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
14:23. And I will make it a possession for the ericius and pools of
|
|
waters, and I will sweep it and wear it out with a besom, saith the
|
|
Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
14:24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying: Surely as I have thought,
|
|
so shall it be: and as I have purposed,
|
|
|
|
14:25. So shall it fall out: That I will destroy the Assyrian in my
|
|
land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: and his yoke shall be
|
|
taken away from them, and his burden shall be taken off their shoulder.
|
|
|
|
14:26. This is the counsel, that I have purposed upon all the earth,
|
|
and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all nations.
|
|
|
|
14:27. For the Lord of hosts hath decreed, and who can disannul it? and
|
|
his hand is stretched out: and who shall turn it away?
|
|
|
|
14:28. In the year that king Achaz died, was this burden:
|
|
|
|
14:29. Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, that the rod of him that
|
|
struck thee is broken in pieces: for out of the root of the serpent
|
|
shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed shall swallow the bird.
|
|
|
|
14:30. And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the poor shall
|
|
rest with confidence: and I will make thy root perish with famine, and
|
|
I will kill thy remnant.
|
|
|
|
14:31. Howl, O gate; cry, O city: all Philistia is thrown down: for a
|
|
smoke shall come from the north, and there is none that shall escape
|
|
his troop.
|
|
|
|
14:32. And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nations?
|
|
That the Lord hath founded Sion, and the poor of his people shall hope
|
|
in him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 15
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophecy of the desolation of the Moabites.
|
|
|
|
15:1. The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid
|
|
waste, it is silent: because the wall of Moab is destroyed in the
|
|
night, it is silent.
|
|
|
|
15:2. The house is gone up, and Dibon to the high places to mourn over
|
|
Nabo, and over Medaba, Moab hath howled: on all their heads shall be
|
|
baldness, and every beard shall be shaven.
|
|
|
|
15:3. In their streets they are girded with sackcloth: on the tops of
|
|
their houses, and in their streets all shall howl and come down
|
|
weeping.
|
|
|
|
15:4. Hesebon shall cry, and Eleale, their voice is heard even to Jasa.
|
|
For this shall the well appointed men of Moab howl, his soul shall howl
|
|
to itself.
|
|
|
|
15:5. My heart shall cry to Moab, the bars thereof shall flee unto
|
|
Segor a heifer of three years old: for by the ascent of Luith they
|
|
shall go up weeping: and in the way of Oronaim they shall lift up a cry
|
|
of destruction.
|
|
|
|
15:6. For the waters of Nemrim shall be desolate, for the grass is
|
|
withered away, the spring is faded, all the greenness is perished.
|
|
|
|
15:7. According to the greatness of their work, is their visitation
|
|
also: they shall lead them to the torrent of the willows.
|
|
|
|
Torrent of the willows. . .That is, as some say, the waters of Babylon:
|
|
others render it, a valley of the Arabians.
|
|
|
|
15:8. For the cry is gone round about the border of Moab: the howling
|
|
thereof unto Gallim, and unto the well of Elim the cry thereof.
|
|
|
|
15:9. For the waters of Dibon are filled with blood: for I will bring
|
|
more upon Dibon: the lion upon them that shall flee of Moab, and upon
|
|
the remnant of the land.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 16
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet prayeth for Christ's coming. The affliction of the Moabites
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for their pride.
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16:1. Send forth, O Lord, the lamb, the ruler of the earth, from Petra
|
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of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Sion.
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16:2. And it shall come to pass, that as a bird fleeing away, and as
|
|
young ones flying out of the nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be in
|
|
the passage of Arnon.
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16:3. Take counsel, gather a council: make thy shadow as the night in
|
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the midday: hide them that flee, and betray not them that wander about.
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16:4. My fugitives shall dwell with thee: O Moab, be thou a covert to
|
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them from the face of the destroyer: for the dust is at an end, the
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wretch is consumed: he hath failed, that trod the earth under foot.
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16:5. And a throne shall be prepared in mercy, and one shall sit upon
|
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it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment
|
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and quickly rendering that which is just.
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16:6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his
|
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pride and his arrogancy, and his indignation is more than his strength.
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16:7. Therefore shall Moab howl to Moab, every one shall howl: to them
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that rejoice upon the brick walls, tell ye their stripes.
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16:8. For the suburbs of Hesebon are desolate, and the lords of the
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nations have destroyed the vineyard of Sabama: the branches thereof
|
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have reached even to Jazer: they have wandered in the wilderness, the
|
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branches thereof are left, they are gone over the sea.
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16:9. Therefore I will lament with the weeping of Jazer the vineyard of
|
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Sabama: I will water thee with my tears, O Hesebon, and Eleale: for the
|
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voice of the treaders hath rushed in upon thy vintage, and upon thy
|
|
harvest.
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16:10. And gladness and joy shall be taken away from Carmel, and there
|
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shall be no rejoicing nor shouting in the vineyards. He shall not tread
|
|
out wine in the press that was wont to tread it out: the voice of the
|
|
treaders I have taken away.
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Carmel. . .This name is often taken to signify a fair and fruitful hill
|
|
or field, such as mount Carmel is.
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16:11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my
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inward parts for the brick wall.
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16:12. And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is wearied
|
|
on his high places, that he shall go in to his sanctuaries to pray, and
|
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shall not prevail.
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16:13. This is the word, that the Lord spoke to Moab from that time:
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16:14. And now the Lord hath spoken, saying: In three years, as the
|
|
years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away for all the
|
|
multitude of the people, and it shall be left small and feeble, not
|
|
many.
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Isaias Chapter 17
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Judgments upon Damascus and Samaria. The overthrow of the Assyrians.
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17:1. The burden of Damascus. Behold Damascus shall cease to be a city,
|
|
and shall be as a ruinous heap of stones.
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17:2. The cities of Aroer shall be left for flocks, and they shall rest
|
|
there, and there shall be none to make them afraid.
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17:3. And aid shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus:
|
|
and the remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of
|
|
Israel: saith the Lord of hosts.
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17:4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob
|
|
shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall grow lean.
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17:5. And it shall be as when one gathereth in the harvest that which
|
|
remaineth, and his arm shall gather the ears of corn: and it shall be
|
|
as he that seeketh ears in the vale of Raphaim.
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17:6. And the fruit thereof that shall be left upon it, shall be as one
|
|
cluster of grapes, and as the shaking of the olive tree, two or three
|
|
berries in the top of a bough, or four or five upon the top of the
|
|
tree, saith the Lord the God of Israel.
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17:7. In that day man shall bow down himself to his Maker, and his eyes
|
|
shall look to the Holy One of Israel.
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17:8. And he shall not look to the altars which his hands made; and he
|
|
shall not have respect to the things that his fingers wrought, such as
|
|
groves and temples.
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17:9. In that day his strong cities shall be forsaken, as the ploughs,
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|
and the corn that were left before the face of the children of Israel,
|
|
and thou shalt be desolate.
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That were left. . .Viz., by the Chanaanites, when the children of Israel
|
|
came into their land.
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17:10. Because thou hast forgotten God thy saviour, and hast not
|
|
remembered thy strong helper: therefore shalt thou plant good plants,
|
|
and shalt sow strange seed.
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17:11. In the day of thy planting shall be the wild grape, and in the
|
|
morning thy seed shall flourish: the harvest is taken away in the day
|
|
of inheritance, and shall grieve thee much.
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17:12. Woe to the multitude of many people, like the multitude of the
|
|
roaring sea: and the tumult of crowds, like the noise of many waters.
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|
The multitude, etc. . .This and all that follows to the end of the
|
|
chapter, relates to the Assyrian army under Sennacherib.
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17:13. Nations shall make a noise like the noise of waters overflowing,
|
|
but he shall rebuke him, and he shall flee far off: and he shall be
|
|
carried away as the dust of the mountains before the wind, and as a
|
|
whirlwind before a tempest.
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17:14. In the time of the evening, behold there shall be trouble: the
|
|
morning shall come, and he shall not be: this is the portion of them
|
|
that have wasted us, and the lot of them that spoiled us.
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Isaias Chapter 18
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|
|
A woe to the Ethiopians, who fed Israel with vain hopes, their future
|
|
conversion.
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|
18:1. Woe to the land, the winged cymbal, which is beyond the rivers of
|
|
Ethiopia,
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|
18:2. That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, and in vessels of bulrushes
|
|
upon the waters. Go, ye swift angels, to a nation rent and torn in
|
|
pieces: to a terrible people, after which there is no other: to a
|
|
nation expecting and trodden underfoot, whose land the rivers have
|
|
spoiled.
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|
|
Angels. . .Or messengers.
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|
18:3. All ye inhabitants of the world, who dwell on the earth, when the
|
|
sign shall be lifted up on the mountains, you shall see, and you shall
|
|
hear the sound of the trumpet.
|
|
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|
18:4. For thus saith the Lord to me: I will take my rest, and consider
|
|
in my place, as the noon light is clear, and as a cloud of dew in the
|
|
day of harvest.
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|
|
|
18:5. For before the harvest it was all flourishing, and it shall bud
|
|
without perfect ripeness, and the sprigs thereof shall be cut off with
|
|
pruning hooks: and what is left shall be cut away and shaken out.
|
|
|
|
18:6. And they shall be left together to the birds of the mountains,
|
|
and the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall be upon them all the
|
|
summer, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
|
|
|
|
18:7. At that time shall a present be brought to the Lord of hosts,
|
|
from a people rent and torn in pieces: from a terrible people, after
|
|
which there hath been no other: from a nation expecting, expecting and
|
|
trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of
|
|
the name of the Lord of hosts, to mount Sion.
|
|
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|
Isaias Chapter 19
|
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|
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|
|
The punishment of Egypt: their call to the church.
|
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|
|
19:1. The burden of Egypt. Behold the Lord will ascend upon a swift
|
|
cloud, and will enter into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved
|
|
at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst
|
|
thereof.
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|
|
|
19:2. And I will set the Egyptians to fight against the Egyptians: and
|
|
they shall fight brother against brother, and friend against friend,
|
|
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
|
|
|
|
19:3. And the spirit of Egypt shall be broken in the bowels thereof,
|
|
and I will cast down their counsel: and they shall consult their idols,
|
|
and their diviners, and their wizards, and soothsayers.
|
|
|
|
19:4. And I will deliver Egypt into the hand of cruel masters, and a
|
|
strong king shall rule over them, saith the Lord the God of hosts.
|
|
|
|
19:5. And the water of the sea shall be dried up, and the river shall
|
|
be wasted and dry.
|
|
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|
19:6. And the rivers shall fail: the streams of the banks shall be
|
|
diminished, and be dried up. The reed and the bulrush shall wither
|
|
away.
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|
|
|
19:7. The channel of the river shall be laid bare from its fountain,
|
|
and every thing sown by the water shall be dried up, it shall wither
|
|
away, and shall be no more.
|
|
|
|
19:8. The fishers also shall mourn, and all that cast a hook into the
|
|
river shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall
|
|
languish away.
|
|
|
|
19:9. They shall be confounded that wrought in flax, combing and
|
|
weaving fine linen.
|
|
|
|
19:10. And its watery places shall be dry, all they shall mourn that
|
|
made pools to take fishes.
|
|
|
|
19:11. The princes of Tanis are become fools, the wise counsellors of
|
|
Pharao have given foolish counsel: how will you say to Pharao: I am the
|
|
son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
|
|
|
|
19:12. Where are now thy wise men? let them tell thee, and shew what
|
|
the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
|
|
|
|
19:13. The princes of Tanis are become fools, the princes of Memphis
|
|
are gone astray, they have deceived Egypt, the stay of the people
|
|
thereof.
|
|
|
|
19:14. The Lord hath mingled in the midst thereof the spirit of
|
|
giddiness: and they have caused Egypt to err in all its works, as a
|
|
drunken man staggereth and vomiteth.
|
|
|
|
19:15. And there shall be no work for Egypt, to make head or tail, him
|
|
that bendeth down, or that holdeth back.
|
|
|
|
19:16. In that day Egypt shall be like unto women, and they shall be
|
|
amazed, and afraid, because of the moving of the hand of the Lord of
|
|
hosts, which he shall move over it.
|
|
|
|
19:17. And the land of Juda shall be a terror to Egypt: everyone that
|
|
shall remember it shall tremble because of the counsel of the Lord of
|
|
hosts, which he hath determined concerning it.
|
|
|
|
19:18. In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt,
|
|
speaking the language of Chanaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts:
|
|
one shall be called the city of the sun.
|
|
|
|
19:19. In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of
|
|
the land of Egypt, and a monument of the Lord at the borders thereof:
|
|
|
|
19:20. It shall be for a sign, and for a testimony to the Lord of hosts
|
|
in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to the Lord because of the
|
|
oppressor, and he shall send them a Saviour and a defender to deliver
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
19:21. And the Lord shall be known by Egypt, and the Egyptians shall
|
|
know the Lord in that day, and shall worship him with sacrifices and
|
|
offerings: and they shall make vows to the Lord, and perform them.
|
|
|
|
19:22. And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a scourge, and shall heal
|
|
it, and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be pacified towards
|
|
them, and heal them.
|
|
|
|
19:23. In that day there shall be a way from Egypt to the Assyrians,
|
|
and the Assyrian shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian to the
|
|
Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrian.
|
|
|
|
19:24. In that day shall Israel be the third to the Egyptian and the
|
|
Assyrian: a blessing in the midst of the land,
|
|
|
|
19:25. Which the Lord of hosts hath blessed, saying: Blessed be my
|
|
people of Egypt, and the work of my hands to the Assyrian: but Israel
|
|
is my inheritance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 20
|
|
|
|
|
|
The ignominious captivity of the Egyptians, and the Ethiopians.
|
|
|
|
20:1. In the year that Tharthan entered into Azotus, when Sargon the
|
|
king of the Assyrians had sent him, and he had fought against Azotus,
|
|
and had taken it:
|
|
|
|
20:2. At that same time the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaias the son of
|
|
Amos, saying Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and take
|
|
off thy shoes from thy feet. And he did so, and went naked, and
|
|
barefoot.
|
|
|
|
20:3. And the Lord said: As my servant Isaias hath walked, naked and
|
|
barefoot, it shall be a sign and a wonder of three years upon Egypt,
|
|
and upon Ethiopia,
|
|
|
|
20:4. So shall the king of the Assyrians lead away the prisoners of
|
|
Egypt, and the captivity of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and
|
|
barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
20:5. And they shall be afraid, and ashamed of Ethiopia their hope, and
|
|
of Egypt their glory.
|
|
|
|
20:6. And the inhabitants of this isle shall say in that day: Lo this
|
|
was our hope, to whom we fled for help, to deliver us from the face of
|
|
the king of the Assyrians: and how shall we be able to escape?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 21
|
|
|
|
|
|
The destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians: a prophecy
|
|
against the Edomites and the Arabians.
|
|
|
|
21:1. The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the
|
|
south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land.
|
|
|
|
The desert of the sea. . .So Babylon is here called, because from a city
|
|
as full of people as the sea is with water, it was become a desert.
|
|
|
|
21:2. A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth
|
|
unfaithfully: and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam,
|
|
besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease.
|
|
|
|
O Elam. . .That is, O Persia.
|
|
|
|
21:3. Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish hath taken hold
|
|
of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing
|
|
of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it.
|
|
|
|
21:4. My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become
|
|
a wonder to me.
|
|
|
|
21:5. Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and
|
|
drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield.
|
|
|
|
21:6. For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and
|
|
whatsoever he shall see, let him tell.
|
|
|
|
21:7. And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and
|
|
a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed.
|
|
|
|
A rider upon an ass, etc. . .These two riders are the kings of the
|
|
Persians and Medes.
|
|
|
|
21:8. And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord,
|
|
standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole
|
|
nights.
|
|
|
|
And a lion cried out. . .That is, I Isaias seeing the approaching ruin
|
|
of Babylon, have cried out as a lion roaring.
|
|
|
|
21:9. Behold this man cometh, the rider upon the chariot with two
|
|
horsemen, and he answered, and said: Babylon is fallen, she is fallen,
|
|
and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground.
|
|
|
|
21:10. O my thrashing, and the children of my floor, that which I have
|
|
heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto
|
|
you.
|
|
|
|
21:11. The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of
|
|
the night? watchman, what of the night?
|
|
|
|
Duma. . .That is, Idumea, or Edom.
|
|
|
|
21:12. The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you
|
|
seek, seek: return, come.
|
|
|
|
21:13. The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep,
|
|
in the paths of Dedanim.
|
|
|
|
21:14. Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land
|
|
of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth.
|
|
|
|
21:15. For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that
|
|
hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle.
|
|
|
|
21:16. For thus saith the Lord to me: Within a year, according to the
|
|
years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away.
|
|
|
|
Cedar. . .Arabia.
|
|
|
|
21:17. And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children
|
|
of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord the God of Israel hath
|
|
spoken it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 22
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet laments the devastation of Juda. He foretells the
|
|
deprivation of Sobna, and the substitution of Eliacim, a figure of
|
|
Christ.
|
|
|
|
22:1. The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee also, that
|
|
thou too art wholly gone up to the housetops?
|
|
|
|
The valley of vision. . .Jerusalem. The temple of Jerusalem was built
|
|
upon mount Moria, or the mountain of vision. But the city is here
|
|
called the valley of vision; either because it was lower than the
|
|
temple, or because of the low condition to which it was to be reduced.
|
|
|
|
22:2. Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are
|
|
not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle.
|
|
|
|
22:3. All the princes are fled together, and are bound hard: all that
|
|
were found, are bound together, they are fled far off.
|
|
|
|
22:4. Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly:
|
|
labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
22:5. For it is a day of slaughter and of treading down, and of weeping
|
|
to the Lord the God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the
|
|
wall, and magnificent upon the mountain.
|
|
|
|
22:6. And Elam took the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the
|
|
shield was taken down from the wall.
|
|
|
|
22:7. And thy choice valleys shall be full of chariots, and the
|
|
horsemen shall place themselves in the gate.
|
|
|
|
22:8. And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see
|
|
in that day the armoury of the house of the forest.
|
|
|
|
22:9. And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they
|
|
are many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool,
|
|
|
|
22:10. And have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and broken down
|
|
houses to fortify the wall.
|
|
|
|
22:11. And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the
|
|
old pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded
|
|
him even at a distance, that wrought it long ago.
|
|
|
|
22:12. And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to
|
|
weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
|
|
|
|
22:13. And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams,
|
|
eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we
|
|
shall die.
|
|
|
|
22:14. And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears:
|
|
Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the
|
|
Lord God of hosts.
|
|
|
|
22:15. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that
|
|
dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou
|
|
shalt say to him:
|
|
|
|
22:16. What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou
|
|
hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument
|
|
carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock.
|
|
|
|
22:17. Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is
|
|
carried away, and he will lift thee up as a garment.
|
|
|
|
22:18. He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation, he will toss
|
|
thee like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou
|
|
die, and there shall the chariot of thy glory be, the shame of the
|
|
house of thy Lord.
|
|
|
|
22:19. And I will drive thee out from thy station, and depose thee from
|
|
thy ministry.
|
|
|
|
22:20. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my
|
|
servant Eliacim the son of Helcias,
|
|
|
|
22:21. And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him
|
|
with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be
|
|
as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda.
|
|
|
|
22:22. And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder:
|
|
and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none
|
|
shall open.
|
|
|
|
22:23. And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be
|
|
for a throne of glory to the house of his father.
|
|
|
|
22:24. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's
|
|
house, divers kinds of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels
|
|
of cups even to every instrument of music.
|
|
|
|
22:25. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the peg be removed,
|
|
that was fastened in the sure place: and it shall be broken and shall
|
|
fall: and that which hung thereon, shall perish, because the Lord hath
|
|
spoken it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 23
|
|
|
|
|
|
The destruction of Tyre. It shall be repaired again after seventy
|
|
years.
|
|
|
|
23:1. The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of the sea, for the house is
|
|
destroyed, from whence they were wont to come: from the land of Cethim
|
|
it is revealed to them.
|
|
|
|
23:2. Be silent, you that dwell in the island: the merchants of Sidon
|
|
passing over the sea, have filled thee.
|
|
|
|
23:3. The seed of the Nile in many waters, the harvest of the river is
|
|
her revenue: and she is become the mart of the nations.
|
|
|
|
23:4. Be thou ashamed, O Sidon: for the sea speaketh, even the strength
|
|
of the sea, saying: I have not been in labour, nor have I brought
|
|
forth, nor have I nourished up young men, nor brought up virgins.
|
|
|
|
23:5. When it shall be heard in Egypt, they will be sorry when they
|
|
shall hear of Tyre:
|
|
|
|
23:6. Pass over the seas, howl, ye inhabitants of the island.
|
|
|
|
23:7. Is not this your city, which gloried from of old in her
|
|
antiquity? her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.
|
|
|
|
23:8. Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, that was formerly
|
|
crowned, whose merchants were princes, and her traders the nobles of
|
|
the earth?
|
|
|
|
23:9. The Lord of hosts hath designed it, to pull down the pride of all
|
|
glory, and bring to disgrace all the glorious ones of the earth.
|
|
|
|
23:10. Pass thy land as a river, O daughter of the sea, thou hast a
|
|
girdle no more.
|
|
|
|
23:11. He stretched out his hand over the sea, he troubled kingdoms:
|
|
the Lord hath given a charge against Chanaan, to destroy the strong
|
|
ones thereof.
|
|
|
|
23:12. And he said: Thou shalt glory no more, O virgin daughter of
|
|
Sidon, who art oppressed: arise and sail over to Cethim, there also
|
|
thou shalt have no rest.
|
|
|
|
23:13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, there was not such a people,
|
|
the Assyrians founded it: they have led away the strong ones thereof
|
|
into captivity, they have destroyed the houses thereof, they have,
|
|
brought it to ruin.
|
|
|
|
23:14. Howl, O ye ships of the sea, for your strength is laid waste.
|
|
|
|
23:15. And it shall come to pass in that day that thou, O Tyre, shalt
|
|
be forgotten, seventy years, according to the days of one king: but
|
|
after seventy years, there shall be unto Tyre as the song of a harlot.
|
|
|
|
23:16. Take a harp, go about the city, harlot that hast been forgotten:
|
|
sing well, sing many a song, that thou mayst be remembered.
|
|
|
|
23:17. And it shall come to pass after seventy years, that the Lord
|
|
will visit Tyre, and will bring her back again to her traffic: and she
|
|
shall commit fornication again with all the kingdoms of the world upon
|
|
the face of the earth.
|
|
|
|
23:18. And her merchandise and her hire shall be sanctified to the
|
|
Lord: they shall not be kept in store, nor laid up: for her merchandise
|
|
shall be for them that shall dwell before the Lord, that they may eat
|
|
unto fulness, and be clothed for a continuance.
|
|
|
|
Sanctified to the Lord. . .This alludes to the conversion of the
|
|
Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 24
|
|
|
|
|
|
The judgments of God upon all the sinners of the world. A remnant shall
|
|
joyfully praise him.
|
|
|
|
24:1. Behold the Lord shall lay waste the earth, and shall strip it,
|
|
and shall afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants
|
|
thereof.
|
|
|
|
24:2. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest: and as
|
|
with the servant so with his master: as with the handmaid, so with her
|
|
mistress: as with the buyer, so with the seller: as with the lender, so
|
|
with the borrower: as with him that calleth for his money, so with him
|
|
that oweth.
|
|
|
|
24:3. With desolation shall the earth be laid waste, and it shall be
|
|
utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.
|
|
|
|
24:4. The earth mourned, and faded away, and is weakened: the world
|
|
faded away, the height of the people of the earth is weakened.
|
|
|
|
24:5. And the earth is infected by the inhabitants thereof: because
|
|
they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, they
|
|
have broken the everlasting covenant.
|
|
|
|
24:6. Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, and the inhabitants
|
|
thereof shall sin: and therefore they that dwell therein shall be mad,
|
|
and few men shall be left.
|
|
|
|
24:7. The vintage hath mourned, the vine hath languished away, all the
|
|
merry have sighed.
|
|
|
|
24:8. The mirth of timbrels hath ceased, the noise of them that rejoice
|
|
is ended, the melody of the harp is silent.
|
|
|
|
24:9. They shall not drink wine with a song: the drink shall be bitter
|
|
to them that drink it.
|
|
|
|
24:10. The city of vanity is broken down, every house is shut up, no
|
|
man cometh in.
|
|
|
|
24:11. There shall be a crying for wine in the streets: all mirth is
|
|
forsaken: the joy of the earth is gone away.
|
|
|
|
24:12. Desolation is left in the city, and calamity shall oppress the
|
|
gates.
|
|
|
|
24:13. For it shall be thus in the midst of the earth, in the midst of
|
|
the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of
|
|
the olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended.
|
|
|
|
24:14. These shall lift up their voice, and shall give praise: when the
|
|
Lord shall be glorified, they shall make a joyful noise from the sea.
|
|
|
|
24:15. Therefore glorify ye the Lord in instruction: the name of the
|
|
Lord God of Israel in the islands of the sea.
|
|
|
|
24:16. From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of
|
|
the just one. And I said: My secret to myself, my secret to myself, woe
|
|
is me: the prevaricators have prevaricated, and with the prevarication
|
|
of transgressors they have prevaricated.
|
|
|
|
24:17. Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O thou
|
|
inhabitant of the earth.
|
|
|
|
24:18. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall flee from the
|
|
noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall rid
|
|
himself out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the
|
|
flood-gates from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth
|
|
shall be shaken.
|
|
|
|
24:19. With breaking shall the earth be broken, with crushing shall the
|
|
earth be crushed, with trembling shall the earth be moved.
|
|
|
|
24:20. With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a drunken man, and
|
|
shall be removed as the tent of one night: and the iniquity thereof
|
|
shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.
|
|
|
|
24:21. And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord shall visit
|
|
upon the host of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth, on
|
|
the earth.
|
|
|
|
The host of heaven on high. . .The stars, which in many places of the
|
|
Scripture are so called. Some commentators explain that these words
|
|
here signify the demons of the air.
|
|
|
|
24:22. And they shall be gathered together as in the gathering of one
|
|
bundle into the pit, and they shall be shut up there in prison: and
|
|
after many days they shall be visited.
|
|
|
|
24:23. And the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the
|
|
Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be
|
|
glorified in the sight of his ancients.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 25
|
|
|
|
|
|
A canticle of thanksgiving for God's judgments and benefits.
|
|
|
|
25:1. O Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt O thee, and give glory to
|
|
thy name: for thou hast done wonderful things, thy designs of old
|
|
faithful, amen.
|
|
|
|
25:2. For thou hast reduced the city to a heap, the strong city to
|
|
ruin, the house of strangers, to be no city, and to be no more built up
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
25:3. Therefore shall a strong people praise thee, the city of mighty
|
|
nations shall fear thee.
|
|
|
|
25:4. Because thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the
|
|
needy in his distress: a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the
|
|
heat. For the blast of the mighty is like a whirlwind beating against a
|
|
wall.
|
|
|
|
25:5. Thou shalt bring down the tumult of strangers, as heat in thirst:
|
|
and as with heat under a burning cloud, thou shalt make the branch of
|
|
the mighty to wither away.
|
|
|
|
25:6. And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this
|
|
mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of
|
|
marrow, of wine purified from the lees.
|
|
|
|
25:7. And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with
|
|
which all people were tied, and the web that he began over all nations.
|
|
|
|
25:8. He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God
|
|
shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of his people
|
|
he shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
25:9. And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our God, we have
|
|
waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have
|
|
patiently waited for him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in his
|
|
salvation.
|
|
|
|
25:10. For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab
|
|
shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the
|
|
wain.
|
|
|
|
Moab. . .That is, the reprobate, whose eternal punishment, from which
|
|
they can no way escape, is described under these figures.
|
|
|
|
25:11. And he shall stretch forth his hands under him, as he that
|
|
swimmeth stretcheth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down
|
|
his glory with the dashing of his hands.
|
|
|
|
25:12. And the bulwarks of thy high walls shall fall, and be brought
|
|
low, and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 26
|
|
|
|
|
|
A canticle of thanks for the deliverance of God's people.
|
|
|
|
26:1. In that day shall this canticle be sung in the land of Juda. Sion
|
|
the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set
|
|
therein.
|
|
|
|
26:2. Open ye the gates, and let the just nation, that keepeth the
|
|
truth, enter in.
|
|
|
|
26:3. The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace,
|
|
because we have hoped in thee.
|
|
|
|
26:4. You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
26:5. For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he
|
|
shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull
|
|
it down even to the dust.
|
|
|
|
26:6. The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of
|
|
the needy.
|
|
|
|
26:7. The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to
|
|
walk in.
|
|
|
|
26:8. And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited
|
|
for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul.
|
|
|
|
26:9. My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit
|
|
within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do
|
|
thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn
|
|
justice.
|
|
|
|
26:10. Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice:
|
|
in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not
|
|
see the glory of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
26:11. Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the
|
|
envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.
|
|
|
|
26:12. Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our
|
|
works for us.
|
|
|
|
26:13. O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over
|
|
us, only in thee let us remember thy name.
|
|
|
|
26:14. Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore
|
|
hast visited and destroyed them, and hast destroyed all their memory.
|
|
|
|
26:15. Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been
|
|
favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the
|
|
ends of the earth far off.
|
|
|
|
26:16. Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the
|
|
tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them.
|
|
|
|
26:17. As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her
|
|
delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in
|
|
thy presence, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
26:18. We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have
|
|
brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth,
|
|
therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.
|
|
|
|
26:19. Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and
|
|
give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the
|
|
light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.
|
|
|
|
26:20. Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon
|
|
thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass
|
|
away.
|
|
|
|
26:21. For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the
|
|
iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth
|
|
shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.
|
|
|
|
Shall cover her slain no more. . .This is said with relation to the
|
|
martyrs, and their happy resurrection.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 27
|
|
|
|
|
|
The punishment of the oppressors of God's people. The Lord's favour to
|
|
his church.
|
|
|
|
27:1. In that day the Lord with his hard, and great, and strong sword
|
|
shall visit leviathan the bar serpent, and leviathan the crooked
|
|
serpent, and shall slay the whale that is in the sea.
|
|
|
|
Leviathan. . .That is, the devil, the great enemy of the people of God.
|
|
He is called the bar serpent from his strength, and the crooked serpent
|
|
from his wiles; and the whale of the sea, from the tyranny he exercises
|
|
in the sea of this world. He was spiritually slain by the death of
|
|
Christ, when his power was destroyed.
|
|
|
|
27:2. In that day there shall be singing to the vineyard of pure wine.
|
|
|
|
The vineyard, etc. . .The church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
27:3. I am the Lord that keep it, I will suddenly give it drink: lest
|
|
any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day.
|
|
|
|
I will suddenly give it drink. . .Or, as the Hebrew may also be
|
|
rendered, I will continually water it.
|
|
|
|
27:4. There is no indignation in me: who shall make me a thorn and a
|
|
brier in battle: shall I march against it, shall, I set it on fire
|
|
together?
|
|
|
|
No indignation in me, etc. . .Viz., against the church: nor shall I
|
|
become as a thorn or brier in its regard; or march against it, or set
|
|
it on fire: but it shall always take fast hold of me, and keep an
|
|
everlasting peace with me.
|
|
|
|
27:5. Or rather shall it take hold of my strength, shall it make peace
|
|
with me, shall it make peace with me?
|
|
|
|
27:6. When they shall rush in unto Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud,
|
|
and they shall fill the face of the world with seed.
|
|
|
|
When they shall rush in, etc. . .Some understand this of the enemies of
|
|
the true Israel, that shall invade it in vain. Others of the spiritual
|
|
invasion made by the apostles of Christ.
|
|
|
|
27:7. Hath he struck him according to the stroke of him that struck
|
|
him? or is he slain, as he killed them that were slain by him?
|
|
|
|
Hath he struck him, etc. . .Hath God punished the carnal persecuting
|
|
Jews, in proportion to their doings against Christ and his saints?
|
|
|
|
27:8. In measure against measure, when it shall be cast off, thou shalt
|
|
judge it. He hath meditated with his severe spirit in the day of heat.
|
|
|
|
When it shall be cast off, etc. . .When the synagogue shall be cast off,
|
|
thou shalt judge it in measure, and in proportion to its crimes.--Ibid.
|
|
He hath meditated, etc. . .God hath designed severe punishments in the
|
|
day of his wrath.
|
|
|
|
27:9. Therefore upon this shall the iniquity of the house of Jacob be
|
|
forgiven: and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof should be
|
|
taken away, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as
|
|
burnt stones broken in pieces, the groves and temples shall not stand.
|
|
|
|
Of the house of Jacob. . .Viz., of such of them as shall be converted.
|
|
|
|
27:10. For the strong city shall be desolate, the beautiful city shall
|
|
be forsaken, and shall be left as a wilderness: there the calf shall
|
|
feed, and there shall he lie down, and shall consume its branches.
|
|
|
|
The strong city. . .Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
27:11. Its harvest shall be destroyed with drought, women shall come
|
|
and teach it: for it is not a wise people, therefore he that made it,
|
|
shall not have mercy on it: and he that formed it, shall not spare it.
|
|
|
|
27:12. And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord will strike
|
|
from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, and you
|
|
shall be gathered together one by one, O ye children of Israel.
|
|
|
|
27:13. And it shall come to pass, that in that day a noise shall be
|
|
made with a great trumpet, and they that were lost, shall come from the
|
|
land of the Assyrians, and they that were outcasts in the land of
|
|
Egypt, and they shall adore the Lord in the holy mount in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
A great trumpet. . .The preaching of the gospel for the conversion of
|
|
the Jews.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 28
|
|
|
|
|
|
The punishment of the Israelites, for their pride, intemperance, and
|
|
contempt of religion. Christ the cornerstone.
|
|
|
|
28:1. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to
|
|
the fading flower the glory his joy, who were on the head of the fat
|
|
valley, staggering with wine.
|
|
|
|
Ephraim. . .That is, the kingdom of the ten tribes.--Ibid. The head of
|
|
the fat valley. . .Samaria, situate on a hill, having under it a most
|
|
fertile valley.
|
|
|
|
28:2. Behold the Lord is mighty and strong, as a storm of hail: a
|
|
destroying whirlwind, as the violence of many waters overflowing, and
|
|
sent forth upon a spacious land.
|
|
|
|
28:3. The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden
|
|
under feet.
|
|
|
|
28:4. And the fading tower the glory of his joy, who is on the head of
|
|
the fat valley, shall be as a hasty fruit before the ripeness of
|
|
autumn: which when he that seeth it shall behold, as soon he taketh it
|
|
in his hand, he will eat it up.
|
|
|
|
28:5. In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a
|
|
garland of joy to the residue of his people:
|
|
|
|
28:6. And a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and
|
|
strength to them that return out of the battle to the gate.
|
|
|
|
28:7. But these also have been ignorant through wine, and through
|
|
drunkenness have erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant
|
|
through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone
|
|
astray in drunkenness, they have not known him that seeth, they have
|
|
been ignorant of judgment.
|
|
|
|
These also. . .The kingdom of Juda.
|
|
|
|
28:8. For all the tables were full of vomit and filth, so that there
|
|
was no more place.
|
|
|
|
28:9. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to
|
|
understand the hearing? them that are weaned from the milk, that are
|
|
drawn away from the breasts.
|
|
|
|
28:10. For command, command again; command, command again; expect,
|
|
expect again; a little there, a little there.
|
|
|
|
Command, command again, etc. . .This is said in the person of the Jews,
|
|
resisting the repeated commands of God, and still putting him off.
|
|
|
|
28:11. For with the speech of lips, and with another tongue he will
|
|
speak to this people.
|
|
|
|
28:12. To whom he said: This is my rest, refresh the weary, and this is
|
|
my refreshing: and they would not hear.
|
|
|
|
28:13. And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command, command
|
|
again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a
|
|
little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and
|
|
snared, and taken.
|
|
|
|
28:14. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule
|
|
over my people that is in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
28:15. For you have said: We have entered into a league with death, and
|
|
we have made a covenant with hell. When the overflowing scourge shall
|
|
pass through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in
|
|
lies, and by falsehood we are protected.
|
|
|
|
28:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in
|
|
the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious
|
|
stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not
|
|
hasten.
|
|
|
|
A stone in the foundations. . .Viz., Christ.--Ibid. Let him not hasten,
|
|
etc. . .Let him expect his coming with patience.
|
|
|
|
28:17. And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and
|
|
hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood: and waters shall overflow
|
|
its protection.
|
|
|
|
28:18. And your league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant
|
|
with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass, you
|
|
shall be trodden down by it.
|
|
|
|
28:19. Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away:
|
|
because in the morning early it shall pass through, in the day and in
|
|
the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.
|
|
|
|
28:20. For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a
|
|
short covering cannot cover both.
|
|
|
|
The bed is straitened, etc. . .It is too narrow to hold two: God will
|
|
have the bed of our heart all to himself.
|
|
|
|
28:21. For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he
|
|
shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his
|
|
work, his strange work: that he may perform his work, his work is
|
|
strange to him.
|
|
|
|
As in the mountain, etc. . .As the Lord fought against the Philistines
|
|
in Baal Pharasim, 2 Kings 5., and against the Chanaanites, in the
|
|
valley of Gabaon, Jos. 10.
|
|
|
|
28:22. And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tied strait. For I have
|
|
heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short
|
|
upon all the earth.
|
|
|
|
28:23. Give ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech.
|
|
|
|
28:24. Shall the ploughman plough all the day to sow, shall he open and
|
|
harrow his ground?
|
|
|
|
28:25. Will he not, when he hath made plain the surface thereof, sow
|
|
gith, and scatter cummin, and put wheat in order, and barley, and
|
|
millet, and vetches in their bounds?
|
|
|
|
28:26. For he will instruct him in judgment: his God will teach him.
|
|
|
|
28:27. For gith shall not be thrashed with saws, neither shall the cart
|
|
wheel turn about upon cummin: but gith shall be beaten out with a rod,
|
|
and cumin with a staff.
|
|
|
|
28:28. But breadcorn shall be broken small: but the thrasher shall not
|
|
thrash it for ever, neither shall the cart wheel hurt it, nor break it
|
|
with its teeth.
|
|
|
|
28:29. This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his
|
|
counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.
|
|
|
|
This also, etc. . .Such also is the proceeding of the Lord with his
|
|
land, and the divers seeds he throws therein.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 29
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's heavy judgments upon Jerusalem, for their obstinacy: with a
|
|
prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
29:1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added
|
|
to year. the solemnities are at an end.
|
|
|
|
Ariel. . .This word signifies, the lion of God, and here is taken for
|
|
the strong city of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
29:2. And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow
|
|
and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel.
|
|
|
|
29:3. And I will make a circle round about thee, and I will cast up a
|
|
rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.
|
|
|
|
29:4. Thou shalt be brought down, thou shall speak out of the earth,
|
|
and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be
|
|
from the earth like that of the python, and out of the earth thy speech
|
|
shall mutter.
|
|
|
|
29:5. And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small
|
|
dust: and as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have
|
|
prevailed against thee.
|
|
|
|
29:6. And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come
|
|
from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a
|
|
great noise of whirlwind and tempest; and with the flame of devouring
|
|
fire.
|
|
|
|
29:7. And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel,
|
|
shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought,
|
|
and besieged and prevailed against it.
|
|
|
|
29:8. And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is
|
|
awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and
|
|
drinketh and after he is awake, is yet faint with thirst, and his soul
|
|
is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles, that have
|
|
fought against mount Sion.
|
|
|
|
29:9. Be astonished, and wonder, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not
|
|
with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness.
|
|
|
|
29:10. For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he
|
|
will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that
|
|
see visions.
|
|
|
|
29:11. And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book
|
|
that is sealed which when they shall deliver to one that is learned,
|
|
they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is
|
|
sealed.
|
|
|
|
29:12. And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and
|
|
it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.
|
|
|
|
29:13. And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with
|
|
their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far
|
|
from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of
|
|
men:
|
|
|
|
29:14. Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this
|
|
people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from
|
|
their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be
|
|
hid.
|
|
|
|
29:15. Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the
|
|
Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and
|
|
who knoweth us?
|
|
|
|
29:16. This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think
|
|
against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou
|
|
madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it:
|
|
Thou understandest not.
|
|
|
|
29:17. Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned
|
|
into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest?
|
|
|
|
Charmel. . .This word signifies a fruitful field.
|
|
|
|
29:18. And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and
|
|
out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see.
|
|
|
|
29:19. And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor
|
|
men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
|
|
|
|
29:20. For he that did prevail hath failed, the scorner is consumed,
|
|
and they are all cut off that watched for iniquity:
|
|
|
|
29:21. That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them
|
|
in the gate, and declined in vain from the just.
|
|
|
|
29:22. Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that
|
|
redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his
|
|
countenance now be ashamed:
|
|
|
|
29:23. But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the
|
|
midst of him sanctifying my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One
|
|
of Jacob, and shall glorify the God of Israel:
|
|
|
|
29:24. And they that erred in spirit, shall know understanding, and
|
|
they that murmured, shall learn the law.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 30
|
|
|
|
|
|
The people are blamed for their confidence in Egypt. God's mercies
|
|
towards his church. The punishment of sinners.
|
|
|
|
30:1. Woe to you, apostate children, saith the Lord, that you would
|
|
take counsel, and not of me: and would begin a web, and not by my
|
|
spirit, that you might add sin upon sin:
|
|
|
|
30:2. Who walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth,
|
|
hoping for help in the strength of Pharao, and trusting in the shadow
|
|
of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
30:3. And the strength of Pharao shall be to your confusion, and the
|
|
confidence of the shadow of Egypt to your shame.
|
|
|
|
30:4. For thy princes were in Tanis, and thy messengers came even to
|
|
Hanes.
|
|
|
|
30:5. They were all confounded at a people that could not profit them:
|
|
they were no help, nor to any profit, but to confusion and to reproach.
|
|
|
|
30:6. The burden of the beasts of the south. In a land of trouble and
|
|
distress, from whence come the lioness, and the lion, the viper and the
|
|
flying basilisk, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of beasts,
|
|
and their treasures upon the bunches of camels to a people that shall
|
|
not be able to profit them.
|
|
|
|
30:7. For Egypt shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I
|
|
cried concerning this: It is pride only, sit still.
|
|
|
|
30:8. Now therefore go in and write for them upon box, and note it
|
|
diligently in a book, and it shall be in the latter days for a
|
|
testimony for ever.
|
|
|
|
30:9. For it is a people that provoketh to wrath, and lying children
|
|
that will not hear the law of God.
|
|
|
|
30:10. Who say to the seers: See not: and to them that behold: Behold
|
|
not for us those things that are right: speak unto us pleasant things,
|
|
see errors for us.
|
|
|
|
30:11. Take away from me the way, turn away the path from me, let the
|
|
Holy One of Israel cease from before us.
|
|
|
|
30:12. Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because you have
|
|
rejected this word, and have trusted in oppression and tumult, and have
|
|
leaned upon it:
|
|
|
|
30:13. Therefore shall this iniquity be to you as a breach that
|
|
falleth, and is found wanting in a high wall, for the destruction
|
|
thereof shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for.
|
|
|
|
30:14. And it shall be broken small, as the potter's vessel is broken
|
|
all to pieces with mighty breaking, and there shall not a sherd be
|
|
found of the pieces thereof, wherein a little fire may be carried from
|
|
the hearth, or a little water be drawn out of the pit.
|
|
|
|
30:15. For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel: If you
|
|
return and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall
|
|
your strength be. And you would not:
|
|
|
|
30:16. But have said: No, but we will flee to horses: therefore shall
|
|
you flee. And we will mount upon swift ones: therefore shall they be
|
|
swifter that shall pursue after you.
|
|
|
|
30:17. A thousand men shall flee for fear of one: and for fear of five
|
|
shall you flee, till you be left as the mast of ship on the top of a
|
|
mountain, and as an ensign upon a hill.
|
|
|
|
30:18. Therefore the Lord waiteth that he may have mercy on you: and
|
|
therefore shall he be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God
|
|
of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
|
|
|
|
30:19. For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou
|
|
shalt not weep, he will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy
|
|
cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer thee.
|
|
|
|
30:20. And the Lord will give you spare bread, and short water: and
|
|
will not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thy
|
|
eyes shall see thy teacher.
|
|
|
|
30:21. And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind
|
|
thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it: and go not aside neither to
|
|
the right hand, nor to the left.
|
|
|
|
30:22. And thou shalt defile the plates of thy graven things of silver,
|
|
and the garment of thy molten things of gold, and shalt cast them away
|
|
as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get
|
|
thee hence.
|
|
|
|
30:23. And rain shall be given to thy seed, wheresoever thou shalt sow
|
|
in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most
|
|
plentiful, and fat. The lamb in that day shall feed at large in thy
|
|
possession:
|
|
|
|
30:24. And thy oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat
|
|
mingled provender as it was winnowed in the floor.
|
|
|
|
30:25. And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every
|
|
elevated hill rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of
|
|
many, when the tower shall fall.
|
|
|
|
30:26. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
|
|
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in
|
|
the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall
|
|
heal the stroke of their wound.
|
|
|
|
30:27. Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, his wrath burneth,
|
|
and is heavy to bear: his lips are filled with indignation, and his
|
|
tongue as a devouring fire.
|
|
|
|
30:28. His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the
|
|
neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing, and the bridle of error that
|
|
was in the jaws of the people.
|
|
|
|
30:29. You shall have a song as in the night of the sanctified
|
|
solemnity, and joy of heart, as where one goeth with a pipe, to come
|
|
into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.
|
|
|
|
30:30. And the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and
|
|
shall shew the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the
|
|
flame of devouring fire: he shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and
|
|
hailstones.
|
|
|
|
30:31. For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrian shall fear being
|
|
struck with the rod.
|
|
|
|
30:32. And the passage of the rod shall be strongly grounded, which the
|
|
Lord shall make to rest upon him with timbrels and harps, and in great
|
|
battles he shall overthrow them.
|
|
|
|
30:33. For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the king,
|
|
deep, and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood: the
|
|
breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it.
|
|
|
|
Topheth. . .It is the same as Gehenna, and is taken for hell.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 31
|
|
|
|
|
|
The folly of trusting to Egypt, and forgetting God. He will fight for
|
|
his people against the Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
31:1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, trusting in horses,
|
|
and putting their confidence in chariots, because they are many: and in
|
|
horsemen, because they are very strong: and have not trusted in the
|
|
Holy One of Israel, and have not sought after the Lord.
|
|
|
|
31:2. But he that is the wise one hath brought evil, and hath not
|
|
removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked,
|
|
and against the aid of them that work iniquity.
|
|
|
|
31:3. Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses, flesh, and not
|
|
spirit: and the Lord shall put down his hand, and the helper shall
|
|
fall, and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall all be
|
|
confounded together.
|
|
|
|
31:4. For thus saith the Lord to me: Like as the lion roareth, and the
|
|
lions whelp upon his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds shall come
|
|
against him, he will not fear at their voice, nor be afraid of their
|
|
multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon mount
|
|
Sion, and upon the hill thereof.
|
|
|
|
31:5. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem,
|
|
protecting and delivering, passing over and saving.
|
|
|
|
31:6. Return as you had deeply revolted, O children of Israel.
|
|
|
|
31:7. For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and
|
|
his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you to sin.
|
|
|
|
31:8. And the Assyrian shall fall by the sword not of a man, and the
|
|
sword not of a man shall devour him, and he shall flee not at the face
|
|
of the sword, and his young men shall be tributaries.
|
|
|
|
31:9. And his strength shall pass away with dread, and his princes
|
|
fleeing shall be afraid: the Lord hath said it, whose fire is in Sion,
|
|
and his furnace in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 32
|
|
|
|
|
|
The blessings of the reign of Christ. The desolation of the Jews, and
|
|
prosperity of the church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
32:1. Behold a king shall reign in justice, and princes shall rule in
|
|
judgment.
|
|
|
|
32:2. And a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hideth
|
|
himself from a storm, as rivers of waters in drought, and the shadow of
|
|
a rock that standeth out in a desert land.
|
|
|
|
32:3. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them
|
|
that hear shall hearken diligently.
|
|
|
|
32:4. And the heart of fools shall understand knowledge, and the tongue
|
|
of stammerers shall speak readily and plain.
|
|
|
|
32:5. The fool shall no more be called prince: neither shall the
|
|
deceitful be called great:
|
|
|
|
32:6. For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work
|
|
iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully, and
|
|
to make empty the soul of the hungry, and take away drink from the
|
|
thirsty.
|
|
|
|
32:7. The vessels of the deceitful are most wicked: for he hath framed
|
|
devices to destroy the meek, with lying words, when the poor man
|
|
speaketh judgment.
|
|
|
|
32:8. But the prince will devise such things as are worthy of a prince,
|
|
and he shall stand above the rulers.
|
|
|
|
32:9. Rise up, ye rich women, and hear my voice: ye confident
|
|
daughters, give ear to my speech.
|
|
|
|
32:10. For after days and a year, you that are confident shall be
|
|
troubled: for the vintage is at an end, the gathering shall come no
|
|
more.
|
|
|
|
32:11. Be astonished, ye rich women, be troubled, ye confident ones:
|
|
strip you, and be confounded, gird your loins.
|
|
|
|
32:12. Mourn for your breasts, for the delightful country, for the
|
|
fruitful vineyard.
|
|
|
|
32:13. Upon the land of my people shall thorns and briers come up: how
|
|
much more upon all the houses of joy, of the city that rejoiced?
|
|
|
|
32:14. For the house is forsaken, the multitude of the city is left,
|
|
darkness and obscurity are come upon its dens for ever. A joy of wild
|
|
asses, the pastures of flocks.
|
|
|
|
32:15. Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high: and the desert
|
|
shall be as a charmel, and charmel shall be counted for a forest.
|
|
|
|
32:16. An judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and justice shall sit
|
|
in charmel.
|
|
|
|
32:17. And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of
|
|
justice quietness, and security for ever.
|
|
|
|
32:18. And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the
|
|
tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest.
|
|
|
|
32:19. But hail shall be in the descent of the forest, and the city
|
|
shall be made very low.
|
|
|
|
32:20. Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters, sending thither the
|
|
foot of the ox and the ass.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 33
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's revenge against the enemies of his church. The happiness of the
|
|
heavenly Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
33:1. Woe to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself also be
|
|
spoiled? and thou that despisest, shalt not thyself also be despised?
|
|
when thou shalt have made an end of spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled:
|
|
when being wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised.
|
|
|
|
That spoilest, etc. . .This is particularly directed to Sennacherib.
|
|
|
|
33:2. O Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou
|
|
our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble.
|
|
|
|
33:3. At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up
|
|
thyself the nations are scattered.
|
|
|
|
33:4. And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are
|
|
gathered, as when the ditches are full of them.
|
|
|
|
33:5. The Lord is magnified, for he hath dwelt on high: he hath filled
|
|
Sion with judgment and justice.
|
|
|
|
33:6. And there shall be faith in thy times: riches of salvation,
|
|
wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.
|
|
|
|
33:7. Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall
|
|
weep bitterly.
|
|
|
|
The angels of peace. . .The messengers or deputies sent to negotiate a
|
|
peace.
|
|
|
|
33:8. The ways are made desolate, no one passeth by the road, the
|
|
covenant is made void, he hath rejected the cities, he hath not
|
|
regarded the men.
|
|
|
|
33:9. The land hath mourned, and languished: Libanus is confounded, and
|
|
become foul, and Saron is become as a desert: and Basan and Carmel are
|
|
shaken.
|
|
|
|
33:10. Now will I rise up, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now
|
|
will I lift up myself.
|
|
|
|
33:11. You shall conceive heat, you shall bring forth stubble: your
|
|
breath as fire shall devour you.
|
|
|
|
33:12. And the people shall be as ashes after a fire, as a bundle of
|
|
thorns they shall be burnt with fire.
|
|
|
|
33:13. Hear, you that are far off, what I have done, and you that are
|
|
near know my strength.
|
|
|
|
33:14. The sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling hath seized upon the
|
|
hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you
|
|
shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
|
|
|
|
33:15. He that walketh in justices, and speaketh truth, that casteth
|
|
away avarice by oppression, and shaketh his hands from all bribes, that
|
|
stoppeth his ears lest he hear blood, and shutteth his eyes that he may
|
|
see no evil.
|
|
|
|
33:16. He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his
|
|
highness: bread is given him, his waters are sure.
|
|
|
|
33:17. His eyes shall see the king in his beauty, they shall see the
|
|
land far off.
|
|
|
|
33:18. Thy heart shall meditate fear: where is the learned? where is he
|
|
that pondered the words of the law? where is the teacher of little
|
|
ones?
|
|
|
|
33:19. The shameless people thou shalt not see, the people of profound
|
|
speech: so that thou canst not understand the eloquence of his tongue,
|
|
in whom there is no wisdom.
|
|
|
|
33:20. Look upon Sion the city of our solemnity: thy eyes shall see
|
|
Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed:
|
|
neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, neither shall
|
|
any of the cords thereof be broken.
|
|
|
|
33:21. Because only there our Lord is magnificent: a place of rivers,
|
|
very broad and spacious streams: no ship with oars shall pass by it,
|
|
neither shall the great galley pass through it.
|
|
|
|
Of rivers. . .He speaks of the rivers of endless joys that flow from the
|
|
throne of God to water the heavenly Jerusalem, where no enemy's ship
|
|
can come, etc.
|
|
|
|
33:22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is
|
|
our king: he will save us.
|
|
|
|
33:23. Thy tacklings are loosed, and they shall be of no strength: thy
|
|
mast shall be in such condition, that thou shalt not be able to spread
|
|
the flag. Then shall the spoils of much prey be divided: the lame shall
|
|
take the spoil.
|
|
|
|
Thy tacklings. . .He speaks of the enemies of the church, under the
|
|
allegory of a ship that is disabled.
|
|
|
|
33:24. Neither shall he that is near, say: I am feeble. The people that
|
|
dwell therein, shall have their iniquity taken away from them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 34
|
|
|
|
|
|
The general judgment of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
34:1. Come near, ye Gentiles, and hear, and hearken, ye people: let the
|
|
earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and every thing that
|
|
cometh forth of it.
|
|
|
|
34:2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury
|
|
upon all their armies: he hath killed them, and delivered them to
|
|
slaughter.
|
|
|
|
34:3. Their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shall
|
|
rise a stink: the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
|
|
|
|
34:4. And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens
|
|
shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down
|
|
as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree.
|
|
|
|
And all the host of the heavens. . .That is, the sun, moon, and stars.
|
|
|
|
34:5. For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down
|
|
upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment.
|
|
|
|
Idumea. . .Under the name of Idumea, or Edom a people that were enemies
|
|
of the Jews, are here understood the wicked in general, the enemies of
|
|
God and his church.
|
|
|
|
34:6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with
|
|
the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams full of
|
|
marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great
|
|
slaughter in the land of Edom.
|
|
|
|
34:7. And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the
|
|
mighty: their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with
|
|
the fat of fat ones.
|
|
|
|
The unicorns. . .That is, the great and mighty.
|
|
|
|
34:8. For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of
|
|
recompenses of the judgment of Sion.
|
|
|
|
The year of recompenses, etc. . .When the persecutors of Sion, that is,
|
|
of the church, shall receive their reward.
|
|
|
|
34:9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the
|
|
ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become
|
|
burning pitch.
|
|
|
|
34:10. Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall
|
|
go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none
|
|
shall pass through it for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
34:11. The bittern and ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the
|
|
raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to
|
|
bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation.
|
|
|
|
34:12. The nobles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather
|
|
upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing.
|
|
|
|
34:13. And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the
|
|
thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of
|
|
dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.
|
|
|
|
34:14. And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry
|
|
out one to another, there hath the lamia lain down, and found rest for
|
|
herself.
|
|
|
|
34:15. There hath the ericius had its hole, and brought up its young
|
|
ones, and hath dug round about, and cherished them in the shadow
|
|
thereof: thither are the kites gathered together one to another.
|
|
|
|
34:16. Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one
|
|
of them was wanting, one hath not sought for the other: for that which
|
|
proceedeth out of my mouth, he hath commanded, and his spirit it hath
|
|
gathered them.
|
|
|
|
34:17. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it
|
|
to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to
|
|
generation they shall dwell therein.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 35
|
|
|
|
|
|
The joyful flourishing of Christ's kingdom: in his church shall be a
|
|
holy and secure way.
|
|
|
|
35:1. The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the
|
|
wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.
|
|
|
|
35:2. It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and
|
|
praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and
|
|
Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.
|
|
|
|
35:3. Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees.
|
|
|
|
35:4. Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your
|
|
God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and
|
|
will save you.
|
|
|
|
35:5. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the
|
|
deaf shall be unstopped.
|
|
|
|
35:6. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the
|
|
dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and
|
|
streams in the wilderness.
|
|
|
|
35:7. And that which was dry land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty
|
|
land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwelt before, shall
|
|
rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush.
|
|
|
|
35:8. And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the
|
|
holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto
|
|
you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein.
|
|
|
|
35:9. No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go up by
|
|
it, nor be found there: but they shall walk there that shall be
|
|
delivered.
|
|
|
|
35:10. And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come into
|
|
Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they
|
|
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 36
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sennacherib invades Juda: his blasphemies.
|
|
|
|
36:1. And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, that
|
|
Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against all the fenced cities
|
|
of Juda, and took them.
|
|
|
|
36:2. And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces from Lachis to
|
|
Jerusalem, to king Ezechias with a great army, and he stood by the
|
|
conduit of the upper pool in the way of the fuller's field.
|
|
|
|
36:3. And there went out to him Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was
|
|
over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the
|
|
recorder.
|
|
|
|
36:4. And Rabsaces said to them: Tell Ezechias: Thus saith the great
|
|
king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence wherein thou
|
|
trustest?
|
|
|
|
36:5. Or with what counsel or strength dost thou prepare for war? on
|
|
whom dost thou trust, that thou art revolted from me?
|
|
|
|
36:6. Lo thou trustest upon this broken staff of a reed, upon Egypt:
|
|
upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so
|
|
is Pharao king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
|
|
|
|
36:7. But if thou wilt answer me: We trust in the Lord our God: is it
|
|
not he whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away, and hath
|
|
said to Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar?
|
|
|
|
36:8. And now deliver thyself up to my lord the king of the Assyrians,
|
|
and I will give thee two thousand horses, and thou wilt not be able on
|
|
thy part to find riders for them.
|
|
|
|
36:9. And how wilt thou stand against the face of the judge of one
|
|
place, of the least of my master's servants? But if thou trust in
|
|
Egypt, in chariots and in horsemen:
|
|
|
|
36:10. And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to
|
|
destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up against this land, and destroy
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
36:11. And Eliacim, and Sobna, and Joahe said to Rabsaces: Speak to thy
|
|
servants in the Syrian tongue: for we understand it: speak not to us in
|
|
the Jews' language in the hearing of the people, that are upon the
|
|
wall.
|
|
|
|
36:12. And Rabsaces said to them: Hath my master sent me to thy master
|
|
and to thee, to speak all these words; and not rather to the men that
|
|
sit on the wall; that they may eat their own dung, and drink their
|
|
urine with you?
|
|
|
|
36:13. Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the
|
|
Jews' language, and said: Hear the words of the great king, the king of
|
|
the Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
36:14. Thus saith the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you, for he shall
|
|
not be able to deliver you.
|
|
|
|
36:15. And let not Ezechias make you trust in the Lord, saying: The
|
|
Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the
|
|
hands of the king of the Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
36:16. Do not hearken to Ezechias: for thus said the king of the
|
|
Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to
|
|
me, and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree,
|
|
and drink ye every one the water of his cistern,
|
|
|
|
36:17. Till I come and take you away to a land, like to your own, a
|
|
land of corn and of wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
|
|
|
|
36:18. Neither let Ezechias trouble you, saying: The Lord will deliver
|
|
us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land out of the
|
|
hand of the king of the Assyrians?
|
|
|
|
36:19. Where is the god of Emath and of Arphad? where is the god of
|
|
Sepharvaim? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
|
|
|
|
36:20. Who is there among all the gods of these lands, that hath
|
|
delivered his country out of my hand, that the Lord may deliver
|
|
Jerusalem out of my hand?
|
|
|
|
36:21. And they held their peace, and answered him not a word. For the
|
|
king had commanded, saying: Answer him not.
|
|
|
|
36:22. And Eliacim the son of Helcias, that was over the house, and
|
|
Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder, went in to
|
|
Ezechias with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 37
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechias, his mourning and prayer. God's promise of protection. The
|
|
Assyrian army is destroyed. Sennacherib is slain.
|
|
|
|
37:1. And it came to pass, when king Ezechias had heard it, that he
|
|
rent his garments and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the
|
|
house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
37:2. And he sent Eliacim who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe,
|
|
and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the
|
|
son of Amos the prophet.
|
|
|
|
37:3. And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of
|
|
tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come
|
|
to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
|
|
|
|
37:4. It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom
|
|
the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to blaspheme the living
|
|
God, and to reproach with words which the Lord thy God hath heard:
|
|
wherefore lift up by prayer for the remnant that is left.
|
|
|
|
37:5. And the servants of Ezechias came to Isaias.
|
|
|
|
37:6. And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with
|
|
which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.
|
|
|
|
37:7. Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a
|
|
message, and shall return to his own country, and I will cause him to
|
|
fall by the sword in his own country.
|
|
|
|
37:8. And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians
|
|
besieging Lobna. For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.
|
|
|
|
37:9. And he heard say about Tharaca the king of Ethiopia: He is come
|
|
forth to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers
|
|
to Ezechias, saying:
|
|
|
|
37:10. Thus shall you speak to Ezechias the king of Juda, saying: Let
|
|
not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem
|
|
shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
37:11. Behold thou hast heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have
|
|
done to all countries which they have destroyed, and canst thou be
|
|
delivered?
|
|
|
|
37:12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have
|
|
destroyed, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that
|
|
were in Thalassar?
|
|
|
|
37:13. Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king
|
|
of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?
|
|
|
|
37:14. And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers,
|
|
and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread
|
|
it before the Lord.
|
|
|
|
37:15. And Ezechias prayed to the Lord, saying:
|
|
|
|
37:16. Lord of hosts, God of Israel who sitteth upon the cherubims,
|
|
thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made
|
|
heaven and earth.
|
|
|
|
37:17. Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and
|
|
see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to
|
|
blaspheme the living God.
|
|
|
|
37:18. For of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid
|
|
waste lands, and their countries.
|
|
|
|
37:19. And they have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not
|
|
gods, but the works of men's hands, of wood and stone: and they broke
|
|
them in pieces.
|
|
|
|
37:20. And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand: and let all
|
|
the kingdoms of the earth know, that thou only art the Lord.
|
|
|
|
37:21. And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith
|
|
the Lord the God of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me
|
|
concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians:
|
|
|
|
37:22. This is the word which the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin
|
|
the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the
|
|
daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged the head after thee.
|
|
|
|
37:23. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and
|
|
against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on
|
|
high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
|
|
|
|
37:24. By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord: and
|
|
hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the
|
|
height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus: and I will cut down its
|
|
tall cedars, and its choice fir trees, and will enter to the top of its
|
|
height, to the forest of its Carmel.
|
|
|
|
Carmel. . .See these figurative expressions explained in the annotations
|
|
on the nineteenth chapter of the fourth book of Kings.
|
|
|
|
37:25. I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up with the sole
|
|
of my foot, all the rivers shut up in banks.
|
|
|
|
37:26. Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? from the
|
|
days of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and
|
|
it hath come to pass that hills fighting together, and fenced cities
|
|
should be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
37:27. The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled, and
|
|
were confounded: they became like the grass of the field, and the herb
|
|
of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered
|
|
before it was ripe.
|
|
|
|
37:28. I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and
|
|
thy rage against me.
|
|
|
|
37:29. When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears:
|
|
therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy lips,
|
|
and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
|
|
|
|
37:30. But to thee this shall be a sign: Eat this year the things that
|
|
spring of themselves, and in the second year eat fruits: but in the
|
|
third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
37:31. And that which shall be saved of the house of Juda, and which is
|
|
left, shall take root downward, and shall bear fruit upward:
|
|
|
|
37:32. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and salvation
|
|
from mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
|
|
|
|
37:33. Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the
|
|
Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into
|
|
it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it.
|
|
|
|
37:34. By the way that he came, he shall return, and into this city he
|
|
shall not come, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
37:35. And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake,
|
|
and for the sake of David my servant.
|
|
|
|
37:36. And the angel of the Lord went out and slew in the camp of the
|
|
Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the
|
|
morning, and behold they were all dead corpses.
|
|
|
|
37:37. And Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians went out and departed,
|
|
and returned, and dwelt in Ninive.
|
|
|
|
37:38. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of
|
|
Nesroch his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the
|
|
sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, and Asarhaddon his son
|
|
reigned in his stead.
|
|
|
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|
|
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|
Isaias Chapter 38
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechias being advertised that he shall die, obtains by prayer a
|
|
prolongation of his life: in confirmation of which the sun goes back.
|
|
The canticle of Ezechias.
|
|
|
|
38:1. In those days Ezechias was sick even to death, and Isaias the son
|
|
of Amos the prophet cane unto him, and said to him: Thus saith the
|
|
Lord: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live.
|
|
|
|
38:2. And Ezechias turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the
|
|
Lord,
|
|
|
|
38:3. And said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked
|
|
before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that
|
|
which is good in thy sight. And Ezechias wept with great weeping.
|
|
|
|
38:4. And the word of the Lord came to Isaias, saying:
|
|
|
|
38:5. Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy
|
|
father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: behold I
|
|
will add to thy days fifteen years:
|
|
|
|
38:6. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king
|
|
of the Assyrians, and I will protect it.
|
|
|
|
38:7. And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord
|
|
will do this word which he hath spoken:
|
|
|
|
38:8. Behold I will bring again the shadow of the lines, by which it is
|
|
now gone down in the sun dial of Achaz with the sun, ten lines
|
|
backward. And the sun returned ten lines by the degrees by which it was
|
|
gone down.
|
|
|
|
38:9. The writing of Ezechias king of Juda, when he had been sick, and
|
|
was recovered of his sickness.
|
|
|
|
38:10. I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell:
|
|
I sought for the residue of my years.
|
|
|
|
Hell. . .Sheol, or Hades, the region of the dead.
|
|
|
|
38:11. I said: I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living.
|
|
I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest.
|
|
|
|
38:12. My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me, as a
|
|
shepherd's tent. My life is cut off, as by a weaver: whilst I was yet
|
|
but beginning, he cut me off: from morning even to night thou wilt make
|
|
an end of me.
|
|
|
|
38:13. I hoped till morning, as a lion so hath he broken all my bones:
|
|
from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.
|
|
|
|
38:14. I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove: my
|
|
eyes are weakened looking upward: Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou
|
|
for me.
|
|
|
|
38:15. What shall I say, or what shall he answer for me, whereas he
|
|
himself hath done it? I will recount to thee all my years in the
|
|
bitterness of my soul.
|
|
|
|
38:16. O Lord, if man's life be such, and the life of my spirit be in
|
|
such things as these, thou shalt correct me, and make me to live.
|
|
|
|
38:17. Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter: but thou hast
|
|
delivered my soul that it should not perish, thou hast cast all my sins
|
|
behind thy back.
|
|
|
|
38:18. For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise
|
|
thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for thy truth.
|
|
|
|
38:19. The living, the living, he shall give praise to thee, as I do
|
|
this day: the father shall make the truth known to the children.
|
|
|
|
38:20. O Lord, save me, and we will sing our psalms all the days of our
|
|
life in the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
38:21. Now Isaias had ordered that they should take a lump of figs, and
|
|
lay it as a plaster upon the wound, and that he should be healed.
|
|
|
|
38:22. And Ezechias had said: What shall be the sign that I shall go up
|
|
to the house of the Lord?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 39
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechias shews all his treasures to the ambassadors of Babylon: upon
|
|
which Isaias foretells the Babylonish captivity.
|
|
|
|
39:1. At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan king of
|
|
Babylon, sent letters and presents to Ezechias: for he had heard that
|
|
he had been sick and was recovered.
|
|
|
|
39:2. And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he shewed them the
|
|
storehouses of his aromatical spices, and of the silver, and of the
|
|
gold, and of the sweet odours, and of the precious ointment, and all
|
|
the storehouses of his furniture, and all things that were found in his
|
|
treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion that
|
|
Ezechias shewed them not.
|
|
|
|
39:3. Then Isaias the prophet came to king Ezechias, and said to him:
|
|
What said these men, and from whence came they to thee? And Ezechias
|
|
said: From a far country they came to me, from Babylon.
|
|
|
|
39:4. And he said: What saw they in thy house? And Ezechias said: All
|
|
things that are in my house have they seen, there was not any thing
|
|
which I have not shewn them in my treasures.
|
|
|
|
39:5. And Isaias said to Ezechias: Hear the word of the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
39:6. Behold the days shall come that all that is in thy house, and
|
|
that thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried
|
|
away into Babylon: there shall not any thing be left, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
39:7. And of thy children, that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt
|
|
beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of
|
|
the king of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
39:8. And Ezechias said to Isaias: The word of the Lord, which he hath
|
|
spoken, is good. And he said: Only let peace and truth be in my days.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 40
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet comforts the people with the promise of the coming of
|
|
Christ to forgive their sins. God's almighty power and majesty.
|
|
|
|
40:1. Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.
|
|
|
|
40:2. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil
|
|
is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the
|
|
hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
|
|
|
|
40:3. The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the
|
|
Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.
|
|
|
|
40:4. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall
|
|
be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways
|
|
plain.
|
|
|
|
40:5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
|
|
together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.
|
|
|
|
40:6. The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry?
|
|
All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.
|
|
|
|
40:7. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the
|
|
spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:
|
|
|
|
40:8. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of
|
|
our Lord endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
40:9. Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings
|
|
to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good
|
|
tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda:
|
|
Behold your God:
|
|
|
|
40:10. Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall
|
|
rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him.
|
|
|
|
40:11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather
|
|
together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom,
|
|
and he himself shall carry them that are with young.
|
|
|
|
40:12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and
|
|
weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers
|
|
the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the
|
|
hills in a balance?
|
|
|
|
40:13. Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his
|
|
counsellor, and hath taught him?
|
|
|
|
40:14. With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and
|
|
taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed
|
|
him the way of understanding?
|
|
|
|
40:15. Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted
|
|
as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little
|
|
dust.
|
|
|
|
40:16. And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the beasts thereof
|
|
sufficient for a burnt offering.
|
|
|
|
40:17. All nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and
|
|
are counted to him as nothing, and vanity.
|
|
|
|
40:18. To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make
|
|
for him?
|
|
|
|
40:19. Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith
|
|
formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?
|
|
|
|
40:20. He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skilful
|
|
workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may not be moved.
|
|
|
|
40:21. Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told
|
|
you from the beginning? have you not understood the foundations of the
|
|
earth?
|
|
|
|
40:22. It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the
|
|
inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens
|
|
as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
|
|
|
|
40:23. He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath
|
|
made the judges of the earth as vanity.
|
|
|
|
40:24. And surely their stock was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted
|
|
in the earth: suddenly he hath blown upon them, and they are withered,
|
|
and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
|
|
|
|
40:25. And to whom have ye likened me, or made me equal, saith the Holy
|
|
One?
|
|
|
|
40:26. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these
|
|
things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by
|
|
their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power,
|
|
not one of them was missing.
|
|
|
|
40:27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: My way is hid
|
|
from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
|
|
|
|
40:28. Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the
|
|
everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not
|
|
faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom.
|
|
|
|
40:29. It is he that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force
|
|
and might to them that are not.
|
|
|
|
40:30. You shall faint, and labour, and young men shall fall by
|
|
infirmity.
|
|
|
|
40:31. But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they
|
|
shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall
|
|
walk and not faint.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 41
|
|
|
|
|
|
The reign of the just one: the vanity of idols.
|
|
|
|
41:1. Let the islands keep silence before me, and the nations take new
|
|
strength: let them come near, and then speak, let us come near to
|
|
judgment together.
|
|
|
|
41:2. Who hath raised up the just one from the east, hath called him to
|
|
follow him? he shall give the nations in his sight, and he shall rule
|
|
over kings: he shall give them as the dust to his sword, as stubble
|
|
driven by the wind, to his bow.
|
|
|
|
41:3. He shall pursue them, he shall pass in peace, no path shall
|
|
appear after his feet.
|
|
|
|
41:4. Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the generations
|
|
from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the first and the last.
|
|
|
|
41:5. The islands saw it, and feared, the ends of the earth were
|
|
astonished, they drew near, and came.
|
|
|
|
41:6. Every one shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother:
|
|
Be of good courage.
|
|
|
|
41:7. The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him that
|
|
forged at that time, saying: It is ready for soldering: and he
|
|
strengthened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
|
|
|
|
41:8. But thou Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the
|
|
seed of Abraham my friend:
|
|
|
|
41:9. In whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from
|
|
the remote parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art
|
|
my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not cast thee away.
|
|
|
|
41:10. Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God:
|
|
I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of
|
|
my just one hath upheld thee.
|
|
|
|
41:11. Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and
|
|
ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that strive
|
|
against thee.
|
|
|
|
41:12. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that resist
|
|
thee: they shall be as nothing: and as a thing consumed the men that
|
|
war against thee.
|
|
|
|
41:13. For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to
|
|
thee: Fear not, I have helped thee.
|
|
|
|
41:14. Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I
|
|
have helped thee, saith the Lord: and thy Redeemer the Holy One of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
41:15. I have made thee as a new thrashing wain, with teeth like a saw:
|
|
thou shalt thrash the mountains, and break them in pieces: and shalt
|
|
make the hills as chaff.
|
|
|
|
41:16. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the
|
|
whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in
|
|
the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful.
|
|
|
|
41:17. The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none:
|
|
their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear them, I
|
|
the God of Israel will not forsake them.
|
|
|
|
41:18. I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst
|
|
of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the
|
|
impassable land into streams of waters.
|
|
|
|
41:19. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn, and the
|
|
myrtle, and the olive tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, the
|
|
elm, and the box tree together:
|
|
|
|
The thorn. . .In Hebrew, the shitta, or setim, a tree resembling the
|
|
white thorn.
|
|
|
|
41:20. That they may see and know, and consider, and understand
|
|
together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of
|
|
Israel hath created it.
|
|
|
|
41:21. Bring your cause near, saith the Lord: bring hither, if you have
|
|
any thing to allege, saith the King of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
41:22. Let them come, and tell us all things that are to come: tell us
|
|
the former things what they were: and we will set our heart upon them
|
|
and shall know the latter end of them, and tell us the things that are
|
|
to come.
|
|
|
|
41:23. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know
|
|
that ye are gods. Do ye also good or evil, if you can: and let us
|
|
speak, and see together.
|
|
|
|
41:24. Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which hath no
|
|
being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination.
|
|
|
|
41:25. I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the
|
|
rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and he shall make
|
|
princes to be as dirt, and as the potter treading clay.
|
|
|
|
41:26. Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know: and from
|
|
time of old, that we may say: Thou art just. There is none that
|
|
sheweth, nor that foretelleth, nor that heareth your words.
|
|
|
|
41:27. The first shall say to Sion: Behold they are here, and to
|
|
Jerusalem I will give an evangelist.
|
|
|
|
41:28. And I saw, and there was no one even among them to consult, or
|
|
who, when I asked, could answer a word.
|
|
|
|
41:29. Behold they are all in the wrong, and their works are vain:
|
|
their idols are wind and vanity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 42
|
|
|
|
|
|
The office of Christ. The preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. The
|
|
blindness and reprobation of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
42:1. Behold my servant, I will uphold him: my elect, my soul
|
|
delighteth in him: I have given my spirit upon him, he shall bring
|
|
forth judgment to the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
My servant. . .Christ, who according to his humanity, is the servant of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
42:2. He shall not cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall his
|
|
voice be heard abroad.
|
|
|
|
42:3. The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall
|
|
not quench, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
|
|
|
|
42:4. He shall not be sad, nor troublesome, till he set judgment in the
|
|
earth, and the islands shall wait for his law.
|
|
|
|
42:5. Thus saith the Lord God that created the heavens, and stretched
|
|
them out: that established the earth, and the things that spring out of
|
|
it: that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that
|
|
tread thereon.
|
|
|
|
42:6. I the Lord have called thee in justice, and taken thee by the
|
|
hand, and preserved thee. And I have given thee for a covenant of the
|
|
people, for a light of the Gentiles:
|
|
|
|
42:7. That thou mightest open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth
|
|
the prisoner out of prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the
|
|
prison house.
|
|
|
|
42:8. I the Lord, this is my name: I will not give my glory to another,
|
|
nor my praise to graven things.
|
|
|
|
42:9. The things that were first, behold they are come: and new things
|
|
do I declare: before they spring forth, I will make you hear them.
|
|
|
|
42:10. Sing ye to the Lord a new song, his praise is from the ends of
|
|
the earth: you that go down to the sea, and all that are therein: ye
|
|
islands, and ye inhabitants of them.
|
|
|
|
42:11. Let the desert and the cities thereof be exalted: Cedar shall
|
|
dwell in houses: ye inhabitants of Petra, give praise, they shall cry
|
|
from the top of the mountains.
|
|
|
|
Petra. . .A city that gives name to Arabia Petraea.
|
|
|
|
42:12. They shall give glory to the Lord, and shall declare his praise
|
|
in the islands.
|
|
|
|
42:13. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war shall
|
|
he stir up zeal: he shall shout and cry: he shall prevail against his
|
|
enemies.
|
|
|
|
42:14. I have always held my peace, I have kept silence, I have been
|
|
patient, I will speak now as a woman in labour: I will destroy, and
|
|
swallow up at once.
|
|
|
|
42:15. I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and will make all
|
|
their grass to wither: and I will turn rivers into islands, and will
|
|
dry up the standing pools.
|
|
|
|
42:16. And I will lead the blind into the way which they know not: and
|
|
in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk: I will
|
|
make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these
|
|
things have I done to them, and have not forsaken them.
|
|
|
|
42:17. They are turned back: let them be greatly confounded, that trust
|
|
in a graven thing, that say to a molten thing: You are our god.
|
|
|
|
42:18. Hear, ye deaf, and, ye blind, behold that you may see.
|
|
|
|
42:19. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, but he to whom I have
|
|
sent my messengers? Who is blind, but he that is sold? or who is blind,
|
|
but the servant of the Lord?
|
|
|
|
42:20. Thou that seest many things, wilt thou not observe them? thou
|
|
that hast ears open, wilt thou not hear?
|
|
|
|
42:21. And the Lord was willing to sanctify him, and to magnify the
|
|
law, and exalt it.
|
|
|
|
42:22. But this is a people that is robbed and wasted: they are all the
|
|
snare of young men, and they are hid in the houses of prisons: they are
|
|
made a prey, and there is none to deliver them: a spoil, and there is
|
|
none that saith: Restore.
|
|
|
|
42:23. Who is there among you that will give ear to this, that will
|
|
attend and hearken for times to come?
|
|
|
|
42:24. Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to robbers? hath
|
|
not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned? And they would not
|
|
walk in his ways, and they have not hearkened to his law.
|
|
|
|
42:25. And he hath poured out upon him the indignation of his fury, and
|
|
a strong battle, and hath burnt him round about, and he knew not: and
|
|
set him on fire, and he understood not.
|
|
|
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|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 43
|
|
|
|
|
|
God comforts his church, promising to protect her for ever: he
|
|
expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude.
|
|
|
|
43:1. And now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and
|
|
formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, and called
|
|
thee by thy name: thou art mine.
|
|
|
|
43:2. When thou shalt pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and
|
|
the rivers shall not cover thee: when thou shalt walk in the fire, thou
|
|
shalt not be burnt, and the flames shall not burn in thee:
|
|
|
|
43:3. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I
|
|
have given Egypt for thy atonement, Ethiopia and Saba for thee.
|
|
|
|
43:4. Since thou becamest honourable in my eyes, thou art glorious: I
|
|
have loved thee, and I will give men for thee, and people for thy life.
|
|
|
|
43:5. Fear not, for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the
|
|
east, and gather thee from the west.
|
|
|
|
43:6. I will say to the north: Give up: and to the south: Keep not
|
|
back: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the
|
|
earth.
|
|
|
|
43:7. And every one that calleth upon my name, I have created him for
|
|
my glory. I have formed him, and made him.
|
|
|
|
43:8. Bring forth the people that are blind, and have eyes: that are
|
|
deaf, and have ears.
|
|
|
|
43:9. All the nations are assembled together, and the tribes are
|
|
gathered: who among you can declare this, and shall make us hear the
|
|
former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, let them be
|
|
justified, and hear, and say: It is truth.
|
|
|
|
43:10. You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have
|
|
chosen: that you may know, and believe me, and understand that I myself
|
|
am. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there shall be
|
|
none.
|
|
|
|
43:11. I am, I am the Lord: and there is no saviour besides me.
|
|
|
|
43:12. I have declared, and have saved. I have made it heard, and there
|
|
was no strange one among you. You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and
|
|
I am God.
|
|
|
|
43:13. And from the beginning I am the same, and there is none that can
|
|
deliver out of my hind: I will work, and who shall turn it away?
|
|
|
|
43:14. Thus saith the Lord your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For
|
|
your sake I sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their bars, and
|
|
the Chaldeans glorying in their ships.
|
|
|
|
43:15. I am the Lord your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
|
|
|
|
43:16. Thus saith the Lord, who made a way in the sea, and a path in
|
|
the mighty waters.
|
|
|
|
43:17. Who brought forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the
|
|
strong: they lay down to sleep together, and they shall not rise again:
|
|
they are broken as flax, and are extinct.
|
|
|
|
43:18. Remember not former things, and look not on things of old.
|
|
|
|
43:19. Behold I do new things, and now they shall spring forth, verily
|
|
you shall know them: I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in
|
|
the desert.
|
|
|
|
43:20. The beast of the field shall glorify me, the dragons and the
|
|
ostriches: because I have given waters in the wilderness, rivers in the
|
|
desert, to give drink to my people, to my chosen.
|
|
|
|
43:21. This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my
|
|
praise.
|
|
|
|
43:22. But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob, neither hast thou
|
|
laboured about me, O Israel.
|
|
|
|
43:23. Thou hast not offered me the ram of thy holocaust, nor hast thou
|
|
glorified me with thy victims: I have not caused thee to serve with
|
|
oblations, nor wearied thee with incense.
|
|
|
|
43:24. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou
|
|
filled me with the fat of thy victims. But thou hast made me to serve
|
|
with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thy iniquities.
|
|
|
|
43:25. I am, I am he that blot out thy iniquities for my own sake, and
|
|
I will not remember thy sins.
|
|
|
|
43:26. Put me in remembrance, and let us plead together: tell if thou
|
|
hast any thing to justify thyself.
|
|
|
|
43:27. Thy first father sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed
|
|
against me.
|
|
|
|
43:28. And I have profaned the holy princes, I have given Jacob to
|
|
slaughter, and Israel to reproach.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 44
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's favour to his church. The folly of idolatry. The people shall be
|
|
delivered from captivity.
|
|
|
|
44:1. And now hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen.
|
|
|
|
44:2. Thus saith the Lord that made and formed thee, thy helper from
|
|
the womb: Fear not, O my servant Jacob, and thou most righteous whom I
|
|
have chosen.
|
|
|
|
44:3. For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams
|
|
upon the dry land: I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and my
|
|
blessing upon thy stock.
|
|
|
|
44:4. And they shall spring up among the herbs, as willows beside the
|
|
running waters.
|
|
|
|
44:5. One shall say: I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by
|
|
the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand, To the
|
|
Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
|
|
|
|
44:6. Thus saith the Lord the king of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord
|
|
of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
44:7. Who is like to me? let him call and declare: and let him set
|
|
before me the order, since I appointed the ancient people: and the
|
|
things to come, and that shall be hereafter, let them shew unto them.
|
|
|
|
44:8. Fear ye not, neither be ye troubled from that time I have made
|
|
thee to hear, and have declared: you are my witnesses. Is there a God
|
|
besides me, a maker, whom I have not known?
|
|
|
|
44:9. The makers of idols are all of them nothing, and their best
|
|
beloved things shall not profit them. They are their witnesses, that
|
|
they do not see, nor understand, that they may be ashamed.
|
|
|
|
44:10. Who hath formed a god, and made a graven thing that is
|
|
profitable for nothing?
|
|
|
|
44:11. Behold, all the partakers thereof shall be confounded: for the
|
|
makers are men: they shall all assemble together, they shall stand and
|
|
fear, and shall be confounded together.
|
|
|
|
44:12. The smith hath wrought with his file, with coals, and with
|
|
hammers he hath formed it, and hath wrought with the strength of his
|
|
arm: he shall hunger and faint, he shall drink no water, and shall be
|
|
weary.
|
|
|
|
44:13. The carpenter hath stretched out his rule, he hath formed it
|
|
with a plane: he hath made it with corners, and hath fashioned it round
|
|
with the compass: and he hath made the image of a man as it were a
|
|
beautiful man dwelling in a house.
|
|
|
|
44:14. He hath cut down cedars, taken the holm, and the oak that stood
|
|
among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine tree, which the
|
|
rain hath nourished.
|
|
|
|
44:15. And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed
|
|
himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a
|
|
god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it.
|
|
|
|
44:16. Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed
|
|
his meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said:
|
|
Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.
|
|
|
|
44:17. But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for
|
|
himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth unto it,
|
|
saying: Deliver me, for thou art my God.
|
|
|
|
44:18. They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered
|
|
that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
44:19. They do not consider in their mind, nor know, nor have the
|
|
thought to say: I have burnt part of it in the fire, and I have baked
|
|
bread upon the coals thereof: I have broiled flesh and have eaten, and
|
|
of the residue thereof shall I make an idol? shall I fall down before
|
|
the stock of a tree?
|
|
|
|
44:20. Part thereof is ashes: his foolish heart adoreth it, and he will
|
|
not save his soul, nor say: Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand.
|
|
|
|
44:21. Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for thou art my
|
|
servant. I have formed thee, thou art my servant, O Israel, forget me
|
|
not.
|
|
|
|
44:22. I have blotted out thy iniquities as a cloud, and thy sins as a
|
|
mist: return to me, for I have redeemed thee.
|
|
|
|
44:23. Give praise, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath shewn mercy: shout
|
|
with joy, ye ends of the earth: ye mountains, resound with praise,
|
|
thou, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed
|
|
Jacob, and Israel shall be glorified.
|
|
|
|
44:24. Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, and thy maker, from the womb:
|
|
I am the Lord, that make all things, that alone stretch out the
|
|
heavens, that established the earth, and there is none with me.
|
|
|
|
44:25. That make void the tokens of diviners, and make the soothsayers
|
|
mad. That turn the wise backward, and that make their knowledge
|
|
foolish.
|
|
|
|
44:26. That raise up the word of my servant and perform the counsel of
|
|
my messengers, who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be inhabited: and to
|
|
the cities of Juda: You shall be built, and I will raise up the wastes
|
|
thereof.
|
|
|
|
44:27. Who say to the deep: Be thou desolate, and I will dry up thy
|
|
rivers.
|
|
|
|
44:28. Who say to Cyrus: Thou art my shepherd, and thou shalt perform
|
|
all my pleasure. Who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be built: and to the
|
|
temple: Thy foundations shall be laid.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 45
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophecy of Cyrus, as a figure of Christ, the great deliverer of
|
|
God's people.
|
|
|
|
45:1. Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have
|
|
taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs
|
|
of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be
|
|
shut.
|
|
|
|
45:2. I will go before thee, and will humble the great ones of the
|
|
earth: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and will burst the
|
|
bars of iron.
|
|
|
|
45:3. And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the concealed riches
|
|
of secret places: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call
|
|
thee by thy name, the God of Israel.
|
|
|
|
45:4. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my elect, I have
|
|
even called thee by thy name: I have made a likeness of thee, and thou
|
|
hast not known me.
|
|
|
|
45:5. I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God besides
|
|
me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me:
|
|
|
|
45:6. That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they
|
|
who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord,
|
|
and there is none else:
|
|
|
|
45:7. I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create
|
|
evil: I the Lord that do all these things.
|
|
|
|
Create evil, etc. . .The evils of afflictions and punishments, but not
|
|
the evil of sin.
|
|
|
|
45:8. Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain
|
|
the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let
|
|
justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him.
|
|
|
|
45:9. Woe to him that gainsayeth his maker, a sherd of the earthen
|
|
pots: shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it: What art thou
|
|
making, and thy work is without hands?
|
|
|
|
45:10. Woe to him that saith to his father: Why begettest thou? and to
|
|
the woman: Why dost thou bring forth?
|
|
|
|
45:11. Thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel, his maker: Ask me of
|
|
things to come, concerning my children, and concerning the work of my
|
|
hands give ye charge to me.
|
|
|
|
45:12. I made the earth: and I created man upon it: my hand stretched
|
|
forth the heavens, and I have commanded all their host.
|
|
|
|
45:13. I have raised him up to justice, and I will direct all his ways:
|
|
he shall build my city, and let go my captives, not for ransom, nor for
|
|
presents, saith the Lord the God of hosts.
|
|
|
|
45:14. Thus saith the Lord: The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of
|
|
Ethiopia, and of Sabaim, men of stature shall come over to thee, and
|
|
shall be thine: they shall walk after thee, they shall go bound with
|
|
manacles: and they shall worship thee, and shall make supplication to
|
|
thee: only in thee is God, and there is no God besides thee.
|
|
|
|
45:15. Verily thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel the saviour.
|
|
|
|
45:16. They are all confounded and ashamed: the forgers of errors are
|
|
gone together into confusion.
|
|
|
|
45:17. Israel is saved in the Lord with an eternal salvation: you shall
|
|
not be confounded, and you shall not be ashamed for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
45:18. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself
|
|
that formed the earth, and made it, the very maker thereof: he did not
|
|
create it in vain: he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and
|
|
there is no other.
|
|
|
|
45:19. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I
|
|
have not said to the seed of Jacob: Seek me in vain. I am the Lord that
|
|
speak justice, that declare right things.
|
|
|
|
45:20. Assemble yourselves, and come, and draw near together, ye that
|
|
are saved of the Gentiles: they have no knowledge that set up the wood
|
|
of their graven work, and pray to a god that cannot save.
|
|
|
|
45:21. Tell ye, and come, and consult together: who hath declared this
|
|
from the beginning, who hath foretold this from that time? Have not I
|
|
the Lord, and there is no God else besides me? A just God and a
|
|
saviour, there is none besides me.
|
|
|
|
45:22. Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the
|
|
earth: for I am God, and there is no other.
|
|
|
|
45:23. I have sworn by myself, the word of justice shall go out of my
|
|
mouth, and shall not return:
|
|
|
|
45:24. For every knee shall be bowed to me, and every tongue shall
|
|
swear.
|
|
|
|
45:25. Therefore shall he say: In the Lord are my justices and empire:
|
|
they shall come to him, and all that resist him shall be confounded.
|
|
|
|
45:26. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and
|
|
praised.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 46
|
|
|
|
|
|
The idols of Babylon shall be destroyed. Salvation is promised through
|
|
Christ.
|
|
|
|
46:1. Bel is broken, Nebo is destroyed: their idols are put upon beasts
|
|
and cattle, your burdens of heavy weight even unto weariness.
|
|
|
|
46:2. They are consumed, and are broken together: they could not save
|
|
him that carried them, and they themselves shall go into captivity.
|
|
|
|
46:3. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house
|
|
of Israel who are carried by my bowels, are borne up by my womb.
|
|
|
|
46:4. Even to your old age I am the same, and to your grey hairs I will
|
|
carry you: I have made you, and I will bear: I will carry and will
|
|
save.
|
|
|
|
46:5. To whom have you likened me, and made me equal, and compared me,
|
|
and made me like?
|
|
|
|
46:6. You that contribute gold out of the bag, and weigh out silver in
|
|
the scales: and hire a goldsmith to make a god: and they fall down and
|
|
worship.
|
|
|
|
46:7. They bear him on their shoulders and carry him, and set him in
|
|
his place, and he shall stand, and shall not stir out of his place.
|
|
Yea, when they shall cry also unto him, he shall not hear: he shall not
|
|
save them from tribulation.
|
|
|
|
46:8. Remember this, and be ashamed: return, ye transgressors, to the
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
46:9. Remember the former age, for I am God, and there is no God
|
|
beside, neither is there the like to me:
|
|
|
|
46:10. Who shew from the beginning the things that shall be at last,
|
|
and from ancient times the things that as yet are not done, saying: My
|
|
counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done:
|
|
|
|
46:11. Who call a bird from the east, and from a far country the man of
|
|
my own will, and I have spoken, and will bring it to pass: I have
|
|
created, and I will do it. Hear me, O ye hardhearted, who are far from
|
|
justice.
|
|
|
|
46:12. I have brought my justice near, it shall not be afar off: and my
|
|
salvation shall not tarry. I will give salvation in Sion, and my glory
|
|
in Israel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 47
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's judgment upon Babylon.
|
|
|
|
47:1. Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on
|
|
the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for
|
|
thou shalt no more be called delicate and tender.
|
|
|
|
47:2. Take a millstone and grind meal: uncover thy shame, strip thy
|
|
shoulder, make bare thy legs, pass over the rivers.
|
|
|
|
47:3. Thy nakedness shall be discovered, and thy shame shall be seen: I
|
|
will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me.
|
|
|
|
47:4. Our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
47:5. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the
|
|
Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms.
|
|
|
|
47:6. I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and
|
|
have given them into thy hand: thou hast shewn no mercy to them: upon
|
|
the ancient thou hast laid thy yoke exceeding heavy.
|
|
|
|
47:7. And thou hast said: I shall be a lady for ever: thou hast not
|
|
laid these things to thy heart, neither hast thou remembered thy latter
|
|
end.
|
|
|
|
47:8. And now hear these things, thou that art delicate, and dwellest
|
|
confidently, that sayest in thy heart: I am, and there is none else
|
|
besides me: I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know
|
|
barrenness.
|
|
|
|
47:9. These two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day,
|
|
barrenness and widowhood. All things are come upon thee, because of the
|
|
multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great hardness of thy
|
|
enchanters.
|
|
|
|
47:10. And thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and hast said: There is
|
|
none that seeth me. Thy wisdom, and, thy knowledge, this hath deceived
|
|
thee. And thou hast said in thy heart: I am, and besides me there is no
|
|
other.
|
|
|
|
47:11. Evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising
|
|
thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon thee, which thou canst
|
|
not keep off: misery shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt
|
|
not know.
|
|
|
|
47:12. Stand now with thy enchanters, and with the multitude of thy
|
|
sorceries, in which thou hast laboured from thy youth, if so be it may
|
|
profit thee any thing, or if thou mayst become stronger.
|
|
|
|
47:13. Thou hast failed in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the
|
|
astrologers stand and save thee, they that gazed at the stars, and
|
|
counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that
|
|
shall come to thee.
|
|
|
|
47:14. Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burnt them, they shall not
|
|
deliver themselves from the power of the flames: there are no coals
|
|
wherewith they may be warmed, nor fire, that they may sit thereat.
|
|
|
|
47:15. Such are all the things become to thee, in which thou hast
|
|
laboured: thy merchants from thy youth, every one hath erred in his own
|
|
way, there is none that can save thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 48
|
|
|
|
|
|
He reproaches the Jews for their obstinacy: he will deliver them out of
|
|
their captivity, for his own name's sake.
|
|
|
|
48:1. Hear ye these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by
|
|
the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Juda, you
|
|
who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of
|
|
Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice.
|
|
|
|
48:2. For they are called of the holy city, and are established upon
|
|
the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name.
|
|
|
|
48:3. The former things of old, I have declared, and they went forth
|
|
out of my mouth, and I have made them to be heard: I did them suddenly
|
|
and they came to pass.
|
|
|
|
48:4. For I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is as an iron
|
|
sinew, and thy forehead as brass.
|
|
|
|
48:5. I foretold thee of old, before they came to pass I told thee,
|
|
lest thou shouldst say: My idols have done these things, and my graven
|
|
and molten things have commanded them.
|
|
|
|
48:6. See now all the things which thou hast heard: but have you
|
|
declared them? I have shewn thee new things from that time, and things
|
|
are kept which thou knowest not:
|
|
|
|
48:7. They are created now, and not of old: and before the day, when
|
|
thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldst say: Behold I knew them.
|
|
|
|
48:8. Thou hast neither heard, nor known, neither was thy ear opened of
|
|
old. For I know that transgressing thou wilt transgress, and I have
|
|
called thee a transgressor from the womb.
|
|
|
|
48:9. For my name's sake I will remove my wrath far off: and for my
|
|
praise I will bridle thee, lest thou shouldst perish.
|
|
|
|
48:10. Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen
|
|
thee in the furnace of poverty.
|
|
|
|
48:11. For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be
|
|
blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another.
|
|
|
|
48:12. Hearken to me, O Jacob, and thou Israel whom I call: I am he, I
|
|
am the first, and I am the last.
|
|
|
|
48:13. My hand also hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath
|
|
measured the heavens: I shall call them, and they shall stand together.
|
|
|
|
48:14. Assemble yourselves together, all you, and hear: who among them
|
|
hath declared these things? the Lord hath loved him, he will do his
|
|
pleasure in Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
|
|
|
|
48:15. I, even I have spoken and called him: I have brought him, and
|
|
his way is made prosperous.
|
|
|
|
48:16. Come ye near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret
|
|
from the beginning: from the time before it was done, I was there, and
|
|
now the Lord God hath sent me, and his spirit.
|
|
|
|
48:17. Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am
|
|
the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in
|
|
the way that thou walkest.
|
|
|
|
48:18. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had
|
|
been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea,
|
|
|
|
48:19. And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy
|
|
bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor
|
|
have been destroyed from before my face.
|
|
|
|
48:20. Come forth out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, declare
|
|
it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even
|
|
to the ends of the earth. Say: The Lord hath redeemed his servant
|
|
Jacob.
|
|
|
|
48:21. They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he
|
|
brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock,
|
|
and the waters gushed out.
|
|
|
|
48:22. There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 49
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christ shall bring the Gentiles to salvation. God's love to his church
|
|
is perpetual.
|
|
|
|
49:1. Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord
|
|
hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he hath been
|
|
mindful of my name.
|
|
|
|
49:2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of
|
|
his hand he hath protected me, and hath made me as a chosen arrow: in
|
|
his quiver he hath hidden me.
|
|
|
|
49:3. And he said to me: Thou art my servant Israel, for in thee will I
|
|
glory.
|
|
|
|
49:4. And I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength
|
|
without cause and in vain: therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and
|
|
my work with my God.
|
|
|
|
49:5. And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his
|
|
servant, that I may bring back Jacob unto him, and Israel will not be
|
|
gathered together: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my
|
|
God is made my strength.
|
|
|
|
49:6. And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant
|
|
to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel.
|
|
Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou
|
|
mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.
|
|
|
|
49:7. Thus saith the Lord the redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to the
|
|
soul that is despised, to the nation that is abhorred, to the servant
|
|
of rulers: Kings shall see, and princes shall rise up, and adore for
|
|
the Lord's sake, because he is faithful, and for the Holy One of
|
|
Israel, who hath chosen thee.
|
|
|
|
49:8. Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and
|
|
in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee,
|
|
and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise
|
|
up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed:
|
|
|
|
49:9. That thou mightest say to them that are bound: Come forth: and to
|
|
them that are in darkness: Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the
|
|
ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain.
|
|
|
|
49:10. They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor
|
|
the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their
|
|
shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink.
|
|
|
|
49:11. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be
|
|
exalted.
|
|
|
|
49:12. Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the
|
|
north and from the sea, and these from the south country.
|
|
|
|
49:13. Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains,
|
|
give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his
|
|
people, and will have mercy on his poor ones.
|
|
|
|
49:14. And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath
|
|
forgotten me.
|
|
|
|
49:15. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son
|
|
of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee.
|
|
|
|
49:16. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always
|
|
before my eyes.
|
|
|
|
49:17. Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee
|
|
waste shall go out of thee.
|
|
|
|
49:18. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered
|
|
together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be
|
|
clothed with all these as with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt
|
|
put them about thee.
|
|
|
|
49:19. For thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy
|
|
destruction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and
|
|
they that swallowed thee up shall be chased far away.
|
|
|
|
49:20. The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The
|
|
place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in.
|
|
|
|
49:21. And thou shalt say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these? I was
|
|
barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive: and who hath
|
|
brought up these? I was destitute and alone: and these, where were
|
|
they?
|
|
|
|
49:22. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lift up my hand to the
|
|
Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the people. And they shall
|
|
bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their
|
|
shoulders.
|
|
|
|
49:23. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses:
|
|
they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and they
|
|
shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the
|
|
Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him.
|
|
|
|
49:24. Shall the prey be taken from the strong? or can that which was
|
|
taken by the mighty, be delivered?
|
|
|
|
49:25. For thus saith the Lord: Yea verily, even the captivity shall be
|
|
taken away from the strong: and that which was taken by the mighty,
|
|
shall be delivered. But I will judge those that have judged thee, and
|
|
thy children I will save.
|
|
|
|
49:26. And I will feed thy enemies with their own flesh: and they shall
|
|
be made drunk with their own blood, as with new wine: and all flesh
|
|
shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, and thy Redeemer the
|
|
Mighty One of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 50
|
|
|
|
|
|
The synagogue shall be divorced for her iniquities. Christ for her sake
|
|
will endure ignominious afflictions.
|
|
|
|
50:1. Thus saith the Lord: What is this bill of the divorce of your
|
|
mother, with which I have put her away? or who is my creditor, to whom
|
|
I sold you: behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your
|
|
wicked deeds have I put your mother away.
|
|
|
|
50:2. Because I came, and there was not a man: I called, and there was
|
|
none that would hear. Is my hand shortened and become little, that I
|
|
cannot redeem? or is there no strength in me to deliver? Behold at my
|
|
rebuke I will make the sea a desert, I will turn the rivers into dry
|
|
land: the fishes shall rot for want of water, and shall die for thirst.
|
|
|
|
50:3. I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth
|
|
their covering.
|
|
|
|
50:4. The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how
|
|
to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakeneth in the morning, in the
|
|
morning he wakeneth my ear, that I may hear him as a master.
|
|
|
|
50:5. The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I do not resist: I have not
|
|
gone back.
|
|
|
|
50:6. I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that
|
|
plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me,
|
|
and spit upon me.
|
|
|
|
50:7. The Lord God is my helper, therefore am I not confounded:
|
|
therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I
|
|
shall not be confounded.
|
|
|
|
50:8. He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me? let us
|
|
stand together, who is my adversary? let him come near to me.
|
|
|
|
50:9. Behold the Lord God is my helper: who is he that shall condemn
|
|
me? Lo, they shall all be destroyed as a garment, the moth shall eat
|
|
them up.
|
|
|
|
50:10. Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that heareth the
|
|
voice of his servant, that hath walked in darkness, and hath no light?
|
|
let him hope in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God.
|
|
|
|
50:11. Behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with flames, walk
|
|
in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled:
|
|
this is done to you by my hand, you shall sleep in sorrows.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 51
|
|
|
|
|
|
An exhortation to trust in Christ. He shall protect the children of his
|
|
church.
|
|
|
|
51:1. Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that
|
|
seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole
|
|
of the pit from which you are dug out.
|
|
|
|
51:2. Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you: for I
|
|
called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him.
|
|
|
|
51:3. The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the
|
|
ruins thereof: and he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and
|
|
her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be
|
|
found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise.
|
|
|
|
51:4. Hearken unto me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my tribes:
|
|
for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest to be a
|
|
light of the nations.
|
|
|
|
51:5. My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth, and my
|
|
arms shall judge the people: the islands shall look for me, and shall
|
|
patiently wait for my arm.
|
|
|
|
51:6. Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth beneath:
|
|
for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall be worn
|
|
away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like
|
|
manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not
|
|
fail.
|
|
|
|
51:7. Hearken to me, you that know what is just, my people who have my
|
|
law in your heart: fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid
|
|
of their blasphemies.
|
|
|
|
51:8. For the worm shall eat them up as a garment: and the moth shall
|
|
consume them as wool: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my
|
|
justice from generation to generation.
|
|
|
|
51:9. Arise, arise, put on strength, O thou arm of the Lord, arise as
|
|
in the days of old, in the ancient generations. Hast not thou struck
|
|
the proud one, and wounded the dragon?
|
|
|
|
51:10. Hast not thou dried up the sea, the water of the mighty deep,
|
|
who madest the depth of the sea a way, that the delivered might pass
|
|
over?
|
|
|
|
51:11. And now they that are redeemed by the Lord, shall return, and
|
|
shall come into Sion singing praises, and joy everlasting shall be upon
|
|
their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning
|
|
shall flee away.
|
|
|
|
51:12. I myself will comfort you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be
|
|
afraid of a mortal man, and of the son of man, who shall wither away
|
|
like grass?
|
|
|
|
51:13. And thou hast forgotten the Lord thy maker, who stretched out
|
|
the heavens, and founded the earth: and thou hast been afraid
|
|
continually all the day at the presence of his fury who afflicted thee,
|
|
and had prepared himself to destroy thee: where is now the fury of the
|
|
oppressor?
|
|
|
|
51:14. He shall quickly come that is going to open unto you, and he
|
|
shall not kill unto utter destruction, neither shall his bread fail.
|
|
|
|
51:15. But I am the Lord thy God, who trouble the sea, and the waves
|
|
thereof swell: the Lord of hosts is my name.
|
|
|
|
51:16. I have put my words in thy mouth, and have protected thee in the
|
|
shadow of my hand, that thou mightest plant the heavens, and found the
|
|
earth: and mightest say to Sion: Thou art my people.
|
|
|
|
51:17. Arise, arise, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the
|
|
hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk even to the
|
|
bottom of the cup of dead sleep, and thou hast drunk even to the dregs.
|
|
|
|
51:18. There is none that can uphold her among all the children that
|
|
she hath brought forth: and there is none that taketh her by the hand
|
|
among all the children that she hath brought up.
|
|
|
|
51:19. There are two things that have happened to thee: who shall be
|
|
sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the
|
|
sword, who shall comfort thee?
|
|
|
|
51:20. Thy children are cast forth, they have slept at the head of all
|
|
the ways, and the wild ox that is snared: full of the indignation of
|
|
the Lord, of the rebuke of thy God.
|
|
|
|
51:21. Therefore hear this, thou poor little one, and thou that art
|
|
drunk but not with wine.
|
|
|
|
51:22. Thus saith thy Sovereign the Lord, and thy God, who will fight
|
|
for his people: Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of dead
|
|
sleep, the dregs of the cup of my indignation, thou shalt not drink it
|
|
again any more.
|
|
|
|
51:23. And I will put it in the hand of them that have oppressed thee,
|
|
and have said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast
|
|
laid thy body as the ground, and as a way to them that went over.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 52
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the figure of the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, the
|
|
church is invited to rejoice for her redemption from sin. Christ's
|
|
kingdom shall be exalted.
|
|
|
|
52:1. Arise, arise, put on thy strength, O Sion, put on the garments of
|
|
thy glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One: for henceforth the
|
|
uncircumcised, and unclean shall no more pass through thee.
|
|
|
|
52:2. Shake thyself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem: loose
|
|
the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion.
|
|
|
|
52:3. For thus saith the Lord: You were sold gratis, and you shall be
|
|
redeemed, without money.
|
|
|
|
52:4. For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down into Egypt at
|
|
the beginning to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them
|
|
without any cause at all.
|
|
|
|
52:5. And now what have I here, saith the Lord: for my people is taken
|
|
away gratis. They that rule over them treat them unjustly, saith the
|
|
Lord, and my name is continually blasphemed all the day long.
|
|
|
|
52:6. Therefore my people shall know my name in that day: for I myself
|
|
that spoke, behold I am here.
|
|
|
|
52:7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that
|
|
bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: of him that sheweth
|
|
forth good, that preacheth salvation, that saith to Sion: Thy God shall
|
|
reign!
|
|
|
|
52:8. The voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they
|
|
shall praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord
|
|
shall convert Sion.
|
|
|
|
52:9. Rejoice, and give praise together, O ye deserts of Jerusalem: for
|
|
the Lord hath comforted his people: he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
52:10. The Lord hath prepared his holy arm in the sight of all the
|
|
Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
52:11. Depart, depart, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing:
|
|
go out of the midst of her, be ye clean, you that carry the vessels of
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
52:12. For you shall not go out in a tumult, neither shall you make
|
|
haste by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel
|
|
will gather you together.
|
|
|
|
52:13. Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and
|
|
extolled, and shall be exceeding high.
|
|
|
|
52:14. As many have been astonished at thee, so shall his visage be
|
|
inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men.
|
|
|
|
52:15. He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouth at
|
|
him: for they to whom it was not told of him, have seen: and they that
|
|
heard not, have beheld.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 53
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophecy of the passion of Christ.
|
|
|
|
53:1. Who a hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the
|
|
Lord revealed?
|
|
|
|
53:2. And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root
|
|
out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and
|
|
we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be
|
|
desirous of him:
|
|
|
|
53:3. Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and
|
|
acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and
|
|
despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.
|
|
|
|
53:4. Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and
|
|
we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and
|
|
afflicted.
|
|
|
|
53:5. But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our
|
|
sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we
|
|
are healed.
|
|
|
|
53:6. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside
|
|
into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
|
|
|
|
53:7. He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his
|
|
mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb
|
|
as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.
|
|
|
|
53:8. He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall
|
|
declare his generation? because he is cut off out of the land of the
|
|
living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him.
|
|
|
|
53:9. And he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for
|
|
his death: because he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit
|
|
in his mouth.
|
|
|
|
53:10. And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall
|
|
lay down his life for sin, he shall see a longlived seed, and the will
|
|
of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand.
|
|
|
|
53:11. Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by
|
|
his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall
|
|
bear their iniquities.
|
|
|
|
53:12. Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall
|
|
divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul
|
|
unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins
|
|
of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 54
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Gentiles, who were barren before, shall multiply in the church of
|
|
Christ: from which God's mercy shall never depart.
|
|
|
|
54:1. Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not: sing forth praise,
|
|
and make a joyful noise, thou that didst not travail with child: for
|
|
many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a
|
|
husband, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
54:2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy
|
|
tabernacles, spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.
|
|
|
|
54:3. For thou shalt pass on to the right hand, and to the left: and
|
|
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and shall inhabit the desolate
|
|
cities.
|
|
|
|
54:4. Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded, nor blush: for thou
|
|
shalt not be put to shame, because thou shalt forget the shame of thy
|
|
youth, and shalt remember no more the reproach of thy widowhood.
|
|
|
|
54:5. For he that made thee shall rule over thee, the Lord of hosts is
|
|
his name: and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the
|
|
God of all the earth.
|
|
|
|
54:6. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and mourning in
|
|
spirit, and as a wife cast off from her youth, said thy God.
|
|
|
|
54:7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies
|
|
will I gather thee.
|
|
|
|
54:8. In a moment of indignation have I hid my face a little while from
|
|
thee, but with everlasting kindness have I had mercy on thee, said the
|
|
Lord thy Redeemer.
|
|
|
|
54:9. This thing is to me as in the days of Noe, to whom I swore, that
|
|
I would no more bring in the waters of Noe upon the earth: so have I
|
|
sworn not to be angry with thee, and not to rebuke thee.
|
|
|
|
54:10. For the mountains shall be moved, and the hills shall tremble;
|
|
but my mercy shall not depart from thee, and the covenant of my peace
|
|
shall not be moved: said the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
|
|
|
|
54:11. O poor little one, tossed with tempest, without all comfort,
|
|
behold I will lay thy stones in order, and will lay thy foundations
|
|
with sapphires,
|
|
|
|
54:12. And I will make thy bulwarks of jasper: and thy gates of graven
|
|
stones, and all thy borders of desirable stones.
|
|
|
|
54:13. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord: and great shall be
|
|
the peace of thy children.
|
|
|
|
54:14. And thou shalt be founded in justice: depart far from
|
|
oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not
|
|
come near thee.
|
|
|
|
54:15. Behold, an inhabitant shall come, who was not with me, he that
|
|
was a stranger to thee before, shall be joined to thee.
|
|
|
|
54:16. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the
|
|
fire, and bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created
|
|
the killer to destroy.
|
|
|
|
54:17. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper: and every
|
|
tongue that resisteth thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the
|
|
inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their justice with me,
|
|
saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 55
|
|
|
|
|
|
God promises abundance of spiritual graces to the faithful, that shall
|
|
believe in Christ out of all nations, and sincerely serve him.
|
|
|
|
55:1. All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no
|
|
money make haste, buy, and eat: come ye, buy wine and milk without
|
|
money, and without any price.
|
|
|
|
55:2. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your
|
|
labour for that which doth not satisfy you? Hearken diligently to me,
|
|
and eat that which is good, and your soul shall be delighted in
|
|
fatness.
|
|
|
|
55:3. Incline your ear and come to me: hear and your soul shall live,
|
|
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the faithful mercies
|
|
of David.
|
|
|
|
55:4. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader
|
|
and a master to the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
55:5. Behold thou shalt call a nation, which thou knewest not: and the
|
|
nations that knew not thee shall run to thee, because of the Lord thy
|
|
God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee.
|
|
|
|
55:6. Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he
|
|
is near.
|
|
|
|
55:7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts,
|
|
and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to
|
|
our God: for he is bountiful to forgive.
|
|
|
|
55:8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways,
|
|
saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
55:9. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways
|
|
exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.
|
|
|
|
55:10. And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return
|
|
no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to
|
|
spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
|
|
|
|
55:11. So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it
|
|
shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and
|
|
shall prosper in the things for which I sent it.
|
|
|
|
55:12. For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the
|
|
mountains and the hills shall sing praise before you, and all the trees
|
|
of the country shall clap their hands.
|
|
|
|
55:13. Instead of the shrub, shall come up the fir tree, and instead of
|
|
the nettle, shall come up the myrtle tree: and the Lord shall be named
|
|
for an everlasting sign, that shall not be taken away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 56
|
|
|
|
|
|
God invites all to keep his commandments: the Gentiles that keep them
|
|
shall be the people of God: the Jewish pastors are reproved.
|
|
|
|
56:1. Thus saith the Lord: Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my
|
|
salvation is near to come, and my justice to be revealed.
|
|
|
|
56:2. Blessed is the man that doth this, and the son of man that shall
|
|
lay hold on this: that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, that
|
|
keepeth his hands from doing any evil.
|
|
|
|
56:3. And let not the son of the stranger, that adhereth to the Lord,
|
|
speak, saying: The Lord will divide and separate me from his people.
|
|
And let not the eunuch say: Behold I am a dry tree.
|
|
|
|
56:4. For thus saith the Lord to the eunuchs, They that shall keep my
|
|
sabbaths, and shall choose the things that please me, and shall hold
|
|
fast my covenant:
|
|
|
|
56:5. I will give to them in my house, and within my walls, a place,
|
|
and a name better than sons and daughters: I will give them an
|
|
everlasting name which shall never perish.
|
|
|
|
56:6. And the children of the stranger that adhere to the Lord, to
|
|
worship him, and to love his name, to be his servants: every one that
|
|
keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and that holdeth fast my
|
|
covenant:
|
|
|
|
56:7. I will bring them into my holy mount, and will make them joyful
|
|
in my house of prayer: their holocausts, and their victims shall please
|
|
me upon my altar: for my house shall be called the house of prayer, for
|
|
all nations.
|
|
|
|
56:8. The Lord God, who gathereth the scattered of Israel, saith: I
|
|
will still gather unto him his congregation.
|
|
|
|
56:9. All ye beasts of the field come to devour, all ye beasts of the
|
|
forest.
|
|
|
|
56:10. His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not
|
|
able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams.
|
|
|
|
56:11. And most impudent dogs, they never had enough: the shepherds
|
|
themselves knew no understanding: all have turned aside into their own
|
|
way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last.
|
|
|
|
56:12. Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it
|
|
shall be as to day, so also to morrow, and much more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 57
|
|
|
|
|
|
The infidelity of the Jews: their idolatry. Promises to humble
|
|
penitents.
|
|
|
|
57:1. The just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and men of
|
|
mercy are taken away, because there is none that understandeth; for the
|
|
just man is taken away from before the face of evil.
|
|
|
|
57:2. Let peace come, let him rest in his bed that hath walked in his
|
|
uprightness.
|
|
|
|
57:3. But draw near hither, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the
|
|
adulterer, and of the harlot.
|
|
|
|
57:4. Upon whom have you jested? upon whom have you opened your mouth
|
|
wide, and put out your tongue? are not you wicked children, a false
|
|
seed,
|
|
|
|
57:5. Who seek your comfort in idols under every green tree,
|
|
sacrificing children in the torrents, under the high rocks?
|
|
|
|
57:6. In the parts of the torrent is thy portion, this is thy lot: and
|
|
thou hast poured out libations to them, thou hast offered sacrifice.
|
|
Shall I not be angry at these things?
|
|
|
|
57:7. Upon a high and lofty mountain thou hast laid thy bed, and hast
|
|
gone up thither to offer victims.
|
|
|
|
57:8. And behind the door, and behind the post thou hast set up thy
|
|
remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself near me, and hast
|
|
received an adulterer: thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made a covenant
|
|
with them: thou hast loved their bed with open hand.
|
|
|
|
57:9. And thou hast adorned thyself for the king with ointment, and
|
|
hast multiplied thy perfumes. Thou hast sent thy messengers far off,
|
|
and wast debased even to hell.
|
|
|
|
57:10. Thou hast been wearied in the multitude of thy ways: yet thou
|
|
saidst not: I will rest: thou has found life of thy hand, therefore
|
|
thou hast not asked.
|
|
|
|
57:11. For whom hast thou been solicitous and afraid, that thou hast
|
|
lied, and hast not been mindful of me, nor thought on me in thy heart?
|
|
for I am silent, and as one that seeth not, and thou hast forgotten me.
|
|
|
|
57:12. I will declare thy justice, and thy works shall not profit thee.
|
|
|
|
57:13. When thou shalt cry, let thy companies deliver thee, but the
|
|
wind shall carry them all off, a breeze shall take them away, but he
|
|
that putteth his trust in me, shall inherit the land, and shall possess
|
|
my holy mount.
|
|
|
|
57:14. And I will say: Make a way: give free passage, turn out of the
|
|
path, take away the stumblingblocks out of the way of my people.
|
|
|
|
57:15. For thus saith the High and the Eminent that inhabiteth
|
|
eternity: and his name is Holy, who dwelleth in the high and holy
|
|
place, and with a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of
|
|
the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
|
|
|
|
57:16. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be angry unto
|
|
the end: because the spirit shall go forth from my face, and breathings
|
|
I will make.
|
|
|
|
57:17. For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and I struck
|
|
him: I hid my face from thee, and was angry: and he went away wandering
|
|
in his own heart.
|
|
|
|
57:18. I saw his ways, and I healed him, and brought him back, and
|
|
restored comforts to him, and to them that mourn for him.
|
|
|
|
57:19. I created the fruit of the lips, peace, peace to him that is far
|
|
off, and to him that is near, said the Lord, and I healed him.
|
|
|
|
57:20. But the wicked are like the raging sea, which cannot rest, and
|
|
the waves thereof cast up dirt and mire.
|
|
|
|
57:21. There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 58
|
|
|
|
|
|
God rejects the hypocritical fasts of the Jews: recommends works of
|
|
mercy, and sincere godliness.
|
|
|
|
58:1. Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my
|
|
people their wicked doings, and the house of Jacob their sins.
|
|
|
|
58:2. For they seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as
|
|
a nation that hath done justice, and hath not forsaken the judgment of
|
|
their God: they ask of me the judgments of justice: they are willing to
|
|
approach to God.
|
|
|
|
58:3. Why have we fasted, and thou hast not regarded: have we humbled
|
|
our souls, and thou hast not taken notice? Behold in the day of your
|
|
fast your own will is found, and you exact of all your debtors.
|
|
|
|
58:4. Behold you fast for debates and strife, and strike with the fist
|
|
wickedly. Do not fast as you have done until this day, to make your cry
|
|
to be heard on high.
|
|
|
|
58:5. Is this such a fast as I have chosen: for a man to afflict his
|
|
soul for a day? is this it, to wind his head about like a circle, and
|
|
to spread sackcloth and ashes? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day
|
|
acceptable to the Lord?
|
|
|
|
58:6. Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands
|
|
of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken
|
|
go free, and break asunder every burden.
|
|
|
|
58:7. Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the
|
|
harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him,
|
|
and despise not thy own flesh.
|
|
|
|
58:8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health
|
|
shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the
|
|
glory of the Lord shall gather thee up.
|
|
|
|
58:9. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry,
|
|
and he shall say, Here I am. If thou wilt take away the chain out of
|
|
the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak
|
|
that which profiteth not.
|
|
|
|
58:10. When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt
|
|
satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise up in darkness,
|
|
and thy darkness shall be as the noonday.
|
|
|
|
58:11. And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy
|
|
soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a
|
|
watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not
|
|
fail.
|
|
|
|
58:12. And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built
|
|
in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundation of generation and
|
|
generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences,
|
|
turning the paths into rest.
|
|
|
|
58:13. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own
|
|
will in my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of
|
|
the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways,
|
|
and thy own will is not found, to speak a word:
|
|
|
|
58:14. Then shalt thou be delighted in the Lord, and I will lift thee
|
|
up above the high places of the earth, and will feed thee with the
|
|
inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 59
|
|
|
|
|
|
The dreadful evil of sin is displayed, as the great obstacle to all
|
|
good from God: yet he will send a Redeemer, and make an everlasting
|
|
covenant with his church.
|
|
|
|
59:1. Behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save,
|
|
neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear.
|
|
|
|
59:2. But your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and
|
|
your sins have hid his face from you that he should not hear.
|
|
|
|
59:3. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with
|
|
iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue uttereth
|
|
iniquity.
|
|
|
|
59:4. There is none that calleth upon justice, neither is there any one
|
|
that judgeth truly: but they trust in a mere nothing, and speak
|
|
vanities: they have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity.
|
|
|
|
59:5. They have broken the eggs of asps, and have woven the webs of
|
|
spiders: he that shall eat of their eggs, shall die: and that which is
|
|
brought out, shall be hatched into a basilisk.
|
|
|
|
59:6. Their webs shall not be for clothing, neither shall they cover
|
|
themselves with their works: their works are unprofitable works, and
|
|
the work of iniquity is in their hands.
|
|
|
|
59:7. Their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed innocent blood:
|
|
their thoughts are unprofitable thoughts: wasting and destruction are
|
|
in their ways.
|
|
|
|
59:8. They have not known the way of peace, and there is no judgment in
|
|
their steps: their paths are become crooked to them, every one that
|
|
treadeth in them knoweth no peace.
|
|
|
|
59:9. Therefore is judgment far from us, and justice shall not overtake
|
|
us. We looked for light, and behold darkness: brightness, and we have
|
|
walked in the dark.
|
|
|
|
59:10. We have groped for the wall, and like the blind we have groped
|
|
as if we had no eyes: we have stumbled at noonday as in darkness, we
|
|
are in dark places, as dead men.
|
|
|
|
59:11. We shall roar all of us like bears, and shall lament as mournful
|
|
doves. We have looked for judgment, and there is none: for salvation,
|
|
and it is far from us.
|
|
|
|
59:12. For our iniquities are multiplied before thee, and our sins have
|
|
testified against us: for our wicked doings are with us, and have known
|
|
our iniquities:
|
|
|
|
59:13. In sinning and lying against the Lord: and we have turned away
|
|
so that we went not after our God, but spoke calumny and transgression:
|
|
we have conceived, and uttered from the heart, words of falsehood.
|
|
|
|
59:14. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice hath stood far
|
|
off: because truth hath fallen down in the street, and equity could not
|
|
come in.
|
|
|
|
59:15. And truth hath been forgotten: and he that departed from evil,
|
|
lay open to be a prey: and the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his
|
|
eyes, because there is no judgment.
|
|
|
|
59:16. And he saw that there is not a man: and he stood astonished,
|
|
because there is none to oppose himself: and his own arm brought
|
|
salvation to him, and his own justice supported him.
|
|
|
|
59:17. He put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation
|
|
upon his head: he put on the garments of vengeance, and was clad with
|
|
zeal as with a cloak.
|
|
|
|
59:18. As unto revenge, as it were to repay wrath to his adversaries,
|
|
and a reward to his enemies: he will repay the like to the islands.
|
|
|
|
59:19. And they from the west, shall fear the name of the Lord: and
|
|
they from the rising of the sun, his glory when he shall come as a
|
|
violent stream, which the spirit of the Lord driveth on:
|
|
|
|
59:20. And there shall come a redeemer to Sion, and to them that return
|
|
from iniquity in Jacob, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
59:21. This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My spirit that is
|
|
in thee, and my words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart
|
|
out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the
|
|
mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
|
|
|
|
This is my covenant, etc. . .Note here a clear promise of perpetual
|
|
orthodoxy to the church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 60
|
|
|
|
|
|
The light of true faith shall shine forth in the church of Christ, and
|
|
shall be spread through all nations, and continue for all ages.
|
|
|
|
60:1. Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and
|
|
the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
|
|
|
|
60:2. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people:
|
|
but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
60:3. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the
|
|
brightness of thy rising.
|
|
|
|
60:4. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered
|
|
together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy
|
|
daughters shall rise up at thy side.
|
|
|
|
60:5. Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and
|
|
be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee,
|
|
the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee.
|
|
|
|
60:6. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of
|
|
Madian and Epha: all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and
|
|
frankincense: and shewing forth praise to the Lord.
|
|
|
|
60:7. All the flocks of Cedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the
|
|
rams of Nabaioth shall minister to thee: they shall be offered upon my
|
|
acceptable altar, and I will glorify the house of my majesty.
|
|
|
|
60:8. Who are these, that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?
|
|
|
|
60:9. For, the islands wait for me, and the ships of the sea in the
|
|
beginning: that I may bring thy sons from afar: their silver, and their
|
|
gold with them, to the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of
|
|
Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
|
|
|
|
60:10. And the children of strangers shall build up thy walls, and
|
|
their kings shall minister to thee: for in my wrath have I struck thee,
|
|
and in my reconciliation have I had mercy upon thee.
|
|
|
|
60:11. And thy gates shall be open continually: they shall not be shut
|
|
day nor night, that the strength of the Gentiles may be brought to
|
|
thee, and their kings may be brought.
|
|
|
|
60:12. For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee, shall
|
|
perish: and the Gentiles shall be wasted with desolation.
|
|
|
|
60:13. The glory of Libanus shall come to thee, the fir tree, and the
|
|
box tree, and the pine tree together, to beautify the place of my
|
|
sanctuary: and I will glorify the place of my feet.
|
|
|
|
60:14. And the children of them that afflict thee, shall come bowing
|
|
down to thee, and all that slandered thee shall worship the steps of
|
|
thy feet, and shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Sion of the
|
|
Holy One of Israel.
|
|
|
|
60:15. Because thou wast forsaken, and hated, and there was none that
|
|
passed through thee, I will make thee to be an everlasting glory, a joy
|
|
unto generation and generation:
|
|
|
|
60:16. And thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and thou shalt be
|
|
nursed with the breasts of kings: and thou shalt know that I am the
|
|
Lord thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
|
|
|
|
60:17. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver:
|
|
and for wood brass, and for stones iron: and I will make thy visitation
|
|
peace, and thy overseers justice.
|
|
|
|
60:18. Iniquity shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor
|
|
destruction in thy borders, and salvation shall possess thy walls, and
|
|
praise thy gates.
|
|
|
|
60:19. Thou shalt no more have the sun for thy light by day, neither
|
|
shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee: but the Lord shall be
|
|
unto thee for an everlasting light, and thy God for thy glory.
|
|
|
|
Thou shalt no more, etc. . .In this latter part of the chapter, the
|
|
prophet passes from the illustrious promises made to the church
|
|
militant on earth, to the glory of the church triumphant in heaven.
|
|
|
|
60:20. Thy sun shall go down no more, and thy moon shall not decrease:
|
|
for the Lord shall be unto thee for an everlasting light, and the days
|
|
of thy mourning shall be ended.
|
|
|
|
60:21. And thy people shall be all just, they shall inherit the land
|
|
for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hand to glorify me.
|
|
|
|
60:22. The least shall become a thousand, and a little one a most
|
|
strong nation: I the Lord will suddenly do this thing in its time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 61
|
|
|
|
|
|
The office of Christ: the mission of the Apostles; the happiness of
|
|
their converts.
|
|
|
|
61:1. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed
|
|
me: he hath sent me to preach to the meek, to heal the contrite of
|
|
heart, and to preach a release to the captives, and deliverance to them
|
|
that are shut up.
|
|
|
|
61:2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
|
|
vengeance of our God: to comfort all that mourn:
|
|
|
|
61:3. To appoint to the mourners of Sion, and to give them a crown for
|
|
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, a garment of praise for the spirit
|
|
of grief: and they shall be called in it the mighty ones of justice,
|
|
the planting of the Lord to glorify him.
|
|
|
|
61:4. And they shall build the places that have been waste from of old,
|
|
and shall raise up ancient ruins, and shall repair the desolate cities,
|
|
that were destroyed for generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
61:5. And strangers shall stand and shall feed your flocks: and the
|
|
sons of strangers shall be your husbandman, and the dressers of your
|
|
vines.
|
|
|
|
61:6. But you shall be called the priests of the Lord: to you it shall
|
|
be said: Ye ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the
|
|
Gentiles, and you shall pride yourselves in their glory.
|
|
|
|
61:7. For your double confusion and shame, they shall praise their
|
|
part: therefore shall they receive double in their land, everlasting
|
|
joy shall be unto them.
|
|
|
|
61:8. For I am the Lord that love judgment, and hate robbery in a
|
|
holocaust: and I will make their work in truth, and I will make a
|
|
perpetual covenant with them.
|
|
|
|
61:9. And they shall know their seed among the Gentiles, and their
|
|
offspring in the midst of peoples: all that shall see them, shall know
|
|
them, that these are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
|
|
|
|
61:10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful
|
|
in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation: and
|
|
with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked
|
|
with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels.
|
|
|
|
61:11. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden
|
|
causeth her seed to shoot forth: so shall the Lord God make justice to
|
|
spring forth, and praise before all the nations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 62
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet will not cease from preaching Christ: to whom all nations
|
|
shall be converted: and whose church shall continue for ever.
|
|
|
|
62:1. For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for the sake of
|
|
Jerusalem, I will not rest till her just one come forth as brightness,
|
|
and her saviour be lighted as a lamp.
|
|
|
|
62:2. And the Gentiles shall see thy just one, and all kings thy
|
|
glorious one: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth
|
|
of the Lord shall name.
|
|
|
|
62:3. And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a
|
|
royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
|
|
|
|
62:4. Thou shalt no more be called Forsaken: and thy land shall no more
|
|
be called Desolate: but thou shalt be called My pleasure in her, and
|
|
thy land inhabited. Because the Lord hath been well pleased with thee:
|
|
and thy land shall be inhabited.
|
|
|
|
62:5. For the young man shall dwell with the virgin, and thy children
|
|
shall dwell in thee. And the bridegroom shall rejoice over the bride,
|
|
and thy God shall rejoice over thee.
|
|
|
|
62:6. Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen all the
|
|
day, and all the night, they shall never hold their peace. You that are
|
|
mindful of the Lord, hold not your peace,
|
|
|
|
62:7. And give him no silence till he establish, and till he make
|
|
Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
|
|
|
|
62:8. The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his
|
|
strength: Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thy
|
|
enemies: and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine, for
|
|
which thou hast laboured.
|
|
|
|
62:9. For they that gather it, shall eat it, and shall praise the Lord:
|
|
and they that bring it together, shall drink it in my holy courts.
|
|
|
|
62:10. Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the
|
|
people, make the road plain, pick out the stones, and lift up the
|
|
standard to the people.
|
|
|
|
62:11. Behold the Lord hath made it to be heard in the ends of the
|
|
earth, tell the daughter of Sion: Behold thy Saviour cometh: behold his
|
|
reward is with him, and his work before him.
|
|
|
|
62:12. And they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the
|
|
Lord. But thou shalt be called: A city sought after, and not forsaken.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 63
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christ's victory over his enemies: his mercies to his people: their
|
|
complaint.
|
|
|
|
63:1. Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra,
|
|
this beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his
|
|
strength. I, that speak justice, and am a defender to save.
|
|
|
|
Edom. . .Edom and Bosra (a strong city of Edom) are here taken in a
|
|
mystical sense for the enemies of Christ and his church.
|
|
|
|
63:2. Why then is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that
|
|
tread in the winepress?
|
|
|
|
63:3. I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is
|
|
not a man with me: I have trampled on them in my indignation, and have
|
|
trodden them down in my wrath, and their blood is sprinkled upon my
|
|
garments, and I have stained all my apparel.
|
|
|
|
63:4. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my
|
|
redemption is come.
|
|
|
|
63:5. I looked about, and there was none to help: I sought, and there
|
|
was none to give aid: and my own arm hath saved for me, and my
|
|
indignation itself hath helped me.
|
|
|
|
63:6. And I have trodden down the people in my wrath, and have made
|
|
them drunk in my indignation, and have brought down their strength to
|
|
the earth.
|
|
|
|
63:7. I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord, the praise of the
|
|
Lord for all the things that the Lord hath bestowed upon us, and for
|
|
the multitude of his good things to the house of Israel, which he hath
|
|
given them according to his kindness, and according to the multitude of
|
|
his mercies.
|
|
|
|
63:8. And he said: Surely they are my people, children that will not
|
|
deny: so he became their saviour.
|
|
|
|
63:9. In all their affliction he was not troubled, and the angel of his
|
|
presence saved them: in his love, and in his mercy he redeemed them,
|
|
and he carried them and lifted them up all the days of old.
|
|
|
|
63:10. But they provoked to wrath, and afflicted the spirit of his Holy
|
|
One: and he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
|
|
|
|
63:11. And he remembered the days of old of Moses, and of his people:
|
|
Where is he that brought them up out of the sea, with the shepherds of
|
|
his flock? where is he that put in the midst of them the spirit of his
|
|
Holy One?
|
|
|
|
63:12. He that brought out Moses by the right hand, by the arm of his
|
|
majesty: that divided the waters before them, to make himself an
|
|
everlasting name.
|
|
|
|
63:13. He that led them out through the deep, as a horse in the
|
|
wilderness that stumbleth not.
|
|
|
|
63:14. As a beast that goeth down in the field, the spirit of the Lord
|
|
was their leader: so didst thou lead thy people to make thyself a
|
|
glorious name.
|
|
|
|
63:15. Look down from heaven, and behold from thy holy habitation and
|
|
the place of thy glory: where is thy zeal, and thy strength, the
|
|
multitude of thy bowels, and of thy mercies? they have held back
|
|
themselves from me.
|
|
|
|
They have held back, etc. . .This is spoken by the prophet in the person
|
|
of the Jews at the time when, for their sins, they were given up to
|
|
their enemies.
|
|
|
|
63:16. For thou art our father, and Abraham hath not known us, and
|
|
Israel hath been ignorant of us: thou, O Lord, art our father, our
|
|
redeemer, from everlasting is thy name.
|
|
|
|
Abraham hath not know us, etc. . .That is, Abraham will not now
|
|
acknowledge us for his children, by reason of our degeneracy; but thou,
|
|
O Lord, art our true father and our redeemer, and no other can be
|
|
called our parent in comparison with thee.
|
|
|
|
63:17. Why hast thou made us to err, O Lord, from thy ways: why hast
|
|
thou hardened our heart, that we should not fear thee? return for the
|
|
sake of thy servants, the tribes of thy inheritance.
|
|
|
|
Made us to err, etc. Hardened our heart, etc. . .The meaning is, that
|
|
God in punishment of their great and manifold crimes, and their long
|
|
abuse of his mercy and grace, had withdrawn his graces from them, and
|
|
so given them up to error and hardness of heart.
|
|
|
|
63:18. They have possessed thy holy people as nothing: our enemies have
|
|
trodden down thy sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
63:19. We are become as in the beginning, when thou didst not rule over
|
|
us, and when we were not called by thy name.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 64
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet prays for the release of his people; and for the remission
|
|
of their sins.
|
|
|
|
64:1. O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, and wouldst come down: the
|
|
mountains would melt away at thy presence.
|
|
|
|
64:2. They would melt as at the burning of fire, the waters would burn
|
|
with fire, that thy name might be made known to thy enemies: that the
|
|
nations might tremble at thy presence.
|
|
|
|
64:3. When thou shalt do wonderful things, we shall not bear them: thou
|
|
didst come down, and at thy presence the mountains melted away.
|
|
|
|
64:4. From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor
|
|
perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen, O God, besides thee,
|
|
what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee.
|
|
|
|
64:5. Thou hast met him that rejoiceth, and doth justice: in thy ways
|
|
they shall remember thee: behold thou art angry, and we have sinned: in
|
|
them we have been always, and we shall be saved.
|
|
|
|
64:6. And we are all become as one unclean, and all our justices as the
|
|
rag of a menstruous woman: and we have all fallen as a leaf, and our
|
|
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
|
|
|
|
Our justices, etc. . .That is, the works by which we pretended to make
|
|
ourselves just. This is spoken particularly of the sacrifices,
|
|
sacraments, and ceremonies of the Jews, after the death of Christ, and
|
|
the promulgation of the new law.
|
|
|
|
64:7. There is none that calleth upon thy name: that riseth up, and
|
|
taketh hold of thee: thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed
|
|
us in the hand of our iniquity.
|
|
|
|
64:8. And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou
|
|
art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands.
|
|
|
|
64:9. Be not very angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity:
|
|
behold, see we are all thy people.
|
|
|
|
64:10. The city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made a
|
|
desert, Jerusalem is desolate.
|
|
|
|
64:11. The house of our holiness, and of our glory, where our fathers
|
|
praised thee, is burnt with fire, and all our lovely things are turned
|
|
into ruins.
|
|
|
|
64:12. Wilt thou refrain thyself, O Lord, upon these things, wilt thou
|
|
hold thy peace, and afflict us vehemently?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 65
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Gentiles shall seek and find Christ, but the Jews will persecute
|
|
him, and be rejected, only a remnant shall be reserved. The church
|
|
shall multiply, and abound with graces.
|
|
|
|
65:1. They have sought me that before asked not for me, they have found
|
|
me that sought me not. I said: Behold me, behold me, to a nation that
|
|
did not call upon my name.
|
|
|
|
65:2. I have spread forth my hands all the day to an unbelieving
|
|
people, who walk in a way that is not good after their own thoughts.
|
|
|
|
65:3. A people that continually provoke me to anger before my face,
|
|
that immolate in gardens, and sacrifice upon bricks.
|
|
|
|
65:4. That dwell in sepulchres, and sleep in the temple of idols: that
|
|
eat swine's flesh, and profane broth is in their vessels.
|
|
|
|
65:5. That say: Depart from me, come not near me, because thou art
|
|
unclean: these shall be smoke in my anger, a fire burning all the day.
|
|
|
|
65:6. Behold it is written before me: I will not be silent, but I will
|
|
render and repay into their bosom.
|
|
|
|
65:7. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together,
|
|
saith the Lord, who have sacrificed upon the mountains, and have
|
|
reproached me upon the hills; and I will measure back their first work
|
|
in their bosom.
|
|
|
|
65:8. Thus saith the Lord: As if a grain be found in a cluster, and it
|
|
be said: Destroy it not, because it is a blessing: so will I do for the
|
|
sake of my servants, that I may not destroy the whole.
|
|
|
|
65:9. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Juda a
|
|
possessor of my mountains: and my elect shall inherit it, and my
|
|
servants shall dwell there.
|
|
|
|
65:10. And the plains shall be turned to folds of flocks, and the
|
|
valley of Achor into a place for the herds to lie down in, for my
|
|
people that have sought me.
|
|
|
|
65:11. And you, that have forsaken the Lord, that have forgotten my
|
|
holy mount, that set a table for fortune, and offer libations upon it,
|
|
|
|
65:12. I will number you in the sword, and you shall all fall by
|
|
slaughter: because I called and you did not answer: I spoke, and you
|
|
did not hear: and you did evil in my eyes, and you have chosen the
|
|
things that displease me.
|
|
|
|
65:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my servants shall eat,
|
|
and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink, and you shall
|
|
be thirsty.
|
|
|
|
65:14. Behold my servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded:
|
|
behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall
|
|
cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit.
|
|
|
|
65:15. And you shall leave your name for an execration to my elect: and
|
|
the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.
|
|
|
|
65:16. In which he that is blessed upon the earth, shall be blessed in
|
|
God, amen: and he that sweareth in the earth, shall swear by God, amen:
|
|
because the former distresses are forgotten, and because they are hid
|
|
from my eyes.
|
|
|
|
65:17. For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former
|
|
things shall not be in remembrance, and they shall not come upon the
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
65:18. But you shall be glad and rejoice for ever in these things,
|
|
which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the
|
|
people thereof joy.
|
|
|
|
65:19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the
|
|
voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of
|
|
crying.
|
|
|
|
65:20. There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man
|
|
that shall not fill up his days: for the child shall die a hundred
|
|
years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.
|
|
|
|
65:21. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall
|
|
plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of them.
|
|
|
|
65:22. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant,
|
|
and another eat: for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my
|
|
people, and the works of their hands shall be of long continuance.
|
|
|
|
65:23. My elect shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth in trouble;
|
|
for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their posterity
|
|
with them.
|
|
|
|
65:24. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hear;
|
|
as they are yet speaking, I will hear.
|
|
|
|
65:25. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion and the ox
|
|
shall eat straw; and dust shall be the serpent's food: they shall not
|
|
hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Isaias Chapter 66
|
|
|
|
|
|
More of the reprobation of the Jews, and of the call of the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
66:1. Thus saith the Lord: Heaven is my throne, and the earth my
|
|
footstool: what is this house that you will build to me? and what is
|
|
this place of my rest?
|
|
|
|
What is this house, etc. . .This is a prophecy that the temple should be
|
|
cast off.
|
|
|
|
66:2. My hand made all these things, and all these things were made,
|
|
saith the Lord. But to whom shall I have respect, but to him that is
|
|
poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my
|
|
words?
|
|
|
|
66:3. He that sacrificeth an ox, is as if he slew a man: he that
|
|
killeth a sheep in sacrifice, as if he should brain a dog: he that
|
|
offereth an oblation, as if he should offer swine's blood; he that
|
|
remembereth incense, as if he should bless an idol. All these things
|
|
have they chosen in their ways, and their soul is delighted in their
|
|
abominations.
|
|
|
|
He that sacrificeth an ox, etc. . .This is a prophecy that the
|
|
sacrifices which were offered in the old law should be abolished in the
|
|
new; and that the offering of them should be a crime.--Ibid.
|
|
Remembereth incense. . .Viz., to offer it in the way of a sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
66:4. Wherefore I also will choose their mockeries, and will bring upon
|
|
them the things they feared: because I called, and there was none that
|
|
would answer; I have spoken, and they heard not; and they have done
|
|
evil in my eyes, and have chosen the things that displease me.
|
|
|
|
I will choose their mockeries. . .I will turn their mockeries upon
|
|
themselves; and will cause them to be mocked by their enemies.
|
|
|
|
66:5. Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word: Your
|
|
brethren that hate you, and cast you out for my name's sake, have said:
|
|
Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your joy: but they shall
|
|
be confounded.
|
|
|
|
66:6. A voice of the people from the city, a voice from the temple, the
|
|
voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to his enemies.
|
|
|
|
66:7. Before she was in labour, she brought forth; before her time came
|
|
to be delivered, she brought forth a man child.
|
|
|
|
Before she was in labour, etc. . .This relates to the conversion of the
|
|
Gentiles, who were born, as it were, all on a sudden to the church of
|
|
God.
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|
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|
66:8. Who hath ever heard such a thing? and who hath seen the like to
|
|
this? shall the earth bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be
|
|
brought forth at once, because Sion hath been in labour, and hath
|
|
brought forth her children?
|
|
|
|
66:9. Shall not I that make others to bring forth children, myself
|
|
bring forth, saith the Lord? shall I, that give generation to others,
|
|
be barren, saith the Lord thy God?
|
|
|
|
66:10. Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love
|
|
her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her.
|
|
|
|
66:11. That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her
|
|
consolations: that you may milk out, and flow with delights, from the
|
|
abundance of her glory.
|
|
|
|
66:12. For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring upon her as it were
|
|
a river of peace, and as an overflowing torrent the glory of the
|
|
Gentiles, which you shall suck; you shall be carried at the breasts,
|
|
and upon the knees they shall caress you.
|
|
|
|
66:13. As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you, and you
|
|
shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
66:14. You shall see and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall
|
|
flourish like an herb, and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his
|
|
servants, and he shall be angry with his enemies.
|
|
|
|
66:15. For behold the Lord will come with fire, and his chariots are
|
|
like a whirlwind, to render his wrath in indignation, and his rebuke
|
|
with flames of fire.
|
|
|
|
66:16. For the Lord shall judge by fire, and by his sword unto all
|
|
flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many.
|
|
|
|
66:17. They that were sanctified, thought themselves clean in the
|
|
gardens behind the gate within, they that did eat swine's flesh, and
|
|
the abomination, and the mouse: they shall be consumed together, saith
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
66:18. But I know their works, and their thoughts: I come that I may
|
|
gather them together with all nations and tongues: and they shall come
|
|
and shall see my glory.
|
|
|
|
66:19. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send of them that
|
|
shall be saved, to the Gentiles into the sea, into Africa, and Lydia
|
|
them that draw the bow: into Italy, and Greece, to the islands afar
|
|
off, to them that have not heard of me, and have not seen my glory. And
|
|
they shall declare my glory to the Gentiles:
|
|
|
|
66:20. And they shall bring all your brethren out of all nations for a
|
|
gift to the Lord, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on
|
|
mules, and in coaches, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord,
|
|
as if the children of Israel should bring an offering in a clean vessel
|
|
into the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
66:21. And I will take of them to be priests, and Levites, saith the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
66:22. For as the new heavens, and the new earth, which I will make to
|
|
stand before me, saith the Lord: so shall your seed stand, and your
|
|
name.
|
|
|
|
66:23. And there shall be month after month, and sabbath after sabbath:
|
|
and all flesh shall come to adore before my face, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
66:24. And they shall go out, and see the carcasses of the men that
|
|
have transgressed against me: their worm shall not die, and their fire
|
|
shall not be quenched: and they shall be a loathsome sight to all
|
|
flesh.
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF JEREMIAS
|
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|
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Jeremias was a priest, a native of Anathoth, a priestly city in the
|
|
tribe of Benjamin: and was sanctified from his mother's womb, to be a
|
|
prophet of God; which office he began to execute when he was yet a
|
|
child in age. He was in his whole life, according to the signification
|
|
of his name, Great before the Lord; and a special figure of Jesus
|
|
Christ, in the persecutions he underwent for discharging his duty; in
|
|
his charity for his persecutors; and in the violent death he suffered
|
|
at their hands: it being an ancient tradition of the Hebrews, that he
|
|
was stoned to death by the remnant of the Jews who had retired into
|
|
Egypt.
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
Jeremias Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The time, and the calling, of Jeremias: his prophetical visions. God
|
|
encourages him.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The words of Jeremias the son of Helcias, of the priests that were
|
|
in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin.
|
|
|
|
1:2. The word of the Lord which came to him in the days of Josias the
|
|
son of Amon king of Juda, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
|
|
|
|
1:3. And which came to him in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king
|
|
of Juda, unto the end of the eleventh year of Sedecias the son of
|
|
Josias king of Juda, even unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive,
|
|
in the fifth month.
|
|
|
|
1:4. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
1:5. Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and
|
|
before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made
|
|
thee a prophet unto the nations.
|
|
|
|
1:6. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am
|
|
a child.
|
|
|
|
1:7. And the Lord said to me: Say not: I am a child: for thou shalt go
|
|
to all that I shall send thee: and whatsoever I shall command thee,
|
|
thou shalt speak.
|
|
|
|
1:8. Be not afraid at their presence: for I am with thee to deliver
|
|
thee, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
1:9. And the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth: and the
|
|
Lord said to me: Behold I have given my words in thy mouth:
|
|
|
|
1:10. Lo, I have set thee this day over the nations, and over kingdoms,
|
|
to root up, and to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to
|
|
build, and to plant.
|
|
|
|
1:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What seest thou,
|
|
Jeremias? And I said: I see a rod watching.
|
|
|
|
1:12. And the Lord said to me: Thou hast seen well: for I will watch
|
|
over my word to perform it.
|
|
|
|
1:13. And the word of the Lord came to me a second time saying: What
|
|
seest thou? And I said: I see a boiling caldron, and the face thereof
|
|
from the face of the north.
|
|
|
|
1:14. And the Lord said to me: From the north shall an evil break forth
|
|
upon all the inhabitants of the land.
|
|
|
|
1:15. For behold I will call together all the families of the kingdoms
|
|
of the north, saith the Lord: and they shall come, and shall set every
|
|
one his throne in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and upon all
|
|
the walls thereof round about, and upon all the cities of Juda.
|
|
|
|
1:16. And I will pronounce my judgments against them, touching all
|
|
their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to strange
|
|
gods, and have adored the work of their own hands.
|
|
|
|
1:17. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them
|
|
all that I command thee. Be not afraid at their presence: for I will
|
|
make thee not to fear their countenance.
|
|
|
|
1:18. For behold I have made thee this day a fortified city, and a
|
|
pillar of iron, and a wall of brass, over all the land, to the kings of
|
|
Juda, to the princes thereof, and to the priests, and to the people of
|
|
the land.
|
|
|
|
1:19. And they shall fight against them, and shall not prevail: for I
|
|
am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
God expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude and infidelity.
|
|
|
|
2:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
2:2. Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord:
|
|
I have remembered thee, pitying thy youth, and the love of thy
|
|
espousals, when thou followedst me in the desert, in a land that is not
|
|
sown.
|
|
|
|
2:3. Israel is holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his increase: all
|
|
they that devour him offend: evils shall come upon them, saith the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:4. Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all ye
|
|
families of the house of Israel:
|
|
|
|
2:5. Thus saith the Lord: What iniquity have your fathers found in me,
|
|
that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are
|
|
become vain?
|
|
|
|
2:6. And they have not said: Where is the Lord, that made us come up
|
|
out of the land of Egypt? that led us through the desert, through a
|
|
land uninhabited and unpassable, through a land of drought, and the
|
|
image of death, through a land wherein no man walked, nor any man
|
|
dwelt?
|
|
|
|
2:7. And I brought you into the land of Carmel, to eat the fruit
|
|
thereof, and the best things thereof: and when ye entered in, you
|
|
defiled my land and made my inheritance an abomination.
|
|
|
|
Carmel. . .That is, a fruitful, plentiful land.
|
|
|
|
2:8. The priests did not say: Where is the Lord? and they that held the
|
|
law knew me not, and the pastors transgressed against me: and the
|
|
prophets prophesied in Baal, and followed idols.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Therefore will I yet contend in judgment with you, saith the Lord,
|
|
and I will plead with your children.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Pass over to the isles of Cethim, and see: and send into Cedar,
|
|
and consider diligently: and see if there hath been done any thing like
|
|
this.
|
|
|
|
2:11. If a nation hath changed their gods, and indeed they are not
|
|
gods: but my people have changed their glory into an idol.
|
|
|
|
2:12. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and ye gates thereof, be
|
|
very desolate, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:13. For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the
|
|
fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns,
|
|
broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
|
|
|
|
2:14. Is Israel a bondman, or a homeborn slave? why then is he become a
|
|
prey?
|
|
|
|
2:15. The lions have roared upon him, and have made a noise, they have
|
|
made his land a wilderness: his cities are burnt down, and there is
|
|
none to dwell in them.
|
|
|
|
2:16. The children also of Memphis, and of Taphnes have defloured thee,
|
|
even to the crown of the head.
|
|
|
|
2:17. Hath not this been done to thee, because thou hast forsaken the
|
|
Lord thy God at that time, when he led thee by the way?
|
|
|
|
2:18. And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the
|
|
troubled water? And what hast thou to do with the way of the Assyrians,
|
|
to drink the water of the river?
|
|
|
|
2:19. Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall
|
|
rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing
|
|
for thee, to have left the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not with
|
|
thee, saith the Lord the God of hosts.
|
|
|
|
2:20. Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands,
|
|
and thou saidst: I will not serve. For on every high hill, and under
|
|
every green tree thou didst prostitute thyself.
|
|
|
|
2:21. Yet, I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then
|
|
art thou turned unto me into that which is good for nothing, O strange
|
|
vineyard?
|
|
|
|
2:22. Though thou wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself the
|
|
herb borith, thou art stained in thy iniquity before me, saith the Lord
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
Borith. . .An herb used to clean clothes, and take out spots and dirt.
|
|
|
|
2:23. How canst thou say: I am not polluted, I have not walked after
|
|
Baalim? see thy ways in the valley, know what thou hast done: as a
|
|
swift runner pursuing his course.
|
|
|
|
2:24. A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness in the desire of his
|
|
heart, snuffed up the wind of his love: none shall turn her away: all
|
|
that seek her shall not fail: in her monthly filth they shall find her.
|
|
|
|
2:25. Keep thy foot from being bare, and thy throat from thirst. But
|
|
thou saidst: I have lost all hope, I will not do it: for I have loved
|
|
strangers, and I will walk after them.
|
|
|
|
2:26. As the thief is confounded when he is taken, so is the house of
|
|
Israel confounded, they and their kings, their princes and their
|
|
priests, and their prophets.
|
|
|
|
2:27. Saying to a stock: Thou art my father: and to a stone: Thou hast
|
|
begotten me: they have turned their back to me, and not their face: and
|
|
in the time of their affliction they will say: Arise, and deliver us.
|
|
|
|
2:28. Where are the gods, whom thou hast made thee? let them arise and
|
|
deliver thee in the time of thy affliction: for according to the number
|
|
of thy cities were thy gods, O Juda.
|
|
|
|
2:29. Why will you contend with me in judgment? you have all forsaken
|
|
me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:30. In vain have I struck your children, they have not received
|
|
correction: your sword hath devoured your prophets, your generation is
|
|
like a ravaging lion.
|
|
|
|
2:31. See ye the word of the Lord: Am I become a wilderness to Israel,
|
|
or a lateward springing land? why then have my people said: We are
|
|
revolted, we will come to thee no more?
|
|
|
|
2:32. Will a virgin forget her ornament, or a bride her stomacher? but
|
|
my people hath forgotten me days without number.
|
|
|
|
2:33. Why dost thou endeavour to shew thy way good to seek my love,
|
|
thou who hast also taught thy malices to be thy ways,
|
|
|
|
2:34. And in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor and
|
|
innocent? not in ditches have I found them, but in all places, which I
|
|
mentioned before.
|
|
|
|
2:35. And thou hast said: I am without sin and am innocent: and
|
|
therefore let thy anger be turned away from me. Behold, I will contend
|
|
with thee in judgment, because thou hast said: I have not sinned.
|
|
|
|
2:36. How exceeding base art thou become, going the same ways over
|
|
again! and thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of
|
|
Assyria.
|
|
|
|
2:37. For from thence thou shalt go, and thy hand shall be upon thy
|
|
head: for the Lord hath destroyed thy trust, and thou shalt have
|
|
nothing prosperous therein.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
God invites the rebel Jews to return to him, with a promise to receive
|
|
them: he foretells the conversion of the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
3:1. It is commonly said: If a man put away his wife, and she go from
|
|
him, and marry another man, shall he return to her any more? shall not
|
|
that woman be polluted, and defiled? but thou hast prostituted thyself
|
|
to many lovers: nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord, and I will
|
|
receive thee.
|
|
|
|
3:2. Lift up thy eyes on high: and see where thou hast not prostituted
|
|
thyself: thou didst sit in the ways, waiting for them as a robber in
|
|
the wilderness: and thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications,
|
|
and with thy wickedness.
|
|
|
|
3:3. Therefore the showers were withholden, and there was no lateward
|
|
rain: thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou wouldst not blush.
|
|
|
|
3:4. Therefore at the least from this time call to me: Thou art my
|
|
father, the guide of my virginity:
|
|
|
|
3:5. Wilt thou be angry for ever, or wilt thou continue unto the end?
|
|
Behold, thou hast spoken, and hast done evil things, and hast been
|
|
able.
|
|
|
|
3:6. And the Lord said to me in the days of king Josias: Hast thou seen
|
|
what rebellious Israel hath done? she hath gone of herself upon every
|
|
high mountain, and under every green tree, and hath played the harlot
|
|
there.
|
|
|
|
3:7. And when she had done all these things, I said: Return to me, and
|
|
she did not return. And her treacherous sister Juda saw,
|
|
|
|
3:8. That because the rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I had
|
|
put her away, and given her a bill of divorce: yet her treacherous
|
|
sister Juda was not afraid, but went and played the harlot also
|
|
herself.
|
|
|
|
3:9. And by the facility of her fornication she defiled the land, and
|
|
played the harlot with stones and with stocks.
|
|
|
|
3:10. And after all this, her treacherous sister Juda hath not returned
|
|
to me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
3:11. And the Lord said to me: The rebellious Israel hath justified her
|
|
soul, in comparison of the treacherous Juda.
|
|
|
|
3:12. Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and thou shalt
|
|
say: Return, O rebellious Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not turn
|
|
away my face from you: for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I will not be
|
|
angry for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:13. But yet acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed
|
|
against the Lord thy God: and thou hast scattered thy ways to strangers
|
|
under every green tree, and hast not heard my voice, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
3:14. Return, O ye revolting children, saith the Lord: for I am your I
|
|
husband: and I will take you, one of a city, and two of a kindred, and
|
|
will bring you into Sion.
|
|
|
|
3:15. And I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they
|
|
shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine.
|
|
|
|
3:16. And when you shall be multiplied, and increase in the land in
|
|
those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more: The ark of the
|
|
covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come upon the heart, neither
|
|
shall they remember it, neither shall it be visited, neither shall that
|
|
be done any more.
|
|
|
|
3:17. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord:
|
|
and all the nations shall be gathered together to it, in the name of
|
|
the Lord to Jerusalem, and they shall not walk after the perversity of
|
|
their most wicked heart.
|
|
|
|
3:18. In those days the house of Juda shall go to the house of Israel,
|
|
and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land
|
|
which I gave to your fathers.
|
|
|
|
3:19. But I said: How shall I put thee among the children, and give
|
|
thee a lovely land, the goodly inheritance of the armies of the
|
|
Gentiles? And I said: Thou shalt call me father and shalt not cease to
|
|
walk after me.
|
|
|
|
3:20. But as a woman that despiseth her lover, so hath the house of
|
|
Israel despised me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
3:21. A voice was heard in the highways, weeping and howling of the
|
|
children of Israel: because they have made their way wicked, they have
|
|
forgotten the Lord their God.
|
|
|
|
3:22. Return, you rebellious children, and I will heal your rebellions.
|
|
Behold we come to thee: for thou art the Lord our God.
|
|
|
|
3:23. In very deed the hills were liars, and the multitude of the
|
|
mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
|
|
|
|
3:24. Confusion hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth,
|
|
their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
|
|
|
|
3:25. We shall sleep in our confusion, and our shame shall cover us,
|
|
because we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers
|
|
from our youth even to this day, and we have not hearkened to the voice
|
|
of the Lord our God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
And admonition to sincere repentance, and circumcision of the heart,
|
|
with threats of grievous punishment to those that persist in sin.
|
|
|
|
4:1. If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return to me: if
|
|
thou wilt take away thy stumblingblocks out of my sight, thou shalt not
|
|
be moved.
|
|
|
|
4:2. And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in
|
|
judgment, and in justice: and the Gentiles shall bless him, and shall
|
|
praise him.
|
|
|
|
4:3. For thus saith the Lord to the men of Juda and Jerusalem: Break up
|
|
anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns:
|
|
|
|
4:4. Be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your
|
|
hearts, ye men of Juda, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my
|
|
indignation come forth like fire, and burn, and there be none that can
|
|
quench it because of the wickedness of your thoughts.
|
|
|
|
4:5. Declare ye in Juda, and make it heard in Jerusalem: speak, and
|
|
sound with the trumpet in the land: cry aloud, and say: Assemble
|
|
yourselves, and let us go into strong cities.
|
|
|
|
4:6. Set up the standard in Sion. Strengthen yourselves, stay not: for
|
|
I bring evil from the north, and great destruction.
|
|
|
|
4:7. The lion is come up out of his den, and the robber of nations hath
|
|
roused himself: he is come forth out of his place, to make thy land
|
|
desolate: thy cities shall be laid waste, remaining without an
|
|
inhabitant.
|
|
|
|
4:8. For this gird yourselves with haircloth, lament and howl: for the
|
|
fierce anger of the Lord is not turned away from us.
|
|
|
|
4:9. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord: That the
|
|
heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes: and the
|
|
priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall be amazed.
|
|
|
|
4:10. And I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, hast thou then deceived
|
|
this people and Jerusalem, saying: You shall have peace: and behold the
|
|
sword reacheth even to the soul?
|
|
|
|
4:11. At that time it shall be said to this people, and to Jerusalem: A
|
|
burning wind is in the ways that are in the desert of the way of the
|
|
daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse.
|
|
|
|
4:12. A full wind from these places shall come to me: and now I will
|
|
speak my judgments with them.
|
|
|
|
4:13. Behold he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a
|
|
tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles: woe unto us, for we are
|
|
laid waste.
|
|
|
|
4:14. Wash thy heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayst be
|
|
saved: how long shall hurtful thoughts abide in thee?
|
|
|
|
4:15. For a voice of one declaring from Dan, and giving notice of the
|
|
idol from mount Ephraim.
|
|
|
|
4:16. Say ye to the nations: Behold it is heard in Jerusalem, that
|
|
guards are coming from a far country, and give out their voice against
|
|
the cities of Juda.
|
|
|
|
4:17. They are set round about her, as keepers of fields: because she
|
|
hath provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
4:18. Thy ways, and thy devices have brought these things upon thee:
|
|
this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it hath touched
|
|
thy heart.
|
|
|
|
4:19. My bowels, my bowels are in part, the senses of my heart are
|
|
troubled within me, I will not hold my peace, for my soul hath heard
|
|
the sound of the trumpet, the cry of battle.
|
|
|
|
4:20. Destruction upon destruction is called for, and all the earth is
|
|
laid waste: my tents are destroyed on a sudden, and my pavilions in a
|
|
moment.
|
|
|
|
4:21. How long shall I see men fleeing away, how long shall I hear the
|
|
sound of the trumpet?
|
|
|
|
4:22. For my foolish people have not known me: they are foolish and
|
|
senseless children: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have
|
|
no knowledge.
|
|
|
|
4:23. I beheld the earth, and lo it was void, and nothing: and the
|
|
heavens, and there was no light in them.
|
|
|
|
4:24. I looked upon the mountains, and behold they trembled: and all
|
|
the hills were troubled.
|
|
|
|
4:25. I beheld, and lo there was no man: and all the birds of the air
|
|
were gone.
|
|
|
|
4:26. I looked, and behold Carmel was a wilderness: and all its cities
|
|
were destroyed at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of the
|
|
wrath of his indignation.
|
|
|
|
4:27. For thus saith the Lord: All the land shall be desolate, but yet
|
|
I will not utterly destroy.
|
|
|
|
4:28. The Earth shall mourn, and the heavens shall lament from above:
|
|
because I have spoken, I have purposed, and I have not repented,
|
|
neither am I turned away from it.
|
|
|
|
4:29. At the voice of the horsemen, and the archers, all the city is
|
|
fled away: they have entered into thickets and climbed up the rocks:
|
|
all the cities are forsaken, and there dwelleth not a man in them.
|
|
|
|
4:30. But when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do? though thou clothest
|
|
thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold,
|
|
and paintest thy eyes with stibic stone, thou shalt dress thyself out
|
|
in vain: thy lovers have despised thee, they will seek thy life.
|
|
|
|
4:31. For I have heard the voice as of a woman in travail, anguishes as
|
|
of a woman in labour of a child. The voice of the daughter of Sion,
|
|
dying away, spreading her hands: Woe is me, for my soul hath fainted
|
|
because of them that are slain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
The judgments of God shall fall upon the Jews for their manifold sins.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Go about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and consider,
|
|
and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man that
|
|
executeth judgment, and seeketh faith: and I will be merciful unto it.
|
|
|
|
5:2. And though they say: The Lord liveth; this also they will swear
|
|
falsely.
|
|
|
|
5:3. O Lord, thy eyes are upon truth: thou hast struck them, and they
|
|
have not grieved: thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to
|
|
receive correction: they have made their faces harder than the rock,
|
|
and they have refused to return.
|
|
|
|
5:4. But I said: Perhaps these are poor and foolish, that know not the
|
|
way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.
|
|
|
|
5:5. I will go therefore to the great men, and will speak to them: for
|
|
they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God: and
|
|
behold these have altogether broken the yoke more, and have burst the
|
|
bonds.
|
|
|
|
5:6. Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the
|
|
evening hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every
|
|
one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their
|
|
transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened.
|
|
|
|
5:7. How can I be merciful to thee? thy children have forsaken me, and
|
|
swear by them that are not gods: I fed them to the full, and they
|
|
committed adultery, and rioted in the harlot's house.
|
|
|
|
5:8. They are become as amorous horses and stallions: every one neighed
|
|
after his neighbour's wife.
|
|
|
|
5:9. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? and shall not
|
|
my soul take revenge on such a nation?
|
|
|
|
5:10. Scale the walls thereof, and throw them down, but do not utterly
|
|
destroy: take away the branches thereof, because they are not the
|
|
Lord's.
|
|
|
|
5:11. For the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have greatly
|
|
transgressed against me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
5:12. They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he: and the evil
|
|
shall not come upon us: we shall not see the sword and famine.
|
|
|
|
5:13. The prophets have spoken in the wind, and there was no word of
|
|
God in them: these things therefore shall befall them.
|
|
|
|
5:14. Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: because you have spoken
|
|
this word, behold I will make my words in thy mouth as fire, and this
|
|
people as wood, and it shall devour them.
|
|
|
|
5:15. Behold I will bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of
|
|
Israel, saith the Lord: a strong nation, an ancient nation, a nation
|
|
whose language thou shalt not know, nor understand what they say.
|
|
|
|
5:16. Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all valiant.
|
|
|
|
5:17. And they shall eat up thy corn, and thy bread: they shall devour
|
|
thy sons, and thy daughters: they shall eat up thy flocks, and thy
|
|
herds: they shall eat thy vineyards, and thy figs: and with the sword
|
|
they shall destroy thy strong cities, wherein thou trustest.
|
|
|
|
5:18. Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you
|
|
to utter destruction.
|
|
|
|
5:19. And if you shall say: Why hath the Lord our God done all these
|
|
things to us? thou shalt say to them: As you have forsaken me, and
|
|
served a strange god in your own land, so shall you serve strangers in
|
|
a land that is not your own.
|
|
|
|
5:20. Declare ye this to the house of Jacob, and publish it in Juda,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
5:21. Hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes,
|
|
and see not: and ears, and hear not.
|
|
|
|
5:22. Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord: and will you not
|
|
repent at my presence? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an
|
|
everlasting ordinance, which it shall not pass over: and the waves
|
|
thereof shall toss themselves, and shall not prevail: they shall swell,
|
|
and shall not pass over it.
|
|
|
|
5:23. But the heart of this people is become hard of belief and
|
|
provoking, they are revolted and gone away.
|
|
|
|
5:24. And they have not said in their heart: Let us fear the Lord our
|
|
God, who giveth us the early and the latter rain in due season: who
|
|
preserveth for us the fulness of the yearly harvest.
|
|
|
|
5:25. Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have
|
|
withholden good things from you.
|
|
|
|
5:26. For among my people are found wicked men, that lie in wait as
|
|
fowlers, setting snares and traps to catch men.
|
|
|
|
5:27. As a net is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit:
|
|
therefore are they become great and enriched.
|
|
|
|
5:28. They are grown gross and fat: and have most wickedly transgressed
|
|
my words. They have not judged the cause of the widow, they have not
|
|
managed the cause of the fatherless, and they have not judged the
|
|
judgment of the poor.
|
|
|
|
5:29. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? or shall not
|
|
my soul take revenge on such a nation?
|
|
|
|
5:30. Astonishing and wonderful things have been done in the land.
|
|
|
|
5:31. The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their
|
|
hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the
|
|
end thereof?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
The evils that threaten Jerusalem. She is invited to return, and walk
|
|
in the good way, and not to rely on sacrifices without obedience.
|
|
|
|
6:1. Strengthen yourselves, ye sons of Benjamin, in the midst of
|
|
Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet in Thecua, and set up the standard
|
|
over Bethacarem: for evil is seen out of the north, and a great
|
|
destruction.
|
|
|
|
6:2. I have likened the daughter of Sion to a beautiful and delicate
|
|
woman.
|
|
|
|
6:3. The shepherds shall come to her with their flocks: they have
|
|
pitched their tents against her round about: every one shall feed them
|
|
that are under his hand.
|
|
|
|
6:4. Prepare ye war against her: arise, and let us go up at midday: woe
|
|
unto us, for the day is declined, for the shadows of the evening are
|
|
grown longer.
|
|
|
|
6:5. Arise, and let us go up in the night, and destroy her houses.
|
|
|
|
6:6. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hew down her trees, cast up a
|
|
trench about Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited, all oppression
|
|
is in the midst of her.
|
|
|
|
6:7. As a cistern maketh its water cold, so hath she made her
|
|
wickedness cold: violence and spoil shall be heard in her, infirmity
|
|
and stripes are continually before me.
|
|
|
|
6:8. Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee,
|
|
lest I make thee desolate, a land uninhabited.
|
|
|
|
6:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: They shall gather the remains of
|
|
Israel, as in a vine, even to one cluster: turn back thy hand, as a
|
|
grapegatherer into the basket.
|
|
|
|
6:10. To whom shall I speak? and to whom shall I testify, that he may
|
|
hear? behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear:
|
|
behold the word of the Lord is become unto them a reproach: and they
|
|
will not receive it.
|
|
|
|
6:11. Therefore am I full of the fury of the Lord, I am weary with
|
|
holding in: pour it out upon the child abroad, and upon the council of
|
|
the young men together: for man and woman shall be taken, the ancient
|
|
and he that is full of days.
|
|
|
|
6:12. And their houses shall be turned over to others, with their lands
|
|
and their wives together: for I will stretch forth my hand upon the
|
|
inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
6:13. For from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to
|
|
covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty
|
|
of deceit.
|
|
|
|
6:14. And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people
|
|
disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace: and there was no peace.
|
|
|
|
6:15. They were confounded, because they committed abomination: yea,
|
|
rather they were not confounded with confusion, and they knew not how
|
|
to blush: wherefore they shall fall among them that fall: in the time
|
|
of their visitation they shall fall down, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
6:16. Thus saith the Lord: Stand ye on the ways, and see, and ask for
|
|
the old paths, which is the good way, and walk ye in it: and you shall
|
|
find refreshment for your souls. And they said: We will not walk.
|
|
|
|
6:17. And I appointed watchmen over you, saying: Hearken ye to the
|
|
sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hearken.
|
|
|
|
6:18. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what great
|
|
things I will do to them.
|
|
|
|
6:19. Hear, O earth: Behold I will bring evils upon this people, the
|
|
fruits of their own thoughts: because they have not heard my words, and
|
|
they have cast away my law.
|
|
|
|
6:20. To what purpose do you bring me frankincense from Saba, and the
|
|
sweet smelling cane from a far country? your holocausts are not
|
|
acceptable, nor are your sacrifices pleasing to me.
|
|
|
|
6:21. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring destruction
|
|
upon this people, by which fathers and sons together shall fall,
|
|
neighbour and kinsman shall perish.
|
|
|
|
6:22. Thus saith the Lord: Behold a people cometh from the land of the
|
|
north, and a great nation shall rise up from the ends of the earth.
|
|
|
|
6:23. They shall lay hold on arrow and shield: they are cruel, and will
|
|
have no mercy. Their voice shall roar like the sea: and they shall
|
|
mount upon horses, prepared as men for war, against thee, O daughter of
|
|
Sion.
|
|
|
|
6:24. We have heard the fame thereof, our hands grow feeble: anguish
|
|
hath taken hold of us, as a woman in labour.
|
|
|
|
6:25. Go not out into the fields, nor walk in the highway: for the
|
|
sword of the enemy, and fear is on every side.
|
|
|
|
6:26. Gird thee with sackcloth, O daughter of my people, and sprinkle
|
|
thee with ashes: make thee mourning as for an only son, a bitter
|
|
lamentation, because the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
|
|
|
|
6:27. I have set thee for a strong trier among my people: and thou
|
|
shalt know, and prove their way.
|
|
|
|
6:28. All these princes go out of the way, they walk deceitfully, they
|
|
are brass and iron: they are all corrupted.
|
|
|
|
6:29. The bellows have failed, the lead is consumed in the fire, the
|
|
founder hath melted in vain: for their wicked deeds are not consumed.
|
|
|
|
6:30. Call them reprobate silver, for the Lord hath rejected them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
The temple of God shall not protect a sinful people, without a sincere
|
|
conversion. The Lord will not receive the prayers of the prophet for
|
|
them: because they are obstinate in their sins.
|
|
|
|
7:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:
|
|
|
|
7:2. Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, and proclaim there
|
|
this word, and say: Hear ye the word of the Lord, all ye men of Juda,
|
|
that enter in at these gates, to adore the Lord.
|
|
|
|
7:3. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Make your ways and
|
|
your doings good: and I will dwell with you in this place.
|
|
|
|
7:4. Trust not in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the
|
|
temple of the Lord, it is the temple of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
7:5. For if you will order well your ways, and your doings: if you will
|
|
execute judgment between a man and his neighbour,
|
|
|
|
7:6. If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow,
|
|
and shed not innocent blood in this place, and walk not after strange
|
|
gods to your own hurt,
|
|
|
|
7:7. I will dwell with you in this place: in the land, which I gave to
|
|
your fathers from the beginning and for evermore.
|
|
|
|
7:8. Behold you put your trust in lying words, which shall not profit
|
|
you:
|
|
|
|
7:9. To steal, to murder, to commit adultery, to swear falsely, to
|
|
offer to Baalim, and to go after strange gods, which you know not.
|
|
|
|
7:10. And you have come, and stood before me in this house, in which my
|
|
name is called upon, and have said: We are delivered, because we have
|
|
done all these abominations.
|
|
|
|
7:11. Is this house then, in which my name hath been called upon, in
|
|
your eyes become a den of robbers? I, I am he: I have seen it, saith
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
7:12. Go ye to my place in Silo, where my name dwelt from the
|
|
beginning: and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people
|
|
Israel:
|
|
|
|
7:13. And now, because you have done all these works, saith the Lord:
|
|
and I have spoken to you rising up early, and speaking, and you have
|
|
not heard: and I have called you, and you have not answered:
|
|
|
|
7:14. I will do to this house, in which my name is called upon, and in
|
|
which you trust, and to the place which I have given you and your
|
|
fathers, as I did to Silo.
|
|
|
|
7:15. And I will cast you away from before my face, as I have cast away
|
|
all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim.
|
|
|
|
7:16. Therefore do not thou pray for this people, nor take to thee
|
|
praise and supplication for them: and do not withstand me: for I will
|
|
not hear thee.
|
|
|
|
7:17. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Juda, and in the
|
|
streets of Jerusalem?
|
|
|
|
7:18. The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and
|
|
the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to
|
|
offer libations to strange gods, and to provoke me to anger.
|
|
|
|
Queen of heaven. . .That is, the moon, which they worshipped under that
|
|
name.
|
|
|
|
7:19. Do they provoke me to anger, saith the Lord? is it not
|
|
themselves, to the confusion of their own countenance?
|
|
|
|
7:20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my wrath and my
|
|
indignation is enkindled against this place, upon men and upon beasts,
|
|
and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruits of the land, and
|
|
it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
|
|
|
|
7:21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Add your burnt
|
|
offerings to your sacrifices, and eat ye the flesh.
|
|
|
|
7:22. For I spoke not to your fathers, and I commanded them not, in the
|
|
day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter
|
|
of burnt offerings and sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
I commanded them not. . .Viz., such sacrifices as the Jews at this time
|
|
offered, without obedience; which was the thing principally commanded:
|
|
so that in comparison with it, the offering of the holocausts and
|
|
sacrifices was of small account.
|
|
|
|
7:23. But this thing I commanded them, saying: Hearken to my voice, and
|
|
I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk ye in all the
|
|
way that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.
|
|
|
|
7:24. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear: but walked in
|
|
their own will, and in the perversity of their wicked heart: and went
|
|
backward and not forward,
|
|
|
|
7:25. From the day that their fathers came out of the land of Egypt,
|
|
even to this day. And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets,
|
|
from day to day, rising up early and sending.
|
|
|
|
7:26. And they have not hearkened to me: nor inclined their ear: but
|
|
have hardened their neck, and have done worse than their fathers.
|
|
|
|
7:27. And thou shalt speak to them all these words, but they will not
|
|
hearken to thee: and thou shalt call them, but they will not answer
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
7:28. And thou shalt say to them: This is a nation which hath not
|
|
hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, nor received instruction:
|
|
faith is lost, and is taken away out of their mouth.
|
|
|
|
7:29. Cut off thy hair, and cast it away: and take up a lamentation on
|
|
high: for the Lord hath rejected, and forsaken the generation of his
|
|
wrath,
|
|
|
|
7:30. Because the children of Juda have done evil in my eyes, saith the
|
|
Lord. They have set their abominations in the house in which my name is
|
|
called upon, to pollute it;
|
|
|
|
7:31. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the
|
|
valley of the son of Ennom, to burn their sons, and their daughters in
|
|
the fire: which I commanded not, nor thought on in my heart.
|
|
|
|
7:32. Therefore behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and it
|
|
shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Ennom:
|
|
but the valley of slaughter: and they shall bury in Topheth, because
|
|
there is no place.
|
|
|
|
7:33. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of
|
|
the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be none to
|
|
drive them away.
|
|
|
|
7:34. And I will cause to cease out of the cities of Juda, and out of
|
|
the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness,
|
|
the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride: for the land
|
|
shall be desolate.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other evils that shall fall upon the Jews for their impenitence.
|
|
|
|
8:1. At that time, saith the Lord, they shall cast out the bones of the
|
|
kings of Juda, and the bones of the princes thereof, and the bones of
|
|
the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the
|
|
inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.
|
|
|
|
8:2. And they shall spread them abroad to the sun, and the moon, and
|
|
all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have
|
|
served, and after whom have walked, and whom they have sought, and
|
|
adored: they shall not be gathered, and they shall not be buried: they
|
|
shall be as dung upon the face of the earth.
|
|
|
|
8:3. And death shall be chosen rather than life by all that shall
|
|
remain of this wicked kindred in all places, which are left, to which I
|
|
have cast them out, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
8:4. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Shall not he that
|
|
falleth, rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn
|
|
again?
|
|
|
|
8:5. Why then is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn
|
|
revolting? they have laid hold on lying, and have refused to return.
|
|
|
|
8:6. I attended, and hearkened; no man speaketh what is good, there is
|
|
none that doth penance for his sin, saying: What have I done? They are
|
|
all turned to their own course, as a horse rushing to the battle.
|
|
|
|
8:7. The kite in the air hath known her time: the turtle, and the
|
|
swallow, and the stork have observed the time of their coming: but my
|
|
people have not known the judgment of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
8:8. How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?
|
|
Indeed the lying pens of the scribes hath wrought falsehood.
|
|
|
|
8:9. The wise men are confounded, they are dismayed, and taken: for
|
|
they have cast away the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
8:10. Therefore will I give their women to strangers, their fields to
|
|
others for an inheritance: because from the least even to the greatest
|
|
all follow covetousness: from the prophet even to the priest all deal
|
|
deceitfully.
|
|
|
|
8:11. And they healed the breach of the daughter of my people
|
|
disgracefully, saying: Peace, peace: when there was no peace.
|
|
|
|
8:12. They are confounded, because they have committed abomination: yea
|
|
rather they are not confounded with confusion, and they have not known
|
|
how to blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall; in the
|
|
time of their visitation they shall fall, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
8:13. Gathering I will gather them together, saith the Lord, there is
|
|
no grape on the vines, and there are no figs on the fig tree, the leaf
|
|
is fallen: and I have given them the things that are passed away.
|
|
|
|
8:14. Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into
|
|
the fenced city, and let us be silent there: for the Lord our God hath
|
|
put us to silence, and hath given us water of gall to drink: for we
|
|
have sinned against the Lord.
|
|
|
|
8:15. We looked for peace and no good came: for a time of healing, and
|
|
behold fear.
|
|
|
|
8:16. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan, all the land was
|
|
moved at the sound of the neighing of his warriors: and they came and
|
|
devoured the land, and all that was in it: the city and its
|
|
inhabitants.
|
|
|
|
8:17. For behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against
|
|
which there is no charm: and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
8:18. My sorrow is above sorrow, my heart mourneth within me.
|
|
|
|
8:19. Behold the voice of the daughter of my people from a far country:
|
|
Is not the Lord in Sion, or is not her king in her? why then have they
|
|
provoked me to wrath with their idols, and strange vanities?
|
|
|
|
8:20. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
|
|
|
|
8:21. For the affliction of the daughter of my people I am afflicted,
|
|
and made sorrowful, astonishment hath taken hold on me.
|
|
|
|
8:22. Is there no balm in Galaad? or is there no physician there? Why
|
|
then is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet laments the miseries of his people: and their sins, which
|
|
are the cause of them. He exhorts them to repentance.
|
|
|
|
9:1. Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my
|
|
eyes? and I will weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
9:2. Who will give me in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring
|
|
men, and I will leave my people, and depart from them? because they are
|
|
all adulterers, an assembly of transgressors.
|
|
|
|
9:3. And they have bent their tongue, as a bow, for lies, and not for
|
|
truth: they have strengthened themselves upon the earth, for they have
|
|
proceeded from evil to evil, and me they have not known, saith the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
9:4. Let every man take heed of his neighbour, and let him not trust in
|
|
any brother of his: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every
|
|
friend will walk deceitfully.
|
|
|
|
9:5. And a man shall mock his brother, and they will not speak the
|
|
truth: for they have taught their tongue to speak lies: they have
|
|
laboured to commit iniquity.
|
|
|
|
9:6. Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit: through deceit they have
|
|
refused to know me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
9:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will melt, and
|
|
try them: for what else shall I do before the daughter of my people?
|
|
|
|
9:8. Their tongue is a piercing arrow, it hath spoken deceit: with his
|
|
mouth one speaketh peace with his friend, and secretly he lieth in wait
|
|
for him.
|
|
|
|
9:9. Shall I not visit them for these things, saith the Lord? or shall
|
|
not my soul be revenged on such a nation?
|
|
|
|
9:10. For the mountains I will take up weeping and lamentation, and for
|
|
the beautiful places of the desert, mourning: because they are burnt
|
|
up, for that there is not a man that passeth through them: and they
|
|
have not heard the voice of the owner: from the fowl of the air to the
|
|
beasts they are gone away and departed.
|
|
|
|
9:11. And I will make Jerusalem to be heaps of sand, and dens of
|
|
dragons: and I will make the cities of Juda desolate, for want of an
|
|
inhabitant.
|
|
|
|
9:12. Who is the wise man, that may understand this, and to whom the
|
|
word of the mouth of the Lord may come that he may declare this, why
|
|
the land hath perished, and is burnt up like a wilderness, which none
|
|
passeth through?
|
|
|
|
9:13. And the Lord said: Because they have forsaken my law, which I
|
|
gave them, and have not heard my voice, and have not walked in it.
|
|
|
|
9:14. But they have gone after the perverseness of their own heart, and
|
|
after Baalim, which their fathers taught them.
|
|
|
|
9:15. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold
|
|
I will feed this people with wormwood, and give them water of gall to
|
|
drink.
|
|
|
|
9:16. And I will scatter them among the nations, which they and their
|
|
fathers have not known: and I will send the sword after them till they
|
|
be consumed.
|
|
|
|
9:17. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Consider ye, and
|
|
call for the mourning women, and let them come: and send to them that
|
|
are wise women, and let them make haste:
|
|
|
|
9:18. Let them hasten and take up a lamentation for us: let our eyes
|
|
shed tears, and our eyelids run down with waters.
|
|
|
|
9:19. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Sion: How are we wasted
|
|
and greatly confounded? because we have left the land, because our
|
|
dwellings are cast down.
|
|
|
|
9:20. Hear therefore, ye women, the word of the Lord: and let your ears
|
|
receive the word of his mouth: and teach your daughters wailing: and
|
|
every one her neighbour mourning.
|
|
|
|
9:21. For death is come up through our windows, it is entered into our
|
|
houses to destroy the children from without, the young men from the
|
|
streets.
|
|
|
|
9:22. Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Even the carcass of man shall fall as
|
|
dung upon the face of the country, and as grass behind the back of the
|
|
mower, and there is none to gather it.
|
|
|
|
9:23. Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
|
|
and let not the strong man glory in his strength, and let not the rich
|
|
man glory in his riches:
|
|
|
|
9:24. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
|
|
and knoweth me, for I am the Lord that exercise mercy, and judgment,
|
|
and justice in the earth: for these things please me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
9:25. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit upon
|
|
every one that hath the foreskin circumcised.
|
|
|
|
9:26. Upon Egypt, and upon Juda, and upon Edom, and upon the children
|
|
of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that have their hair polled
|
|
round, that dwell in the desert: for all the nations are uncircumcised
|
|
in the flesh, but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
Neither stars nor idols are to be feared, but the great Creator of all
|
|
things. The chastisement of Jerusalem for her sins.
|
|
|
|
10:1. Hear ye the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O
|
|
house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
10:2. Thus saith the Lord: Learn not according to the ways of the
|
|
Gentiles: and be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens
|
|
fear:
|
|
|
|
10:3. For the laws of the people are vain: for the works of the hand of
|
|
the workman hath cut a tree out of the forest with an axe.
|
|
|
|
10:4. He hath decked it with silver and gold: he hath put it together
|
|
with nails and hammers, that it may not fall asunder.
|
|
|
|
10:5. They are framed after the likeness of a palm tree, and shall not
|
|
speak: they must be carried to be removed, because they cannot go.
|
|
Therefore fear them not, for they can neither do evil nor good.
|
|
|
|
10:6. There is none like to thee, O Lord: thou art great, and great is
|
|
thy name in might.
|
|
|
|
10:7. Who shall not fear thee, O king of nations? for thine is the
|
|
glory: among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms
|
|
there is none like unto thee.
|
|
|
|
10:8. They shall be all proved together to be senseless and foolish:
|
|
the doctrine of their vanity is wood.
|
|
|
|
10:9. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tharsis, and gold from
|
|
Ophaz: the work of the artificer, and of the hand of the coppersmith:
|
|
violet and purple is their clothing: all these things are the work of
|
|
artificers.
|
|
|
|
10:10. But the Lord is the true God: he is the living God, and the
|
|
everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations
|
|
shall not be able to abide his threatening.
|
|
|
|
10:11. Thus then shall you say to them: The gods that have not made
|
|
heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth, and from among those
|
|
places that are under heaven.
|
|
|
|
10:12. He that maketh the earth by his power, that prepareth the world
|
|
by his wisdom, and stretcheth out the heavens by his knowledge.
|
|
|
|
10:13. At his voice he giveth a multitude of waters in the heaven, and
|
|
lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings
|
|
for rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
|
|
|
|
10:14. Every man is become a fool for knowledge, every artist is
|
|
confounded in his graven idol: for what he hath cast is false, and
|
|
there is no spirit in them.
|
|
|
|
10:15. They are vain things, and a ridiculous work: in the time of
|
|
their visitation they shall perish.
|
|
|
|
10:16. The portion of Jacob is not like these: for it is he who formed
|
|
all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts
|
|
is his name.
|
|
|
|
10:17. Gather up thy shame out of the land, thou that dwellest in a
|
|
siege.
|
|
|
|
10:18. For thus saith he Lord: Behold I will cast away far off the
|
|
inhabitants of the land at this time: and I will afflict them, so that
|
|
they may be found.
|
|
|
|
10:19. Woe is me for my destruction, my wound is very grievous. But I
|
|
said: Truly this is my own evil, and I will bear it.
|
|
|
|
10:20. My tabernacle is laid waste, all my cords are broken: my
|
|
children are gone out from me, and they are not: there is none to
|
|
stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
|
|
|
|
10:21. Because the pastors have done foolishly, and have not sought the
|
|
Lord: therefore have they not understood, and all their flock is
|
|
scattered.
|
|
|
|
10:22. Behold the sound of a noise cometh, a great commotion out of the
|
|
land of the north: to make the cities of Juda a desert, and a dwelling
|
|
for dragons.
|
|
|
|
10:23. I know, O Lord, that the way of a man is not his: neither is it
|
|
in a man to walk, and to direct his steps.
|
|
|
|
The way of a man is not his. . .The meaning is, that notwithstanding
|
|
man's free will, yet he can do no good without God's help, nor evil
|
|
without his permission. So that, in the present case, all the evils
|
|
which Nabuchodonosor was about to bring upon Jerusalem, could not have
|
|
come but by the will of God.
|
|
|
|
10:24. Correct me, O Lord, but yet with judgment: and not in thy fury,
|
|
lest thou bring me to nothing.
|
|
|
|
10:25. Pour out thy indignation upon the nations that have not known
|
|
thee, and upon the provinces that have not called upon thy name:
|
|
because they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him,
|
|
and have destroyed his glory.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet proclaims the covenant of God: and denounces evils to the
|
|
obstinate transgressors of it. The conspiracy of the Jews against him,
|
|
a figure of their conspiracy against Christ.
|
|
|
|
11:1. The word that came from the Lord to Jeremias, saying:
|
|
|
|
11:2. Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Juda,
|
|
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
|
|
|
|
11:3. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of
|
|
Israel: Cursed is the man that shall not hearken to the words of this
|
|
covenant,
|
|
|
|
11:4. Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out
|
|
of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying: Hear ye my voice,
|
|
and do all things that I command you: and you shall be my people, and I
|
|
will be your God:
|
|
|
|
11:5. That I may accomplish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to
|
|
give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. And I
|
|
answered and said: Amen, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
11:6. And the Lord said to me: Proclaim aloud all these words in the
|
|
cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear ye the
|
|
words of the covenant, and do them:
|
|
|
|
11:7. For protesting I conjured your fathers in the day that I brought
|
|
them out of the land of Egypt even to this day: rising early I conjured
|
|
them, and said: Hearken ye to my voice:
|
|
|
|
11:8. And they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear: but walked every one
|
|
in the perverseness of his own wicked heart: and I brought upon them
|
|
all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they
|
|
did them not.
|
|
|
|
11:9. And the Lord said to me: A conspiracy is found among the men of
|
|
Juda, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
11:10. They are returned to the former iniquities of their fathers, who
|
|
refused to hear my words: so these likewise have gone after strange
|
|
gods, to serve them: the house of Israel, and the house of Juda have
|
|
made void my covenant, which I made with their fathers.
|
|
|
|
11:11. Wherefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring in evils upon
|
|
them, which they shall not be able to escape: and they shall cry to me,
|
|
and I will not hearken to them.
|
|
|
|
11:12. And the cities of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall
|
|
go, and cry to the gods to whom they offer sacrifice, and they shall
|
|
not save them in the time of their affliction.
|
|
|
|
11:13. For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Juda:
|
|
and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem thou hast set
|
|
up altars of confusion, altars to offer sacrifice to Baalim.
|
|
|
|
11:14. Therefore do not thou pray for this people, and do not take up
|
|
praise and prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time of
|
|
their cry to me, in the time of their affliction.
|
|
|
|
11:15. What is the meaning that my beloved hath wrought much wickedness
|
|
in my house? shall the holy flesh take away from thee thy crimes, in
|
|
which thou hast boasted?
|
|
|
|
11:16. The Lord called thy name, a plentiful olive tree, fair,
|
|
fruitful, and beautiful: at the noise of a word, a great fire was
|
|
kindled in it, and the branches thereof are burnt.
|
|
|
|
11:17. And the Lord of hosts that planted thee, hath pronounced evil
|
|
against thee: for the evils of the house of Israel, and of the house of
|
|
Juda, which they have done to themselves, to provoke me, offering
|
|
sacrifice to Baalim.
|
|
|
|
11:18. But thou, O Lord, hast shewn me, and I have known: then thou
|
|
shewedst me their doings.
|
|
|
|
11:19. And I was as a meek lamb, that is carried to be a victim: and I
|
|
knew not that they had devised counsels against me, saying: Let us put
|
|
wood on his bread, and cut him off from the land of the living, and let
|
|
his name be remembered no more.
|
|
|
|
11:20. But thou, O Lord of Sabaoth, who judgest justly, and triest the
|
|
reins and the hearts, let me see thy revenge on them: for to thee have
|
|
I revealed my cause.
|
|
|
|
Sabaoth. . .That is, of hosts or armies, a name frequently given to God
|
|
in the scriptures.--Ibid. Thy revenge. . .This was rather a prediction
|
|
of what was to happen, with an approbation of the divine justice, than an
|
|
imprecation.
|
|
|
|
11:21. Therefore thus saith the Lord to the men of Anathoth, who seek
|
|
thy life, and say: Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of the Lord, and
|
|
thou shalt not die in our hands.
|
|
|
|
11:22. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will visit upon
|
|
them: their young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their
|
|
daughters shall die by famine.
|
|
|
|
11:23. And there shall be no remains of them: for I will bring in evil
|
|
upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their visitation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prosperity of the wicked shall be but for a short time. The
|
|
desolation of the Jews for their sins. Their return from their
|
|
captivity.
|
|
|
|
12:1. Thou indeed, O Lord, art just, if I plead with thee, but yet I
|
|
will speak what is just to thee: Why doth the way of the wicked
|
|
prosper: why is it well with all them that transgress, and do wickedly?
|
|
|
|
12:2. Thou hast planted them, and they have taken root: they prosper
|
|
and bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their
|
|
reins.
|
|
|
|
12:3. And thou, O Lord, hast known me, thou hast seen me, and proved my
|
|
heart with thee: gather them together as for the day of slaughter.
|
|
|
|
12:4. How long shall the land mourn, and the herb of every field wither
|
|
for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? The beasts and the birds
|
|
are consumed: because they have said: He shall not see our last end.
|
|
|
|
12:5. If thou hast been wearied with running with footmen, how canst
|
|
thou contend with horses? and if thou hast been secure in a land of
|
|
peace, what wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan?
|
|
|
|
12:6. For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they
|
|
have fought against thee, and have cried after thee with full voice:
|
|
believe them not when they speak good things to thee.
|
|
|
|
12:7. I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance: I have
|
|
given my dear soul into the hand of her enemies.
|
|
|
|
12:8. My inheritance is become to me as a lion in the wood: it hath
|
|
cried out against me, therefore have I hated it.
|
|
|
|
12:9. Is my inheritance to me as a speckled bird? is it as a bird dyed
|
|
throughout? come ye, assemble yourselves, all ye beasts of the earth,
|
|
make haste to devour.
|
|
|
|
12:10. Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my
|
|
portion under foot: they have changed my delightful portion into a
|
|
desolate wilderness.
|
|
|
|
12:11. They have laid it waste, and it hath mourned for me. With
|
|
desolation is all the land made desolate; because there is none that
|
|
considereth in the heart.
|
|
|
|
12:12. The spoilers are come upon all the ways of the wilderness, for
|
|
the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the
|
|
other end thereof: there is no peace for all flesh.
|
|
|
|
12:13. They have sown wheat, and reaped thorns: they have received an
|
|
inheritance, and it shall not profit them: you shall be ashamed of your
|
|
fruits, because of the fierce wrath of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
12:14. Thus saith the Lord against all wicked neighbours, that touch
|
|
the inheritance that I have shared out to my people Israel: Behold I
|
|
will pluck them out of their land, and I will pluck the house of Juda
|
|
out of the midst of them.
|
|
|
|
12:15. And when I shall have plucked them out, I will return, and have
|
|
mercy on them: and will bring them back, every man to his inheritance,
|
|
and every man into his land.
|
|
|
|
12:16. And it shall come to pass, if they will be taught, and will
|
|
learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name: The Lord liveth, as
|
|
they have taught my people to swear by Baal: that they shall be built
|
|
up in the midst of my people.
|
|
|
|
12:17. But if they will not hear, I will utterly pluck out and destroy
|
|
that nation, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the figure of a linen girdle is foretold the destruction of the
|
|
Jews. Their obstinacy in sin brings all miseries upon them.
|
|
|
|
13:1. Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and get thee a linen girdle, and
|
|
thou shalt put it about thy loins, and shalt not put it into water.
|
|
|
|
13:2. And I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and put it
|
|
about my loins.
|
|
|
|
13:3. And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying:
|
|
|
|
13:4. Take the girdle which thou hast got, which is about thy loins,
|
|
and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the
|
|
rock.
|
|
|
|
13:5. And I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had
|
|
commanded me.
|
|
|
|
13:6. And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said to me:
|
|
Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from thence the girdle, which I
|
|
commanded thee to hide there.
|
|
|
|
13:7. And I went to the Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle out
|
|
of the place where I had hid it and behold the girdle was rotten, so
|
|
that it was fit for no use.
|
|
|
|
13:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
13:9. Thus saith the Lord: After this manner will I make the pride of
|
|
Juda, and the great pride of Jerusalem to rot.
|
|
|
|
13:10. This wicked people, that will not hear my words, and that walk
|
|
in the perverseness of their heart, and have gone after strange gods to
|
|
serve them, and to adore them: and they shall be as this girdle ,which
|
|
is fit for no use.
|
|
|
|
13:11. For as the girdle sticketh close to the loins of a man, so have
|
|
I brought close to me all the house of Israel, and all the house of
|
|
Juda, saith the Lord: that they might be my people, and for a name, and
|
|
for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.
|
|
|
|
13:12. Thou shalt speak therefore to them this word: Thus saith the
|
|
Lord the God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And
|
|
they shall say to thee: Do we not know that every bottle shall be
|
|
filled with wine?
|
|
|
|
13:13. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will
|
|
fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings of the race of
|
|
David that sit upon his throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and
|
|
all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.
|
|
|
|
13:14. And I will scatter them every man from his brother, and fathers
|
|
and sons in like manner, saith the Lord: I will not spare, and I will
|
|
not pardon: nor will I have mercy, but to destroy them.
|
|
|
|
13:15. Hear ye, and give ear: Be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken.
|
|
|
|
13:16. Give ye glory to the Lord your God, before it be dark, and
|
|
before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains: you shall look for
|
|
light, and he will turn it into the shadow of death, and into darkness.
|
|
|
|
13:17. But if you will not hear this, my soul shall weep in secret for
|
|
your pride: weeping it shall weep, and my eyes shall run down with
|
|
tears, because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.
|
|
|
|
13:18. Say to the king, and to the queen: Humble yourselves, sit down:
|
|
for the crown of your glory is come down from your head.
|
|
|
|
13:19. The cities of the south are shut up, and there is none to open
|
|
them: all Juda is carried away captive with an entire captivity.
|
|
|
|
13:20. Lift up your eyes, and see, you that come from the north: where
|
|
is the flock that is given thee, thy beautiful cattle?
|
|
|
|
13:21. What wilt thou say when he shall visit thee? for thou hast
|
|
taught them against thee, and instructed them against thy own head:
|
|
shall not sorrows lay hold on thee, as a woman in labour?
|
|
|
|
13:22. And if thou shalt say in thy heart: Why are these things come
|
|
upon me? For the greatness of thy iniquity, thy nakedness is
|
|
discovered, the soles of thy feet are defiled.
|
|
|
|
13:23. If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots:
|
|
you also may do well, when you have learned evil.
|
|
|
|
13:24. And I will scatter them as stubble, which is carried away by the
|
|
wind in the desert.
|
|
|
|
13:25. This is thy lot, and the portion of thy measure from me, saith
|
|
the Lord, because thou hast forgotten me, and hast trusted in
|
|
falsehood.
|
|
|
|
13:26. Wherefore I have also bared thy thighs against thy face, and thy
|
|
shame hath appeared.
|
|
|
|
13:27. I have seen thy adulteries, and thy neighing, the wickedness of
|
|
thy fornication: and thy abominations, upon the hills in the field. Woe
|
|
to thee, Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean after me: how long yet?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
A grievous famine: and the prophet's prayer on that occasion. Evils
|
|
denounced to false prophets. The prophet mourns for his people.
|
|
|
|
14:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias concerning the words
|
|
of the drought.
|
|
|
|
14:2. Judea hath mourned, and the gates thereof are fallen, and are
|
|
become obscure on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
|
|
|
|
14:3. The great ones sent their inferiors to the water: they came to
|
|
draw, they found no water, they carried back their vessels empty: they
|
|
were confounded and afflicted, and covered their heads.
|
|
|
|
14:4. For the destruction of the land, because there came no rain upon
|
|
the earth, the husbandman were confounded, they covered their heads.
|
|
|
|
14:5. Yea, the hind also brought forth in the field, and left it,
|
|
because there was no grass.
|
|
|
|
14:6. And the wild asses stood upon the rocks, they snuffed up the wind
|
|
like dragons, their eyes failed, because there was no grass.
|
|
|
|
14:7. If our iniquities have testified against us, O Lord, do thou it
|
|
for thy name's sake, for our rebellions are many, we have sinned
|
|
against thee.
|
|
|
|
14:8. O expectation of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble:
|
|
why wilt thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man
|
|
turning in to lodge?
|
|
|
|
14:9. Why wilt thou be as a wandering man, as a mighty man that cannot
|
|
save? but thou, O Lord, art among us, and thy name is called upon by
|
|
us, forsake us not.
|
|
|
|
14:10. Thus saith the Lord to this people, that have loved to move
|
|
their feet, and have not rested, and have not pleased the Lord: He will
|
|
now remember their iniquities, and visit their sins.
|
|
|
|
14:11. And the Lord said to me: Pray not for this people for their
|
|
good.
|
|
|
|
14:12. When they fast I will not hear their prayers: and if they offer
|
|
holocausts and victims, I will not receive them: for I will consume
|
|
them by the sword, and by famine, and by the pestilence.
|
|
|
|
14:13. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, the prophets say to them:
|
|
You shall not see the sword, and there shall be no famine among you,
|
|
but he will give you true peace in this place.
|
|
|
|
14:14. And the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy falsely in my
|
|
name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken
|
|
to them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination and
|
|
deceit, and the seduction of their own heart.
|
|
|
|
14:15. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that
|
|
prophesy in my name, whom I did not send, that say: Sword and famine
|
|
shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be
|
|
consumed.
|
|
|
|
14:16. And the people to whom they prophesy, shall be cast out in the
|
|
streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there
|
|
shall be none to bury them: they and their wives, their sons and their
|
|
daughters, and I will pour out their own wickedness upon them.
|
|
|
|
14:17. And thou shalt speak this word to them: Let my eyes shed down
|
|
tears night and day, and let them not cease, because the virgin
|
|
daughter of my people is afflicted with a great affliction, with an
|
|
exceeding grievous evil.
|
|
|
|
14:18. If I go forth into the fields, behold the slain with the sword:
|
|
and if I enter into the city, behold them that are consumed with
|
|
famine. The prophet also and the priest are gone into a land which they
|
|
knew not.
|
|
|
|
14:19. Hast thou utterly cast away Juda, or hath thy soul abhorred
|
|
Sion? why then hast thou struck us, so that there is no healing for us?
|
|
we have looked for peace, and there is no good: and for the time of
|
|
healing, and behold trouble.
|
|
|
|
14:20. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, the iniquities of our
|
|
fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
|
|
|
|
14:21. Give us not to be a reproach, for thy name's sake, and do not
|
|
disgrace in us the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy
|
|
covenant with us.
|
|
|
|
14:22. Are there any among the graven things of the Gentiles that can
|
|
send rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou the Lord our
|
|
God, whom we have looked for? for thou hast made all these things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 15
|
|
|
|
|
|
God is determined to punish the Jews for their sins. The prophet's
|
|
complaint, and God's promise to him.
|
|
|
|
15:1. And the Lord said to me: If Moses and Samuel shall stand before
|
|
me, my soul is not towards this people: cast them out from my sight,
|
|
and let them go forth.
|
|
|
|
15:2. And if they shall say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth? thou
|
|
shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Such as are for death, to
|
|
death: and such as are for the sword, to the sword: and such as are for
|
|
famine, to famine: and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
|
|
|
|
15:3. And I will visit them with four kinds, saith the Lord: The sword
|
|
to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts
|
|
of the earth, to devour and to destroy.
|
|
|
|
15:4. And I will give them up to the rage of all the kingdoms of the
|
|
earth: because of Manasses the son of Ezechias the king of Juda, for
|
|
all that he did in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
15:5. For who shall have pity on thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan
|
|
thee? or who shall go to pray for thy peace?
|
|
|
|
15:6. Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward:
|
|
and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will destroy thee: I
|
|
am weary of entreating thee.
|
|
|
|
15:7. And I will scatter them with a fan in the gates of the land: I
|
|
have killed and destroyed my people, and yet they are not returned from
|
|
their ways.
|
|
|
|
15:8. Their widows are multiplied unto me above the sand of the sea: I
|
|
have brought upon them against the mother of the young man a spoiler at
|
|
noonday: I have cast a terror on a sudden upon the cities.
|
|
|
|
15:9. She that hath borne seven is become weak, her soul hath fainted
|
|
away: her sun is gone down, while it was yet day: she is confounded,
|
|
and ashamed: and the residue of them I will give up to the sword in the
|
|
sight of their enemies, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
15:10. Woe is me, my mother: why hast thou borne me a man of strife, a
|
|
man of contention to all the earth? I have not lent on usury, neither
|
|
hath any man lent to me on usury: yet all curse me.
|
|
|
|
15:11. The Lord saith to me: Assuredly it shall be well with thy
|
|
remnant, assuredly I shall help thee in the time of affliction, and in
|
|
the time of tribulation against the enemy.
|
|
|
|
15:12. Shall iron be allied with the iron from the north, and the
|
|
brass?
|
|
|
|
Shall iron be allied, etc. . .Shall the iron, that is, the strength of
|
|
Juda, stand against the stronger iron of the north, that is, of
|
|
Babylon: or enter into an alliance upon equal footing with it? No
|
|
certainly: but it must be broken by it.
|
|
|
|
15:13. Thy riches and thy treasures I will give unto spoil for nothing,
|
|
because of all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
|
|
|
|
15:14. And I will bring thy enemies out of a land, which thou knowest
|
|
not: for a fire is kindled in my rage, it shall burn upon you.
|
|
|
|
15:15. O Lord, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and defend me
|
|
from them that persecute me, do not defend me in thy patience: know
|
|
that for thy sake I have suffered reproach.
|
|
|
|
Do not defend me in thy patience. . .That is, let not thy patience and
|
|
longsuffering, which thou usest towards sinners, keep thee from making
|
|
haste to my assistance.
|
|
|
|
15:16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was to me
|
|
a joy and gladness of my heart: for thy name is called upon me, O Lord
|
|
God of hosts.
|
|
|
|
15:17. I sat not in the assembly of jesters, nor did I make a boast of
|
|
the presence of thy hand: I sat alone, because thou hast filled me with
|
|
threats.
|
|
|
|
15:18. Why is my sorrow become perpetual, and my wound desperate so as
|
|
to refuse to be healed? it is become to me as the falsehood of
|
|
deceitful waters that cannot be trusted.
|
|
|
|
15:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord: If thou wilt be converted, I will
|
|
convert thee, and thou shalt stand before my face; and thou wilt
|
|
separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: they
|
|
shall be turned to thee, and thou shalt not be turned to them.
|
|
|
|
15:20. And I will make thee to this people as a strong wall of brass:
|
|
and they shall fight against thee, and shall not prevail: for I am with
|
|
thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
15:21. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I
|
|
will redeem thee out of the hand of the mighty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 16
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet is forbid to marry. The Jews shall be utterly ruined for
|
|
their idolatry: but shall at length be released from their captivity,
|
|
and the Gentiles shall be converted.
|
|
|
|
16:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
16:2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons and
|
|
daughters in this place.
|
|
|
|
16:3. For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and daughters, that
|
|
are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bore them:
|
|
and concerning their fathers, of whom they were born in this land:
|
|
|
|
16:4. They shall die by the death of grievous illnesses: they shall not
|
|
be lamented, and they shall not be buried, they shall be as dung upon
|
|
the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed with the sword, and
|
|
with famine: and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of the
|
|
air, and for the beasts of the earth.
|
|
|
|
16:5. For thus saith the Lord: Enter not into the house of feasting,
|
|
neither go thou to mourn, nor to comfort them: because I have taken
|
|
away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, my mercy and
|
|
commiserations.
|
|
|
|
16:6. Both the great and the little shall die in this land: they shall
|
|
not be buried nor lamented, and men shall not cut themselves, nor make
|
|
themselves bald for them.
|
|
|
|
16:7. And they shall not break bread among them to him that mourneth,
|
|
to comfort him for the dead: neither shall they give them for their
|
|
father and mother.
|
|
|
|
16:8. And do not thou go into the house of feasting, to sit with them,
|
|
and to eat and drink:
|
|
|
|
16:9. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I
|
|
will take away out of this place in your sight, and in your days the
|
|
voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom,
|
|
and the voice of the bride.
|
|
|
|
16:10. And when thou shalt tell this people all these words, and they
|
|
shall say to thee: Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced against us all
|
|
this great evil? what is our iniquity? and what is our sin, that we
|
|
have sinned against the Lord our God?
|
|
|
|
16:11. Thou shalt say to them: Because your fathers forsook me, saith
|
|
the Lord: and went after strange gods, and served them, and adored
|
|
them: and they forsook me, and kept not my law.
|
|
|
|
16:12. And you also have done worse than your fathers: for behold every
|
|
one of you walketh after the perverseness of his evil heart, so as not
|
|
to hearken to me.
|
|
|
|
16:13. So I will cast you forth out of this land, into a land which you
|
|
know not, nor your fathers: and there you shall serve strange gods day
|
|
and night, which shall not give you any rest.
|
|
|
|
16:14. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, when it shall be
|
|
said no more: The Lord liveth, that brought forth the children of
|
|
Israel out of the land of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
16:15. But, The Lord liveth, that brought the children of Israel out of
|
|
the land of the north, and out of all the lands to which I cast them
|
|
out: and I will bring them again into their land, which I gave to their
|
|
fathers.
|
|
|
|
16:16. Behold I will send many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall
|
|
fish them: and after this I will send them many hunters, and they shall
|
|
hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill and out of the holes
|
|
of the rocks.
|
|
|
|
16:17. For my eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my
|
|
face, and their iniquity hath not been hid from my eyes.
|
|
|
|
16:18. And I will repay first their double iniquities, and their sins:
|
|
because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their idols,
|
|
and they have filled my inheritance with their abominations.
|
|
|
|
16:19. O Lord, my might, and my strength, and my refuge in the day of
|
|
tribulation: to thee the Gentiles shall come from the ends of the
|
|
earth, and shall say: Surely our fathers have possessed lies, a vanity
|
|
which hath not profited them.
|
|
|
|
16:20. Shall a man make gods unto himself and they are no gods?
|
|
|
|
16:21. Therefore behold I will this once cause them to know, I will
|
|
shew them my hand and my power: and they shall know that my name is the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 17
|
|
|
|
|
|
For their obstinacy in sin the Jews shall be led captive. He is cursed
|
|
that trusteth in flesh. God alone searcheth the heart, giving to every
|
|
one as he deserves. The prophet prayeth to be delivered from his
|
|
enemies, and preacheth up the observance of the sabbath.
|
|
|
|
17:1. The sin of Juda is written with a pen of iron, with the point of
|
|
a diamond, it is graven upon the table of their heart, upon the horns
|
|
of their altars.
|
|
|
|
17:2. When their children shall remember their altars, and their
|
|
groves, and their green trees upon the high mountains,
|
|
|
|
17:3. Sacrificing in the field: I will give thy strength, and all thy
|
|
treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin in all thy borders.
|
|
|
|
17:4. And thou shalt be left stripped of thy inheritance, which I gave
|
|
thee: and I will make thee serve thy enemies in a land which thou
|
|
knowest not: because thou hast kindled a fire in my wrath, it shall
|
|
burn for ever.
|
|
|
|
17:5. Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and
|
|
maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
17:6. For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see
|
|
when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert in a
|
|
salt land, and not inhabited.
|
|
|
|
Tamaric. . .A barren shrub that grows in the driest parts of the
|
|
wilderness.
|
|
|
|
17:7. Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall
|
|
be his confidence.
|
|
|
|
17:8. And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that
|
|
spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when
|
|
the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time
|
|
of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any
|
|
time to bring forth fruit.
|
|
|
|
17:9. The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can
|
|
know it?
|
|
|
|
17:10. I am the Lord who search the heart, and prove the reins: who
|
|
give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of
|
|
his devices.
|
|
|
|
17:11. As the partridge hath hatched eggs which she did not lay: so is
|
|
he that hath gathered riches, and not by right: in the midst of his
|
|
days he shall leave them, and in his latter end he shall be a fool.
|
|
|
|
17:12. A high and glorious throne from the beginning is the place of
|
|
our sanctification.
|
|
|
|
17:13. O Lord, the hope of Israel: all that forsake thee shall be
|
|
confounded: they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth:
|
|
because they have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters.
|
|
|
|
17:14. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be
|
|
saved: for thou art my praise.
|
|
|
|
17:15. Behold they say to me: Where is the word of the Lord? let it
|
|
come.
|
|
|
|
17:16. And I am not troubled, following thee for my pastor, and I have
|
|
not desired the day of man, thou knowest. That which went out of my
|
|
lips, hath been right in thy sight.
|
|
|
|
17:17. Be not thou a terror unto me, thou art my hope in the day of
|
|
affliction.
|
|
|
|
17:18. Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let not me be
|
|
confounded: let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid: bring upon
|
|
them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction, destroy
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
Let them be confounded, etc. . .Such expressions as these in the
|
|
writings of the prophets, are not to be understood as imprecations
|
|
proceeding from malice or desire of revenge: but as prophetic
|
|
predictions of evils that were about to fall upon impenitent sinners,
|
|
and approbations of the ways of divine justice.
|
|
|
|
17:19. Thus saith the Lord to me: Go, and stand in the gate of the
|
|
children of the people, by which the kings of Juda come in, and go out,
|
|
and in all the gates of Jerusalem:
|
|
|
|
17:20. And thou shalt say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, ye kings
|
|
of Juda, and al Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter
|
|
in by these gates.
|
|
|
|
17:21. Thus saith the Lord: Take heed to your souls, and carry no
|
|
burdens on the sabbath day: and bring them not in by the gates of
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
17:22. And do not bring burdens out of your houses on the sabbath day,
|
|
neither do ye any work: sanctify the sabbath day, as I commanded your
|
|
fathers.
|
|
|
|
17:23. But they did not hear, nor incline their ear: but hardened their
|
|
neck, that they might not hear me, and might not receive instruction.
|
|
|
|
17:24. And it shall come to pass: if you will hearken to me, saith the
|
|
Lord, to bring in no burdens by the gates of this city on the sabbath
|
|
day: and if you will sanctify the sabbath day, to do no work therein:
|
|
|
|
17:25. Then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and
|
|
princes, sitting upon the throne of David, and riding in chariots and
|
|
on horses, they and their princes, the men of Juda, and the inhabitants
|
|
of Jerusalem: and this city shall be inhabited for ever.
|
|
|
|
17:26. And they shall come from the cities of Juda, and from the places
|
|
round about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the
|
|
plains, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing
|
|
holocausts, and victims, and sacrifices, and frankincense, and they
|
|
shall bring in an offering into the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
17:27. But if you will not hearken to me, to sanctify the sabbath day,
|
|
and not to carry burdens, and not to bring them in by the gates of
|
|
Jerusalem on the sabbath day: I will kindle a fire in the gates
|
|
thereof, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it shall not
|
|
be quenched.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 18
|
|
|
|
|
|
As the clay in the hand of the potter, so is Israel in God's hand. He
|
|
pardoneth penitents, and punisheth the obstinate. They conspire against
|
|
Jeremias, for which he denounceth to them the miseries that hang over
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
18:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:
|
|
|
|
18:2. Arise, and go down into the potter's house, and there thou shalt
|
|
hear my words.
|
|
|
|
18:3. And I went down into the potter's house, and behold he was doing
|
|
a work on the wheel.
|
|
|
|
18:4. And the vessel was broken which he was making of clay with his
|
|
hands: and turning he made another vessel, as it seemed good in his
|
|
eyes to make it.
|
|
|
|
18:5. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
18:6. Cannot I do with you, as this potter, O house of Israel, saith
|
|
the Lord? behold as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my
|
|
hand, O house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
18:7. I will suddenly speak against a nation, and against a kingdom, to
|
|
root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it.
|
|
|
|
18:8. If that nation against which I have spoken, shall repent of their
|
|
evil, I also will repent of the evil that I have thought to do to them.
|
|
|
|
18:9. And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build
|
|
up and plant it.
|
|
|
|
18:10. If it shall do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice: I
|
|
will repent of the good that I have spoken to do unto it.
|
|
|
|
18:11. Now therefore tell the men of Juda, and the inhabitants of
|
|
Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I frame evil against
|
|
you, and devise a device against you: let every man of you return from
|
|
his evil way, and make ye your ways and your doings good.
|
|
|
|
18:12. And they said; We have no hopes: for we will go after our own
|
|
thoughts, and we will do every one according to the perverseness of his
|
|
evil heart.
|
|
|
|
18:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask among the nations: Who hath
|
|
heard such horrible things, as the virgin of Israel hath done to
|
|
excess?
|
|
|
|
18:14. Shall the snow of Libanus fail from the rock of the field? or
|
|
can the cold waters that gush out and run down, be taken away?
|
|
|
|
18:15. Because my people have forgotten me, sacrificing in vain, and
|
|
stumbling in their ways, in ancient paths, to walk by them in a way not
|
|
trodden:
|
|
|
|
18:16. That their land might be given up to desolation, and to a
|
|
perpetual hissing: every one that shall pass by it, shall be
|
|
astonished, and wag his head.
|
|
|
|
18:17. As a burning wind will I scatter them before the enemy: I will
|
|
shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.
|
|
|
|
18:18. And they said: Come, and let us invent devices against Jeremias:
|
|
for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the
|
|
wise, nor the word from the prophet: come, and let us strike him with
|
|
the tongue, and let us give no heed to all his words.
|
|
|
|
18:19. Give heed to me, O Lord, and hear the voice of my adversaries.
|
|
|
|
18:20. Shall evil be rendered for good, because they have digged a pit
|
|
for my soul? Remember that I have stood in thy sight, to speak good for
|
|
them, and to turn away thy indignation from them.
|
|
|
|
Remember, etc. . .This is spoken in the person of Christ, persecuted by
|
|
the Jews, and prophetically denouncing the evils that should fall upon
|
|
them in punishment of their crimes.
|
|
|
|
18:21. Therefore deliver up their children to famine, and bring them
|
|
into the hands of the sword: let their wives be bereaved of children
|
|
and widows: and let their husbands be slain by death: let their young
|
|
men be stabbed with the sword in battle.
|
|
|
|
18:22. Let a cry be heard out of their houses: for thou shalt bring the
|
|
robber upon them suddenly: because they have digged a pit to take me,
|
|
and have hid snares for my feet.
|
|
|
|
18:23. But thou, O Lord, knowest all their counsel against me unto
|
|
death: not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from
|
|
thy sight: let them be overthrown before thy eyes, in the time of thy
|
|
wrath do thou destroy them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 19
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the type of breaking a potter's vessel, the prophet foresheweth
|
|
the desolation of the Jews for their sins.
|
|
|
|
19:1. Thus saith the Lord: Go, and take a potter's earthen bottle, and
|
|
take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests:
|
|
|
|
19:2. And go forth into the valley of the son of Ennom, which is by the
|
|
entry of the earthen gate: and there thou shalt proclaim the words that
|
|
I shall tell thee.
|
|
|
|
19:3. And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, O ye kings of
|
|
Juda, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
|
|
the God of Israel: Behold I will bring an affliction upon this place:
|
|
so that whosoever shall hear it, his ears shall tingle:
|
|
|
|
19:4. Because they have forsaken me, and have profaned this place : and
|
|
have sacrificed therein to strange gods, whom neither they nor their
|
|
fathers knew, nor the kings of Juda: and they have filled this place
|
|
with the blood of innocents.
|
|
|
|
19:5. And they have built the high places of Baalim, to burn their
|
|
children with fire for a holocaust to Baalim: which I did not command,
|
|
nor speak of, neither did it once come into my mind.
|
|
|
|
19:6. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, that this place
|
|
shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Ennom,
|
|
but the valley of slaughter.
|
|
|
|
19:7. And I will defeat the counsel of Juda and of Jerusalem in this
|
|
place: and I will destroy them with the sword in the sight of their
|
|
enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and I will
|
|
give their carcasses to be meat for the fowls of the air, and for the
|
|
beasts of the earth.
|
|
|
|
19:8. And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing: every
|
|
one that shall pass by it, shall be astonished, and shall hiss because
|
|
of all the plagues thereof.
|
|
|
|
19:9. And I will feed them with the flesh of their sons, and with the
|
|
flesh of their daughters: and they shall eat every one the flesh of his
|
|
friend in the siege, and in the distress wherewith their enemies, and
|
|
they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
|
|
|
|
19:10. And thou shalt break the bottle in the sight of the men that
|
|
shall go with thee.
|
|
|
|
19:11. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Even
|
|
so will I break this people, and this city, as the potter's vessel is
|
|
broken, which cannot be made whole again: and they shall be buried in
|
|
Topheth, because there is no other place to bury in.
|
|
|
|
19:12. Thus will I do to this place, saith the Lord, and to the
|
|
inhabitants thereof: and I will make this city as Topheth.
|
|
|
|
19:13. And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Juda
|
|
shall be unclean as the place of Topheth: all the houses upon whose
|
|
roofs they have sacrificed to all the host of heaven, and have poured
|
|
out drink offerings to strange gods.
|
|
|
|
19:14. Then Jeremias came from Topheth, whither the Lord had sent him
|
|
to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the house of the Lord, and
|
|
said to all the people:
|
|
|
|
19:15. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will
|
|
bring in upon this city, and upon all the cities thereof all the evils
|
|
that I have spoken against it: because they have hardened their necks,
|
|
that they might not hear my words.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 20
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet is persecuted: he denounces captivity to his persecutors,
|
|
and bemoans himself.
|
|
|
|
20:1. Now Phassur the son of Emmer, the priest, who was appointed chief
|
|
in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremias prophesying these words.
|
|
|
|
20:2. And Phassur struck Jeremias the prophet, and put him in the
|
|
stocks, that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, in the house of the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
20:3. And when it was light the next day, Phassur brought Jeremias out
|
|
of the stocks. And Jeremias said to him: The Lord hath not called thy
|
|
name Phassur, but fear on every side.
|
|
|
|
Phassur. . .This name signifies increase and principality: and therefore
|
|
is here changed to Magor-Missabib, or fear on every side: to denote the
|
|
evils that should come upon him in punishment of his opposing the word
|
|
of God.
|
|
|
|
20:4. For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver thee up to fear,
|
|
thee and all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their
|
|
enemies, and thy eyes shall see it, and I will give all Juda into the
|
|
hand of the king of Babylon: and he shall carry them away to Babylon,
|
|
and shall strike them with the sword.
|
|
|
|
20:5. And I will give all the substance of this city, and all its
|
|
labour, and every precious thing thereof, and all the treasures of the
|
|
kings of Juda will I give into the hands of their enemies: and they
|
|
shall pillage them, and take them away, and carry them to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
20:6. But thou Phassur, and all that dwell in thy house, shall go into
|
|
captivity, and thou shalt go to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and
|
|
there thou shalt be buried, thou and all thy friends, to whom thou hast
|
|
prophesied a lie.
|
|
|
|
20:7. Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: thou hast been
|
|
stronger than I, and thou hast prevailed. I am become a laughingstock
|
|
all the day, all scoff at me.
|
|
|
|
Thou hast deceived, etc. . .The meaning of the prophet, is not to charge
|
|
God with any untruth; but what he calls deceiving, was only the
|
|
concealing from him, when he accepted of the prophetical commission,
|
|
the greatness of the evils which the execution of that commission was
|
|
to bring upon him.
|
|
|
|
20:8. For I am speaking now this long time, crying out against
|
|
iniquity, and I often proclaim devastation: and the word of the Lord is
|
|
made a reproach to me, and a derision all the day.
|
|
|
|
20:9. Then I said: I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more
|
|
in his name: and there came in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in
|
|
my bones, and I was wearied, not being able to bear it.
|
|
|
|
20:10. For I heard the reproaches of many, and terror on every side:
|
|
Persecute him, and let us persecute him: from all the men that were my
|
|
familiars, and continued at my side: if by any means he may be
|
|
deceived, and we may prevail against him, and be revenged on him.
|
|
|
|
20:11. But the Lord is with me as a strong warrior: therefore they that
|
|
persecute me shall fall, and shall be weak: they shall be greatly
|
|
confounded, because they have not understood the everlasting reproach,
|
|
which never shall be effaced.
|
|
|
|
20:12. And thou, O Lord of hosts, prover of the just, who seest the
|
|
reins and the heart: let me see, I beseech thee, thy vengeance on them:
|
|
for to thee I have laid open my cause.
|
|
|
|
Let me see, etc. . .This prayer proceeded not from hatred or ill will,
|
|
but zeal of justice.
|
|
|
|
20:13. Sing ye to the Lord, praise the Lord: because he hath delivered
|
|
the soul of the poor out of the hand of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
20:14. Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day in which
|
|
my mother bore me, be blessed.
|
|
|
|
Cursed be the day, etc. . .In these, and the following words of the
|
|
prophet, there is a certain figure of speech to express with more
|
|
energy the greatness of the evils to which his birth had exposed him.
|
|
|
|
20:15. Cursed be the man that brought the tidings to my father, saying:
|
|
A man child is born to thee: and made him greatly rejoice.
|
|
|
|
20:16. Let that man be as the cities which the Lord hath overthrown,
|
|
and hath not repented: let him hear a cry in the morning, and howling
|
|
at noontide:
|
|
|
|
20:17. Who slew me not from the womb, that my mother might have been my
|
|
grave, and her womb an everlasting conception.
|
|
|
|
20:18. Why came I out of the womb, to see labour and sorrow, and that
|
|
my days should be spent in confusion?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 21
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet's answer to the messengers of Sedecias, when Jerusalem was
|
|
besieged.
|
|
|
|
21:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, when king Sedecias
|
|
sent unto him Phassur, the son of Melchias, and Sophonias, the son of
|
|
Maasias the priest, saying:
|
|
|
|
21:2. Inquire of the Lord for us, for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon
|
|
maketh war against us: if so be the Lord will deal with us according to
|
|
all his wonderful works, that he may depart from us.
|
|
|
|
21:3. And Jeremias said to them: Thus shall you say to Sedecias:
|
|
|
|
21:4. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold I will turn back
|
|
the weapons of war that are in your hands, and with which you fight
|
|
against the king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans, that besiege you round
|
|
about the walls: and I will gather them together in the midst of this
|
|
city.
|
|
|
|
21:5. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand,
|
|
and with a strong arm, and in fury, and in indignation, and in great
|
|
wrath.
|
|
|
|
21:6. And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, men and beasts
|
|
shall die of a great pestilence.
|
|
|
|
21:7. And after this, saith the Lord, I will give Sedecias the king of
|
|
Juda, and his servants, and his people, and such as are left in this
|
|
city from the pestilence, and the sword, and the famine, into the hand
|
|
of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and into the hand of their
|
|
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and he shall
|
|
strike them with the edge of the sword, and he shall not be moved to
|
|
pity, nor spare them, nor shew mercy to them.
|
|
|
|
21:8. And to this people thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I
|
|
set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
|
|
|
|
21:9. He that shall abide in this city, shall die by the sword, and by
|
|
the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that shall go out and flee
|
|
over to the Chaldeans, that besiege you, shall live, and his life shall
|
|
be to him as a spoil.
|
|
|
|
21:10. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for
|
|
good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of
|
|
Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
|
|
|
|
21:11. And to the house of the king of Juda: Hear ye the word of the
|
|
Lord,
|
|
|
|
21:12. O house of David, thus saith the Lord: Judge ye judgment in the
|
|
morning, and deliver him that is oppressed by violence out of the hand
|
|
of the oppressor: lest my indignation go forth like a fire, and be
|
|
kindled, and there be none to quench it, because of the evil of your
|
|
ways.
|
|
|
|
21:13. Behold I come to thee that dwellest in a valley upon a rock
|
|
above a plain, saith the Lord: and you say: Who shall strike us and who
|
|
shall enter into our houses?
|
|
|
|
To thee that dwellest, etc. . .He speaks to Jerusalem, confiding in the
|
|
strength of her situation upon rocks, surrounded with a deep valley.
|
|
|
|
21:14. But I will visit upon you according to the fruit of your doings,
|
|
saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof: and it
|
|
shall devour all things round about it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 22
|
|
|
|
|
|
An exhortation both to king and people to return of God. The sentence
|
|
of God upon Joachaz, Joakim, and Jechonias.
|
|
|
|
22:1. Thus saith the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Juda,
|
|
and there thou shalt speak this word,
|
|
|
|
Go down, etc. . .The contents of this chapter are of a more ancient date
|
|
than those of the foregoing chapter: for the order of time is not
|
|
always observed in the writings of the prophets.
|
|
|
|
22:2. And thou shalt say: Hear the word of the Lord, king of Juda, that
|
|
sittest upon the throne of David: thou and thy servants, and thy
|
|
people, who enter in by these gates.
|
|
|
|
22:3. Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgment and justice, and deliver
|
|
him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor: and afflict not
|
|
the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, nor oppress them unjustly:
|
|
and shed not innocent blood in this place.
|
|
|
|
22:4. For if you will do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in
|
|
by the gates of this house, kings of the race of David sitting upon his
|
|
throne, and riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants,
|
|
and their people.
|
|
|
|
22:5. But if you will not hearken to these words: I swear by myself,
|
|
saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
|
|
|
|
22:6. For thus saith the Lord to the house of the king of Juda: Thou
|
|
art to me Galaad the head of Libanus: yet surely I will make thee a
|
|
wilderness, and cities not habitable.
|
|
|
|
Galaad the head of Libanus. . .By Galaad, a rich and fruitful country,
|
|
is here signified the royal palace of the kings of the house of David:
|
|
by Libanus, a high mountain abounding in cedar trees, the populous city
|
|
of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
22:7. And I will prepare against thee the destroyer and his weapons:
|
|
and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast them headlong
|
|
into the fire.
|
|
|
|
Prepare. . .Literally, sanctify.
|
|
|
|
22:8. And many nations shall pass by this city: and they shall say
|
|
every man to his neighbour: Why hath the Lord done so to this great
|
|
city?
|
|
|
|
22:9. And they shall answer: Because they have forsaken the covenant of
|
|
the Lord their God, and have adored strange gods, and served them.
|
|
|
|
22:10. Weep not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your tears:
|
|
lament him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his
|
|
native country.
|
|
|
|
Weep not for him that is dead, etc. . .He means the good king Josias,
|
|
who by death was taken away, so as not to see the miseries of his
|
|
country.--Ibid. Him that goeth away. . .Viz., sellum, alias Joachaz, who
|
|
was carried captive into Egypt.
|
|
|
|
22:11. For thus saith the Lord to Sellum the son of Josias the king of
|
|
Juda, who reigned instead of his father, who went forth out of this
|
|
place: He shall return hither no more:
|
|
|
|
22:12. But in the place, to which I have removed him, there shall he
|
|
die, and he shall not see this land any more.
|
|
|
|
22:13. Woe to him that buildeth up his house by injustice, and his
|
|
chambers not in judgment: that will oppress his friend without cause,
|
|
and will not pay him his wages.
|
|
|
|
22:14. Who saith: I will build me a wide house, and large chambers: who
|
|
openeth to himself windows, and maketh roofs of cedar, and painteth
|
|
them with vermilion.
|
|
|
|
22:15. Shalt thou reign, because thou comparest thyself to the cedar?
|
|
did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and it
|
|
was then well with him?
|
|
|
|
22:16. He judged the cause of the poor and needy for his own good: was
|
|
it not therefore because he knew me, saith the Lord?
|
|
|
|
22:17. But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon
|
|
shedding innocent blood, and upon oppression, and running after evil
|
|
works.
|
|
|
|
22:18. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Joakim the son of
|
|
Josias king of Juda: They shall not mourn for him, Alas, my brother,
|
|
and, Alas, sister: they shall not lament for him, Alas, my lord, or,
|
|
Alas, the noble one.
|
|
|
|
22:19. He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, rotten and cast
|
|
forth without the gates of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
22:20. Go up to Libanus, and cry: and lift up thy voice in Basan, and
|
|
cry to them that pass by, for all thy lovers are destroyed.
|
|
|
|
22:21. I spoke to thee in thy prosperity: and thou saidst: I will not
|
|
hear: this hath been thy way from thy youth, because thou hast not
|
|
heard my voice.
|
|
|
|
22:22. The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go
|
|
into captivity and then shalt thou be confounded, and ashamed of all
|
|
thy wickedness.
|
|
|
|
22:23. Thou that sittest in Libanus, and makest thy nest in the cedars,
|
|
how hast thou mourned when sorrows came upon thee, as the pains of a
|
|
woman in labour?
|
|
|
|
22:24. As I live, saith the Lord, if Jechonias the son of Joakim the
|
|
king of Juda were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence.
|
|
|
|
22:25. And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life,
|
|
and into the hand of them whose face thou fearest, and into the hand of
|
|
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
|
|
|
|
22:26. And I will send thee, and thy mother that bore thee, into a
|
|
strange country, in which you were not born, and there you shall die:
|
|
|
|
22:27. And they shall not return into the land, whereunto they lift up
|
|
their mind to return thither.
|
|
|
|
22:28. Is this man Jechonias an earthen and a broken vessel? is he a
|
|
vessel wherein is no pleasure? why are they cast out, he and his seed,
|
|
and are cast into a land which they know not?
|
|
|
|
22:29. O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
22:30. Thus saith the Lord: Write this man barren, a man that shall not
|
|
prosper in his days: for there shall not be a man of his seed that
|
|
shall sit upon the throne of David, and have power any more in Juda.
|
|
|
|
Write this man barren. . .That is, childless: not that he had no
|
|
children, but that his children should never sit on the throne of Juda.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 23
|
|
|
|
|
|
God reproves evil governors; and promises to send good pastors; and
|
|
Christ himself the prince of the pastors. He inveighs against false
|
|
prophets preaching without being sent.
|
|
|
|
23:1. Woe to the pastors, that destroy and tear the sheep of my
|
|
pasture, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:2. Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the pastors
|
|
that feed my people: You have scattered my flock, and driven them away,
|
|
and have not visited them: behold I will visit upon you for the evil of
|
|
your doings, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:3. And I will gather together the remnant of my flock, out of all
|
|
the lands into which I have cast them out: and I will make them return
|
|
to their own fields, and they shall increase and be multiplied.
|
|
|
|
23:4. And I will set up pastors over them, and they shall feed them:
|
|
they shall fear no more, and they shall not be dismayed: and none shall
|
|
be wanting of their number, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:5. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to
|
|
David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and
|
|
shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
|
|
|
|
23:6. In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell
|
|
confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: The Lord
|
|
our just one.
|
|
|
|
23:7. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and they shall
|
|
say no more: The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out
|
|
of the land of Egypt:
|
|
|
|
23:8. But, The Lord liveth, who hath brought out, and brought hither
|
|
the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and out of
|
|
all the lands, to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in
|
|
their own land.
|
|
|
|
23:9. To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones
|
|
tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at
|
|
the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his holy words.
|
|
|
|
23:10. Because the land is full of adulterers, because the land hath
|
|
mourned by reason of cursing, the fields of the desert are dried up:
|
|
and their course is become evil, and their strength unlike.
|
|
|
|
23:11. For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I
|
|
have found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:12. Therefore their way shall be as a slippery way in the dark: for
|
|
they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evils upon
|
|
them, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:13. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: they
|
|
prophesied in Baal and deceived my people Israel.
|
|
|
|
23:14. And I have seen the likeness of adulterers, and the way of lying
|
|
in the prophets of Jerusalem: and they strengthened the hands of the
|
|
wicked, that no man should return from his evil doings, they are all
|
|
become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrha.
|
|
|
|
23:15. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts to the prophets: Behold I
|
|
will feed them with wormwood, and will give them gall to drink: for
|
|
from the prophets of Jerusalem corruption is gone forth into all the
|
|
land.
|
|
|
|
23:16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the
|
|
prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you: they speak a vision of
|
|
their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:17. They say to them that blaspheme me: The Lord hath said: You
|
|
shall have peace: and to every one that walketh in the perverseness of
|
|
his own heart, they have said: No evil shall come upon you.
|
|
|
|
23:18. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath seen and
|
|
heard his word? Who hath considered his word and heard it?
|
|
|
|
23:19. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord's indignation shall come forth,
|
|
and a tempest shall break out and come upon the head of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
23:20. The wrath of the Lord shall not return till he execute it, and
|
|
till he accomplish the thought of his heart: in the latter days you
|
|
shall understand his counsel.
|
|
|
|
23:21. I did not send prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to
|
|
them, yet they prophesied.
|
|
|
|
23:22. If they had stood in my counsel, and had made my words known to
|
|
my people, I should have turned them from their evil way, and from
|
|
their wicked doings.
|
|
|
|
23:23. Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God
|
|
afar off?
|
|
|
|
23:24. Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith
|
|
the Lord? do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?
|
|
|
|
23:25. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my
|
|
name, and say: I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
|
|
|
|
23:26. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that
|
|
prophesy lies, and that prophesy the delusions of their own heart?
|
|
|
|
23:27. Who seek to make my people forget my name through their dreams,
|
|
which they tell every man to his neighbour: as their fathers forgot my
|
|
name for Baal.
|
|
|
|
23:28. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream: and he that
|
|
hath my word, let him speak my word with truth: what hath the chaff to
|
|
do with the wheat, saith the Lord?
|
|
|
|
23:29. Are not my words as a fire, saith the Lord: and as a hammer that
|
|
breaketh the rock in pieces?
|
|
|
|
23:30. Therefore behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who
|
|
steal my words every one from his neighbour.
|
|
|
|
23:31. Behold I am against the prophets, saith the Lord: who use their
|
|
tongues, and say: The Lord saith it.
|
|
|
|
23:32. Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith
|
|
the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and
|
|
by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have
|
|
not profited this people at all, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:33. If therefore this people, or the prophet, or the priest shall
|
|
ask thee, saying: What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to
|
|
them: You are the burden: for I will cast you away, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
23:34. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people that
|
|
shall say: The burden of the Lord: I will visit upon that man, and upon
|
|
his house.
|
|
|
|
Burden of the Lord. . .This expression is here rejected and disallowed,
|
|
at least for those times: because it was then used in mockery and
|
|
contempt by the false prophets, and unbelieving people, who ridiculed
|
|
the repeated threats of Jeremias under the name of his burdens.
|
|
|
|
23:35. Thus shall you say every one to his neighbour, and to his
|
|
brother, What hath the Lord answered? and what hath the Lord spoken?
|
|
|
|
23:36. And the burden of the Lord shall be mentioned no more, for every
|
|
man's word shall be his burden: for you have perverted the words of the
|
|
living God, of the Lord of hosts our God.
|
|
|
|
23:37. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet: What hath the Lord answered
|
|
thee? and what hath the Lord spoken?
|
|
|
|
23:38. But if you shall say: The burden of the Lord: therefore thus
|
|
saith the Lord: Because you have said this word: The burden of the
|
|
Lord: and I have sent to you, saying: Say not, The burden of the Lord:
|
|
|
|
23:39. Therefore behold I will take you away carrying you, and will
|
|
forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, out
|
|
of my presence.
|
|
|
|
Out of my presence. . .That is, the Lord declares that out of his
|
|
presence he will cast them, and bring them to captivity for their
|
|
transgressions.
|
|
|
|
23:40. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a
|
|
perpetual shame which shall never be forgotten.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 24
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the type of good and bad figs, he foretells the restoration of
|
|
the Jews that had been carried away captive with Jechonias, and the
|
|
desolation of those that were left behind.
|
|
|
|
24:1. The Lord shewed me: and behold two baskets full of figs, set
|
|
before the temple of the Lord: after that Nabuchodonosor king of
|
|
Babylon had carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda,
|
|
and his chief men, and the craftsmen, and engravers of Jerusalem, and
|
|
had brought them to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
24:2. One basket had very good figs, like the figs of the first season:
|
|
and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten,
|
|
because they were bad.
|
|
|
|
24:3. And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Jeremias? And I said:
|
|
Figs, the good figs, very good: and the bad figs, very bad, which
|
|
cannot be eaten because they are bad.
|
|
|
|
24:4. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
24:5. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so
|
|
will I regard the captives of Juda, whom I have sent forth out of this
|
|
place into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good.
|
|
|
|
24:6. And I will set my eyes upon them to be pacified, and I will bring
|
|
them again into this land: and I will build them up, and not pull them
|
|
down: and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
|
|
|
|
24:7. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and
|
|
they shall be my people, and I will be their God: because they shall
|
|
return to me with their whole heart.
|
|
|
|
24:8. And as the very bad figs, that cannot be eaten, because they are
|
|
bad: thus saith the Lord: So will I give Sedecias the king of Juda, and
|
|
his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that have remained in this
|
|
city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
24:9. And I will deliver them up to vexation, and affliction, to all
|
|
the kingdoms of the earth: to be a reproach, and a byword, and a
|
|
proverb, and to be a curse in all places, to which I have cast them
|
|
out.
|
|
|
|
24:10. And I will send among them the sword, and the famine, and the
|
|
pestilence: till they be consumed out of the land which I gave to them,
|
|
and their fathers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 25
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet foretells the seventy years captivity; after that the
|
|
destruction of Babylon, and other nations.
|
|
|
|
25:1. The word that came to Jeremias concerning all the people of Juda,
|
|
in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, (the same
|
|
is the first year of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon,)
|
|
|
|
25:2. Which Jeremias the prophet spoke to all the people of Juda, and
|
|
to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:
|
|
|
|
25:3. From the thirteenth year of Josias the son of Ammon king of Juda
|
|
until this day: this is the three and twentieth year, the word of the
|
|
Lord hath come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising before day, and
|
|
speaking, and you have not hearkened.
|
|
|
|
25:4. And the Lord hath sent to you all his servants the prophets,
|
|
rising early, and sending, and you have not hearkened, nor inclined
|
|
your ears to hear.
|
|
|
|
25:5. When he said: Return ye, every one from his evil way, and from
|
|
your wicked devices, and you shall dwell in the land which the Lord
|
|
hath given to you, and your fathers for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
25:6. And go not after strange gods to serve them, and adore them: nor
|
|
provoke me to wrath by the works of your hands, and I will not afflict
|
|
you.
|
|
|
|
25:7. And you have not heard me, saith the Lord, that you might provoke
|
|
me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own hurt.
|
|
|
|
25:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Because you have not
|
|
heard my words:
|
|
|
|
25:9. Behold I will send, and take all the kindreds of the north, saith
|
|
the Lord, and Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon my servant: and I will
|
|
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and
|
|
against all the nations that are round about it: and I will destroy
|
|
them, and make them an astonishment and a hissing, and perpetual
|
|
desolations.
|
|
|
|
My servant. . .So this wicked king is here called; because God made him
|
|
his instrument in punishing the sins of his people.
|
|
|
|
25:10. And I will take away from them the voice of mirth, and the voice
|
|
of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride,
|
|
the sound of the mill and the light of the lamp.
|
|
|
|
25:11. And all this land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment:
|
|
and all these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
|
|
|
|
25:12. And when the seventy years shall be expired, I will punish the
|
|
king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity,
|
|
and the land of the Chaldeans: and I will make it perpetual
|
|
desolations.
|
|
|
|
Punish. . .Literally, visit upon.
|
|
|
|
25:13. And I will bring upon that land all my words, that I have spoken
|
|
against it, all that is written in this book, all that Jeremias hath
|
|
prophesied against all nations:
|
|
|
|
25:14. For they have served them, whereas they were many nations, and
|
|
great kings: and I will repay them according to their deeds, and
|
|
according to the works of their hands.
|
|
|
|
25:15. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Take the cup
|
|
of wine of this fury at my hand: and thou shalt make all the nations to
|
|
drink thereof, into which I shall send thee.
|
|
|
|
25:16. And they shall drink, and be troubled, and be mad because of the
|
|
sword, which I shall send among them.
|
|
|
|
25:17. And I took the cup at the hand of the Lord, and I presented it
|
|
to all the nations to drink of it, to which the Lord sent me:
|
|
|
|
25:18. To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, and the kings
|
|
thereof, and the princes thereof: to make them a desolation, and an
|
|
astonishment, and a hissing, and a curse, as it is at this day.
|
|
|
|
25:19. Pharao the king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and
|
|
all his people,
|
|
|
|
25:20. And all in general: all the kings of the land of Ausitis, and
|
|
all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ascalon, and Gaza,
|
|
and Accaron, and the remnant of Azotus.
|
|
|
|
25:21. And Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon.
|
|
|
|
25:22. And all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon: and the
|
|
kings of the land of the islands that are beyond the sea.
|
|
|
|
25:23. And Dedan, and Thema, and Buz, and all that have their hair cut
|
|
round.
|
|
|
|
25:24. And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the west, that
|
|
dwell in the desert.
|
|
|
|
25:25. And all the kings of Zambri, and all the kings of Elam, and all
|
|
the kings of the Medes:
|
|
|
|
25:26. And all the kings of the north far and near, every one against
|
|
his brother: and all the kingdoms of the earth, which are upon the face
|
|
thereof: and the king of Sesac shall drink after them.
|
|
|
|
Sesac. . .That is, Babel, or Babylon; which after bringing all these
|
|
people under her yoke, should quickly fall and be destroyed herself.
|
|
|
|
25:27. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God
|
|
of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and vomit: and fall, and rise no
|
|
more, because of the sword, which I shall send among you.
|
|
|
|
25:28. And if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, thou
|
|
shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Drinking you shall
|
|
drink:
|
|
|
|
25:29. For behold I begin to bring evil on the city wherein my name is
|
|
called upon: and shall you be as innocent and escape free? you shall
|
|
not escape free: for I will call for the sword upon all the inhabitants
|
|
of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
25:30. And thou shalt prophesy unto them all these words, and thou
|
|
shalt say to them: I The Lord shall roar from on high, and shall utter
|
|
his voice from his holy habitation: roaring he shall roar upon the
|
|
place of his beauty: the shout as it were of them that tread grapes
|
|
shall be given out against all the inhabitants of the earth.
|
|
|
|
25:31. The noise is come even to the ends of the earth: for the Lord
|
|
entereth into judgment with the nations: he entereth into judgment with
|
|
all flesh; the wicked I have delivered up to the sword, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
25:32. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold evil shall go forth from
|
|
nation to nation: and a great whirlwind shall go forth from the ends of
|
|
the earth.
|
|
|
|
25:33. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of
|
|
the earth even to the other end thereof: they shall not be lamented,
|
|
and they shall not be gathered up, nor buried: they shall lie as dung
|
|
upon the face of the earth.
|
|
|
|
25:34. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry: and sprinkle yourselves with ashes,
|
|
ye leaders of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and your
|
|
dispersion are accomplished, and you shall fall like precious vessels.
|
|
|
|
25:35. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the leaders of
|
|
the flock to save themselves.
|
|
|
|
25:36. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the
|
|
principal of the flock: because the Lord hath wasted their pastures.
|
|
|
|
25:37. And the fields of peace have been silent because of the fierce
|
|
anger of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
25:38. He hath forsaken his covert as the lion, for the land is laid
|
|
waste because of the wrath of the dove, and because of the fierce anger
|
|
of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
The dove. . .This is commonly understood of Nabuchodonosor, whose
|
|
military standard, it is said, was a dove. But the Hebrew word Jonah,
|
|
which is here rendered a dove, may also signify a waster or oppressor,
|
|
which name better agrees to that unmerciful prince; or by comparison,
|
|
as a dove's flight is the swiftest, so would their destruction come
|
|
upon them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 26
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet is apprehended and accused by the priests: but discharged
|
|
by the princes.
|
|
|
|
26:1. In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of
|
|
Juda, came this word from the Lord, saying:
|
|
|
|
26:2. Thus saith the Lord: stand in the court of the house of the Lord,
|
|
and speak to all the cities of Juda, out of which they come, to adore
|
|
in the house of the Lord, all the words which I have commanded thee to
|
|
speak unto them: leave not out one word.
|
|
|
|
26:3. If so be they will hearken and be converted every one from his
|
|
evil way; that I may repent me of the evil that I think to do unto them
|
|
for the wickedness of their doings.
|
|
|
|
26:4. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If you will not
|
|
hearken to me to walk in my law, which I have given you:
|
|
|
|
26:5. To give ear to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent
|
|
to you rising up early: and sending, and you have not hearkened:
|
|
|
|
26:6. I will make this house like Silo: and I will make this city a
|
|
curse to all the nations of the earth.
|
|
|
|
26:7. And the priests, and the prophets, and all the people heard
|
|
Jeremias speaking these words in the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
26:8. And when Jeremias had made an end of speaking all that the Lord
|
|
had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests, and the
|
|
prophets, and all the people laid hold on him, saying: Let him be put
|
|
to death.
|
|
|
|
26:9. Why hath he prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying: This
|
|
house shall be like Silo; and this city shall be made desolate, without
|
|
an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered together against
|
|
Jeremias in the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
26:10. And the princes of Juda heard these words: and they went up from
|
|
the king's house into the house of the Lord, and sat in the entry of
|
|
the new gate of the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
26:11. And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes, and to
|
|
all the people, saying: The judgment of death is for this man: because
|
|
he hath prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.
|
|
|
|
26:12. Then Jeremias spoke to all the princes, and to all the people,
|
|
saying: The Lord sent me to prophesy concerning this house, and
|
|
concerning this city all the words that you have heard.
|
|
|
|
26:13. Now therefore amend your ways, and your doings, and hearken to
|
|
the voice of the Lord your God: and the Lord will repent him of the
|
|
evil that he hath spoken against you.
|
|
|
|
26:14. But as for me, behold I am in your hands: do with me what is
|
|
good and right in your eyes:
|
|
|
|
26:15. But know ye, and understand, that if you put me to death, you
|
|
will shed innocent blood against your own selves, and against this
|
|
city, and the inhabitants thereof. For in truth the Lord sent me to
|
|
you, to speak all these words in your hearing.
|
|
|
|
26:16. Then the princes, and all the people said to the priests, and to
|
|
the prophets: There is no judgment of death for this man: for he hath
|
|
spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.
|
|
|
|
26:17. And some of the ancients of the land rose up: and they spoke to
|
|
all the assembly of the people, saying:
|
|
|
|
26:18. Micheas of Morasthi was a prophet in the days of Ezechias king
|
|
of Juda, and he spoke to all the people of Juda, saying: Thus saith the
|
|
Lord of hosts: Sion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall
|
|
be a heap of stones: and the mountain of the house the high places of
|
|
woods.
|
|
|
|
26:19. Did Ezechias king of Juda, and all Juda, condemn him to death?
|
|
did they not fear the Lord, and beseech the face of the Lord: and the
|
|
Lord repented of the evil that he had spoken against them? therefore we
|
|
are doing a great evil against our souls.
|
|
|
|
26:20. There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord,
|
|
Urias the son of Semei of Cariathiarim: and he prophesied against this
|
|
city, and against this land, according to all the words of Jeremias.
|
|
|
|
26:21. And Joakim, and all his men in power, and his princes heard
|
|
these words: and the king sought to put him to death. And Urias heard
|
|
it, and was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.
|
|
|
|
26:22. And king Joakim sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of
|
|
Achobor, and men with him into Egypt.
|
|
|
|
26:23. And they brought Urias out of Egypt: and brought him to king
|
|
Joakim, and he slew him with the sword: and he cast his dead body into
|
|
the graves of the common people.
|
|
|
|
26:24. So the hand of Ahicam the son of Saphan was with Jeremias, that
|
|
he should not be delivered into the hands of the people, to put him to
|
|
death.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 27
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet sends chains to divers kings, signifying that they must
|
|
bend their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon. The vessels of
|
|
the temple shall not be brought back till all the rest are carried
|
|
away.
|
|
|
|
27:1. In the beginning of the reign of Joakim the son of Josias king of
|
|
Juda, this word came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:
|
|
|
|
Joakim. . .This revelation was made to the prophet in the beginning of
|
|
the reign of Joakim: but the bands were not sent to the princes here
|
|
named before the reign of Sedecias, ver. 3.
|
|
|
|
27:2. Thus saith the Lord to me: Make thee bands, and chains: and thou
|
|
shalt put them on thy neck.
|
|
|
|
27:3. And thou shalt send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of
|
|
Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of
|
|
Tyre, and to the king of Sidon: by the hand of the messengers that are
|
|
come to Jerusalem to Sedecias the king of Juda.
|
|
|
|
27:4. And thou shalt command them to speak to their masters: Thus saith
|
|
the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to your
|
|
masters:
|
|
|
|
27:5. I made the earth, and the men and the beasts that are upon the
|
|
face of the earth, by my great power, and by my stretched out arm: and
|
|
I have given it to whom it seemed good in my eyes.
|
|
|
|
27:6. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of
|
|
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon my servant: moreover also the beasts of
|
|
the field I have given him to serve him.
|
|
|
|
27:7. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son:
|
|
till the time come for his land and himself: and many nations and great
|
|
kings shall serve him.
|
|
|
|
His son. . .Viz., Evilmerodach; and his son's son, Nabonydus, or
|
|
Nabonadius, the Baltassar of Daniel, chap. 5., and the last of the
|
|
Chaldean kings.
|
|
|
|
27:8. But the nation and kingdom that will not serve Nabuchodonosor
|
|
king of Babylon, and whosoever will not bend his neck under the yoke of
|
|
the king of Babylon: I will visit upon that nation with the sword, and
|
|
with famine, and with pestilence, saith the Lord: till I consume them
|
|
by his hand.
|
|
|
|
27:9. Therefore hearken not to your prophets, and diviners, and
|
|
dreamers, and soothsayers, and sorcerers, that say to you: You shall
|
|
not serve the king of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
27:10. For they prophesy lies to you: to remove you far from your
|
|
country, and cast you out, and to make you perish.
|
|
|
|
27:11. But the nation that shall bend down their neck under the yoke of
|
|
the king of Babylon, and shall serve him: I will let them remain in
|
|
their own land, saith the Lord: and they shall till it, and dwell in
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
27:12. And I spoke to Sedecias the king of Juda according to all these
|
|
words, saying: Bend down your necks under the yoke of the king of
|
|
Babylon, and serve him, and his people, and you shall live.
|
|
|
|
27:13. Why will you die, thou and thy people by the sword, and by
|
|
famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the
|
|
nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
|
|
|
|
27:14. Hearken not to the words of the prophets that say to you: You
|
|
shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they tell you a lie.
|
|
|
|
27:15. For I have not sent them, saith the Lord: and they prophesy in
|
|
my name falsely: to drive you out, and that you may perish, both you,
|
|
and the prophets that prophesy to you.
|
|
|
|
27:16. I spoke also to the priests, and to this people, saying: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord: Hearken not to the words of your prophets, that
|
|
prophesy to you, saying: Behold the vessels of the Lord shall now in a
|
|
short time be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto
|
|
you.
|
|
|
|
27:17. Therefore hearken not to them, but serve the king of Babylon,
|
|
that you may live. Why should this city be given up to desolation?
|
|
|
|
27:18. But if they be prophets, and the word of the Lord be in them:
|
|
let them interpose themselves before the Lord of hosts, that the
|
|
vessels which were left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of
|
|
the king of Juda, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
27:19. For thus saith the Lord of hosts to the pillars, and to the sea,
|
|
and to the bases, and to the rest of the vessels that remain in this
|
|
city:
|
|
|
|
27:20. Which Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon did not take, when he
|
|
carried away Jechonias the son of Joakim the king of Juda, from
|
|
Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the great men of Juda and Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
27:21. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to the
|
|
vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the
|
|
king of Juda and Jerusalem:
|
|
|
|
27:22. They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until
|
|
the day of their visitation, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to
|
|
be brought, and to be restored in this place.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 28
|
|
|
|
|
|
The false prophecy of Hananias: he dies that same year, as Jeremias
|
|
foretold.
|
|
|
|
28:1. And it came to pass in that year, in the beginning of the reign
|
|
of Sedecias king of Juda, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that
|
|
Hananias the son of Azur, a prophet of Gabaon spoke to me, in the house
|
|
of the Lord before the priests, and all the people, saying:
|
|
|
|
28:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have broken the
|
|
yoke of the king of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
28:3. As yet two years of days, and I will cause all the vessels of the
|
|
house of the Lord to be brought back into this place, which
|
|
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried
|
|
them to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
28:4. And I will bring back to this place Jechonias the son of Joakim
|
|
king of Juda, and all the captives of Juda, that are gone to Babylon,
|
|
saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
28:5. And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet in the
|
|
presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that
|
|
stood in the house of the Lord:
|
|
|
|
28:6. And Jeremias the prophet said: Amen, the Lord do so: the Lord
|
|
perform thy words, which thou hast prophesied: that the vessels may be
|
|
brought again into the house of the Lord, and all the captives may
|
|
return out of Babylon to this place.
|
|
|
|
28:7. Nevertheless hear this word that I speak in thy ears, and in the
|
|
ears of all the people:
|
|
|
|
28:8. The prophets that have been before me, and before thee from the
|
|
beginning, and have prophesied concerning many countries, and
|
|
concerning great kingdoms, of war, and of affliction, and of famine.
|
|
|
|
28:9. The prophet that prophesied peace: when his word shall come to
|
|
pass, the prophet shall be known, whom the hath sent in truth.
|
|
|
|
28:10. And Hananias the prophet took the chain from the neck of
|
|
Jeremias the prophet, and broke it.
|
|
|
|
28:11. And Hananias spoke in the presence of all the people, saying:
|
|
Thus saith the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nabuchodonosor
|
|
the king of Babylon after two full years from off the neck of all the
|
|
nations.
|
|
|
|
28:12. And Jeremias the prophet went his way. And the word of the Lord
|
|
came to Jeremias, after that Hananias the prophet had broken the chain
|
|
from off the neck of Jeremias the prophet, saying:
|
|
|
|
28:13. Go, and tell Hananias: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast broken
|
|
chains of wood, and thou shalt make for them chains of iron.
|
|
|
|
28:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have put a
|
|
yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, to serve
|
|
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and they shall serve him: moreover also
|
|
I have given him the beasts of the earth.
|
|
|
|
28:15. And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet: Hear now,
|
|
Hananias: the Lord hath not sent thee, and thou hast made this people
|
|
to trust in a lie.
|
|
|
|
28:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will send thee away from
|
|
off the face of the earth: this year shalt thou die: for thou hast
|
|
spoken against the Lord.
|
|
|
|
28:17. And Hananias the prophet died in that year, in the seventh
|
|
month.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 29
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias writeth to the captives in Babylon, exhorting them to be easy
|
|
there, and not to hearken to false prophets. That they shall be
|
|
delivered after seventy years. But those that remain in Jerusalem shall
|
|
perish by the sword, famine, and pestilence. And that Achab, Sedecias,
|
|
and Semeias, false prophets, shall die miserably.
|
|
|
|
29:1. Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremias the prophet
|
|
sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the ancients that were carried
|
|
into captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the
|
|
people, whom Nabuchodonosor had carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:
|
|
|
|
29:2. After that Jechonias the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs,
|
|
and the princes of Juda, and of Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the
|
|
engravers were departed out of Jerusalem:
|
|
|
|
29:3. By the hand of Elasa the son of Saphan, and Gamarias the son of
|
|
Helcias, whom Sedecias king of Juda sent to Babylon to Nabuchodonosor
|
|
king of Babylon, saying:
|
|
|
|
29:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to all that are
|
|
carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from
|
|
Jerusalem to Babylon:
|
|
|
|
29:5. Build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant orchards, and eat
|
|
the fruit of them.
|
|
|
|
29:6. Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters: and take wives for
|
|
your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, and let them bear sons
|
|
and daughters: and be ye multiplied there, and be not few in number.
|
|
|
|
29:7. And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be
|
|
carried away captives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace
|
|
thereof shall be your peace.
|
|
|
|
29:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Let not your
|
|
prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners deceive you:
|
|
and give no heed to your dreams which you dream:
|
|
|
|
29:9. For they prophesy falsely to you in my name: and I have not sent
|
|
them, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
29:10. For thus saith the Lord: When the seventy years shall begin to
|
|
be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you: and I will perform my
|
|
good word in your favour, to bring you again to this place.
|
|
|
|
29:11. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the
|
|
Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction, to give you an end and
|
|
patience.
|
|
|
|
29:12. And you shall call upon me, and you shall go. and you shall pray
|
|
to me, and I will hear you.
|
|
|
|
29:13. You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me
|
|
with all your heart.
|
|
|
|
29:14. And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring
|
|
back your captivity, and I will gather you out of all nations, and from
|
|
all the places to which I have driven you out, saith the Lord: and I
|
|
will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be carried
|
|
away captive.
|
|
|
|
29:15. Because you have said: The Lord hath raised us up prophets in
|
|
Babylon:
|
|
|
|
29:16. For thus saith the Lord to the king that sitteth upon the throne
|
|
of David, and to all the people that dwell in this city, to your
|
|
brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity.
|
|
|
|
29:17. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will send upon them the
|
|
sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and I will make them like
|
|
bad figs that cannot be eaten, because they are very bad.
|
|
|
|
29:18. And I will persecute them with the sword, and with famine, and
|
|
with the pestilence: and I will give them up unto affliction to all the
|
|
kingdoms of the earth: to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a
|
|
hissing, and a reproach to all the nations to which I have driven them
|
|
out:
|
|
|
|
29:19. Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord:
|
|
which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising by night, and
|
|
sending: and you have not heard, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
29:20. Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity,
|
|
whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
29:21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, to Achab the son
|
|
of Colias, and to Sedecias the son of Maasias, who prophesy unto you in
|
|
my name falsely: Behold I will deliver them up into the hands of
|
|
Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon: and he shall kill them before your
|
|
eyes.
|
|
|
|
29:22. And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of
|
|
Juda, that are in Babylon, saying: The Lord make thee like Sedecias,
|
|
and like Achab, whom the king of Babylon fried in the fire:
|
|
|
|
29:23. Because they have acted folly in Israel, and have committed
|
|
adultery with the wives of their friends, and have spoken lying words
|
|
in my name, which I commanded them not: I am the judge and the witness,
|
|
saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
29:24. And to Semeias the Nehelamite thou shalt say:
|
|
|
|
29:25. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because thou
|
|
hast sent letters in thy name to all the people that are in Jerusalem,
|
|
and to Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest, and to all the priests,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
29:26. The Lord hath made thee priest instead of Joiada the priest,
|
|
that thou shouldst be ruler in the house of the Lord, over every man
|
|
that raveth and prophesieth, to put him in the stocks, and into prison.
|
|
|
|
29:27. And now why hast thou not rebuked Jeremias the Anathothite, who
|
|
prophesieth to you?
|
|
|
|
29:28. For he hath also sent to us in Babylon, saying: It is a long
|
|
time: build ye houses, and dwell in them: and plant gardens, and eat
|
|
the fruits of them.
|
|
|
|
29:29. So Sophonias the priest read this letter, in the hearing of
|
|
Jeremias the prophet.
|
|
|
|
29:30. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:
|
|
|
|
29:31. Send to all them of the captivity, saying: Thus saith the Lord
|
|
to Semeias the Nehelamite: Because Semeias hath prophesied to you, and
|
|
I sent him not: and hath caused you to trust in a lie:
|
|
|
|
29:32. Therefore thus saith the Lord: behold I will visit upon Semeias
|
|
the Nehelamite, and upon his seed: he shall not have a man to sit in
|
|
the midst of this people, and he shall not see the good that I will do
|
|
to my people, saith the Lord: because he hath spoken treason against
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 30
|
|
|
|
|
|
God will deliver his people from their captivity: Christ shall be their
|
|
king: and his church shall be glorious for ever.
|
|
|
|
30:1. This is the word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:
|
|
|
|
30:2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, saying: Write thee all
|
|
the words that I have spoken to thee, in a book.
|
|
|
|
30:3. For behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will bring again
|
|
the captivity of my people Israel and Juda, saith the Lord: and I will
|
|
cause them to return to the land which I gave to their fathers, and
|
|
they shall possess it.
|
|
|
|
30:4. And these are the words that the Lord hath spoken to Israel and
|
|
to Juda:
|
|
|
|
30:5. For thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of terror: there
|
|
is fear and no peace.
|
|
|
|
30:6. Ask ye, and see if a man bear children? why then have I seen
|
|
every man with his hands on his loins, like a woman in labour, and all
|
|
faces are turned yellow?
|
|
|
|
30:7. Alas, for that day is great, neither is there the like to it; and
|
|
it is the time of tribulation to Jacob, but he shall be saved out of
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
30:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
|
|
that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst his bands:
|
|
and strangers shall no more rule over him:
|
|
|
|
30:9. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king,
|
|
whom I will raise up to them.
|
|
|
|
David. . .That is, Christ of the house of David.
|
|
|
|
30:10. Therefore fear thou not, my servant Jacob, saith the Lord,
|
|
neither be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save thee from a
|
|
country afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity: and
|
|
Jacob shall return, and be at rest, and abound with all good things,
|
|
and there shall be none whom he may fear:
|
|
|
|
30:11. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: for I will
|
|
utterly consume all the nations, among which I have scattered thee: but
|
|
I will not utterly consume thee: but I will chastise thee in judgment,
|
|
that thou mayst not seem to thyself innocent.
|
|
|
|
30:12. For thus saith the Lord: Thy bruise is incurable, thy wound is
|
|
very grievous.
|
|
|
|
30:13. There is none to judge thy judgment to bind it up: thou hast no
|
|
healing medicines.
|
|
|
|
30:14. All thy lovers have forgotten thee, and will not seek after
|
|
thee: for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with cruel
|
|
chastisement: by reason of the multitude of thy iniquities, thy sins
|
|
are hardened.
|
|
|
|
30:15. Why criest thou for thy affliction? thy sorrow is incurable: for
|
|
the multitude of thy iniquity, and for thy hardened sins I have done
|
|
these things to thee.
|
|
|
|
30:16. Therefore all they that devour thee, shall be devoured: and all
|
|
thy enemies shall be carried into captivity: and they that waste thee
|
|
shall be wasted, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
|
|
|
|
30:17. For I will close up thy scar, and will heal thee of thy wounds,
|
|
saith the Lord. Because they have called thee, O Sion, an outcast: This
|
|
is she that hath none to seek after her.
|
|
|
|
30:18. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring back the captivity of
|
|
the pavilions of Jacob, and will have pity on his houses, and the city
|
|
shall be built in her high place, and the temple shall be founded
|
|
according to the order thereof.
|
|
|
|
30:19. And out of them shall come forth praise, and the voice of them
|
|
that play: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be made few:
|
|
and I will glorify them, and they shall not be lessened.
|
|
|
|
30:20. And their children shall be as from the beginning, and their
|
|
assembly shall be permanent before me: and I will visit against all
|
|
that afflict them.
|
|
|
|
30:21. And their leader shall be of themselves: and their prince shall
|
|
come forth from the midst of them: and I will bring him near, and he
|
|
shall come to me: for who is this that setteth his heart to approach to
|
|
me, saith the Lord?
|
|
|
|
30:22. And you shall be my people: and I will be your God.
|
|
|
|
30:23. Behold the whirlwind of the Lord, his fury going forth, a
|
|
violent storm, it shall rest upon the head of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
30:24. The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his indignation, till
|
|
he have executed and performed the thought of his heart: in the latter
|
|
days you shall understand these things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 31
|
|
|
|
|
|
The restoration of Israel. Rachel shall cease from morning. The new
|
|
covenant. The church shall never fail.
|
|
|
|
31:1. At that time, saith the Lord, I will be the God of all the
|
|
families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
|
|
|
|
31:2. Thus saith the Lord: The people that were left and escaped from
|
|
the sword, found grace in the desert: Israel shall go to his rest.
|
|
|
|
31:3. The Lord hath appeared from afar to me. Yea I have loved thee
|
|
with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn thee, taking pity on
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
31:4. And I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of
|
|
Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go
|
|
forth in the dances of them that make merry.
|
|
|
|
31:5. Thou shalt yet plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria: the
|
|
planters shall plant, and they shall not gather the vintage before the
|
|
time.
|
|
|
|
31:6. For there shall be a day, in which the watchmen on mount Ephraim,
|
|
shall cry: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God.
|
|
|
|
31:7. For thus saith the Lord: Rejoice ye in the joy of Jacob, and
|
|
neigh before the head of the Gentiles: shout ye, and sing, and say:
|
|
Save, O Lord, thy people, the remnant of Israel.
|
|
|
|
31:8. Behold I will bring them from the north country, and will gather
|
|
them from the ends of the earth and among them shall be the blind, and
|
|
the lame, the woman with child, and she that is bringing forth,
|
|
together, a great company of them returning hither.
|
|
|
|
31:9. They shall come with weeping: and I will bring them back in
|
|
mercy: and I will bring them through the torrents of waters in a right
|
|
way, and they shall not stumble in it: for I am a father to Israel, and
|
|
Ephraim is my firstborn.
|
|
|
|
31:10. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the
|
|
islands that are afar off, and say: He that scattered Israel will
|
|
gather him: and he will keep him as the shepherd doth his flock.
|
|
|
|
31:11. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and delivered him out of the
|
|
hand of one that was mightier than he.
|
|
|
|
31:12. And they shall come, and shall give praise in mount Sion: and
|
|
they shall flow together to the good things of the Lord, for the corn,
|
|
and wine, and oil, and the increase of cattle and herds, and their soul
|
|
shall be as a watered garden, and they shall be hungry no more.
|
|
|
|
31:13. Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, the young men and
|
|
old men together: and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will
|
|
comfort them, and make them joyful after their sorrow.
|
|
|
|
31:14. And I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness: and my
|
|
people shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
31:15. Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamentation,
|
|
of mourning, and weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children and
|
|
refusing to be comforted for them, because they are not.
|
|
|
|
31:16. Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thy
|
|
eyes tears: for there is a reward for thy work, saith the Lord: and
|
|
they shall return out of the land of the enemy.
|
|
|
|
31:17. And there is hope for thy last end, saith the Lord: and the
|
|
children shall return to their own borders.
|
|
|
|
31:18. Hearing I heard Ephraim when he went into captivity: thou hast
|
|
chastised me, and I was instructed, as a young bullock unaccustomed to
|
|
the yoke. Convert me, and I shall be converted, for thou art the Lord
|
|
my God.
|
|
|
|
31:19. For after thou didst convert me, I did penance: and after thou
|
|
didst shew unto me, I struck my thigh: I am confounded and ashamed,
|
|
because I have borne the reproach of my youth.
|
|
|
|
31:20. Surely Ephraim is an honourable son to me, surely he is a tender
|
|
child: for since I spoke of him, I will still remember him. Therefore
|
|
are my bowels troubled for him: pitying I will pity him, saith the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
31:21. Set thee up a watchtower, make to thee bitterness: direct thy
|
|
heart into the right way, wherein thou hast walked: return, O virgin of
|
|
Israel, return to these thy cities.
|
|
|
|
31:22. How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering
|
|
daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A WOMAN
|
|
SHALL COMPASS A MAN.
|
|
|
|
31:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As yet shall
|
|
they say this word in the land of Juda, and in the cities thereof, when
|
|
I shall bring back their captivity: The Lord bless thee, the beauty of
|
|
justice, the holy mountain.
|
|
|
|
31:24. And Juda and all his cities shall dwell therein together: the
|
|
husbandman and they that drive the flocks.
|
|
|
|
31:25. For I have inebriated the weary soul: and I have filled every
|
|
hungry soul.
|
|
|
|
31:26. Upon this I was as it were awaked out of a sleep, and I saw, and
|
|
my sleep was sweet to me.
|
|
|
|
31:27. Behold the days come, saith the Lord: and I will sow the house
|
|
of Israel and the house of Juda with the seed of men, and with the seed
|
|
of beasts.
|
|
|
|
31:28. And as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to throw down,
|
|
and to scatter, and destroy, and afflict: so will I watch over them, to
|
|
build up, and to plant them, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
31:29. In those days they shall say no more: The fathers have eaten a
|
|
sour grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.
|
|
|
|
31:30. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that
|
|
shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
|
|
|
|
31:31. Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a
|
|
new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda:
|
|
|
|
31:32. Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers,
|
|
in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land
|
|
of Egypt, the covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over
|
|
them, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
31:33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house
|
|
of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in
|
|
their bowels, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their
|
|
God, and they shall be my people.
|
|
|
|
31:34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every
|
|
man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the
|
|
least of them even to the greatest, saith the Lord: for I will forgive
|
|
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
|
|
|
|
31:35. Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for the light of the
|
|
day, the order of the moon and of the stars, for the light of the
|
|
night: who stirreth up the sea, and the waves thereof roar, the Lord of
|
|
hosts is his name.
|
|
|
|
31:36. If these ordinances shall fail before me, saith the Lord: then
|
|
also the seed of Israel shall fail, so as not to be a nation before me
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
31:37. Thus saith the Lord: If the heavens above can be measured, and
|
|
the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I also will cast
|
|
away all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
31:38. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be
|
|
built to the Lord from the tower of Hanameel even to the gate of the
|
|
corner.
|
|
|
|
31:39. And the measuring line shall go out farther in his sight upon
|
|
the hill Gareb: and it shall compass Goatha,
|
|
|
|
31:40. And the whole valley of dead bodies, and of ashes, and all the
|
|
country of death, even to the torrent Cedron, and to the corner of the
|
|
horse gate towards the east, the Holy of the Lord: it shall not be
|
|
plucked up, and it shall not be destroyed any more for ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 32
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias by God's commandment purchases a field of his kinsman: and
|
|
prophesies the return of the people out of captivity: and the
|
|
everlasting covenant God will make with his church.
|
|
|
|
32:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the tenth year of
|
|
Sedecias king of Juda: the same is the eighteenth year of
|
|
Nabuchodonosor.
|
|
|
|
32:2. At that time the army of the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem:
|
|
and Jeremias the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which
|
|
was in the house of the king of Juda.
|
|
|
|
32:3. For Sedecias king of Juda had shut him up, saying: Why dost thou
|
|
prophesy, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will give this city
|
|
into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it?
|
|
|
|
32:4. And Sedecias king of Juda shall not escape out of the hand of the
|
|
Chaldeans: but he shall be delivered into the hands of the king of
|
|
Babylon: and he shall speak to him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall
|
|
see his eyes.
|
|
|
|
32:5. And he shall lead Sedecias to Babylon: and he shall be there till
|
|
I visit him, saith the Lord. But if you will fight against the
|
|
Chaldeans, you shall have no success.
|
|
|
|
32:6. And Jeremias said: The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
32:7. Behold, Hanameel the son of Sellum thy cousin shall come to thee,
|
|
saying: Buy thee my field, which is in Anathoth, for it is thy right to
|
|
buy it, being next akin.
|
|
|
|
32:8. And Hanameel my uncle's son came to me, according to the word of
|
|
the Lord, to the entry of the prison, and said to me: Buy my field,
|
|
which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: for the right of
|
|
inheritance is thine, and thou art next of kin to possess it. And I
|
|
understood that this was the word of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
32:9. And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that is in
|
|
Anathoth: and I weighed him the money, seven staters, and ten pieces of
|
|
silver.
|
|
|
|
32:10. And I wrote it in a book and sealed it, and took witnesses: and
|
|
I weighed him the money in the balances.
|
|
|
|
32:11. And I took the deed of the purchase that was sealed, and the
|
|
stipulations, and the ratifications with the seals that were on the
|
|
outside.
|
|
|
|
32:12. And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neri
|
|
the son of Maasias in the sight of Hanameel my uncle's son, in the
|
|
presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, and
|
|
before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.
|
|
|
|
32:13. And I charged Baruch before them, saying:
|
|
|
|
32:14. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Take these
|
|
writings, this deed of the purchase that is sealed up, and this deed
|
|
that is open: and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue
|
|
many days.
|
|
|
|
32:15. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Houses, and
|
|
fields, and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
|
|
|
|
32:16. And after I had delivered the deed of purchase to Baruch the son
|
|
of Neri, I prayed to the Lord, saying:
|
|
|
|
32:17. Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, behold thou hast made heaven and
|
|
earth by thy great power, and thy stretched out arm: no word shall be
|
|
hard to thee:
|
|
|
|
32:18. Thou shewest mercy unto thousands, and returnest the iniquity of
|
|
the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: O most mighty,
|
|
great, and powerful, the Lord of hosts is thy name.
|
|
|
|
32:19. Great in counsel, and incomprehensible in thought: whose eyes
|
|
are open upon all the ways of the children of Adam, to render unto
|
|
every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his
|
|
devices.
|
|
|
|
32:20. Who hast set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt even until
|
|
this day, and in Israel, and amongst men, and hast made thee a name as
|
|
at this day.
|
|
|
|
32:21. And hast brought forth thy people Israel, out of the land of
|
|
Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and a
|
|
stretched out arm, and with great terror.
|
|
|
|
32:22. And hast given them this land which thou didst swear to their
|
|
fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.
|
|
|
|
32:23. And they came in, and possessed it: but they obeyed not thy
|
|
voice, and they walked not in thy law: and they did not any of those
|
|
things that thou didst command them to do, and all these evils are come
|
|
upon them.
|
|
|
|
32:24. Behold works are built up against the city to take it: and the
|
|
city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans, who fight against it, by
|
|
the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence: and what thou hast
|
|
spoken, is all come to pass, as thou thyself seest.
|
|
|
|
32:25. And sayest thou to me, O Lord God: Buy a field for money, and
|
|
take witnesses, whereas the city is given into the hands of the
|
|
Chaldeans?
|
|
|
|
32:26. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:
|
|
|
|
32:27. Behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh: shall any thing be
|
|
hard for me?
|
|
|
|
32:28. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver this city
|
|
into the hands of the Chaldeans, and into the hands of the king of
|
|
Babylon, and they shall take it.
|
|
|
|
32:29. And the Chaldeans that fight against this city, shall come and
|
|
set it on fire, and burn it, with the houses upon whose roofs they
|
|
offered sacrifice to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to strange
|
|
gods, to provoke me to wrath.
|
|
|
|
32:30. For the children of Israel, and the children of Juda, have
|
|
continually done evil in my eyes from their youth: the children of
|
|
Israel who even till now provoke me with the work of their hands, saith
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
32:31. For this city hath been to me a provocation and indignation from
|
|
the day that they built it, until this day, in which it shall be taken
|
|
out of my sight.
|
|
|
|
32:32. Because of all the evil of the children of Israel, and of the
|
|
children of Juda, which they have done, provoking me to wrath, they and
|
|
their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, the
|
|
men of Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
32:33. And they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces:
|
|
when I taught them early in the morning, and instructed them, and they
|
|
would not hearken to receive instruction.
|
|
|
|
32:34. And they have set their idols in the house, in which my name is
|
|
called upon, to defile it.
|
|
|
|
32:35. And they have built the high places of Baal, which are in the
|
|
valley of the son of Ennom, to consecrate their sons and their
|
|
daughters to Moloch: which I commanded them not, neither entered it
|
|
into my heart, that they should do this abomination, and cause Juda to
|
|
sin.
|
|
|
|
32:36. And now, therefore, thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to
|
|
this city, whereof you say that it shall be delivered into the hands of
|
|
the king of Babylon by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence:
|
|
|
|
32:37. Behold I will gather them together out of all the lands to which
|
|
I have cast them out in my anger, and in my wrath, and in my great
|
|
indignation: and I will bring them again into this place, and will
|
|
cause them to dwell securely.
|
|
|
|
32:38. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
|
|
|
|
32:39. And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear
|
|
me all days: and that it may be well with them, and with their children
|
|
after them.
|
|
|
|
32:40. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and will not
|
|
cease to do them good: and I will give my fear in their heart, that
|
|
they may not revolt from me.
|
|
|
|
32:41. And I will rejoice over them, when I shall do them good: and I
|
|
will plant them in this land in truth, with my whole heart, and with
|
|
all my soul.
|
|
|
|
32:42. For thus saith the Lord: As I have brought upon this people all
|
|
this great evil: so will I bring upon them all the good that I now
|
|
speak to them.
|
|
|
|
32:43. And fields shall be purchased in this land: whereof you say that
|
|
it is desolate, because there remaineth neither man nor beast, and it
|
|
is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.
|
|
|
|
32:44. Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be written,
|
|
and sealed, and witnesses shall be taken, in the land of Benjamin, and
|
|
round about Jerusalem, in the cities of Juda, and in the cities on the
|
|
mountains, and in the cities of the plains, and in the cities that are
|
|
towards the south: for I will bring back their captivity, saith the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 33
|
|
|
|
|
|
God promises reduction from captivity, and other blessings: especially
|
|
the coming of Christ, whose reign in his church shall be glorious and
|
|
perpetual.
|
|
|
|
33:1. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the second time, while
|
|
he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying:
|
|
|
|
33:2. Thus saith the Lord, who will do, and will form it, and prepare
|
|
it, the Lord is his name.
|
|
|
|
33:3. Cry to me and I will hear thee: and I will shew thee great
|
|
things, and sure things which thou knowest not.
|
|
|
|
33:4. For thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to the houses of this
|
|
city, and to the houses of the king of Juda, which are destroyed, and
|
|
to the bulwarks, and to the sword.
|
|
|
|
33:5. Of them that come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them
|
|
with the dead bodies of the men whom I have slain in my wrath, and in
|
|
my indignation, hiding my face from this city because of all their
|
|
wickedness.
|
|
|
|
33:6. Behold I will close their wounds and give them health, and I will
|
|
cure them: and I will reveal to them the prayer of peace and truth.
|
|
|
|
The prayer of peace. . .That is, the peace and welfare which they pray
|
|
for.
|
|
|
|
33:7. And I will bring back the captivity of Juda, and the captivity of
|
|
Jerusalem: and I will build them as from the beginning.
|
|
|
|
33:8. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they
|
|
have sinned against me: and I will forgive all their iniquities,
|
|
whereby they have sinned against me, and despised me.
|
|
|
|
33:9. And it shall be to me a name, and a joy, and a praise, and a
|
|
gladness before all the nations of the earth, that shall hear of all
|
|
the good things which I will do to them: and they shall fear and be
|
|
troubled for all the good things, and for all the peace that I will
|
|
make for them.
|
|
|
|
33:10. Thus saith the Lord: There shall be heard again in this place
|
|
(which you say is desolate, because there is neither man nor beast: in
|
|
the cities of Juda, and without Jerusalem, which are desolate without
|
|
man, and without inhabitant, and without beast)
|
|
|
|
33:11. The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
|
|
bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall
|
|
say: Give ye glory to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his
|
|
mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring their vows into
|
|
the house of the Lord: for I will bring back the captivity of the land
|
|
as at the first, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
33:12. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall be again in this place
|
|
that is desolate without man, and without beast, and in all the cities
|
|
thereof, an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
|
|
|
|
33:13. And in the cities on the mountains, and in the cities of the
|
|
plains, and in the cities that are towards the south: and in the land
|
|
of Benjamin, and round about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Juda shall
|
|
the flocks pass again under the hand of him that numbereth them, saith
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
33:14. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform the
|
|
good word that I have spoken to the house of Israel, and to the house
|
|
of Juda.
|
|
|
|
33:15. In those days, and at that time, I will make the bud of justice
|
|
to spring forth unto David, and he shall do judgment and justice in the
|
|
earth.
|
|
|
|
33:16. In those days shall Juda be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell
|
|
securely: and this is the name that they shall call him, The Lord our
|
|
just one.
|
|
|
|
33:17. For thus saith the Lord: There shall not be cut off from David a
|
|
man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
There shall not be cut off from David, etc. . .This was verified in
|
|
Christ, who is of the house of David; and whose kingdom in his church
|
|
shall have no end.
|
|
|
|
33:18. Neither shall there be cut off from the priests and Levites a
|
|
man before my face to offer holocausts, and to burn sacrifices, and to
|
|
kill victims continually.
|
|
|
|
Neither shall there be cut off from the priests, etc. . .This promise
|
|
relates to the Christian priesthood; which shall also continue for
|
|
ever: the functions of which (more especially the great sacrifice of
|
|
the altar) are here expressed by the name of holocausts, and other
|
|
offerings of the law, which were so many figures of the Christian
|
|
sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
33:19. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:
|
|
|
|
33:20. Thus saith the Lord: if my covenant, with the day can be made
|
|
void, and my covenant with the night, that there should not be day and
|
|
night in their season:
|
|
|
|
33:21. Also my covenant with David my servant may be made void, that he
|
|
should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites
|
|
and priests my ministers.
|
|
|
|
33:22. As the stars of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the
|
|
sea be measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and
|
|
the Levites my ministers.
|
|
|
|
33:23. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:
|
|
|
|
33:24. Hast thou not seen what this people hath spoken, saying: The two
|
|
families which the Lord had chosen, are cast off: and they have
|
|
despised my people, so that it is no more a nation before them?
|
|
|
|
Two families, etc. . .Viz., the families of the kings and priests.
|
|
|
|
33:25. Thus saith the Lord. If I have not set my covenant between day
|
|
and night, and laws to heaven and earth:
|
|
|
|
33:26. Surely I will also cast off the seed of Jacob, and of David my
|
|
servant, so as not to take any of his seed to be rulers of the seed of
|
|
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will bring back their captivity, and
|
|
will have mercy on them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 34
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet foretells that Sedecias shall fall into the hands of
|
|
Nabuchodonosor: God's sentence upon the princes and people that had
|
|
broken his covenant.
|
|
|
|
34:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, when Nabuchodonosor
|
|
king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth,
|
|
that were under the power of his hand, and all the people fought
|
|
against Jerusalem and against all the cities thereof, saying:
|
|
|
|
34:2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: Go, and speak to Sedecias
|
|
king of Juda, and say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will
|
|
deliver this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall
|
|
burn it with fire.
|
|
|
|
34:3. And thou shalt not escape out of his hand: but thou shalt surely
|
|
be taken, and thou shalt be delivered into his hand: and thy eyes shall
|
|
see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with thy
|
|
mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
34:4. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Sedecias king of Juda: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord to thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword.
|
|
|
|
34:5. But thou shalt die in peace, and according to the burnings of thy
|
|
fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn
|
|
thee: and they shall mourn for thee, saying: Alas, Lord: for I have
|
|
spoken the word, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
Die in peace. . .That is, by a natural death.
|
|
|
|
34:6. And Jeremias the prophet spoke all these words to Sedecias the
|
|
king of Juda in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
34:7. And the army of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem, and
|
|
against all the cities of Juda that were left, against Lachis, and
|
|
against Azecha: for these remained of the cities of Juda, fenced
|
|
cities.
|
|
|
|
34:8. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, after that king
|
|
Sedecias had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem making a
|
|
proclamation:
|
|
|
|
34:9. That every man should let his manservant, and every man his
|
|
maidservant, being Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, go free: and that they
|
|
should not lord it over them, to wit, over the Jews their brethren.
|
|
|
|
34:10. And all the princes, and all the people who entered into the
|
|
covenant, heard that every man should let his manservant, and every man
|
|
his maidservant go free, and should no more have dominion over them:
|
|
and they obeyed, and let them go free.
|
|
|
|
34:11. But afterwards they turned: and brought back again their
|
|
servants and their handmaids, whom they had let go free, and brought
|
|
them into subjection as menservants and maidservants.
|
|
|
|
34:12. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:
|
|
|
|
34:13. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I made a covenant with
|
|
your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
|
|
out of the house of bondage, saying:
|
|
|
|
34:14. At the end of seven years, let ye go every man his brother being
|
|
a Hebrew, who hath been sold to thee, so he shall serve thee six years:
|
|
and thou shalt let him go free from thee: and your fathers did not
|
|
hearken to me, nor did they incline their ear.
|
|
|
|
34:15. And you turned to day, and did that which was right in my eyes,
|
|
in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother: and you made a
|
|
covenant in my sight, in the house upon which my name is invocated.
|
|
|
|
34:16. And you are fallen back, and have defiled my name: and you have
|
|
brought back again every man his manservant, and every man his
|
|
maidservant, whom you had let go free, and set at liberty: and you have
|
|
brought them into subjection to be your servants and handmaids.
|
|
|
|
34:17. Therefore thus saith the Lord: You have not hearkened to me, in
|
|
proclaiming liberty every man to his brother and every man to his
|
|
friend: behold I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the
|
|
sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine: and I will cause you to be
|
|
removed to all the kingdoms of the earth.
|
|
|
|
34:18. And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, and
|
|
have not performed the words of the covenant which they agreed to in my
|
|
presence, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts
|
|
thereof:
|
|
|
|
34:19. The princes of Juda, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs,
|
|
and the priests, and all the people of the land that passed between the
|
|
parts of the calf:
|
|
|
|
34:20. And I will give them into the hands of their enemies, and into
|
|
the hands of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be
|
|
for meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth.
|
|
|
|
34:21. And Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, I will give into
|
|
the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their
|
|
lives, and into the hands of the armies of the king of Babylon, which
|
|
are gone from you.
|
|
|
|
34:22. Behold I will command, saith the Lord, and I will bring them
|
|
again to this city, and they shall fight against it, and take it, and
|
|
burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Juda a desolation,
|
|
without an inhabitant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 35
|
|
|
|
|
|
The obedience of the Rechabites condemns the disobedience of the Jews.
|
|
The reward of the Rechabites.
|
|
|
|
35:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the days of
|
|
Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, saying:
|
|
|
|
35:2. Go to the house of the Rechabites: and speak to them, and bring
|
|
them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers of the
|
|
treasures, and thou shalt give them wine to drink.
|
|
|
|
Rechabites. . .These were of the race of Jethro, father in law to Moses.
|
|
|
|
35:3. And I took Jezonias the son of Jeremias the son of Habsanias, and
|
|
his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites.
|
|
|
|
35:4. And I brought them into the house of the Lord, to the treasure
|
|
house of the sons of Hanan, the son of Jegedelias the man of God, which
|
|
was by the treasure house of the princes, above the treasure of Maasias
|
|
the son of Sellum, who was keeper of the entry.
|
|
|
|
35:5. And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots
|
|
full of wine, and cups: and I said to them: Drink ye wine.
|
|
|
|
35:6. And they answered : We will not drink wine: because Jonadab the
|
|
son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying: You shall drink no
|
|
wine, neither you, nor your children, for ever:
|
|
|
|
35:7. Neither shall ye build houses, nor sow reed, nor plant vineyards,
|
|
nor have any: but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may
|
|
live many days upon the face of the earth, in which you are strangers.
|
|
|
|
35:8. Therefore we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab,
|
|
our father, in all things that he commanded us: so as to drink no wine
|
|
all our days: neither we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our
|
|
daughters:
|
|
|
|
35:9. Nor to build houses to dwell in, nor to have vineyard, or field,
|
|
or seed:
|
|
|
|
35:10. But we have dwelt in tents, and have been obedient according to
|
|
all that Jonadab our father commanded us.
|
|
|
|
35:11. But when Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up to our land, we
|
|
said: Come, let us go into Jerusalem from the face of the army of the
|
|
Chaldeans, and from the face of the army of Syria: and we have remained
|
|
in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
35:12. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying:
|
|
|
|
35:13. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Go, and say to
|
|
the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Will you not
|
|
receive instruction, to obey my words, saith the Lord?
|
|
|
|
35:14. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, by which he commanded
|
|
his sons not to drink wine, have prevailed: and they have drunk none to
|
|
this day, because they have obeyed the commandment of their father: but
|
|
I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, and you have not
|
|
obeyed me.
|
|
|
|
35:15. And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising
|
|
early, and sending and saying: Return ye every man from his wicked way,
|
|
and make your ways good: and follow not strange gods, nor worship them,
|
|
and you shall dwell in the land, which I gave you and your fathers: and
|
|
you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to me.
|
|
|
|
35:16. So the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have constantly kept
|
|
the commandment of their father, which he commanded them: but this
|
|
people hath not obeyed me.
|
|
|
|
35:17. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold
|
|
I will bring upon Juda, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all
|
|
the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to
|
|
them, and they have not heard: I have called to them, and they have not
|
|
answered me.
|
|
|
|
35:18. And Jeremias said to the house of the Rechabites: Thus saith the
|
|
Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the
|
|
commandment of Jonadab your father, and have kept all his precepts, and
|
|
have done all that he commanded you:
|
|
|
|
35:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: There
|
|
shall not be wanting a man of the race of Jonadab the son of Rechab,
|
|
standing before me for ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 36
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias sends Baruch to read his prophecies in the temple; the book is
|
|
brought to king Joakim, who burns it. The prophet denounces his
|
|
judgment, and causes Baruch to write a new copy.
|
|
|
|
36:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of Joakim the son of
|
|
Josias king of Juda, that this word came to Jeremias by the Lord,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
36:2. Take thee a roll of a book, and thou shalt write in it all the
|
|
words that I have spoken to thee against Israel and Juda, and against
|
|
all the nations from the day that I spoke to thee, from the days of
|
|
Josias even to this day.
|
|
|
|
36:3. If so be, when the house of Juda shall hear all the evils that I
|
|
purpose to do unto them, that they may return every man from his wicked
|
|
way: and I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin.
|
|
|
|
36:4. So Jeremias called Baruch the son of Nerias: and Baruch wrote
|
|
from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the Lord, which he spoke to
|
|
him, upon the roll of a book.
|
|
|
|
36:5. And Jeremias commanded Baruch, saying: I am shut up, and cannot
|
|
go into the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
Shut up. . .Not that the prophet was now in prison; for the contrary
|
|
appears from ver. 19, but that he kept himself shut up, by reason of
|
|
the persecutions he had lately met with. See chap. 26.
|
|
|
|
36:6. Go thou in therefore, and read out of the volume, which thou hast
|
|
written from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hearing of all the
|
|
people in the house of the Lord on the fasting day: and also thou shalt
|
|
read them in the hearing of all Juda that come out of their cities:
|
|
|
|
36:7. If so be they may present their supplication before the Lord, and
|
|
may return every one from his wicked way: for great is the wrath and
|
|
indignation which the Lord hath pronounced against this people.
|
|
|
|
36:8. And Baruch the son of Nerias did according to all that Jeremias
|
|
the prophet ,had commanded him, reading out of the volume the words of
|
|
the Lord in the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
36:9. And it came to pass in the fifth year of Joakim the son of Josias
|
|
king of Juda, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before
|
|
the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that
|
|
were come together out of the cities of Juda to Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
36:10. And Baruch read out of the volume the words of Jeremias in the
|
|
house of the Lord, in the treasury of Gamarias the son of Saphan the
|
|
scribe, in the upper court, in the entry of the new gate of the house
|
|
of the Lord, in the hearing of all the people.
|
|
|
|
36:11. And when Micheas the son of Gamarias the son of Saphan had heard
|
|
out of the book all the words of the Lord,
|
|
|
|
36:12. He went down into the king's house to the secretary's chamber:
|
|
and behold all the princes sat there, Elisama the scribe, and Dalaias
|
|
the son of Semeias, and Elnathan the son of Achobor, and Gamarias the
|
|
son of Saphan, and Sedecias the son of Hananias, and all the princes.
|
|
|
|
36:13. And Micheas told them all the words that he had heard when
|
|
Baruch read out of the volume in the hearing of the people.
|
|
|
|
36:14. Therefore all the princes sent Judi the son of Nathanias, the
|
|
son of Selemias, the son of Chusi, to Baruch, saying: Take in thy hand
|
|
the volume in which thou hast read in the hearing of the people, and
|
|
come. So Baruch the son of Nerias took the volume in his hand, and came
|
|
to them.
|
|
|
|
36:15. And they said to him: Sit down and read these things in our
|
|
hearing. And Baruch read in their hearing.
|
|
|
|
36:16. And when they had heard all the words, they looked upon one
|
|
another with astonishment, and they said to Baruch: We must tell the
|
|
king all these words.
|
|
|
|
36:17. And they asked him, saying: Tell us how didst thou write all
|
|
these words from his mouth.
|
|
|
|
36:18. And Baruch said to them: With his mouth he pronounced all these
|
|
words as if he were reading to me: and I wrote in a volume with ink.
|
|
|
|
36:19. And the princes said to Baruch: Go, and hide thee, both thou and
|
|
Jeremias, and let no man know where you are.
|
|
|
|
36:20. And they went in to the king into the court: but they laid up
|
|
the volume in the chamber of Elisama the scribe: and they told all the
|
|
words in the hearing of the king.
|
|
|
|
36:21. And the king sent Judi that he should take the volume: who
|
|
bringing it out of the chamber of Elisama the scribe, read it in the
|
|
hearing of the king, and of all the princes that stood about the king.
|
|
|
|
36:22. Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month: and
|
|
there was a hearth before him full of burning coals.
|
|
|
|
36:23. And when Judi had read three or four pages, he cut it with the
|
|
penknife, and he cast it into the fire, that was upon the hearth, till
|
|
all the volume was consumed with the fire that was on the hearth.
|
|
|
|
36:24. And the king and all his servants that heard all these words
|
|
were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments.
|
|
|
|
36:25. But yet Elnathan, and Dalaias, and Gamarias spoke to the king,
|
|
not to burn the book: and he heard them not.
|
|
|
|
36:26. And the king commanded Jeremiel the son of Amelech, and Saraias
|
|
the son of Ezriel, and Selemias the son of Abdeel, to take up Baruch
|
|
the scribe, and Jeremias the prophet: but the Lord hid them.
|
|
|
|
36:27. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, after
|
|
that the king had burnt the volume, and the words that Baruch had
|
|
written from the mouth of Jeremias, saying:
|
|
|
|
36:28. Take thee again another volume: and write in it all the former
|
|
words that were in the first volume which Joakim the king of Juda both
|
|
burnt.
|
|
|
|
36:29. And thou shalt say to Joakim the king of Juda: Thus saith the
|
|
Lord: Thou hast burnt that volume, saying: Why hast thou written
|
|
therein, and said: The king of Babylon shall come speedily, and shall
|
|
lay waste this land: and shall cause to cease from thence man and
|
|
beast?
|
|
|
|
36:30. Therefore thus saith the Lord against Joakim the king of Juda:
|
|
He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body
|
|
shall be cast out to the heat by day, and to the frost by night.
|
|
|
|
He shall have none, etc. . .Because his son Joachin or Jechonias, within
|
|
three months after the death of his father, was carried away to
|
|
Babylon, so that his reign is not worthy of notice.
|
|
|
|
36:31. And I will punish him, and his seed and his servants, for their
|
|
iniquities, and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of
|
|
Jerusalem, and upon the men of Juda all the evil that I have pronounced
|
|
against them, but they have not heard.
|
|
|
|
36:32. And Jeremias took another volume, and gave it to Baruch the son
|
|
of Nerias the scribe: who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremias all
|
|
the words of the book which Joakim the king of Juda had burnt with
|
|
fire: and there were added besides many more words than had been
|
|
before.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 37
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias prophesies that the Chaldeans, who had departed from
|
|
Jerusalem, would return and burn the city. He is cast into prison. His
|
|
conference with Sedecias.
|
|
|
|
37:1. Now king Sedecias the son of Josias reigned instead of Jechonias
|
|
the son of Joakim: whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon made king in the
|
|
land of Juda.
|
|
|
|
37:2. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land did
|
|
obey the words of the Lord, that he spoke in the hand of Jeremias the
|
|
prophet.
|
|
|
|
37:3. And king Sedecias sent Juchal the son of Selemias, and Sophonias
|
|
the son of Maasias the priest to Jeremias the prophet, saying: Pray to
|
|
the Lord our God for us.
|
|
|
|
37:4. Now Jeremias walked freely in the midst of the people: for they
|
|
had not as yet cast him into prison. And the army of Pharao was come
|
|
out of Egypt: and the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem, hearing these
|
|
tidings, departed from Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
37:5. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, saying:
|
|
|
|
37:6. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the
|
|
king of Juda, who sent you to inquire of me: Behold the army of Pharao,
|
|
which is come forth to help you, shall return into their own land, into
|
|
Egypt.
|
|
|
|
37:7. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city,
|
|
and take it, and burn it with fire.
|
|
|
|
37:8. Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not your souls, saying: The
|
|
Chaldeans shall surely depart and go away from us: for they shall not
|
|
go away.
|
|
|
|
37:9. But if you should even beat all the army of the Chaldeans that
|
|
fight against you, and there should be left of them some wounded men:
|
|
they shall rise up, every man from his heart, and burn this city with
|
|
fire.
|
|
|
|
37:10. Now when the army of the Chaldeans was gone away from Jerusalem,
|
|
because of Pharao's army,
|
|
|
|
37:11. Jeremias went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of
|
|
Benjamin: and to divide a possession there in the presence of the
|
|
citizens,
|
|
|
|
37:12. And when he was come to the gate of Benjamin, the captain of the
|
|
gate, who was there in his turn, was one named Jerias, the son of
|
|
Selemias, the son of Hananias: and he took hold of Jeremias the
|
|
prophet, saying: Thou art fleeing to the Chaldeans.
|
|
|
|
37:13. And Jeremias answered: It is not so, I am not fleeing to the
|
|
Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Jerias took Jeremias and
|
|
brought him to the princes.
|
|
|
|
37:14. Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremias, and they beat
|
|
him, and cast him into the prison that was in the house of Jonathan the
|
|
scribe: for he was chief over the prison.
|
|
|
|
37:15. So Jeremias went into the house of the prison, and into the
|
|
dungeon: and Jeremias remained there many days.
|
|
|
|
37:16. Then Sedecias the king, sending, took him: and asked him
|
|
secretly in his house, and said: Is there, thinkest thou, any word from
|
|
the Lord? And Jeremias said. There is. And he said: Thou shalt be
|
|
delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
37:17. And Jeremias said to king Sedecias: In what have I offended
|
|
against thee, or thy servants, or thy people, that thou hast cast me
|
|
into prison?
|
|
|
|
37:18. Where are your prophets that prophesied to you, and said: The
|
|
king of Babylon shall not come against you, and against this land?
|
|
|
|
37:19. Now therefore hear, I beseech thee, my lord the king: let my
|
|
petition be accepted in thy sight: and send me not back into the house
|
|
of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
|
|
|
|
37:20. Then king Sedecias commanded that Jeremias should be committed
|
|
into the entry of the prison: and that they should give him daily a
|
|
piece of bread, beside broth, till all the bread in the city were
|
|
spent: and Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 38
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet at the instance of the great men is cast into a filthy
|
|
dungeon: he is drawn out by Abdemelech, and has another conference with
|
|
the king.
|
|
|
|
38:1. Now Saphatias the son of Mathan, and Gedelias the son of Phassur,
|
|
and Juchal the son of Selemias, and Phassur the son of Melchias heard
|
|
the words that Jeremias spoke to all the people, saying:
|
|
|
|
38:2. Thus saith the Lord: Whosoever shall remain in this city, shall
|
|
die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence: but he that shall
|
|
go forth to the Chaldeans, shall live, and his life shall be safe, and
|
|
he shall live.
|
|
|
|
38:3. Thus saith the Lord: This city shall surely be delivered into the
|
|
hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
|
|
|
|
38:4. And the princes said to the king. We beseech thee that this man
|
|
may be put to death: for on purpose he weakeneth the hands of the men
|
|
of war, that remain in this city, and the hands of the people, speaking
|
|
to them according to these words: for this man seeketh not peace to
|
|
this people, but evil.
|
|
|
|
38:5. And king Sedecias said: Behold he is in your hands: for it is not
|
|
lawful for the king to deny you any thing.
|
|
|
|
38:6. Then they took Jeremias and cast him into the dungeon of Melchias
|
|
the son of Amelech, which was in the entry of the prison: and they let
|
|
down Jeremias by ropes into the dungeon, wherein there was no water,
|
|
but mire. And Jeremias sunk into the mire.
|
|
|
|
38:7. Now Abdemelech the Ethiopian, an eunuch that was in the king's
|
|
house, heard that they had put Jeremias in the dungeon: but the king
|
|
was sitting in the gate of Benjamin.
|
|
|
|
38:8. And Abdemelech went out of the king's house, and spoke to the
|
|
king, saying:
|
|
|
|
38:9. My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have
|
|
done against Jeremias the prophet, casting him into the dungeon to die
|
|
there with hunger, for there is no more bread in the city.
|
|
|
|
38:10. Then the king commanded Abdemelech the Ethiopian, saying: Take
|
|
from hence thirty men with thee, and draw up Jeremias the prophet out
|
|
of the dungeon, before he die.
|
|
|
|
38:11. So Abdemelech taking the men with him, went into the king's
|
|
house that was under the storehouse: and he took from thence old rags,
|
|
and old rotten things, and he let them down by cords to Jeremias into
|
|
the dungeon.
|
|
|
|
38:12. And Abdemelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremias: Put these old
|
|
rags and these rent and rotten things under thy arms, and upon the
|
|
cords: and Jeremias did so.
|
|
|
|
38:13. And they drew up Jeremias with the cords, and brought him forth
|
|
out of the dungeon. And Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.
|
|
|
|
38:14. And king Sedecias sent, and took Jeremias the prophet to him to
|
|
the third gate, that was in the house of the Lord: and the king said to
|
|
Jeremias: I will ask thee a thing, hide nothing from me.
|
|
|
|
38:15. Then Jeremias said to Sedecias: If I shall declare it to thee,
|
|
wilt thou not put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt
|
|
not hearken to me.
|
|
|
|
38:16. Then king Sedecias swore to Jeremias, in private, saying: As the
|
|
Lord liveth, that, made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, nor
|
|
will I deliver thee into the hands of these men that seek thy life.
|
|
|
|
38:17. And Jeremias said to Sedecias: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the
|
|
God of Israel: If thou wilt take a resolution and go out to the princes
|
|
of the king of Babylon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be
|
|
burnt with fire: and thou shalt be safe, and thy house.
|
|
|
|
38:18. But if thou wilt not go out to the princes of the king of
|
|
Babylon, this city shall be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans,
|
|
and they shall burn it with fire: and thou shalt not escape out of
|
|
their hand.
|
|
|
|
38:19. And king Sedecias said to Jeremias: I am afraid because of the
|
|
Jews that are fled over to the Chaldeans: lest I should be delivered
|
|
into their hands, and they should abuse me.
|
|
|
|
38:20. But Jeremias answered: They shall not deliver thee: hearken, I
|
|
beseech thee, to the word of the Lord, which I speak to the, and it
|
|
shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live.
|
|
|
|
38:21. But if thou wilt not go forth, this is the word which the Lord
|
|
hath shewn me:
|
|
|
|
38:22. Behold all the women that are left in the house of the king of
|
|
Juda, shall be brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon: and
|
|
they shall say: Thy men of peace have deceived thee, and have prevailed
|
|
against thee, they have plunged thy feet in the mire, and in a slippery
|
|
place and they have departed from thee.
|
|
|
|
Thy men of peace. . .Viri pacifici tui. That is thy false friends
|
|
promising thee peace and happiness, and by their evil counsels
|
|
involving thee in misery.
|
|
|
|
38:23. And all thy wives, and thy children shall be brought out to the
|
|
Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape their hands, but thou shalt be
|
|
taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and he shall burn this city
|
|
with fire.
|
|
|
|
38:24. Then Sedecias said to Jeremias: Let no man know these words, and
|
|
thou shalt not die.
|
|
|
|
38:25. But if the princes shall hear that I have spoken with thee, and
|
|
shall come to thee, and say to thee: Tell us what thou hast said to the
|
|
king, hide it not from us, and we will not kill thee: and also what the
|
|
king said to thee:
|
|
|
|
38:26. Thou shalt say to them: I presented my supplication before the
|
|
king, that he would not command me to be carried back into the house of
|
|
Jonathan, to die there.
|
|
|
|
38:27. So all the princes came to Jeremias, and asked him: and he spoke
|
|
to them according to all the words that the king had commanded him: and
|
|
they left him: for nothing had been heard.
|
|
|
|
38:28. But Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison, until the day
|
|
that Jerusalem was taken: and it came to pass that Jerusalem was taken.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 39
|
|
|
|
|
|
After two years' siege Jerusalem is taken. Sedecias is carried before
|
|
Nabuchodonosor, who kills his sons in his sight, and then puts out his
|
|
eyes. Jeremias is set at liberty.
|
|
|
|
39:1. In the ninth year of Sedecias king of Juda, in the tenth month,
|
|
came Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and all his army to Jerusalem, and
|
|
they besieged it.
|
|
|
|
39:2. And in the eleventh year of Sedecias, in the fourth month, the
|
|
fifth day of the month, the city was opened.
|
|
|
|
39:3. And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in
|
|
the middle gate: Neregel, Sereser, Semegarnabu, Sarsachim, Rabsares,
|
|
Neregel, Serezer, Rebmag, and all the rest of the princes of the king
|
|
of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
39:4. And when Sedecias the king of Juda and all the men of war saw
|
|
them, they fled: and they went forth in the night out of the city by
|
|
the way of the king's garden, and by the gate that was between the two
|
|
walls, and they went out to the way of the desert.
|
|
|
|
39:5. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them: and they took
|
|
Sedecias in the plain of the desert of Jericho, and when they had taken
|
|
him, they brought him to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon to Reblatha,
|
|
which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judgment upon him.
|
|
|
|
39:6. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias, in Reblatha,
|
|
before his eyes: and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Juda.
|
|
|
|
39:7. He also put out the eyes of Sedecias: and bound him with fetters,
|
|
to be carried to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
39:8. And the Chaldeans burnt the king's house, and the houses of the
|
|
people with fire, and they threw down the wall of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
39:9. And Nabuzardan the general of the army carried away captive to
|
|
Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and the
|
|
fugitives that had gone over to him, and the rest of the people that
|
|
remained.
|
|
|
|
39:10. But Nabuzardan the general left some of the poor people that had
|
|
nothing at all, in the land of Juda, and he gave them vineyards, and
|
|
cisterns at that time.
|
|
|
|
39:11. Now Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon had given charge to
|
|
Nabuzardan the general concerning Jeremias, saying:
|
|
|
|
39:12. Take him, and set thy eyes upon him, and do him no harm: but as
|
|
he hath a mind, so do with him.
|
|
|
|
39:13. Therefore Nabuzardan the general sent, and Nabuzardan, and
|
|
Rabsares, and Neregel, and Sereser, and Rebmag, and all the nobles of
|
|
the king of Babylon,
|
|
|
|
39:14. Sent and took Jeremias out of the court of the prison, and
|
|
committed him to Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan, that he
|
|
might go home, and dwell among the people.
|
|
|
|
39:15. But the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, when he was yet shut
|
|
up in the court of the prison, saying: Go, and tell Abdemelech the
|
|
Ethiopian, saying:
|
|
|
|
39:16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will
|
|
bring my words upon this city unto evil, and not unto good: and they
|
|
shall be accomplished in thy sight in that day.
|
|
|
|
39:17. And I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord: and thou
|
|
shalt not be given into the hands of the men whom thou fearest:
|
|
|
|
39:18. But delivering, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by
|
|
the sword: but thy life shall be saved for thee, because thou hast put
|
|
thy trust in me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 40
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias remains with Godolias the governor; who receives all the Jews
|
|
that resort to him.
|
|
|
|
40:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, after that
|
|
Nabuzardan the general had let him go from Rama, when he had taken him,
|
|
being bound with chains, among all them that were carried away from
|
|
Jerusalem and Juda, and were carried to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
40:2. And the general of the army taking Jeremias, said to him: The
|
|
Lord thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place,
|
|
|
|
40:3. And he hath brought it: and the Lord hath done as he hath said:
|
|
because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not hearkened to his
|
|
voice, and this word is come upon you.
|
|
|
|
40:4. Now then behold I have loosed thee this day from the chains which
|
|
were upon thy hands: if it please thee to come with me to Babylon,
|
|
come: and I will set my eyes upon thee: but if it do not please thee to
|
|
come with me to Babylon, stay here: behold all the land is before thee,
|
|
as thou shalt choose, and whither it shall please thee to go, thither
|
|
go.
|
|
|
|
40:5. And come not with me: but dwell with Godolias the son of Ahicam
|
|
the son of Saphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the
|
|
cities of Juda: dwell therefore with him in the midst of the people: or
|
|
whithersoever it shall please thee to go, go. And the general of the
|
|
army gave him victuals and presents, and let him go.
|
|
|
|
40:6. And Jeremias went to Godolias the son of Ahicam to Masphath: and
|
|
dwelt with him in the midst of the people that were left in the land.
|
|
|
|
40:7. And when all the captains of the army that were scattered through
|
|
the countries, they and their companions, had heard that the king of
|
|
Babylon had made Godolias the son of Ahicam governor of the country,
|
|
and that he had committed unto him men and women, and children, and of
|
|
the poor of the land, them that had not been carried away captive to
|
|
Babylon:
|
|
|
|
40:8. They came to Godolias to Masphath: and Ismahel the son of
|
|
Nathanias, and Johanan, and Jonathan, the sons of Caree, and Sareas the
|
|
son of Thanehumeth, and the children of Ophi, that were of Netophathi,
|
|
and Jezonias the son of Maachati, they and their men.
|
|
|
|
40:9. And Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan swore to them
|
|
and to their companions, saying: Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell
|
|
in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with
|
|
you.
|
|
|
|
40:10. Behold I dwell in Masphath, that I may answer the commandment of
|
|
the Chaldeans that are sent to us: but as for you, gather ye the
|
|
vintage, and the harvest, and the oil, and lay it up in your vessels,
|
|
and abide in your cities which you hold.
|
|
|
|
40:11. Moreover all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children
|
|
of Ammon, and in Edom, and in all the countries, when they heard that
|
|
the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judea, and that he had made
|
|
Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan ruler over them:
|
|
|
|
40:12. All the Jews, I say, returned out of all the places to which
|
|
they had fled, and they came into the land of Juda to Godolias to
|
|
Masphath: and they gathered wine, and a very great harvest.
|
|
|
|
40:13. Then Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the army,
|
|
that had been scattered about in the countries, came to Godolias to
|
|
Masphath.
|
|
|
|
40:14. And they said to him: Know that Baalis the king of the children
|
|
of Ammon hath sent Ismahel the son of Nathanias to kill thee. And
|
|
Godolias the son of Ahicam believed them not.
|
|
|
|
40:15. But Johanan the son of Caree, spoke to Godolias privately in
|
|
Masphath, saying: I will go, and I will kill Ismahel the son of
|
|
Nathanias, and no man shall know it, lest he kill thee, and all the
|
|
Jews be scattered, that are gathered unto thee, and the remnant of Juda
|
|
perish.
|
|
|
|
40:16. And Godolias the son of Ahicam said to Johanan the son of Caree:
|
|
Do not this thing: for what thou sayst of Ismahel is false.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 41
|
|
|
|
|
|
Godolias is slain: the Jews that were with him are apprehensive of the
|
|
Chaldeans.
|
|
|
|
41:1. And it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ismahel the son of
|
|
Nathanias, the son of Elisama of the royal blood, and the nobles of the
|
|
king, and ten men with him, came to Godolias the son of Ahicam into
|
|
Masphath: and they ate bread there together in Masphath.
|
|
|
|
41:2. And Ismahel the son of Nathanias arose, and the ten men that were
|
|
with him, and they struck Godolias the son of Ahicam, the son of Saphan
|
|
with the sword, and slew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor
|
|
over the land.
|
|
|
|
41:3. Ismahel slew also all the Jews that were with Godolias in
|
|
Masphath, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the soldiers.
|
|
|
|
41:4. And on the second day after he had killed Godolias, no man yet
|
|
knowing it,
|
|
|
|
41:5. There came some from Sichem, and from Silo, and from Samaria,
|
|
fourscore men, with their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and
|
|
mourning: and they had offerings and incense in their hand, to offer in
|
|
the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
41:6. And Ismahel the son of Nathanias went forth from Masphath to meet
|
|
them, weeping all along as he went: and when he had met them, he said
|
|
to them: Come to Godolias, the son of Ahicam.
|
|
|
|
41:7. And when they were come to the midst of the city, Ismahel the son
|
|
of Nathanias, slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he
|
|
and the men that were with him.
|
|
|
|
41:8. But ten men were found among them, that said to Ismahel: Kill us
|
|
not: for we have stores in the field, of wheat, and barley, and oil,
|
|
and honey. And he forbore, and slew them not with their brethren.
|
|
|
|
41:9. And the pit into which Ismahel cast all the dead bodies of the
|
|
men whom he slew because of Godolias, is the same that king Asa made,
|
|
for fear of Baasa the king of Israel: the same did Ismahel the son of
|
|
Nathanias fill with them that were slain.
|
|
|
|
41:10. Then Ismahel carried away captive all the remnant of the people
|
|
that were in Masphath: the king's daughters, and all the people that
|
|
remained in Masphath: whom Nabuzardan the general of the army had
|
|
committed to Godolias the son of Ahicam. And Ismahel the son of
|
|
Nathanias took them, and he departed, to go over to the children of
|
|
Ammon.
|
|
|
|
41:11. But Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the
|
|
fighting men that were with him, heard of the evil that Ismahel the son
|
|
of Nathanias had done.
|
|
|
|
41:12. And taking all the men, they went out to fight against Ismahel
|
|
the son of Nathanias, and they found him by the great waters that are
|
|
in Gabaon.
|
|
|
|
41:13. And when all the people that were with Ismahel, had seen Johanan
|
|
the son of Caree, and all the captains of the fighting men that were
|
|
with him, they rejoiced.
|
|
|
|
41:14. And all the people whom Ismahel had taken, went back to
|
|
Masphath: and they returned and went to Johanan the son of Caree.
|
|
|
|
41:15. But Ismahel the son of Nathanias fled with eight men, from the
|
|
face of Johanan, and went to the children of Ammon.
|
|
|
|
41:16. Then Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the
|
|
soldiers that were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom
|
|
they had recovered from Ismahel the son of Nathanias, from Masphath,
|
|
after that he had slain Godolias the son of Ahicam: valiant men for
|
|
war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs whom he had
|
|
brought back from Gabaon.
|
|
|
|
41:17. And they departed, and sat as sojourners in Chamaam, which is
|
|
near Bethlehem: in order to go forward, and enter into Egypt,
|
|
|
|
41:18. From the face of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them,
|
|
because Ismahel the son of Nathanias had slain Godolias the son of
|
|
Ahicam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land of Juda.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 42
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias assures the remnant of the people, that if they will stay in
|
|
Juda, they shall be safe; but if they go down into Egypt, they shall
|
|
perish.
|
|
|
|
42:1. Then all the captains of the warriors, and Johanan the son of
|
|
Caree, and Jezonias, the son of Osaias, and the rest of the people from
|
|
the least to the greatest came near:
|
|
|
|
42:2. And they said to Jeremias the prophet: Let our supplication fall
|
|
before thee: and pray thou for us to the Lord thy God for all this
|
|
remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as thy eyes do behold us.
|
|
|
|
42:3. And let the Lord thy God shew us the way by which we may walk,
|
|
and the thing that we must do.
|
|
|
|
42:4. And Jeremias the prophet said to them: I have heard you: behold I
|
|
will pray to the Lord your God according to your words: and whatsoever
|
|
thing he shall answer me, I will declare it to you: and I will hide
|
|
nothing from you.
|
|
|
|
42:5. And they said to Jeremias: The Lord be witness between us of
|
|
truth and faithfulness, if we do not according to every thing for which
|
|
the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.
|
|
|
|
42:6. Whether it be good or evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord
|
|
our God, to whom we send thee: that it may be well with us when we
|
|
shall hearken to the voice of the Lord our God.
|
|
|
|
Good or evil. . .That is, agreeable or disagreeable.
|
|
|
|
42:7. Now after ten days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremias.
|
|
|
|
42:8. And he called Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of
|
|
the fighting men that were with him, and all the people from the least
|
|
to the greatest.
|
|
|
|
42:9. And he said to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel, to
|
|
whom you sent me, to present your supplications before him:
|
|
|
|
42:10. If you will be quiet and remain in this land, I will build you
|
|
up, and not pull you down: I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for
|
|
now I am appeased for the evil that I have done to you.
|
|
|
|
I am appeased for the evil that I have done to you. . .That is, I am
|
|
appeased, as I have sufficiently punished you, and now I am reconciled
|
|
with you.
|
|
|
|
42:11. Fear not because of the king of Babylon, of whom you are greatly
|
|
afraid: fear him not, saith the Lord: for I am with you, to save you,
|
|
and to deliver you from his hand.
|
|
|
|
42:12. And I will shew mercies to you, and will take pity on you, and
|
|
will cause you to dwell in your own land.
|
|
|
|
42:13. But if you say: We will not dwell in this land, neither will we
|
|
hearken to the voice of the Lord our God,
|
|
|
|
42:14. Saying: No, but we will go into the land of Egypt: where we
|
|
shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor suffer hunger:
|
|
and there we will dwell.
|
|
|
|
42:15. For this now hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Juda: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to go
|
|
into Egypt, and enter in to dwell there:
|
|
|
|
42:16. The sword which you fear, shall overtake you there in the land
|
|
of Egypt: and the famine, whereof you are afraid, shall cleave to you
|
|
in Egypt, and there you shall die.
|
|
|
|
42:17. And all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt, to dwell
|
|
there, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence: none
|
|
of them shall remain, nor escape from the face of the evil that I will
|
|
bring upon them.
|
|
|
|
42:18. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger
|
|
and my indignation hath been kindled against the inhabitants of
|
|
Jerusalem: so shall my indignation be kindled against you, when you
|
|
shall enter into Egypt, and you shall be an execration, and an
|
|
astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach: and you shall see this place
|
|
no more.
|
|
|
|
42:19. This is the word of the Lord concerning you, O ye remnant of
|
|
Juda: Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have adjured you this
|
|
day.
|
|
|
|
42:20. For you have deceived your own souls: for you sent me to the
|
|
Lord our God, saying: Pray for us to the Lord our God, and according to
|
|
all that the Lord our God shall say to thee, so declare unto us, and we
|
|
will do it.
|
|
|
|
42:21. And now I have declared it to you this day, and you have not
|
|
obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, with regard to all the things
|
|
for which he hath sent me to you.
|
|
|
|
42:22. Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword,
|
|
and by famine, and by pestilence in the place to which you desire to go
|
|
to dwell there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 43
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Jews, contrary to the orders of God by the prophet, go into Egypt,
|
|
carrying Jeremias with them. He foretells the devastation of that land
|
|
by the king of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
43:1. And it came to pass, that when Jeremias had made an end of
|
|
speaking to the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which
|
|
the Lord their God had sent him to them, all these words:
|
|
|
|
43:2. Azarias the son of Osaias, and Johanan the son of Caree, and all
|
|
the proud men, made answer, saying to Jeremias: Thou tellest a lie: the
|
|
Lord our God hath not sent thee, saying: Go not into Egypt, to dwell
|
|
there.
|
|
|
|
43:3. But Baruch the son of Nerias setteth thee on against us, to
|
|
deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to kill us, and to cause us
|
|
to be carried away captives to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
43:4. So Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the
|
|
soldiers, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to
|
|
remain in the land of Juda.
|
|
|
|
43:5. But Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the
|
|
soldiers took all the remnant of Juda, that were returned out of all
|
|
nations, to which they had before been scattered, to dwell in the land
|
|
of Juda:
|
|
|
|
43:6. Men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every
|
|
soul, which Nabuzardan the general had left with Godolias the son of
|
|
Ahicam the son of Saphan, and Jeremias the prophet, and Baruch the son
|
|
of Nerias.
|
|
|
|
43:7. And they went into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the
|
|
voice of the Lord: and they came as far as Taphnis.
|
|
|
|
43:8. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias in Taphnis, saying:
|
|
|
|
43:9. Take great stones in thy hand, and thou shalt hide them in the
|
|
vault that is under the brick wall at the gate of Pharao's house in
|
|
Taphnis: in the sight of the men of Juda.
|
|
|
|
43:10. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God
|
|
of Israel: Behold I will send, and take Nabuchodonosor the king of
|
|
Babylon my servant: and I will set his throne over these stones which I
|
|
have hid, and he shall set his throne over them.
|
|
|
|
43:11. And he shall come and strike the land of Egypt: such as are for
|
|
death, to death: and such as are for captivity, to captivity: and such
|
|
as are for the sword, to the sword.
|
|
|
|
43:12. And he shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt,
|
|
and he shall burn them, and he shall carry them away captives: and he
|
|
shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on
|
|
his garment: and he shall go forth from thence in peace.
|
|
|
|
43:13. And he shall break the statues of the house of the sun, that are
|
|
in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall
|
|
burn with fire.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 44
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet's admonition to the Jews in Egypt against idolatry is not
|
|
regarded: he denounces to them their destruction.
|
|
|
|
44:1. The word that came to Jeremias, concerning all the Jews that
|
|
dwelt in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Magdal, and in Taphnis, and in
|
|
Memphis, and in the land of Phatures, saying:
|
|
|
|
44:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: You have seen all
|
|
this evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities
|
|
of Juda: and behold they are desolate this day, and there is not an
|
|
inhabitant in them:
|
|
|
|
44:3. Because of the wickedness which they have committed, to provoke
|
|
me to wrath, and to go and offer sacrifice, and worship other gods,
|
|
which neither they, nor you, nor your fathers knew.
|
|
|
|
44:4. And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and
|
|
sending, and saying: Do not commit this abominable thing, which I hate.
|
|
|
|
44:5. But they heard not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their
|
|
evil ways, and not to sacrifice to strange gods.
|
|
|
|
44:6. Wherefore my indignation and my fury was poured forth, and was
|
|
kindled in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and
|
|
they are turned to desolation and waste, as at this day.
|
|
|
|
44:7. And now thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Why do
|
|
you commit this great evil against your own souls, that there should
|
|
die of you man and woman, child and suckling out of the midst of Juda,
|
|
and no remnant should be left you:
|
|
|
|
44:8. In that you provoke me to wrath with the works of your hands, by
|
|
sacrificing to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which you are come
|
|
to dwell there: and that you should perish, and be a curse, and a
|
|
reproach to all the nations of the earth?
|
|
|
|
44:9. Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of
|
|
the kings of Juda, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and
|
|
the evils of your wives, that they have done in the land of Juda, and
|
|
in the streets of Jerusalem?
|
|
|
|
44:10. They are not cleansed even to this day: neither have they
|
|
feared, nor walked in the law of the Lord, nor in my commandments,
|
|
which I set before you and your fathers.
|
|
|
|
44:11. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold
|
|
I will set my face upon you for evil: and I will destroy all Juda.
|
|
|
|
44:12. And I will take the remnant of Juda that have set their faces to
|
|
go into the land of Egypt, and to dwell there; and they shall be all
|
|
consumed in the land of Egypt: they shall fall by the sword, and by the
|
|
famine: and they shall be consumed from the least even to the greatest,
|
|
by the sword, and by the famine shall they die: and they shall be for
|
|
an execration, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach.
|
|
|
|
44:13. And I will visit them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have
|
|
visited Jerusalem by the sword, and by famine and by pestilence.
|
|
|
|
44:14. And there shall be none that shall escape, and remain of the
|
|
remnant of the Jews that are gone to sojourn in the land of Egypt: and
|
|
that shall return into the land of Juda, to which they have a desire to
|
|
return to dwell there: there shall none return but they that shall
|
|
flee.
|
|
|
|
44:15. Then all the men that knew that their wives sacrificed to other
|
|
gods: and all the women of whom there stood by a great multitude, and
|
|
all the people of them that dwelt in the land of Egypt in Phatures,
|
|
answered Jeremias, saying:
|
|
|
|
44:16. As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the
|
|
Lord, we will not hearken to thee:
|
|
|
|
44:17. But we will certainly do every word that shall proceed out of
|
|
our own mouth, to sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to pour out
|
|
drink offerings to her, as we and our fathers have done, our kings, and
|
|
our princes in the cities of Juda, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and
|
|
we were filled with bread, and it was well with us, and we saw no evil.
|
|
|
|
The queen of heaven. . .The moon, which they worshipped under this name.
|
|
|
|
44:18. But since we left off to offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven,
|
|
and to pour out frank offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and
|
|
have been consumed by the sword, and by famine.
|
|
|
|
44:19. And if we offer sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and pour out
|
|
drink offerings to her: did we make cakes to worship her, to pour out
|
|
drink offerings to her, without our husbands?
|
|
|
|
44:20. And Jeremias spoke to all the people, to the men, and to the
|
|
women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying:
|
|
|
|
44:21. Was it not the sacrifice that you offered in the cities of Juda,
|
|
and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings, and
|
|
your princes, and the people of the land, which the Lord hath
|
|
remembered, and hath it not entered into his heart?
|
|
|
|
44:22. So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of
|
|
your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed:
|
|
therefore your land is become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a
|
|
curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.
|
|
|
|
44:23. Because you have sacrificed to idols, and have sinned against
|
|
the Lord: and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have not
|
|
walked in his law, and in his commandments, and in his testimonies:
|
|
therefore are these evils come upon you, as at this day.
|
|
|
|
44:24. And Jeremias said to all the people and to all the women: Hear
|
|
ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell in the land of Egypt:
|
|
|
|
44:25. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, saying: You and
|
|
your wives have spoken with your mouth, and fulfilled with your hands,
|
|
saying: Let us perform our vows which we have made, to offer sacrifice
|
|
to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her: you
|
|
have fulfilled your vows, and have performed them indeed.
|
|
|
|
44:26. Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Juda, you that dwell
|
|
in the land of Egypt: Behold I have sworn by my great name, saith the
|
|
Lord: that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of
|
|
Juda, in the land of Egypt, saying: The Lord God liveth.
|
|
|
|
44:27. Behold I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and
|
|
all the men of Juda that are in the land of Egypt, shall be consumed,
|
|
by the sword, and by famine, till there be an end of them.
|
|
|
|
44:28. And a few men that shall flee from the sword, shall return out
|
|
of the land of Egypt into the land of Juda: and all the remnant of Juda
|
|
that are gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose
|
|
word shall stand, mine, or theirs.
|
|
|
|
44:29. And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I will
|
|
punish you in this place: that you may know that my words shall be
|
|
accomplished indeed against you for evil.
|
|
|
|
44:30. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will deliver Pharao Nechao king of
|
|
Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek
|
|
his life: as I delivered Sedecias king of Juda into the land of
|
|
Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon his enemy, and that sought his life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 45
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet comforts Baruch in his affliction.
|
|
|
|
45:1. The word that Jeremias the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of
|
|
Nerias, when he had written these words in a book, out of the mouth of
|
|
Jeremias, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
45:2. Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel to thee, Baruch:
|
|
|
|
45:3. Thou hast said: Woe is me, wretch that I am, for the Lord hath
|
|
added sorrow to my sorrow: I am wearied with my groans, and I find no
|
|
rest.
|
|
|
|
45:4. Thus saith the Lord: Thus shalt thou say to him: Behold, them
|
|
whom I have built, I do destroy: and them whom I have planted, I do
|
|
pluck up, and all this land.
|
|
|
|
45:5. And dost thou seek great things for thyself? Seek not: for behold
|
|
I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord! but I will give thee
|
|
thy life, and save thee in all places whithersoever thou shalt go.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 46
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophecy against Egypt. The Jews shall return from captivity.
|
|
|
|
46:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against
|
|
the Gentiles,
|
|
|
|
46:2. Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt,
|
|
which was by the river Euphrates in Charcamis, whom Nabuchodonosor the
|
|
king of Babylon defeated, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of
|
|
Josias king of Juda.
|
|
|
|
46:3. Prepare ye the shield and buckler, and go forth to battle.
|
|
|
|
46:4. Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen: stand forth with
|
|
helmets, furbish the spears, put on coats of mail.
|
|
|
|
46:5. What then? I have seen them dismayed, and turning their backs,
|
|
their valiant ones slain: they fled apace, and they looked not back:
|
|
terror was round about, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
46:6. Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong think to escape: they
|
|
are overthrown, and fallen down, towards the north by the river
|
|
Euphrates.
|
|
|
|
46:7. Who is this that cometh up as a flood: and his streams swell like
|
|
those of rivers?
|
|
|
|
46:8. Egypt riseth up like a flood, and the waves thereof shall be
|
|
moved as rivers, and he shall say: I will go up and will cover the
|
|
earth: I will destroy the city, and its inhabitants.
|
|
|
|
46:9. Get ye up on horses, and glory in chariots, and let the valiant
|
|
men come forth, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans that hold the shield,
|
|
and the Lydians that take, and shoot arrows.
|
|
|
|
46:10. For this is the day of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of
|
|
vengeance, that he may revenge himself of his enemies: the sword shall
|
|
devour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their blood: for
|
|
there is a sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the north country, by
|
|
the river Euphrates.
|
|
|
|
46:11. Go up into Galaad, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in
|
|
vain dost thou multiply medicines, there shall be no cure for thee.
|
|
|
|
46:12. The nations have heard of thy disgrace, and thy howling hath
|
|
filled the land: for the strong hath stumbled against the strong, and
|
|
both are fallen together.
|
|
|
|
46:13. The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremias the prophet, how
|
|
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon should come and strike the land of
|
|
Egypt:
|
|
|
|
46:14. Declare ye to Egypt, and publish it in Magdal, and let it be
|
|
known in Memphis, and in Taphnis: say ye: Stand up, and prepare
|
|
thyself: for the sword shall devour all round about thee.
|
|
|
|
46:15. Why are thy valiant men come to nothing? they stood not: because
|
|
the Lord hath overthrown them.
|
|
|
|
46:16. He hath multiplied them that fall, and one hath fallen upon
|
|
another, and they shall say: Arise, and let us return to our own
|
|
people, and to the land of our nativity, from the sword of the dove.
|
|
|
|
The dove. . .See the annotation on chap. 25., ver. 38.
|
|
|
|
46:17. Call ye the name of Pharao king of Egypt, a tumult time hath
|
|
brought.
|
|
|
|
46:18. As I live, saith the King, (whose name is the Lord of hosts,) as
|
|
Thabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he
|
|
come.
|
|
|
|
46:19. Furnish thyself to go into captivity, thou daughter inhabitant
|
|
of Egypt: for Memphis shall be made desolate, and shall be forsaken and
|
|
uninhabited.
|
|
|
|
46:20. Egypt is like a fair and beautiful heifer: there shall come from
|
|
the north one that shall goad her.
|
|
|
|
46:21. Her hirelings also that lived in the midst of her, like fatted
|
|
calves are turned back, and are fled away together, and they could not
|
|
stand, for the day of their slaughter is come upon them, the time of
|
|
their visitation.
|
|
|
|
46:22. Her voice shall sound like brass, for they shall hasten with an
|
|
army, and with axes they shall come against her, as hewers of wood.
|
|
|
|
46:23. They have cut down her forest, saith the Lord, which cannot be
|
|
counted: they are multiplied above locusts, and are without number.
|
|
|
|
46:24. The daughter of Egypt is confounded, and delivered into the hand
|
|
of the people of the north.
|
|
|
|
46:25. The Lord of hosts the God of Israel hath said: Behold I will
|
|
visit upon the tumult of Alexandria, and upon Pharao, and upon Egypt,
|
|
and upon her gods, and upon her kings, and upon Pharao, and upon them
|
|
that trust in him.
|
|
|
|
Visit upon. . .That is, punish.--Ibid. Alexandria. . .In the Hebrew, No,
|
|
which was the ancient name of the city, to which Alexander gave
|
|
afterwards the name of Alexandria.
|
|
|
|
46:26. And I will deliver them into the hand of them that seek their
|
|
lives, and into the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and into
|
|
the hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in
|
|
the days of old, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
46:27. And thou my servant Jacob, fear not and be not thou dismayed, O
|
|
Israel: for behold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed out of
|
|
the land of thy captivity: and Jacob shall return and be at rest, and
|
|
prosper: and there shall be none to terrify him.
|
|
|
|
46:28. And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith the Lord: because I
|
|
am with thee, for I will consume all the nations to which I have cast
|
|
thee out: but thee I will not consume, but I will correct thee in
|
|
judgment, neither will I spare thee as if thou wert innocent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 47
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophecy of the desolation of the Philistines, of Tyre, Sidon, Gaza,
|
|
and Ascalon.
|
|
|
|
47:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against
|
|
the people of Palestine, before Pharao took Gaza.
|
|
|
|
47:2. Thus saith the Lord: Behold there come up waters out of the
|
|
north, and they shall be as an overflowing torrent, and they shall
|
|
cover the land, and all that is therein, the city and the inhabitants
|
|
thereof: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land
|
|
shall howl,
|
|
|
|
47:3. At the noise of the marching of arms, and of his soldiers, at the
|
|
rushing of his chariots, and the multitude of his wheels. The fathers
|
|
have not looked back to the children, for feebleness of hands,
|
|
|
|
47:4. Because of the coming of the day, in which all the Philistines
|
|
shall be laid waste, and Tyre and Sidon shall be destroyed, with all
|
|
the rest of their helpers. For the Lord hath wasted the Philistines,
|
|
the remnant of the isle of Cappadocia.
|
|
|
|
47:5. Baldness is come upon Gaza: Ascalon hath held her peace with the
|
|
remnant of their valley: how long shalt thou cut thyself?
|
|
|
|
47:6. O thou sword of the Lord, how long wilt thou not be quiet? Go
|
|
into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
|
|
|
|
47:7. How shall it be quiet, when the Lord hath given it a charge
|
|
against Ascalon, and against the countries thereof by the sea side, and
|
|
there hath made an appointment for it?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 48
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophecy of the desolation of Moab for their pride: but their
|
|
captivity shall at last be released.
|
|
|
|
48:1. Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Woe
|
|
to Nabo, for it is laid waste, and confounded: Cariathaim is taken: the
|
|
strong city is confounded and hath trembled.
|
|
|
|
48:2. There is no more rejoicing in Moab over Hesebon: they have
|
|
devised evil. Come, and let us cut it off from being a nation.
|
|
Therefore shalt thou in silence hold thy peace, and the sword shall
|
|
follow thee.
|
|
|
|
48:3. A voice of crying from Oronaim: waste, and great destruction.
|
|
|
|
48:4. Moab is destroyed: proclaim a cry for her little ones.
|
|
|
|
48:5. For by the ascent of Luith shall the mourner go up with weeping:
|
|
for in the descent of Oronaim the enemies have heard a howling of
|
|
destruction.
|
|
|
|
48:6. Flee, save your lives: and be as heath in the wilderness.
|
|
|
|
48:7. For because thou hast trusted in thy bulwarks, and in thy
|
|
treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and Chamos shall go into
|
|
captivity, his priests, and his princes together.
|
|
|
|
Chamos. . .The idol of the Moabites.
|
|
|
|
48:8. And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall
|
|
escape: and the valleys shall perish, and the plains shall be
|
|
destroyed, for the Lord hath spoken:
|
|
|
|
48:9. Give a flower to Moab, for in its flower it shall go out: and the
|
|
cities thereof shall be desolate, and uninhabited.
|
|
|
|
48:10. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully: and
|
|
cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood.
|
|
|
|
Deceitfully. . .In the Greek, negligently. The work of God here spoken
|
|
of, is the punishment of the Moabites.
|
|
|
|
48:11. Moab hath been fruitful from his youth, and hath rested upon his
|
|
lees: and hath not been poured out from vessel to vessel, nor hath gone
|
|
into captivity: therefore his taste hath remained in him, and his scent
|
|
is not changed.
|
|
|
|
Moab hath been fruitful. . .That is, rich and flourishing. And hath
|
|
rested upon his lees. . .That is, remained in its bad morals; as wine
|
|
not decanted has its lees mixed and remains muddy.
|
|
|
|
48:12. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send
|
|
him men that shall order and overturn his bottles, and they shall cast
|
|
him down, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles one
|
|
against another.
|
|
|
|
48:13. And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Israel was
|
|
ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.
|
|
|
|
Of Bethel. . .That is, of their golden calf which they worshipped in
|
|
Bethel.
|
|
|
|
48:14. How do you say: We are valiant and stout men in battle?
|
|
|
|
48:15. Moab is laid waste, and they have cast down her cities: and her
|
|
choice young men are gone down to the slaughter: saith the king, whose
|
|
name is the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
48:16. The destruction of Moab is near to come: the calamity thereof
|
|
shall come on exceeding swiftly.
|
|
|
|
48:17. Comfort him, all you that are round about him, and all you that
|
|
know his name, say: How is the strong staff broken, the beautiful rod?
|
|
|
|
48:18. Come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst, O dwelling of the
|
|
daughter of Dibon: because the spoiler of Moab is come up to thee, he
|
|
hath destroyed thy bulwarks.
|
|
|
|
48:19. Stand in the way, and look out, O habitation of Aroer: inquire
|
|
of him that fleeth: and say to him that hath escaped: What is done?
|
|
|
|
48:20. Moab is confounded, because he is overthrown: howl ye, and cry,
|
|
tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is wasted.
|
|
|
|
48:21. And judgment is come upon the plain country: upon Helon, and
|
|
upon Jasa, and upon Mephaath.
|
|
|
|
48:22. And upon Dibon, and upon Nabo, and upon the house of Deblathaim,
|
|
|
|
48:23. And upon Cariathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmaon,
|
|
|
|
48:24. And upon Carioth, and upon Bosra: and upon all the cities of the
|
|
land of Moab, far or near.
|
|
|
|
48:25. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
The horn of Moab is cut off. . .That is, the strength of Moab is cut
|
|
off. A metaphor drawn from animals whose strength is in their horns.
|
|
|
|
48:26. Make him drunk, because he lifted up himself against the Lord:
|
|
and Moab shall dash his hand in his own vomit, and he also shall be in
|
|
derision.
|
|
|
|
48:27. For Israel hath been a derision unto them: as though thou hadst
|
|
found him amongst thieves: for thy words therefore, which thou hast
|
|
spoken against him, thou shalt be led away captive.
|
|
|
|
48:28. Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, you that dwell in Moab:
|
|
and be ye like the dove that maketh her nest in the mouth of the hole
|
|
in the highest place.
|
|
|
|
48:29. We have heard the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud: his
|
|
haughtiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the loftiness of his
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
48:30. I know, saith the Lord, his boasting, and that the strength
|
|
thereof is not according to it, neither hath it endeavoured to do
|
|
according as it was able.
|
|
|
|
48:31. Therefore will I lament for Moab, and I will cry out to all
|
|
Moab, for the men of the brick wall that mourn.
|
|
|
|
48:32. O vineyard of Sabama, I will weep for thee, with the mourning of
|
|
Jazer: thy branches are gone over the sea, they are come even to the
|
|
sea of Jazer: the robber hath rushed in upon thy harvest and thy
|
|
vintage.
|
|
|
|
48:33. Joy and gladness is taken away from Carmel, and from the land of
|
|
Moab, and I have taken away the wine out of the presses: the treader of
|
|
the grapes shall not sing the accustomed cheerful tune.
|
|
|
|
48:34. From the cry of Hesebon even to Eleale, and to Jasa, they have
|
|
uttered their voice: from Segor to Oronaim, as a heifer of three years
|
|
old: the waters also of Nemrim shall be very bad.
|
|
|
|
48:35. And I will take away from Moab, saith the Lord, him that
|
|
offereth in the high places, and that sacrificeth to his gods.
|
|
|
|
48:36. Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes and my heart
|
|
shall sound like pipes for the men of the brick wall: because he hath
|
|
done more than he could, therefore they have perished.
|
|
|
|
48:37. For every head shall be bald, and every beard shall be shaven:
|
|
all hands shall be tied together, and upon every back there shall be
|
|
haircloth.
|
|
|
|
48:38. Upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof
|
|
general mourning: because I have broken Moab as an useless vessel,
|
|
saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
48:39. How is it overthrown, and they have howled! How hath Moab bowed
|
|
down the neck, and is confounded! And Moab shall be a derision, and an
|
|
example to all round about him.
|
|
|
|
48:40. Thus saith the Lord: Behold he shall fly as an eagle, and shall
|
|
stretch forth his wings to Moab.
|
|
|
|
48:41. Carioth is taken, and the strongholds are won: and the heart of
|
|
the valiant men of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in
|
|
labour.
|
|
|
|
48:42. And Moab shall cease to be a people: because he hath gloried
|
|
against the Lord.
|
|
|
|
48:43. Fear, and the pit, and the snare come upon thee, O inhabitant of
|
|
Moab, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
Fear. . .That is, the sword of the enemy. The pit. . .That is,
|
|
unforeseen calamities. The snare. . .That is, the ambushes laid by the
|
|
enemy.
|
|
|
|
48:44. He that shall flee from the fear, shall fall into the pit: and
|
|
he that shall get up out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for I
|
|
will bring upon Moab the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
48:45. They that fled from the snare stood in the shadow of Hesebon:
|
|
but there came a fire out of Hesebon, and a flame out of the midst of
|
|
Seon, and it shall devour part of Moab, and the crown of the head of
|
|
the children of tumult.
|
|
|
|
48:46. Woe to thee, Moab, thou hast persisted, O people of Chamos: for
|
|
thy sons, and thy daughters are taken captives.
|
|
|
|
48:47. And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the last days,
|
|
saith the Lord. Hitherto the judgments of Moab.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 49
|
|
|
|
|
|
The like desolation of Ammon, of Idumea, of the Syrians, of the
|
|
Agarenes, and of the Elamites.
|
|
|
|
49:1. Against the children of Ammon. Thus saith the Lord: Hath Israel
|
|
no sons? or hath he no heir? Why then hath Melchom inherited Gad: and
|
|
his people dwelt in his cities?
|
|
|
|
Melchom. . .The idol of the Ammonites.
|
|
|
|
49:2. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will cause
|
|
the noise of war to be heard in Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and
|
|
it shall be destroyed into a heap, and her daughters shall be burnt
|
|
with fire, and Israel shall possess them that have possessed him, saith
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
49:3. Howl, O Hesebon, for Hai is wasted. Cry, ye daughters of Rabbath,
|
|
gird yourselves with haircloth: mourn and go about by the hedges: for
|
|
Melchom shall be carried into captivity, his priests, and his princes
|
|
together.
|
|
|
|
49:4. Why gloriest thou in the valleys? thy valley hath flowed away, O
|
|
delicate daughter, that hast trusted in thy treasures, and hast said:
|
|
Who shall come to me?
|
|
|
|
49:5. Behold I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord God of
|
|
hosts, from all that are round about thee: and you shall be scattered
|
|
every one out of one another's sight, neither shall there be any to
|
|
gather together them that flee.
|
|
|
|
49:6. And afterwards I will cause the captives of the children of Ammon
|
|
to return, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
49:7. Against Edom. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Is wisdom no more in
|
|
Theman? counsel is perished from her children: their wisdom is become
|
|
unprofitable.
|
|
|
|
49:8. Flee and turn your backs, go down into the deep hole, ye
|
|
inhabitants of Dedan: for I have brought the destruction of Esau upon
|
|
him, the time of his visitation.
|
|
|
|
49:9. If grapegatherers had come to thee, would they not have left a
|
|
bunch? if thieves in the night, they would have taken what was enough
|
|
for them.
|
|
|
|
49:10. But I have made Esau bare, I have revealed his secrets, and he
|
|
cannot be hid: his seed is laid waste, and his brethren, and his
|
|
neighbours, and he shall not be.
|
|
|
|
49:11. Leave thy fatherless children: I will make them live: and thy
|
|
widows shall hope in me.
|
|
|
|
49:12. For thus saith the Lord: Behold they whose judgment was not to
|
|
drink of the cup, shall certainly drink: and shalt thou come off as
|
|
innocent? thou shalt not come off as innocent, but drinking thou shalt
|
|
drink.
|
|
|
|
49:13. For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bosra shall
|
|
become a desolation, and a reproach, and a desert, and a curse: and all
|
|
her cities shall be everlasting wastes.
|
|
|
|
49:14. I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent
|
|
to the nations: Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and
|
|
let us rise up to battle.
|
|
|
|
49:15. For behold I have made thee a little one among the nations,
|
|
despicable among men.
|
|
|
|
49:16. Thy arrogancy hath deceived thee, and the pride of thy heart: O
|
|
thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, and endeavourest to lay
|
|
hold on the height of the hill: but though thou shouldst make thy nest
|
|
as high as an eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
49:17. And Edom shall be desolate: every one that shall pass by it,
|
|
shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues.
|
|
|
|
49:18. As Sodom was overthrown and Gomorrha, and the neighbours
|
|
thereof, saith the Lord: there shall not a man dwell there, and there
|
|
shall no son of man inhabit it.
|
|
|
|
49:19. Behold one shall come up as a lion from the swelling of the
|
|
Jordan, against the strong and beautiful: for I will make him run
|
|
suddenly upon her: and who shall be the chosen one whom I may appoint
|
|
over her? for who is like to me? and who shall abide me? and who is
|
|
that shepherd that can withstand my countenance?
|
|
|
|
49:20. Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he hath taken
|
|
concerning Edom: and his thoughts which he hath thought concerning the
|
|
inhabitants of Theman: surely the little ones of the flock shall cast
|
|
them down, of a truth they shall destroy them with their habitation.
|
|
|
|
49:21. The earth is moved at the noise of their fall: the cry of their
|
|
voice is heard in the Red Sea.
|
|
|
|
49:22. Behold he shall come up as an eagle, and fly: and he shall
|
|
spread his wings over Bosra: and in that day the heart of the valiant
|
|
ones of Edom shall be as the heart of a woman in labour.
|
|
|
|
49:23. Against Damascus. Emath is confounded and Arphad: for they have
|
|
heard very bad tidings, they are troubled as in the sea: through care
|
|
they could not rest.
|
|
|
|
49:24. Damascus is undone, she is put to flight, trembling hath seized
|
|
on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her as a woman in labour.
|
|
|
|
49:25. How have they forsaken the city of renown, the city of joy!
|
|
|
|
49:26. Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets: and all the
|
|
men of war shall be silent in that day, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
49:27. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall
|
|
devour the strong holds of Benadad.
|
|
|
|
49:28. Against Cedar and against the kingdoms of Asor, which
|
|
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon destroyed. Thus saith the Lord: Arise,
|
|
and go ye up to Cedar, and waste the children of the east.
|
|
|
|
Cedar and Asor. . .Were parts of Arabia; which with Moab, Ammon, Edom,
|
|
etc., were all brought under the yoke of Nabuchodonosor.
|
|
|
|
49:29. They shall take their tents, and their flocks: and shall carry
|
|
off for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their
|
|
camels: and they shall call fear upon them round about.
|
|
|
|
49:30. Flee ye, get away speedily, sit in deep holes, you that inhabit
|
|
Asor, saith the Lord: for Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath taken
|
|
counsel against you, and hath conceived designs against you.
|
|
|
|
49:31. Arise, and go up to a nation that is at ease, and that dwelleth
|
|
securely, saith the Lord: they have neither gates, nor bars: they dwell
|
|
alone.
|
|
|
|
49:32. And their camels shall be for a spoil and the multitude of their
|
|
cattle for a booty, and I will scatter into every wind them that have
|
|
their hair cut round, and I will bring destruction upon them from all
|
|
their confines, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
49:33. And Asor shall be a habitation for dragons, desolate for ever:
|
|
no man shall abide there, nor son of man inhabit it.
|
|
|
|
49:34. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against
|
|
Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, saying:
|
|
|
|
Elam. . .A part of Persia.
|
|
|
|
49:35. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will break the bow of
|
|
Elam, and their chief strength.
|
|
|
|
49:36. And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters
|
|
of heaven: and I will scatter them into all these winds: and there
|
|
shall be no nation, to which the fugitives of Elam shall not come.
|
|
|
|
49:37. And I will cause Elam to be afraid before their enemies, and in
|
|
the sight of them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon
|
|
them, my fierce wrath, saith the Lord: and I will send the sword after
|
|
them, till I consume them.
|
|
|
|
49:38. And I will set my throne in Elam, and destroy kings and princes
|
|
from thence, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
49:39. But in the latter days I will cause the captives of Elam, to
|
|
return, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 50
|
|
|
|
|
|
Babylon, which hath afflicted the Israelites, after their restoration,
|
|
shall be utterly destroyed.
|
|
|
|
50:1. The word that the Lord hath spoken against Babylon, and against
|
|
the land of the Chaldeans in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.
|
|
|
|
50:2. Declare ye among the nations, and publish it, lift up a standard:
|
|
proclaim, and conceal it not: say: Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded,
|
|
Merodach is overthrown, their graven things are confounded, their idols
|
|
are overthrown.
|
|
|
|
Bel, etc. . .Bel and Merodach were worshipped for gods by the men of
|
|
Babylon.
|
|
|
|
50:3. For a nation is come up against her out of the north, which shall
|
|
make her land desolate: and there shall be none to dwell therein, from
|
|
man even to beast: yea they are removed, and gone away.
|
|
|
|
A nation, etc. . .Viz., the Medes.
|
|
|
|
50:4. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the children of
|
|
Israel shall come, they and the children of Juda together: going and
|
|
weeping they shall make haste, and shall seek the Lord their God.
|
|
|
|
50:5. They shall ask the way to Sion, their faces are hitherward. They
|
|
shall come, and shall be joined to the Lord by an everlasting covenant,
|
|
which shall never be forgotten.
|
|
|
|
50:6. My people have been a lost flock, their shepherds have caused
|
|
them to go astray, and have made them wander in the mountains: they
|
|
have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting
|
|
place.
|
|
|
|
50:7. All that found them, have devoured them: and their enemies said:
|
|
We have not sinned in so doing: because they have sinned against the
|
|
Lord the beauty of justice, and against the Lord the hope of their
|
|
fathers.
|
|
|
|
50:8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land
|
|
of the Chaldeans: and be ye as kids at the head of the flock.
|
|
|
|
50:9. For behold I raise up, and will bring against Babylon an assembly
|
|
of great nations from the land of the north: and they shall be prepared
|
|
against her, and from thence she shall be taken: their arrows, like
|
|
those of a mighty man, a destroyer, shall not return in vain.
|
|
|
|
50:10. And Chaldea shall be made a prey: all that waste her shall be
|
|
filled, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
50:11. Because you rejoice, and speak great things, pillaging my
|
|
inheritance: because you are spread abroad as calves upon the grass,
|
|
and have bellowed as bulls.
|
|
|
|
50:12. Your mother is confounded exceedingly, and she that bore you is
|
|
made even with the dust: behold she shall be the last among the
|
|
nations, a wilderness unpassable, and dry.
|
|
|
|
50:13. Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but
|
|
shall be wholly desolate: every one that shall pass by Babylon, shall
|
|
be astonished, and shall hiss at all her plagues.
|
|
|
|
50:14. Prepare yourselves against Babylon round about, all you that
|
|
bend the bow: fight against her, spare not arrows: because she hath
|
|
sinned against the Lord.
|
|
|
|
50:15. Shout against her, she hath every where given her hand, her
|
|
foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down, for it is the
|
|
vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance upon her: as she hath done, so do
|
|
to her.
|
|
|
|
50:16. Destroy the sower out of Babylon, and him that holdeth the
|
|
sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the sword of the dove every
|
|
man shall return to his people, and every one shall flee to his own
|
|
land.
|
|
|
|
The dove. . .Or the destroyer; for the Hebrew word signifies either the
|
|
one or the other.
|
|
|
|
50:17. Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven him away:
|
|
first the king of Assyria devoured him: and last this Nabuchodonosor
|
|
king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
|
|
|
|
50:18. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold
|
|
I will visit the king of Babylon and his land, as I have visited the
|
|
king of Assyria.
|
|
|
|
50:19. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation: and he shall
|
|
feed on Carmel, and Bason, and his soul shall be satisfied in mount
|
|
Ephraim, and Galaad.
|
|
|
|
50:20. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of
|
|
Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none: and the sin of
|
|
Juda, and there shall none be found: for I will be merciful to them,
|
|
whom I shall leave.
|
|
|
|
50:21. Go up against the land of the rulers, and punish the inhabitants
|
|
thereof, waste, and destroy all behind them, saith the Lord: and do
|
|
according to all that I have commanded thee.
|
|
|
|
50:22. A noise of war in the land, and a great destruction.
|
|
|
|
50:23. How is the hammer of the whole earth broken, and destroyed! how
|
|
is Babylon turned into a desert among the nations!
|
|
|
|
50:24. I have caused thee to fall into a snare, and thou art taken, O
|
|
Babylon, and thou wast not aware of it: thou art found and caught,
|
|
because thou hast provoked the Lord.
|
|
|
|
50:25. The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the
|
|
weapons of his wrath: for the Lord the God of hosts hath a work to be
|
|
done in the land of the Chaldeans.
|
|
|
|
50:26. Come ye against her from the uttermost borders: open that they
|
|
may go forth that shall tread her down: take the stones out of the way,
|
|
and make heaps, and destroy her: and let nothing of her be left.
|
|
|
|
50:27. Destroy all her valiant men, let them go down to the slaughter:
|
|
woe to them, for their day is come, the time of their visitation.
|
|
|
|
50:28. The voice of them that flee, and of them that have escaped out
|
|
of the land of Babylon: to declare in Sion the revenge of the Lord our
|
|
God, the revenge of his temple.
|
|
|
|
50:29. Declare to many against Babylon, to all that bend the bow: stand
|
|
together against her round about, and let none escape; pay her
|
|
according to her work: according to all that she hath done, do ye to
|
|
her: for she hath lifted up herself against the Lord, against the Holy
|
|
One of Israel.
|
|
|
|
50:30. Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets: and all her
|
|
men of war shall hold their peace in that day, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
50:31. Behold I come against thee, O proud one, saith the Lord the God
|
|
of hosts: for thy day is come, the time of thy visitation.
|
|
|
|
50:32. And the proud one shall fall, he shall fall down, and there
|
|
shall be none to lift him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities,
|
|
and it shall devour all round about him.
|
|
|
|
50:33. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel, and the
|
|
children of Juda are oppressed together: all that have taken them
|
|
captives, hold them fast, they will not let them go.
|
|
|
|
50:34. Their redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name: he will
|
|
defend their cause in judgment, to terrify the land, and to disquiet
|
|
the inhabitants of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
50:35. A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the
|
|
inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
|
|
|
|
50:36. A sword upon her diviners, and they shall be foolish: a sword
|
|
upon her valiant ones, and they shall be dismayed.
|
|
|
|
50:37. A sword upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all
|
|
the people that are in the midst of her: and they shall become as
|
|
women: a sword upon her treasures, and they shall be made a spoil.
|
|
|
|
50:38. A drought upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: because
|
|
it is a land of idols, and they glory in monstrous things.
|
|
|
|
50:39. Therefore shall dragons dwell there with the fig fauns: and
|
|
ostriches shall dwell therein, and it shall be no more inhabited for
|
|
ever, neither shall it be built up from generation to generation.
|
|
|
|
Fig fauns. . .Monsters of the desert, or demons in monstrous shapes:
|
|
such as the ancients called fauns and satyrs; and as they imagined them
|
|
to live upon wild figs, they called them fauni ficarii or fig fauns.
|
|
|
|
50:40. As the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha, and their neighbour
|
|
cities, saith the Lord: no man shall dwell there, neither shall the son
|
|
of man inhabit it.
|
|
|
|
50:41. Behold a people cometh from the north, and a great nation, and
|
|
many kings shall rise from the ends of the earth.
|
|
|
|
50:42. They shall take the bow and the shield: they are cruel and
|
|
unmerciful: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride
|
|
upon horses: like a man prepared for battle against thee, O daughter of
|
|
Babylon.
|
|
|
|
50:43. The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands
|
|
are grown feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, pangs as a woman in
|
|
labour.
|
|
|
|
50:44. Behold he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of the
|
|
Jordan to the strong and beautiful: for I will make him run suddenly
|
|
upon her: and who shall be the chosen one whom I may appoint over her?
|
|
for who is like to me? and who shall bear up against me? and who is
|
|
that shepherd that can withstand my countenance?
|
|
|
|
50:45. Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he hath taken
|
|
against Babylon: and his thoughts which he hath thought against the
|
|
land of the Chaldeans: surely the little ones of the flocks shall pull
|
|
them down, of a truth their habitation shall be destroyed with them.
|
|
|
|
50:46. At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and
|
|
the cry is heard amongst the nations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 51
|
|
|
|
|
|
The miseries that shall fall upon Babylon from the Medes: the
|
|
destruction of her idols.
|
|
|
|
51:1. Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will raise up as it were a
|
|
pestilential wind against Babylon and against the inhabitants thereof,
|
|
who have lifted up their heart against me.
|
|
|
|
51:2. And I will send to Babylon fanners, and they shall fan her, and
|
|
shall destroy her land: for they are come upon her on every side in the
|
|
day of her affliction.
|
|
|
|
51:3. Let not him that bendeth, bend his bow, and let not him go up
|
|
that is armed with a coat of mail: spare not her young men, destroy all
|
|
her army.
|
|
|
|
51:4. And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the
|
|
wounded in the regions thereof.
|
|
|
|
51:5. For Israel and Juda have not been forsaken by their God the Lord
|
|
of hosts: but their land hath been filled with sin against the Holy One
|
|
of Israel.
|
|
|
|
51:6. Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, and let every one save his own
|
|
life: be not silent upon her iniquity: for it is the time of revenge
|
|
from the Lord, he will render unto her what she hath deserved.
|
|
|
|
51:7. Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, that made
|
|
all the earth drunk: the nations have drunk of her wine, and therefore
|
|
they have staggered.
|
|
|
|
51:8. Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howl for her, take
|
|
balm for her pain, if so she may be healed.
|
|
|
|
51:9. We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed: let us
|
|
forsake her, and let us go every man to his own land: because her
|
|
judgment hath reached even to the heavens, and is lifted up to the
|
|
clouds.
|
|
|
|
51:10. The Lord hath brought forth our justices: Come, and let us
|
|
declare in Sion the work of the Lord our God.
|
|
|
|
51:11. Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers, the Lord hath raised up
|
|
the spirit of the kings of the Medes: and his mind is against Babylon
|
|
to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance
|
|
of his temple.
|
|
|
|
51:12. Upon the walls of Babylon set up the standard, strengthen the
|
|
watch: set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath
|
|
both purposed, and done all that he spoke against the inhabitants of
|
|
Babylon.
|
|
|
|
51:13. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, rich in treasures, thy
|
|
end is come for thy entire destruction.
|
|
|
|
51:14. The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying: I will fill
|
|
thee with men as with locusts, and they shall lift up a joyful shout
|
|
against thee.
|
|
|
|
51:15. He that made the earth by his power, that hath prepared the
|
|
world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his
|
|
understanding.
|
|
|
|
51:16. When he uttereth his voice the waters are multiplied in heaven:
|
|
he lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth, he hath turned
|
|
lightning into rain: and hath brought forth the wind out of his
|
|
treasures.
|
|
|
|
51:17. Every man is become foolish by his knowledge: every founder is
|
|
confounded by his idol, for what he hath cast is a lie, and there is no
|
|
breath in them.
|
|
|
|
51:18. They are vain works, and worthy to be laughed at, in the time of
|
|
their visitation they shall perish.
|
|
|
|
51:19. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he that made all
|
|
things he it is, and Israel is the sceptre of his inheritance: the Lord
|
|
of hosts is his name.
|
|
|
|
51:20. Thou dashest together for me the weapons of war, and with thee I
|
|
will dash nations together, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms:
|
|
|
|
51:21. And with thee I will break in pieces the horse, and his rider,
|
|
and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot, and him that getteth
|
|
up into it:
|
|
|
|
51:22. And with thee I will break in pieces man and woman, and with
|
|
thee I will break in pieces the old man and the child, and with thee I
|
|
will break in pieces the young man and the virgin:
|
|
|
|
51:23. And with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock,
|
|
and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of
|
|
oxen, and with thee I will break in pieces captains and rulers.
|
|
|
|
51:24. And I will render to Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of
|
|
Chaldea all their evil, that they have done in Sion, before your eyes,
|
|
saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
51:25. Behold I come against thee, thou destroying mountain, saith the
|
|
Lord, which corruptest the whole earth: and I will stretch out my hand
|
|
upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a
|
|
burnt mountain.
|
|
|
|
51:26. And they shall not take of thee a stone for the corner, nor a
|
|
stone for foundations, but thou shalt be destroyed for ever, saith the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
51:27. Set ye up a standard in the land: sound with the trumpet among
|
|
the nations: prepare the nations against her: call together against her
|
|
the kings of Ararat, Menni, and Ascenez: number Taphsar against her,
|
|
bring the horse as the stinging locust.
|
|
|
|
51:28. Prepare the nations against her, the kings of Media, their
|
|
captains, and all their rulers, and all the land of their dominion.
|
|
|
|
51:29. And the land shall be in a commotion, and shall be troubled: for
|
|
the design of the Lord against Babylon shall awake, to make the land of
|
|
Babylon desert and uninhabitable.
|
|
|
|
51:30. The valiant men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have
|
|
dwelt in holds: their strength hath failed, and they are become as
|
|
women: her dwelling places are burnt, her bars are broken.
|
|
|
|
51:31. One running post shall meet another, and messenger shall meet
|
|
messenger: to tell the king of Babylon that his city is taken from one
|
|
end to the other:
|
|
|
|
51:32. And that the fords are taken, and the marshes are burnt with
|
|
fire, and the men of war are affrighted.
|
|
|
|
51:33. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: The daughter
|
|
of Babylon is like a thrashingfloor, this is the time of her thrashing:
|
|
yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
|
|
|
|
51:34. Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath eaten me up, he hath
|
|
devoured me: he hath made me as an empty vessel: he hath swallowed me
|
|
up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicate meats, and
|
|
he hath cast me out.
|
|
|
|
51:35. The wrong done to me, and my flesh be upon Babylon, saith the
|
|
habitation of Sion: and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, saith
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
51:36. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will judge thy cause,
|
|
and will take vengeance for thee, and I will make her sea desolate, I
|
|
and will dry up her spring.
|
|
|
|
51:37. And Babylon shall be reduced to heaps, a dwelling place for
|
|
dragons, an astonishment and a hissing, because there is no inhabitant.
|
|
|
|
51:38. They shall roar together like lions, they shall shake their
|
|
manes like young lions.
|
|
|
|
51:39. In their heat I will set them drink: and I will make them drunk,
|
|
that they may slumber, and sleep an everlasting sleep, and awake no
|
|
more, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
51:40. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, and like
|
|
rams with kids.
|
|
|
|
51:41. How is Sesach taken, and the renowned one of all the earth
|
|
surprised? How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations?
|
|
|
|
51:42. The sea is come up over Babylon : she is covered with the
|
|
multitude of the waves thereof.
|
|
|
|
51:43. Her cities are become an astonishment, a land uninhabited and
|
|
desolate, a land wherein none can dwell, nor son of man pass through
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
51:44. And I will visit against Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth
|
|
out of his mouth that which he had swallowed down: and the nations
|
|
shall no more flow together to him, for the wall also of Babylon shall
|
|
fall.
|
|
|
|
51:45. Go out of the midst of her, my people: that every man may save
|
|
his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
51:46. And lest your hearts faint, and ye fear for the rumour that
|
|
shall be heard in the land: and a rumour shall come in one year, and
|
|
after this year another rumour: and iniquity in the land, and ruler
|
|
upon ruler.
|
|
|
|
51:47. Therefore behold the days come, and I will visit the idols of
|
|
Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain
|
|
shall fall in the midst of her.
|
|
|
|
51:48. And the heavens and the earth, and all things that are in them
|
|
shall give praise for Babylon: for spoilers shall come to her from the
|
|
north, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
51:49. And as Babylon caused that there should fall slain in Israel: so
|
|
of Babylon there shall fall slain in all the earth.
|
|
|
|
51:50. You that have escaped the sword, come away, stand not still:
|
|
remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.
|
|
|
|
51:51. We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath
|
|
covered our faces: because strangers are come upon the sanctuaries of
|
|
the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
51:52. Therefore behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit
|
|
her graven things, and in all her land the wounded shall groan:
|
|
|
|
51:53. If Babylon should mount up to heaven, and establish her strength
|
|
on high: from me there should come spoilers upon her, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
51:54. The noise of a cry from Babylon, and great destruction from the
|
|
land of the Chaldeans:
|
|
|
|
51:55. Because the Lord hath laid Babylon waste, and destroyed out of
|
|
her the great voice: and their wave shall roar like many waters: their
|
|
voice hath made a noise:
|
|
|
|
51:56. Because the spoiler is come upon her, that is, upon Babylon, and
|
|
her valiant men are taken, and their bow is weakened, because the Lord,
|
|
who is a strong revenger, will surely repay.
|
|
|
|
51:57. And I will make her princes drunk, and her wise men, and her
|
|
captains, and her rulers, and her valiant men: and they shall sleep an
|
|
everlasting sleep, and shall awake no more, saith the king whose name
|
|
is Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
51:58. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: That broad wall of Babylon shall
|
|
be utterly broken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire,
|
|
and the labours of the people shall come to nothing, and of the nations
|
|
shall go to the fire, and shall perish.
|
|
|
|
51:59. The word that Jeremias the prophet commanded Saraias the son of
|
|
Nerias, the son of Maasias, when he went with king Sedecias to Babylon,
|
|
in the fourth year of his reign: now Saraias was chief over the
|
|
prophecy.
|
|
|
|
51:60. And Jeremias wrote in one book all the evil that was to come
|
|
upon Babylon: all these words that are written against Babylon.
|
|
|
|
51:61. And Jeremias said to Saraias: When thou shalt come into Babylon,
|
|
and shalt see, and shalt read all these words,
|
|
|
|
51:62. Thou shalt say: O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place to
|
|
destroy it: so that there should be neither man nor beast to dwell
|
|
therein, and that it should be desolate for ever.
|
|
|
|
51:63. And when thou shalt have made an end of reading this book, thou
|
|
shalt tie a stone to it, and shalt throw it into the midst of the
|
|
Euphrates:
|
|
|
|
51:64. And thou shalt say: Thus shall Babylon sink, and she shall not
|
|
rise up from the affliction that I will bring upon her, and she shall
|
|
be utterly destroyed. Thus far are the words of Jeremias.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremias Chapter 52
|
|
|
|
|
|
A recapitulation of the reign of Sedecias, and the destruction of
|
|
Jerusalem. The number of the captives.
|
|
|
|
52:1. Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign: and
|
|
he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and the name of his mother was
|
|
Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.
|
|
|
|
52:2. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according
|
|
to all that Joakim had done.
|
|
|
|
52:3. For the wrath of the Lord was against Jerusalem, and against
|
|
Juda, till he cast them out from his presence: and Sedecias revolted
|
|
from the king of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
52:4. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth
|
|
month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor the king of
|
|
Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they besieged
|
|
it, and built forts against it round about.
|
|
|
|
52:5. And the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king
|
|
Sedecias.
|
|
|
|
52:6. And in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a famine
|
|
overpowered the city: and there was no food for the people of the land.
|
|
|
|
52:7. And the city was broken up, and the men of war fled, and went out
|
|
of the city in the night by the way of the gate that is between the two
|
|
walls, and leadeth to the king's garden, (the Chaldeans besieging the
|
|
city round about,) and they went by the way that leadeth to the
|
|
wilderness.
|
|
|
|
52:8. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king: and they
|
|
overtook Sedecias in the desert which is near Jericho: and all his
|
|
companions were scattered from him.
|
|
|
|
52:9. And when they had taken the king, they carried him to the king of
|
|
Babylon to Reblatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave
|
|
judgment upon him.
|
|
|
|
52:10. And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Sedecias before his
|
|
eyes: and he slew all the princes of Juda in Reblatha.
|
|
|
|
52:11. And he put out the eyes of Sedecias, and bound him with fetters,
|
|
and the king of Babylon brought him into Babylon, and he put him in
|
|
prison till the day of his death.
|
|
|
|
52:12. And in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, the same is
|
|
the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan
|
|
the general of the army, who stood before the king of Babylon in
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
52:13. And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and
|
|
all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire.
|
|
|
|
52:14. And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the general
|
|
broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about.
|
|
|
|
52:15. But Nabuzardan the general carried away captives some of the
|
|
poor people, and of the rest of the common sort who remained in the
|
|
city, and of the fugitives that were fled over to the king of Babylon,
|
|
and the rest of the multitude.
|
|
|
|
52:16. But of the poor of the land, Nabuzardan the general left some
|
|
for vinedressers, and for husbandmen.
|
|
|
|
52:17. The Chaldeans also broke in pieces the brazen pillars that were
|
|
in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was
|
|
in the house of the Lord: and they carried all the brass of them to
|
|
Babylon.
|
|
|
|
52:18. And they took the caldrons, and the fleshhooks, and the
|
|
psalteries, and the bowls, and the little mortars, and all the brazen
|
|
vessels that had been used in the ministry: and
|
|
|
|
52:19. The general took away the pitchers, and the censers, and the
|
|
pots, and the basins, and the candlesticks, and the mortars, and the
|
|
cups: as many as were of gold, in gold: and as many as were of silver,
|
|
in silver:
|
|
|
|
52:20. And the two pillars, and one sea, and twelve oxen of brass that
|
|
were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the
|
|
Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all these vessels.
|
|
|
|
52:21. And concerning the pillars, one pillar was eighteen cubits high:
|
|
and a cord of twelve cubits compassed it about: but the thickness
|
|
thereof was four fingers, and it was hollow within.
|
|
|
|
52:22. And chapiters of brass were upon both: and the height of one
|
|
chapiter was five cubits: and network, and pomegranates were upon the
|
|
chapiters round about, all of brass. The same of the second pillar, and
|
|
the pomegranates.
|
|
|
|
52:23. And there were ninety-six pomegranates hanging down: and the
|
|
pomegranates being a hundred in all, were compassed with network.
|
|
|
|
52:24. And the general took Saraias the chief priest, and Sophonias the
|
|
second priest, and the three keepers of the entry.
|
|
|
|
52:25. He also took out of the city one eunuch that was chief over the
|
|
men of war: and seven men of them that were near the king's person,
|
|
that were found in the city: and a scribe, an officer of the army who
|
|
exercised the young soldiers: and threescore men of the people of the
|
|
land, that were found in the midst of the city.
|
|
|
|
52:26. And Nabuzardan the general took them, and brought them to the
|
|
king of Babylon, to Reblatha.
|
|
|
|
52:27. And the king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death in
|
|
Reblatha, in the land of Emath: and Juda was carried away captive out
|
|
of his land.
|
|
|
|
52:28. This is the people whom Nabuchodonosor carried away captive: in
|
|
the seventh year, three thousand and twenty-three Jews.
|
|
|
|
52:29. In the eighteenth year of Nabuchodonosor, eight hundred and
|
|
thirty-two souls from Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
52:30. In the three and twentieth year of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuzardan
|
|
the general carried away of the Jews seven hundred and forty-five
|
|
souls. So all the souls were four thousand six hundred.
|
|
|
|
52:31. And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the
|
|
captivity of Joachin king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the five and
|
|
twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the
|
|
first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Joachin king of Juda,
|
|
and brought him forth out of prison.
|
|
|
|
52:32. And he spoke kindly to him, and he set his throne above the
|
|
thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon.
|
|
|
|
52:33. And he changed his prison garments, and he ate bread before him
|
|
always all the days of his life.
|
|
|
|
52:34. And for his diet a continual provision was allowed him by the
|
|
king of Babylon, every day a portion, until the day of his death, all
|
|
the days of his life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In these JEREMIAS laments in a most pathetical manner the miseries of
|
|
his people, and the destruction of JERUSALEM and the temple, in Hebrew
|
|
verses, beginning with different letters according to the order of the
|
|
Hebrew alphabet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lamentations Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
PREFACE: And it came to pass, after Israel was carried into captivity,
|
|
and Jerusalem was desolate, that Jeremias the prophet sat weeping, and
|
|
mourned with this lamentation over Jerusalem, and with a sorrowful
|
|
mind, sighing and moaning, he said:
|
|
|
|
And it came to pass, etc. . .This preface was not written by Jeremias,
|
|
but was added by the seventy interpreters, to give the reader to
|
|
understand upon what occasion the Lamentations were published.
|
|
|
|
1:1. Aleph. How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people! how
|
|
is the mistress of the Gentiles become as a widow: the princes of
|
|
provinces made tributary!
|
|
|
|
1:2. Beth. Weeping, she hath wept in the night, and her tears are on
|
|
her cheeks: there is none to comfort her among all them that were dear
|
|
to her: all her friends have despised her, and are become her enemies.
|
|
|
|
1:3. Ghimel. Juda hath removed her dwelling place, because of her
|
|
affliction, and the greatness of her bondage; she hath dwelt among the
|
|
nations, and she hath found no rest; all her persecutors have taken her
|
|
in the midst of straits.
|
|
|
|
1:4. Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come
|
|
to the solemn feast: all her gates are broken down; her priests sigh;
|
|
her virgins are in affliction; and she is oppressed with bitterness.
|
|
|
|
1:5. He. Her adversaries are become her lords; her enemies are
|
|
enriched; because the Lord hath spoken against her for the multitude of
|
|
her iniquities; her children are led into captivity, before the face of
|
|
the oppressor.
|
|
|
|
1:6. Vau. And from the daughter of Sion, all her beauty is departed;
|
|
her princes are become like rams that find no pastures; and they are
|
|
gone away without strength before the face of the pursuer.
|
|
|
|
1:7. Zain. Jerusalem hath remembered the days of her affliction, and
|
|
prevarication of all her desirable things which she had from the days
|
|
of old, when her people fell in the enemy's hand, and there was no
|
|
helper; the enemies have seen her, and have mocked at her sabbaths.
|
|
|
|
1:8. Heth. Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, therefore is she become
|
|
unstable; all that honoured her, have despised her, because they have
|
|
seen her shame; but she sighed, and turned backward.
|
|
|
|
1:9. Teth. Her filthiness is on her feet, and she hath not remembered
|
|
her end; she is wonderfully cast down, not having a comforter: behold,
|
|
O Lord, my affliction, because the enemy is lifted up.
|
|
|
|
1:10. Jod. The enemy hath put out his hand to all her desirable things:
|
|
for she hath seen the Gentiles enter into her sanctuary, of whom thou
|
|
gavest commandment that they should not enter into thy church.
|
|
|
|
1:11. Caph. All her people sigh, they seek bread: they have given all
|
|
their precious things for food to relieve the soul: see, O Lord, and
|
|
consider, for I am become vile.
|
|
|
|
1:12. Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be
|
|
any sorrow like to my sorrow: for he hath made a vintage of me, as the
|
|
Lord spoke in the day of his fierce anger.
|
|
|
|
1:13. Mem. From above he hath sent fire into my bones, and hath
|
|
chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back:
|
|
he hath made me desolate, wasted with sorrow all the day long.
|
|
|
|
1:14. Nun. The yoke of my iniquities hath watched: they are folded
|
|
together in his hand, and put upon my neck: my strength is weakened:
|
|
the Lord hath delivered me into a hand, out of which I am not able to
|
|
rise.
|
|
|
|
1:15. Samech. The Lord hath taken away all my mighty men out of the
|
|
midst of me: he hath called against me the time, to destroy my chosen
|
|
men: the Lord hath trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of
|
|
Juda.
|
|
|
|
1:16. Ain. Therefore do I weep, and my eyes run down with water:
|
|
because the comforter, the relief of my soul, is far from me: my
|
|
children are desolate because the enemy hath prevailed.
|
|
|
|
1:17. Phe. Sion hath spread forth her hands, there is none to comfort
|
|
her: the Lord hath commanded against Jacob, his enemies are round about
|
|
him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them.
|
|
|
|
1:18. Sade. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath:
|
|
hear, I pray you, all ye people, and see my sorrow: my virgins, and my
|
|
young men are gone into captivity.
|
|
|
|
1:19. Coph. I called for my friends, but they deceived me: my priests
|
|
and my ancients pined away in the city: while they sought their food,
|
|
to relieve their souls.
|
|
|
|
1:20. Res. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress, my bowels are
|
|
troubled: my heart is turned within me, for I am full of bitterness:
|
|
abroad the sword destroyeth and at home there is death alike.
|
|
|
|
1:21. Sin. They have heard that I sigh, and there is none to comfort
|
|
me: all my enemies have heard of my evil, they have rejoiced that thou
|
|
hast done it: thou hast brought a day of consolation, and they shall be
|
|
like unto me.
|
|
|
|
1:22. Thau. Let all their evil be present before thee: and make vintage
|
|
of them, as thou hast made vintage of me for all my iniquities: for my
|
|
sighs are many, and my heart is sorrowful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lamentations Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
2:1. Aleph. How hath the Lord covered with obscurity the daughter of
|
|
Sion in his wrath! how hath he cast down from heaven to the earth the
|
|
glorious one of Israel, and hath not remembered his footstool in the
|
|
day of his anger.
|
|
|
|
2:2. Beth. The Lord hath cast down headlong, and hath not spared, all
|
|
that was beautiful in Jacob: he hath destroyed in his wrath the strong
|
|
holds of the virgin of Juda, and brought them down to the ground: he
|
|
hath made the kingdom unclean, and the princes thereof.
|
|
|
|
2:3. Ghimel. He hath broken in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel:
|
|
he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy: and he hath
|
|
kindled in Jacob as it were a flaming fire devouring round about.
|
|
|
|
2:4. Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an enemy, he hath fixed his right
|
|
hand as an adversary: and he hath killed all that was fair to behold in
|
|
the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion, he hath poured out his
|
|
indignation like fire.
|
|
|
|
2:5. He. The Lord is become as an enemy: he hath cast down Israel
|
|
headlong, he hath overthrown all the walls thereof: he hath destroyed
|
|
his strong holds, and hath multiplied in the daughter of Juda the
|
|
afflicted, both men and women.
|
|
|
|
2:6. Vau. And he hath destroyed his tent as a garden, he hath thrown
|
|
down his tabernacle: the Lord hath caused feasts and sabbaths to be
|
|
forgotten in Sion: and hath delivered up king and priest to reproach,
|
|
and to the indignation of his wrath.
|
|
|
|
2:7. Zain. The Lord hath cast off his altar, he hath cursed his
|
|
sanctuary: he hath delivered the walls of the towers thereof into the
|
|
hand of the enemy: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as
|
|
in the day of a solemn feast.
|
|
|
|
He hath cursed his sanctuary. . .That is, he permitted his sanctuary to
|
|
be destroyed, as if it had not been consecrated, but execrable.
|
|
|
|
2:8. Heth. The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter
|
|
of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not withdrawn his
|
|
hand from destroying: and the bulwark hath mourned, and the wall hath
|
|
been destroyed together.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Teth. Her gates are sunk into the ground: he hath destroyed, and
|
|
broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the
|
|
law is no more, and her prophets have found no vision from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Jod. The ancients of the daughter of Sion sit upon the ground,
|
|
they have held their peace: they have sprinkled their heads with dust,
|
|
they are girded with haircloth, the virgins of Jerusalem hang down
|
|
their heads to the ground.
|
|
|
|
2:11. Caph. My eyes have failed with weeping, my bowels are troubled:
|
|
my liver is poured out upon the earth, for the destruction of the
|
|
daughter of my people, when the children, and the sucklings, fainted
|
|
away in the streets of the city.
|
|
|
|
2:12. Lamed. They said to their mothers: Where is corn and wine? when
|
|
they fainted away as the wounded in the streets of the city: when they
|
|
breathed out their souls in the bosoms of their mothers.
|
|
|
|
2:13. Mem. To what shall I compare thee? or to what shall I liken thee,
|
|
O daughter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may comfort
|
|
thee, O virgin daughter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy
|
|
destruction: who shall heal thee?
|
|
|
|
2:14. Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee:
|
|
and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance:
|
|
but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.
|
|
|
|
2:15. Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands
|
|
at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daughter of
|
|
Jerusalem, saying: Is this the city of perfect beauty, the joy of all
|
|
the earth?
|
|
|
|
2:16. Phe. All thy enemies have opened their month against thee: they
|
|
have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swallow
|
|
her up: lo, this is the day which we looked for: we have found it, we
|
|
have seen it.
|
|
|
|
2:17. Ain. The Lord hath done that which he purposed, he hath fulfilled
|
|
his word, which he commanded in the days of old: he hath destroyed, and
|
|
hath not spared, and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, and
|
|
hath set up the horn of thy adversaries.
|
|
|
|
2:18. Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord upon the walls of the
|
|
daughter of Sion: Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give
|
|
thyself no rest, and let not the apple of thy eye cease.
|
|
|
|
2:19. Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, in the beginning of the
|
|
watches: pour out thy heart like water, before the face of the Lord:
|
|
lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy little children, that have
|
|
fainted for hunger at the top of all the streets.
|
|
|
|
2:20. Res. Behold, O Lord, and consider whom thou hast thus dealt with:
|
|
shall women then eat their own fruit, their children of a span long?
|
|
shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord?
|
|
|
|
2:21. Sin. The child and the old man lie without on the ground: my
|
|
virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword: thou hast slain them
|
|
in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed, and shewn them no pity.
|
|
|
|
2:22. Thau. Thou hast called as to a festival, those that should
|
|
terrify me round about, and there was none in the day of the wrath of
|
|
the Lord that escaped and was left: those that I brought up, and
|
|
nourished, my enemy hath consumed them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lamentations Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
3:1. Aleph. I am the man that see my poverty by the rod of his
|
|
indignation.
|
|
|
|
3:2. Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into
|
|
light.
|
|
|
|
3:3. Aleph. Only against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand
|
|
all the day.
|
|
|
|
3:4. Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath broken my
|
|
bones.
|
|
|
|
3:5. Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath compassed me with
|
|
gall, and labour.
|
|
|
|
3:6. Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
3:7. Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get
|
|
out: he hath made my fetters heavy.
|
|
|
|
3:8. Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and entreat, he hath shut out my
|
|
prayer.
|
|
|
|
3:9. Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned
|
|
my paths upside down.
|
|
|
|
3:10. Daleth. He is become to me as a bear lying in wait: as a lion in
|
|
secret places.
|
|
|
|
3:11. Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath broken me in
|
|
pieces, he hath made me desolate.
|
|
|
|
3:12. Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his
|
|
arrows.
|
|
|
|
3:13. He. He hath shot into my reins the daughters of his quiver.
|
|
|
|
3:14. He. I am made a derision to all my people, their song all the day
|
|
long.
|
|
|
|
3:15. He. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath inebriated me with
|
|
wormwood.
|
|
|
|
3:16. Vau. And he hath broken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with
|
|
ashes.
|
|
|
|
3:17. Vau. And my soul is removed far off from peace, I have forgotten
|
|
good things.
|
|
|
|
3:18. Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is perished from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
3:19. Zain. Remember my poverty, and transgression, the wormwood and
|
|
the gall.
|
|
|
|
3:20. Zain. I will be mindful and remember, and my soul shall languish
|
|
within me.
|
|
|
|
3:21. Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, therefore will
|
|
I hope.
|
|
|
|
3:22. Heth. The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed: because
|
|
his commiserations have not failed.
|
|
|
|
3:23. Heth. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.
|
|
|
|
3:24. Heth. The Lord is my portion, said my soul: therefore will I wait
|
|
for him.
|
|
|
|
3:25. Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that
|
|
seeketh him.
|
|
|
|
3:26. Teth. It is good to wait with silence for the salvation of God.
|
|
|
|
3:27. Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his
|
|
youth.
|
|
|
|
3:28. Jod. He shall sit solitary, and hold his peace: because he hath
|
|
taken it up upon himself.
|
|
|
|
3:29. Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be
|
|
hope.
|
|
|
|
3:30. Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall
|
|
be filled with reproaches.
|
|
|
|
3:31. Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:32. Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will also have mercy, according
|
|
to the multitude of his mercies.
|
|
|
|
3:33. Caph. For he hath not willingly afflicted, nor cast off the
|
|
children of men.
|
|
|
|
3:34. Lamed. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the land,
|
|
|
|
3:35. Lamed. To turn aside the judgment of a man before the face of the
|
|
most High,
|
|
|
|
3:36. Lamed. To destroy a man wrongfully in his judgment, the Lord hath
|
|
not approved.
|
|
|
|
3:37. Mem. Who is he that hath commanded a thing to be done, when the
|
|
Lord commandeth it not?
|
|
|
|
3:38. Mem. Shall not both evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the
|
|
Highest?
|
|
|
|
3:39. Mem. Why hath a living man murmured, man suffering for his sins?
|
|
|
|
3:40. Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.
|
|
|
|
3:41. Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the
|
|
heavens.
|
|
|
|
3:42. Nun. We have done wickedly, and provoked thee to wrath: therefore
|
|
thou art inexorable.
|
|
|
|
3:43. Samech. Thou hast covered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou
|
|
hast killed and hast not spared.
|
|
|
|
3:44. Samech. Thou hast set a cloud before thee, that our prayer may
|
|
not pass through.
|
|
|
|
3:45. Samech. Thou hast made me as an outcast, and refuse in the midst
|
|
of the people.
|
|
|
|
3:46. Phe. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
|
|
|
|
3:47. Phe. Prophecy is become to us a fear, and a snare, and
|
|
destruction.
|
|
|
|
3:48. Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of water, for the
|
|
destruction of the daughter of my people.
|
|
|
|
3:49. Ain. My eye is afflicted, and hath not been quiet, because there
|
|
was no rest:
|
|
|
|
3:50. Ain. Till the Lord regarded and looked down from the heavens.
|
|
|
|
3:51. Ain. My eye hath wasted my soul because of all the daughters of
|
|
my city.
|
|
|
|
3:52. Sade. My enemies have chased me and caught me like a bird,
|
|
without cause.
|
|
|
|
3:53. Sade. My life is fallen into the pit, and they have laid a stone
|
|
over me.
|
|
|
|
3:54. Sade. Waters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.
|
|
|
|
3:55. Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.
|
|
|
|
3:56. Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my
|
|
sighs, and cries.
|
|
|
|
3:57. Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called upon thee, thou
|
|
saidst: Fear not.
|
|
|
|
3:58. Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the
|
|
Redeemer of my life.
|
|
|
|
3:59. Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their iniquity against me: judge
|
|
thou my judgment.
|
|
|
|
3:60. Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts
|
|
against me.
|
|
|
|
3:61. Sin. Thou hast heard their reproach, O Lord, all their
|
|
imaginations against me.
|
|
|
|
3:62. Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their devices
|
|
against me all the day.
|
|
|
|
3:63. Sin. Behold their sitting down, and their rising up, I am their
|
|
song.
|
|
|
|
3:64. Thau. Thou shalt render them a recompense, O Lord, according to
|
|
the works of their hands.
|
|
|
|
3:65. Thau. Thou shalt give them a buckler of heart, thy labour.
|
|
|
|
3:66. Thau. Thou shalt persecute them in anger, and shalt destroy them
|
|
from under the heavens, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lamentations Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
4:1. Aleph. How is the gold become dim, the finest colour is changed,
|
|
the stones of the sanctuary are scattered in the top of every street?
|
|
|
|
4:2. Beth. The noble sons of Sion, and they that were clothed with the
|
|
best gold: how are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the work of the
|
|
potter's hands?
|
|
|
|
4:3. Ghimel. Even the sea monsters have drawn out the breast, they have
|
|
given suck to their young: the daughter of my people is cruel, like the
|
|
ostrich in the desert.
|
|
|
|
4:4. Daleth. The tongue of the sucking child hath stuck to the roof of
|
|
his mouth for thirst: the little ones have asked for bread, and there
|
|
was none to break it unto them.
|
|
|
|
4:5. He. They that were fed delicately have died in the streets: they
|
|
that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dung.
|
|
|
|
4:6. Vau. And the iniquity of the daughter of my people is made greater
|
|
than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and hands took
|
|
nothing in her.
|
|
|
|
4:7. Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, purer than milk, more
|
|
ruddy than the old ivory, fairer than the sapphire.
|
|
|
|
4:8. Heth. Their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not
|
|
known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to their bones, it is
|
|
withered, and is become like wood.
|
|
|
|
4:9. Teth. It was better with them that were slain by the sword, than
|
|
with them that died with hunger: for these pined away being consumed
|
|
for want of the fruits of the earth.
|
|
|
|
4:10. Jod. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own
|
|
children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
4:11. Caph. The Lord hath accomplished his wrath, he hath poured out
|
|
his fierce anger: and he hath kindled a fire in Sion, and it hath
|
|
devoured the foundations thereof.
|
|
|
|
4:12. Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the
|
|
world would not have believed, that the adversary and the enemy should
|
|
enter in by the gates of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
4:13. Mem. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her
|
|
priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.
|
|
|
|
4:14. Nun. They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they were
|
|
defiled with blood: and when they could not help walking in it, they
|
|
held up their skirts.
|
|
|
|
4:15. Samech. Depart you that are defiled, they cried out to them:
|
|
Depart, get ye hence, touch not: for they quarrelled, and being
|
|
removed, they said among the Gentiles: He will no more dwell among
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
4:16. Phe. The face of the Lord hath divided them, he will no more
|
|
regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, neither had
|
|
they pity on the ancient.
|
|
|
|
4:17. Ain. While we were yet standing, our eyes failed, expecting help
|
|
for us in vain, when we looked attentively towards a nation that was
|
|
not able to save.
|
|
|
|
4:18. Sade. Our steps have slipped in the way of our streets, our end
|
|
draweth near: our days are fulfilled, for our end is come.
|
|
|
|
4:19. Coph. Our persecutors were swifter than the eagles of the air:
|
|
they pursued us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the
|
|
wilderness.
|
|
|
|
4:20. Res. The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is taken in our
|
|
sins: to whom we said: Under thy shadow we shall live among the
|
|
Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
Christ, etc. . .This, according to the letter, is spoken of their king,
|
|
who is called the Christ, that is, the Anointed of the Lord. But it
|
|
also relates, in the spiritual sense, to Christ our Lord, suffering for
|
|
our sins.
|
|
|
|
4:21. Sin. Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in
|
|
the land of Hus: to thee also shall the cup come, thou shalt be made
|
|
drunk, and naked.
|
|
|
|
4:22. Thau. Thy iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Sion, he will
|
|
no more carry thee away into captivity: he hath visited thy iniquity, O
|
|
daughter of Edom, he hath discovered thy sins.
|
|
|
|
THE PRAYER OF JEREMIAS THE PROPHET
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lamentations Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
5:1. Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider and behold our
|
|
reproach.
|
|
|
|
5:2. Our inheritance is turned to aliens: our houses to strangers.
|
|
|
|
5:3. We are become orphans without a father: our mothers are as widows.
|
|
|
|
5:4. We have drunk our water for money: we have bought our wood.
|
|
|
|
5:6. We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest was given
|
|
us.
|
|
|
|
5:6. We have given our hand to Egypt, and to the Assyrians, that we
|
|
might be satisfied with bread.
|
|
|
|
5:7. Our fathers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne their
|
|
iniquities.
|
|
|
|
5:8. Servants have ruled over us: there was none to redeem us out of
|
|
their hand.
|
|
|
|
5:9. We fetched our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the
|
|
sword in the desert.
|
|
|
|
5:10. Our skin was burnt as an oven, by reason of the violence of the
|
|
famine.
|
|
|
|
5:11. They oppressed the women in Sion, and the virgins in the cities
|
|
of Juda.
|
|
|
|
5:12. The princes were hanged up by their hand: they did not respect
|
|
the persons of the ancients.
|
|
|
|
5:13. They abused the young men indecently: and the children fell under
|
|
the wood.
|
|
|
|
5:14. The ancients have ceased from the gates: the young men from the
|
|
choir of the singers.
|
|
|
|
5:15. The joy of our heart is ceased, our dancing is turned into
|
|
mourning.
|
|
|
|
5:16. The crown is fallen from our head: woe to us, because we have
|
|
sinned.
|
|
|
|
5:17. Therefore is our heart sorrowful, therefore are our eyes become
|
|
dim.
|
|
|
|
5:18. For mount Sion, because it is destroyed, foxes have walked upon
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
5:19. But thou, O Lord, shalt remain for ever, thy throne from
|
|
generation to generation.
|
|
|
|
5:20. Why wilt thou forget us for ever? why wilt thou forsake us for a
|
|
long time?
|
|
|
|
5:21. Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be converted: renew our
|
|
days, as from the beginning.
|
|
|
|
5:22. But thou hast utterly rejected us, thou art exceedingly angry
|
|
with us.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF BARUCH
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BARUCH was a man of noble extraction, and learned in the law, secretary
|
|
and disciple to the prophet JEREMIAS, and a sharer in his labours and
|
|
persecutions: which is the reason why the ancient fathers have
|
|
considered this book as a part of the prophecy of JEREMIAS, and have
|
|
usually quoted it under his name.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baruch Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Jews of Babylon send the book of Baruch with money to Jerusalem,
|
|
requesting their brethren there to offer sacrifice, and to pray for the
|
|
king and for them, acknowledging their manifold sins.
|
|
|
|
1:1. And these are the words of the book, which Baruch the son of
|
|
Nerias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sedecias, the son of Sedei, the
|
|
son Helcias, wrote in Babylonia.
|
|
|
|
1:2. In the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month, at the time
|
|
that the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire.
|
|
|
|
1:3. And Baruch read the words of this book in the hearing of Jechonias
|
|
the son of Joakim king of Juda, and in the hearing of all the people
|
|
that came to hear the book.
|
|
|
|
1:4. And in the hearing of the nobles, the sons of the kings, and in
|
|
the hearing of the ancients, and in the hearing of the people, from the
|
|
least even to the greatest of them that dwelt in Babylonia, by the
|
|
river Sedi.
|
|
|
|
1:5. And when they heard it they wept, and fasted, and prayed before
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
1:6. And they made a collection of money according to every man's
|
|
power.
|
|
|
|
1:7. And they sent it to Jerusalem to Joakim the priest, the son of
|
|
Helcias, the son of Salom, and to the priests, and to all the people,
|
|
that were found with him in Jerusalem:
|
|
|
|
1:8. At the time when he received the vessels of the temple of the
|
|
Lord, which had been taken away out of the temple, to return them into
|
|
the land of Juda the tenth day of the month Sivan, the silver vessels,
|
|
which Sedecias the son of Josias king of Juda had made,
|
|
|
|
1:9. After that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon had carried away
|
|
Jechonias, and the princes, and all the powerful men, and the people of
|
|
the land from Jerusalem, and brought them bound to Babylon.
|
|
|
|
1:10. And they said: Behold we have sent you money, buy with it
|
|
holocausts, and frankincense, and make meat offerings, and offerings
|
|
for sin at the altar of the Lord our God:
|
|
|
|
1:11. And pray ye for the life of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon,
|
|
and for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be upon
|
|
earth as the days of heaven:
|
|
|
|
1:12. And that the Lord may give us strength, and enlighten our eyes,
|
|
that we may live under the shadow of Nabuchodonosor the king of
|
|
Babylon, and under the shadow of Balthasar his son, and may serve them
|
|
many days, and may find favour in their sight.
|
|
|
|
1:13. And pray ye for us to the Lord our God: for we have sinned
|
|
against the Lord our God, and his wrath is not turned away from us even
|
|
to this day.
|
|
|
|
1:14. And read ye this book, which we have sent to you to be read in
|
|
the temple of the Lord, on feasts, and proper days.
|
|
|
|
1:15. And you shall say: To the Lord our God belongeth justice, but to
|
|
us confusion of our face: as it is come to pass at this day to all
|
|
Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
|
|
|
|
1:16. To our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our
|
|
prophets, and to our fathers.
|
|
|
|
1:17. We have sinned before the Lord our God, and have not believed
|
|
him, nor put our trust in him:
|
|
|
|
1:18. And we were not obedient to him, and we have not hearkened to the
|
|
voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his commandments which he hath
|
|
given us.
|
|
|
|
1:19. From the day that he brought our fathers out of the land of
|
|
Egypt, even to this day, we were disobedient to the Lord our God: and
|
|
going astray we turned away from hearing his voice.
|
|
|
|
1:20. And many evils have cleaved to us, and the curses which the Lord
|
|
foretold by Moses his servant: who brought our fathers out of the land
|
|
of Egypt, to give us a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this
|
|
day.
|
|
|
|
1:21. And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God
|
|
according to all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us:
|
|
|
|
1:22. And we have gone away every man after the inclinations of his own
|
|
wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the
|
|
Lord our God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baruch Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
A further confession of the sins of the people, and of the justice of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
2:1. Wherefore the Lord our God hath made good his word, that he spoke
|
|
to us, and to our judges that have judged Israel, and to our kings, and
|
|
to our princes, and to all Israel and Juda:
|
|
|
|
2:2. That the Lord would bring upon us great evils, such as never
|
|
happened under heaven, as they have come to pass in Jerusalem,
|
|
according to the things that are written in the law of Moses:
|
|
|
|
2:3. That a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh of
|
|
his own daughter.
|
|
|
|
2:4. And he hath delivered them up to be under the hand of all the
|
|
kings that are round about us, to be a reproach, and desolation among
|
|
all the people, among whom the Lord hath scattered us.
|
|
|
|
2:5. And we are brought under, and are not uppermost: because we have
|
|
sinned against the Lord our God, by not obeying his voice.
|
|
|
|
2:6. To the Lord our God belongeth justice: but to us, and to our
|
|
fathers confusion of face, as at this day.
|
|
|
|
2:7. For the Lord hath pronounced against us all these evils that are
|
|
come upon us:
|
|
|
|
2:8. And we have not entreated the face of the Lord our God, that we
|
|
might return every one of us from our most wicked ways.
|
|
|
|
2:9. And the Lord hath watched over us for evil, and hath brought it
|
|
upon us: for the Lord is just in all his works which he hath commanded
|
|
us:
|
|
|
|
2:10. And we have not hearkened to his voice to walk in the
|
|
commandments of the Lord which he hath set before us.
|
|
|
|
2:11. And now, O Lord God of Israel, who hast brought thy people out of
|
|
the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with wonders,
|
|
and with thy great power, and with a mighty arm, and hast made thee a
|
|
name as at this day,
|
|
|
|
2:12. We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have acted unjustly, O
|
|
Lord our God, against all thy justices.
|
|
|
|
2:13. Let thy wrath be turned away from us: for we are left a few among
|
|
the nations where thou hast scattered us.
|
|
|
|
2:14. Hear, O Lord, our prayers, and our petitions, and deliver us for
|
|
thy own sake: and grant that we may find favour in the sight of them
|
|
that have led us away:
|
|
|
|
2:15. That all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, and
|
|
that thy name is called upon Israel, and upon his posterity.
|
|
|
|
2:16. Look down upon us, O Lord, from thy holy house, and incline thy
|
|
ear, and hear us.
|
|
|
|
2:17. Open thy eyes, and behold: for the dead that are in hell, whose
|
|
spirit is taken away from their bowels, shall not give glory and
|
|
justice to the Lord:
|
|
|
|
Justice, etc. . .They that are in hell shall not give justice to God;
|
|
that is, they shall not acknowledge and glorify his justice as penitent
|
|
sinners do upon earth.
|
|
|
|
2:18. But the soul that is sorrowful for the greatness of evil she hath
|
|
done, and goeth bowed down, and feeble, and the eyes that fail, and the
|
|
hungry soul giveth glory and justice to thee the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:19. For it is not for the justices of our fathers that we pour out
|
|
our prayers, and beg mercy in thy sight, O Lord our God:
|
|
|
|
2:20. But because thou hast sent out thy wrath, and thy indignation
|
|
upon us, as thou hast spoken by the hand of thy servants the prophets,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
2:21. Thus saith the Lord: Bow down your shoulder, and your neck, and
|
|
serve the king of Babylon: and you shall remain in the land which I
|
|
have given to your fathers.
|
|
|
|
2:22. But if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to
|
|
serve the king of Babylon: I will cause you to depart out of the cities
|
|
of Juda, and from without Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
2:23. And I will take away from you the voice of mirth, and the voice
|
|
of joy, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride,
|
|
and all the land shall be without any footstep of inhabitants.
|
|
|
|
2:24. And they hearkened not to thy voice, to serve the king of
|
|
Babylon: and thou hast made good thy words, which thou spokest by the
|
|
hands of thy servants the prophets, that the bones of our kings, and
|
|
the bones of our fathers should be removed out of their place:
|
|
|
|
2:25. And behold they are cast out to the heat of the sun, and to the
|
|
frost of the night: and they have died in grievous pains, by famine,
|
|
and by the sword, and in banishment.
|
|
|
|
2:26. And thou hast made the temple, in which thy name was called upon,
|
|
as it is at this day, for the iniquity of the house of Israel, and the
|
|
house of Juda.
|
|
|
|
2:27. And thou hast dealt with us, O Lord our God, according to all thy
|
|
goodness, and according to all that great mercy of thine:
|
|
|
|
2:28. As thou spokest by the hand of thy servant Moses, in the day when
|
|
thou didst command him to write thy law before the children of Israel,
|
|
|
|
2:29. Saying: If you will not hear my voice, this great multitude shall
|
|
be turned into a very small number among the nations, where I will
|
|
scatter them:
|
|
|
|
2:30. For I know that the people will not hear me, for they are a
|
|
people of a stiff neck: but they shall turn to their heart in the land
|
|
of their captivity:
|
|
|
|
2:31. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God: and I will give
|
|
them a heart, and they shall understand: and ears, and they shall hear.
|
|
|
|
2:32. And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and
|
|
shall be mindful of my name.
|
|
|
|
2:33. And they shall turn away themselves from their stiff neck, and
|
|
from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their
|
|
fathers, that sinned against me.
|
|
|
|
2:34. And I will bring them back again into the land which I promised
|
|
with an oath to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they
|
|
shall be masters thereof: and I will multiply them, and they shall not
|
|
be diminished.
|
|
|
|
2:35. And I will make with them another covenant that shall be
|
|
everlasting, to be their God, and they shall be my people: and I will
|
|
no more remove my people, the children of Israel, out of the land that
|
|
I have given them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baruch Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
They pray for mercy, acknowledging that they are justly punished for
|
|
forsaking true wisdom. A prophecy of Christ.
|
|
|
|
3:1. And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish,
|
|
and the troubled spirit crieth to thee:
|
|
|
|
3:2. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for thou art a merciful God, and
|
|
have pity on us: for we have sinned before thee.
|
|
|
|
3:3. For thou remainest for ever, and shall we perish everlastingly?
|
|
|
|
3:4. O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, hear now the prayer of the
|
|
dead of Israel, and of their children, that have sinned before thee,
|
|
and have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, wherefore
|
|
evils have cleaved fast to us.
|
|
|
|
3:5. Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but think upon thy
|
|
hand, and upon thy name at this time:
|
|
|
|
3:6. For thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord:
|
|
|
|
3:7. Because for this end thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, to the
|
|
intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in our
|
|
captivity, for we are converted from the iniquity of our fathers, who
|
|
sinned before thee.
|
|
|
|
3:8. And behold we are at this day in our captivity, whereby thou hast
|
|
scattered us to be a reproach, and a curse, and an offence, according
|
|
to all the iniquities of our fathers, who departed from thee, O Lord
|
|
our God.
|
|
|
|
3:9. Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou
|
|
mayst learn wisdom.
|
|
|
|
3:10. How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies' land?
|
|
|
|
3:11. Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with
|
|
the dead: thou art counted with them that go down into hell.
|
|
|
|
3:12. Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom:
|
|
|
|
3:13. For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst surely
|
|
dwelt in peace for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:14. Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding:
|
|
that thou mayst know also where is length of days and life, where is
|
|
the light of the eyes, and peace.
|
|
|
|
3:15. Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her
|
|
treasures?
|
|
|
|
3:16. Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the
|
|
beasts that are upon the earth?
|
|
|
|
3:17. That take their diversion with the birds of the air.
|
|
|
|
3:18. That hoard up silver and gold, wherein men trust, and there is no
|
|
end of their getting? who work in silver and are solicitous, and their
|
|
works are unsearchable.
|
|
|
|
3:19. They are cut off, and are gone down to hell, and others are risen
|
|
up in their place.
|
|
|
|
3:20. Young men have seen the light, and dwelt upon the earth: but the
|
|
way of knowledge they have not known,
|
|
|
|
3:21. Nor have they understood the paths thereof, neither have their
|
|
children received it, it is far from their face.
|
|
|
|
3:22. It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, neither hath it
|
|
been seen in Theman.
|
|
|
|
Theman. . .The capital city of Edom.
|
|
|
|
3:23. The children of Agar also, that search after the wisdom that is
|
|
of the earth, the merchants of Merrha, and of Theman, and the tellers
|
|
of fables, and searchers of prudence and understanding: but the way of
|
|
wisdom they have not known, neither have they remembered her paths.
|
|
|
|
Agar. . .The mother of the Ismaelites.
|
|
|
|
3:24. O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the
|
|
place of his possession!
|
|
|
|
3:25. It is great, and hath no end: it is high and immense.
|
|
|
|
3:26. There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the
|
|
beginning, of great stature, expert in war.
|
|
|
|
3:27. The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of
|
|
knowledge: therefore did they perish.
|
|
|
|
3:28. And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their
|
|
folly.
|
|
|
|
3:29. Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down
|
|
from the clouds?
|
|
|
|
3:30. Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her
|
|
preferably to chosen gold?
|
|
|
|
3:31. There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search
|
|
out her paths:
|
|
|
|
3:32. But he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, and hath found her
|
|
out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore,
|
|
and filled it with cattle and fourfooted beasts:
|
|
|
|
3:33. He that sendeth forth the light, and it goeth: and hath called
|
|
it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.
|
|
|
|
3:34. And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced:
|
|
|
|
3:35. They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with
|
|
cheerfulness they have shined forth to him that made them.
|
|
|
|
3:36. This is our God, and there shall no other be accounted of in
|
|
comparison of him.
|
|
|
|
3:37. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his
|
|
servant, and to Israel his beloved.
|
|
|
|
3:38. Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.
|
|
|
|
Was seen upon earth, etc. . .viz., by the mystery of the incarnation, by
|
|
means of which the son of God came visibly amongst us, and conversed
|
|
with men. The prophets often speak of things to come as if they were
|
|
past, to express the certainty of the event of the things foretold.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baruch Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet exhorts to the keeping of the law of wisdom, and encourages
|
|
the people to be patient, and to hope for their deliverance.
|
|
|
|
4:1. This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law, that is
|
|
for ever: all they that keep it, shall come to life: but they that have
|
|
forsaken it, to death.
|
|
|
|
4:2. Return, O Jacob, and take hold of it, walk in the way by its
|
|
brightness, in the presence of the light thereof.
|
|
|
|
4:3. Give not thy honour to another, nor thy dignity to a strange
|
|
nation.
|
|
|
|
4:4. We are happy, O Israel: because the things that are pleasing to
|
|
God, are made known to us.
|
|
|
|
4:5. Be of good comfort, O people of God, the memorial of Israel:
|
|
|
|
4:6. You have been sold to the Gentiles, not for your destruction: but
|
|
because you provoked God to wrath, you are delivered to your
|
|
adversaries.
|
|
|
|
4:7. For you have provoked him who made you, the eternal God, offering
|
|
sacrifice to devils, and not to God.
|
|
|
|
4:8. For you have forgotten God, who brought you up, and you have
|
|
grieved Jerusalem that nursed you.
|
|
|
|
4:9. For she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, and she said: Give
|
|
ear, all you that dwell near Sion, for God hath brought upon me great
|
|
mourning:
|
|
|
|
4:10. For I have seen the captivity of my people, of my sons, and my
|
|
daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.
|
|
|
|
4:11. For I nourished them with joy: but I sent them away with weeping
|
|
and mourning.
|
|
|
|
4:12. Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and desolate: I am forsaken
|
|
of many for the sins of my children, because they departed from the law
|
|
of God.
|
|
|
|
4:13. And they have not known his justices, nor walked by the ways of
|
|
God's commandments, neither have they entered by the paths of his truth
|
|
and justice.
|
|
|
|
4:14. Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember the captivity
|
|
of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal hath brought upon them.
|
|
|
|
4:15. For he hath brought a nation upon them from afar, a wicked
|
|
nation, and of a strange tongue:
|
|
|
|
4:16. Who have neither reverenced the ancient, nor pitied children, and
|
|
have carried away the beloved of the widow, and have left me all alone
|
|
without children.
|
|
|
|
4:17. But as for me, what help can I give you?
|
|
|
|
4:18. But he that hath brought the evils upon you, he will deliver you
|
|
out of the hands of your enemies.
|
|
|
|
4:19. Go your way, my children, go your way: for I am left alone.
|
|
|
|
4:20. I have put off the robe of peace, and have put upon me the
|
|
sackcloth of supplication, and I will cry to the most High in my days.
|
|
|
|
4:21. Be of good comfort, my children, cry to the Lord, and he will
|
|
deliver you out of the hand of the princes your enemies.
|
|
|
|
4:22. For my hope is in the Eternal that he will save you: and joy is
|
|
come upon me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which shall come
|
|
to you from our everlasting Saviour.
|
|
|
|
4:23. For I sent you forth with mourning and weeping: but the Lord will
|
|
bring you back to me with joy and gladness for ever.
|
|
|
|
4:24. For as the neighbours of Sion have now seen your captivity from
|
|
God: so shall they also shortly see your salvation from God, which
|
|
shall come upon you with great honour, and everlasting glory.
|
|
|
|
4:25. My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you:
|
|
for thy enemy hath persecuted thee, but thou shalt quickly see his
|
|
destruction: and thou shalt get up upon his neck.
|
|
|
|
4:26. My delicate ones have walked rough ways, for they were taken away
|
|
as a flock made a prey by the enemies.
|
|
|
|
4:27. Be of good comfort, my children, and cry to the Lord: for you
|
|
shall be remembered by him that hath led you away.
|
|
|
|
4:28. For as it was your mind to go astray from God; so when you return
|
|
again you shall seek him ten times as much.
|
|
|
|
4:29. For he that hath brought evils upon you, shall bring you
|
|
everlasting joy again with your salvation.
|
|
|
|
4:30. Be of good heart, O Jerusalem: for he exhorteth thee, that named
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
4:31. The wicked that have afflicted thee, shall perish: and they that
|
|
have rejoiced at thy ruin, shall be punished.
|
|
|
|
4:32. The cities which thy children have served, shall be punished: and
|
|
she that received thy sons.
|
|
|
|
She that received, etc. . .viz., Babylon.
|
|
|
|
4:33. For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so
|
|
shall she be grieved for her own desolation.
|
|
|
|
4:34. And the joy of her multitude shall be cut off: and her gladness
|
|
shall be turned to mourning.
|
|
|
|
4:35. For fire shall come upon her from the Eternal, long to endure,
|
|
and she shall be inhabited by devils for a great time.
|
|
|
|
4:36. Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east, and behold the
|
|
joy that cometh to thee from God.
|
|
|
|
4:37. For behold thy children come, whom thou sentest away scattered,
|
|
they come gathered together from the east even to the west, at the word
|
|
of the Holy One rejoicing for the honour of God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baruch Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jerusalem is invited to rejoice and behold the return of her children
|
|
out of their captivity.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of thy mourning, and affliction:
|
|
and put on the beauty, and honour of that everlasting glory which thou
|
|
hast from God.
|
|
|
|
5:2. God will clothe thee with the double garment of justice, and will
|
|
set a crown on thy head of everlasting honour.
|
|
|
|
5:3. For God will shew his brightness in thee, to every one under
|
|
heaven.
|
|
|
|
5:4. For thy name shall be named to thee by God for ever: the peace of
|
|
justice, and honour of piety.
|
|
|
|
5:5. Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high: and look about towards the
|
|
east, and behold thy children gathered together from the rising to the
|
|
setting sun, by the word of the Holy One rejoicing in the remembrance
|
|
of God.
|
|
|
|
5:6. For they went out from thee on foot, led by the enemies: but the
|
|
Lord will bring them to thee exalted with honour as children of the
|
|
kingdom.
|
|
|
|
5:7. For God hath appointed to bring down every high mountain, and the
|
|
everlasting rocks, and to fill up the valleys to make them even with
|
|
the ground: that Israel may walk diligently to the honour of God.
|
|
|
|
5:8. Moreover the woods, and every sweetsmelling tree have overshadowed
|
|
Israel by the commandment of God.
|
|
|
|
5:9. For God will bring Israel with joy in the light of his majesty,
|
|
with mercy, and justice, that cometh from him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baruch Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
The epistle of Jeremias to the captives, as a preservative against
|
|
idolatry.
|
|
|
|
A copy of the epistle that Jeremias sent to them that were to be led
|
|
away captives into Babylon, by the king of Babylon, to declare to them
|
|
according to what was commanded him by God.
|
|
|
|
6:1. For the sins that you have committed before God, you shall be
|
|
carried away captives into Babylon by Nabuchodonosor the king of
|
|
Babylon.
|
|
|
|
6:2. And when you are come into Babylon, you shall be there many years,
|
|
and for a long time, even to seven generations: and after that I will
|
|
bring you away from thence with peace.
|
|
|
|
Seven generations. . .That is, seventy years.
|
|
|
|
6:3. But now, you shall see in Babylon gods of gold, and of silver, and
|
|
of stone, and of wood borne upon shoulders, causing fear to the
|
|
Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
6:4. Beware therefore that you imitate not the doings of others, and be
|
|
afraid, and the fear of them should seize upon you.
|
|
|
|
6:5. But when you see the multitude behind, and before, adoring them,
|
|
say you in your hearts: Thou oughtest to be adored, O Lord.
|
|
|
|
6:6. For my angel is with you: And I myself will demand an account of
|
|
your souls.
|
|
|
|
6:7. For their tongue that is polished by the craftsman, and themselves
|
|
laid over with gold and silver, are false things, and they cannot
|
|
speak.
|
|
|
|
6:8. And as if it were for a maiden that loveth to go gay: so do they
|
|
take gold and make them up.
|
|
|
|
6:9. Their gods have golden crowns upon their heads: whereof the
|
|
priests secretly convey away from them gold, and silver, and bestow it
|
|
on themselves.
|
|
|
|
6:10. Yea and they give thereof to prostitutes, and they dress out
|
|
harlots: and again when they receive it of the harlots, they adorn
|
|
their gods.
|
|
|
|
6:11. And these gods cannot defend themselves from the rust, and the
|
|
moth.
|
|
|
|
6:12. But when they have covered them with a purple garment, they wipe
|
|
their face because of the dust of the house, which is very much among
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
6:13. This holdeth a sceptre as a man, as a judge of the country, but
|
|
cannot put to death one that offendeth him.
|
|
|
|
6:14. And this hath in his hand a sword, or an axe, but cannot save
|
|
himself from war, or from robbers, whereby be it known to you, that
|
|
they are not gods.
|
|
|
|
6:15. Therefore fear them not. For as a vessel that a man uses when it
|
|
is broken becometh useless, even so are their gods:
|
|
|
|
6:16. When they are placed in the house, their eyes are full of dust by
|
|
the feet of them that go in.
|
|
|
|
6:17. And as the gates are made sure on every side upon one that hath
|
|
offended the king, or like a dead man carried to the grave, so do the
|
|
priests secure the doors with bars and locks, lest they be stripped by
|
|
thieves.
|
|
|
|
6:18. They light candles to them, and in great number, of which they
|
|
cannot see one: but they are like beams in the house.
|
|
|
|
6:19. And they say that the creeping things which are of the earth,
|
|
gnaw their hearts, while they eat them and their garments, and they
|
|
feel it not.
|
|
|
|
6:20. Their faces are black with the smoke that is made in the house.
|
|
|
|
6:21. Owls, and swallows, and other birds fly upon their bodies, and
|
|
upon their heads, and cats in like manner.
|
|
|
|
6:22. Whereby you may know that they are no gods. Therefore fear them
|
|
not.
|
|
|
|
6:23. The gold also which they have, is for shew, but except a man wipe
|
|
off the rust, they will not shine: for neither when they were molten,
|
|
did they feel it.
|
|
|
|
6:24. Men buy them at a high price, whereas there is no breath in them.
|
|
|
|
6:25. And having not the use of feet they are carried upon shoulders,
|
|
declaring to men how vile they are. Be they confounded also that
|
|
worship them.
|
|
|
|
6:26. Therefore if they fall to the ground, they rise not up again of
|
|
themselves, nor if a man set them upright, will they stand by
|
|
themselves, but their gifts shall be set before them, as to the dead.
|
|
|
|
6:27. The things that are sacrificed to them, their priests sell and
|
|
abuse: in like manner also their wives take part of them, but give
|
|
nothing of it either to the sick, or to the poor.
|
|
|
|
6:28. The childbearing and menstruous women touch their sacrifices:
|
|
knowing, therefore, by these things that they are not gods, fear them
|
|
not.
|
|
|
|
6:29. For how can they be called gods? because women set offerings
|
|
before the gods of silver, and of gold, and of wood:
|
|
|
|
6:30. And priests sit in their temples, having their garments rent, and
|
|
their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their heads.
|
|
|
|
6:31. And they roar and cry before their gods, as men do at the feast
|
|
when one is dead.
|
|
|
|
6:32. The priests take away their garments, and clothe their wives and
|
|
their children.
|
|
|
|
6:33. And whether it be evil that one doth unto them, or good, they are
|
|
not able to recompense it: neither can they set up a king, nor put him
|
|
down:
|
|
|
|
6:34. In like manner they can neither give riches, nor requite evil. If
|
|
a man make a vow to them, and perform it not: they cannot require it.
|
|
|
|
6:35. They cannot deliver a man from death, nor save the weak from the
|
|
mighty.
|
|
|
|
6:36. They cannot restore the blind man to his sight: nor deliver a man
|
|
from distress.
|
|
|
|
36:7. They shall not pity the widow, nor do good to the fatherless.
|
|
|
|
6:38. Their gods, of wood, and of stone, and of gold, and of silver,
|
|
are like the stones that are hewn out of the mountains: and they that
|
|
worship them shall be confounded.
|
|
|
|
6:39. How then is it to be supposed, or to be said, that they are gods?
|
|
|
|
6:40. Even the Chaldeans themselves dishonor them: who when they here
|
|
of one dumb that cannot speak, they present him to Bel, entreating him,
|
|
that he may speak.
|
|
|
|
6:41. As though they could be sensible that have no motion themselves:
|
|
and they, when they shall perceive this, will leave them: for their
|
|
gods themselves have no sense.
|
|
|
|
6:42. The women also, with cords about them, sit in the ways, burning
|
|
olive-stones.
|
|
|
|
6:43. And when any one of them, drawn away by some passenger, lieth
|
|
with him, she upbraideth her neighbor, that she was not thought as
|
|
worthy as herself, nor her cord broken.
|
|
|
|
6:44. But all things that are done about them, are false: how is it
|
|
then to be thought, or to be said, that they are gods?
|
|
|
|
6:45. And they are made by workmen, and by goldsmiths. They shall be
|
|
nothing else but what the priests will have them to be.
|
|
|
|
6:46. For the artificers themselves that make them, are of no long
|
|
continuance. Can those things then that are made by them, be gods?
|
|
|
|
6:47. But they have left false things and reproach to them that come
|
|
after.
|
|
|
|
6:48. For when war cometh upon them , or evils: the priests consult
|
|
with themselves, where they may hide themselves with them.
|
|
|
|
6:49. How then can they be thought to be gods, that can neither deliver
|
|
themselves from war, nor save themselves from evils?
|
|
|
|
6:50. For seeing they are but of wood, and laid over with gold, and
|
|
with silver, it shall be known hereafter that they are false things, by
|
|
all nations, and kings: and it shall be manifest that they are no gods,
|
|
but the work of men's hands, and that there is no work of God in them.
|
|
|
|
6:51. Whence, therefore, is it known that they are not gods, but the
|
|
work of men's hands, and no work of God is in them?
|
|
|
|
6:52. They cannot set up a king over the land, nor give rain to men.
|
|
|
|
6:53. They determine no causes, nor deliver countries from oppression:
|
|
because they can do nothing, and are as daws between heaven and earth.
|
|
|
|
6:54. For when fire shall fall upon the house of these gods of wood,
|
|
and of silver, and of gold, their priests indeed will flee away, and be
|
|
saved: but they themselves shall be burnt in the midst like beams.
|
|
|
|
6:55. And they cannot withstand a king and war. How then can it be
|
|
supposed, or admitted, that they are gods?
|
|
|
|
6:56. Neither are these gods of wood, and of stone, and laid over with
|
|
gold, and with silver, able to deliver themselves from thieves or
|
|
robbers: they that are stronger than them,
|
|
|
|
They that are stronger than them. . .That is, robbers and thieves are
|
|
stronger than these idols, being things without life or motion.
|
|
|
|
6:57. Shall take from them the gold, and silver, and the raiment
|
|
wherewith they are clothed, and shall go their way, neither shall they
|
|
help themselves.
|
|
|
|
6:58. Therefore it is better to be a king that sheweth his power: or
|
|
else a profitable vessel in the house, with which the owner thereof
|
|
will be well satisfied: or a door in the house, to keep things safe
|
|
that are therein, than such false gods.
|
|
|
|
6:59. The sun, and the moon, and the stars being bright, and sent forth
|
|
for profitable uses, are obedient.
|
|
|
|
6:60. In like manner the lightning, when it breaketh forth, is easy to
|
|
be seen: and after the same manner the wind bloweth in every country.
|
|
|
|
6:61. And the clouds, when God commandeth them to go over the whole
|
|
world, do that which is commanded them.
|
|
|
|
6:62. The fire also being sent from above to consume mountains, and
|
|
woods, doth as it is commanded. But these neither in shew, nor in
|
|
power, are alike to any one of them.
|
|
|
|
6:63. Wherefore it is neither to be thought, nor to be said, that they
|
|
are gods: since they are neither able to judge causes, nor to do any
|
|
good to men.
|
|
|
|
6:64. Knowing, therefore, that they are not gods, fear them not.
|
|
|
|
6:65. For neither can they curse kings, nor bless them.
|
|
|
|
6:66. Neither do they shew signs in the heaven to the nations, nor
|
|
shine as the sun, nor give light as the moon.
|
|
|
|
6:67. Beasts are better than they, which can fly under a covert, and
|
|
help themselves.
|
|
|
|
6:68. Therefore there is no manner of appearance that they are gods: so
|
|
fear them not.
|
|
|
|
6:69. For as a scarecrow in a garden of cucumbers keepeth nothing, so
|
|
are their gods of wood, and of silver, and laid over with gold.
|
|
|
|
6:70. They are no better than a white thorn in a garden, upon which
|
|
every bird sitteth. In like manner also their gods of wood, and laid
|
|
over with gold, and with silver, are like to a dead body cast forth in
|
|
the dark.
|
|
|
|
6:71. By the purple also and the scarlet which are motheaten upon them,
|
|
you shall know that they are not gods. And they themselves at last are
|
|
consumed, and shall be a reproach in the country.
|
|
|
|
6:72. Better, therefore, is the just man that hath no idols: for he
|
|
shall be far from reproach.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF EZECHIEL
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EZECHIEL, whose name signifies the STRENGTH OF GOD, was of the priestly
|
|
race; and of the number of captives that were carried away to Babylon
|
|
with king JOACHIN. He was contemporary with JEREMIAS, and prophesied to
|
|
the same effect in Babylon, as JEREMIAS did in Jerusalem; and is said
|
|
to have ended his days in like manner, by martyrdom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The time of Ezechiel's prophecy: he sees a glorious vision.
|
|
|
|
1:1. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on
|
|
the fifth day of the month, when I was in the midst of the captives by
|
|
the river Chobar, the heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
The thirtieth year. . .Either of the age of Ezechiel; or, as others will
|
|
have it, from the solemn covenant made in the eighteenth year of the
|
|
reign of Josias. 4 Kings 23.
|
|
|
|
1:2. On the fifth day of the month, the same was the fifth year of the
|
|
captivity of king Joachin,
|
|
|
|
1:3. The word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the priest the son of Buzi
|
|
in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chobar: and the hand of the
|
|
Lord was there upon him.
|
|
|
|
1:4. And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north: and a
|
|
great cloud, and a fire infolding it, and brightness was about it: and
|
|
out of the midst thereof, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it
|
|
were the resemblance of amber:
|
|
|
|
1:5. And in the midst thereof the likeness of four living creatures:
|
|
and this was their appearance: there was the likeness of a man in them.
|
|
|
|
Living creatures. . .Cherubims (as appears from Ecclesiasticus 49.10)
|
|
represented to the prophet under these mysterious shapes, as supporting
|
|
the throne of God, and as it were drawing his chariot. All this chapter
|
|
appeared so obscure, and so full of mysteries to the ancient Hebrews,
|
|
that, as we learn from St. Jerome, (Ep. ad Paulin.,) they suffered none
|
|
to read it before they were thirty years old.
|
|
|
|
1:6. Every one had four faces, and every one four wings.
|
|
|
|
1:7. Their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their foot was like
|
|
the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled like the appearance of
|
|
glowing brass.
|
|
|
|
1:8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four
|
|
sides: and they had faces, and wings on the four sides,
|
|
|
|
1:9. And the wings of one were joined to the wings of another. They
|
|
turned not when they went: but every one went straight forward.
|
|
|
|
1:10. And as for the likeness of their faces: there was the face of a
|
|
man, and the face of a lion on the right side of all the four: and the
|
|
face of an ox, on the left side of all the four: and the face of an
|
|
eagle over all the four.
|
|
|
|
1:11. And their faces, and their wings were stretched upward: two wings
|
|
of every one were joined, and two covered their bodies:
|
|
|
|
1:12. And every one of them went straight forward: whither the impulse
|
|
of the spirit was to go, thither they went: and they turned not when
|
|
they went.
|
|
|
|
1:13. And as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance
|
|
was like that of burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of
|
|
lamps. This was the vision running to and fro in the midst of the
|
|
living creatures, a bright fire, and lightning going forth from the
|
|
fire.
|
|
|
|
1:14. And the living creatures ran and returned like flashes of
|
|
lightning.
|
|
|
|
1:15. Now as I beheld the living creatures, there appeared upon the
|
|
earth by the living creatures one wheel with four faces.
|
|
|
|
1:16. And the appearance of the wheels, and the work of them was like
|
|
the appearance of the sea: and the four had all one likeness: and their
|
|
appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the midst of a
|
|
wheel.
|
|
|
|
1:17. When they went, they went by their four parts: and they turned
|
|
not when they went.
|
|
|
|
When they went, they went by their four parts. . .That is, indifferently
|
|
to any of their sides either forward or backward: to the right or to
|
|
the left.
|
|
|
|
1:18. The wheels had also a size, and a height, and a dreadful
|
|
appearance: and the whole body was full of eyes round about all the
|
|
four.
|
|
|
|
1:19. And, when the living creatures went, the wheels also went
|
|
together by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the
|
|
earth, the wheels also were lifted up with them.
|
|
|
|
1:20. Withersoever the spirit went, thither as the spirit went the
|
|
wheels also were lifted up withal, and followed it: for the spirit of
|
|
life was in the wheels.
|
|
|
|
1:21. 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
|
|
together, and followed them: for the spirit of life was in the wheels.
|
|
|
|
1:22. And over the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of
|
|
the firmament, the appearance of crystal terrible to behold, and
|
|
stretched out over their heads above.
|
|
|
|
1:23. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward
|
|
the other, every one with two wings covered his body, and the other was
|
|
covered in like manner.
|
|
|
|
1:24. And I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many
|
|
waters, as it were the voice of the most high God: when they walked, it
|
|
was like the voice of a multitude, like the noise of an army, and when
|
|
they stood, their wings were let down.
|
|
|
|
1:25. For when a voice came from above the firmament, that was over
|
|
their heads, they stood, and let down their wings.
|
|
|
|
1:26. And above the firmament that was over their heads, was the
|
|
likeness of a throne, as the appearance of the sapphire stone, and upon
|
|
the likeness of the throne, was the likeness of the appearance of a man
|
|
above upon it.
|
|
|
|
1:27. And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber as the appearance
|
|
of fire within it round about: from his loins and upward, and from his
|
|
loins downward, I saw as it were the resemblance of fire shining round
|
|
about.
|
|
|
|
1:28. As the appearance of the rainbow when it is in a cloud on a rainy
|
|
day: this was the appearance of the brightness round about.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet receives his commission.
|
|
|
|
2:1. This was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord, and
|
|
I saw, and I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of one that
|
|
spoke, and he said to me: Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will
|
|
speak to thee.
|
|
|
|
2:2. And the spirit entered into me after that he spoke to me, and he
|
|
set me upon my feet: and I heard him speaking to me,
|
|
|
|
2:3. And saying: Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to
|
|
a rebellious people, that hath revolted from me, they, and their
|
|
fathers, have transgressed my covenant even unto this day.
|
|
|
|
2:4. And they to whom I send thee are children of a hard face, and of
|
|
an obstinate heart: and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord
|
|
God:
|
|
|
|
2:5. If so be they at least will hear, and if so be they will forbear,
|
|
for they are a provoking house: and they shall know that there hath
|
|
been a prophet in the midst of them.
|
|
|
|
2:6. And thou, O son of man, fear not, neither be thou afraid of their
|
|
words: for thou art among unbelievers and destroyers, and thou dwellest
|
|
with scorpions. Fear not their words, neither be thou dismayed at their
|
|
looks: for they are a provoking house.
|
|
|
|
2:7. And thou shalt speak my words to them, if perhaps they will hear,
|
|
and forbear: for they provoke me to anger.
|
|
|
|
2:8. But thou, O son of man, hear all that I say to thee: and do not
|
|
thou provoke me, as that house provoketh me: open thy mouth, and eat
|
|
what I give thee.
|
|
|
|
2:9. And I looked, and behold, a hand was sent to me, wherein was a
|
|
book rolled up: and he spread it before me, and it was written within
|
|
and without: and there were written in it lamentations, and canticles,
|
|
and woe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet eats the book, and receives further instructions: the
|
|
office of a watchman.
|
|
|
|
3:1. And he said to me: Son of man, eat all that thou shalt find: eat
|
|
this book, and go speak to the children of Israel.
|
|
|
|
Eat this book, and go speak to the children of Israel. . .By this eating
|
|
of the book was signified the diligent attention and affection with
|
|
which we are to receive, and embrace the word of God; and to let it, as
|
|
it were, sink into our interior by devout meditation.
|
|
|
|
3:2. And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that book:
|
|
|
|
3:3. And he said to me: Son of man, thy belly shall eat, and thy bowels
|
|
shall be filled with this book, which I give thee, and I did eat it:
|
|
and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.
|
|
|
|
3:4. And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and thou
|
|
shalt speak my words to them.
|
|
|
|
3:5. For thou art not sent to a people of a profound speech, and of an
|
|
unknown tongue, but to the house of Israel:
|
|
|
|
3:6. Nor to many nations of a strange speech, and of an unknown tongue,
|
|
whose words thou canst not understand: and if thou wert sent to them,
|
|
they would hearken to thee.
|
|
|
|
3:7. But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee: because they
|
|
will not hearken to me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard
|
|
forehead and an obstinate heart.
|
|
|
|
3:8. Behold I have made thy face stronger than their faces: and thy
|
|
forehead harder than their foreheads.
|
|
|
|
3:9. I have made thy face like an adamant and like flint: fear them
|
|
not, neither be thou dismayed at their presence: for they are a
|
|
provoking house.
|
|
|
|
3:10. And he said to me: Son of man, receive in thy heart, and hear
|
|
with thy ears, all the words that I speak to thee:
|
|
|
|
3:11. And go get thee in to them of the captivity, to the children of
|
|
thy people, and thou shalt speak to them, and shalt say to them: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord: If so be they will hear, and will forbear.
|
|
|
|
3:12. And the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a
|
|
great commotion, saying: Blessed be the glory of the Lord, from his
|
|
place.
|
|
|
|
3:13. The noise of the wings of the living creatures striking one
|
|
against another, and the noise of the wheels following the living
|
|
creatures, and the noise of a great commotion.
|
|
|
|
3:14. The spirit also lifted me, and took me up: and I went away in
|
|
bitterness in the indignation of my spirit: for the hand of the Lord
|
|
was with me, strengthening me.
|
|
|
|
3:15. And I came to them of the captivity, to the heap of new corn, to
|
|
them that dwelt by the river Chobar, and I sat where they sat: and I
|
|
remained there seven days mourning in the midst of them.
|
|
|
|
The heap of new corn. . .It was the name of a place: in Hebrew, tel
|
|
abib.
|
|
|
|
3:16. And at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
3:17. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel:
|
|
and thou shalt hear the word out of my mouth, and shalt tell it them
|
|
from me.
|
|
|
|
3:18. If, when I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die: thou declare
|
|
it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his
|
|
wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity,
|
|
but I will require his blood at thy hand.
|
|
|
|
3:19. But if thou give warning to the wicked, and he be not converted
|
|
from his wickedness, and from his evil way: he indeed shall die in his
|
|
iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.
|
|
|
|
3:20. Moreover if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and
|
|
shall commit iniquity: I will lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall
|
|
die, because thou hast not given him warning: he shall die in his sin,
|
|
and his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: but I
|
|
will require his blood at thy hand.
|
|
|
|
3:21. But if thou warn the just man, that the just may not sin, and he
|
|
doth not sin: living he shall live, because thou hast warned him, and
|
|
thou hast delivered thy soul.
|
|
|
|
3:22. And the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he said to me: Rise and
|
|
go forth into the plain, and there I will speak to thee.
|
|
|
|
3:23. And I rose up, and went forth into the plain: and behold the
|
|
glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river
|
|
Chobar: and I fell upon my face.
|
|
|
|
3:24. And the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet: and he
|
|
spoke to me, and said to me: Go in; and shut thyself up in the midst of
|
|
thy house.
|
|
|
|
3:25. And thou, O son of man, behold they shall put bands upon thee,
|
|
and they shall bind thee with them: and thou shalt not go forth from
|
|
the midst of them.
|
|
|
|
3:26. And I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth,
|
|
and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that reproveth: because they
|
|
are a provoking house.
|
|
|
|
3:27. But when I shall speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou
|
|
shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: He that heareth, let him
|
|
hear: and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a provoking
|
|
house.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophetic description of the siege of Jerusalem, and the famine that
|
|
shall reign there.
|
|
|
|
4:1. And thou, O son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee:
|
|
and draw upon it the plan of the city of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
4:2. And lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast up a mount,
|
|
and set a camp against it, and place battering rams round about it.
|
|
|
|
4:3. And take unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron
|
|
between thee and the city: and set thy face resolutely against it, and
|
|
it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it: it is a sign
|
|
to the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
4:4. And thou shalt sleep upon thy left side, and shalt lay the
|
|
iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of
|
|
the days that thou shalt sleep upon it, and thou shalt take upon thee
|
|
their iniquity.
|
|
|
|
4:5. And I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according
|
|
to the number of the days three hundred and ninety days: and thou shalt
|
|
bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
4:6. And when thou hast accomplished this, thou shalt sleep again upon
|
|
thy right side, and thou shalt take upon thee the iniquity of the house
|
|
of Juda forty days: a day for a year, yea, a day for a year I have
|
|
appointed to thee.
|
|
|
|
4:7. And thou shalt turn thy face to the siege of Jerusalem and thy arm
|
|
shall be stretched out: and thou shalt prophesy against it.
|
|
|
|
4:8. Behold I have encompassed thee with bands: and thou shalt not turn
|
|
thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast ended the days of
|
|
thy siege.
|
|
|
|
4:9. And take to thee wheat and barley, and beans, and lentils, and
|
|
millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make 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.
|
|
|
|
4:10. And thy meat that thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty
|
|
staters a day: from time to time thou shalt eat it.
|
|
|
|
4:11. And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin:
|
|
from time to time thou shalt drink it,
|
|
|
|
Hin. . .That is, a measure of liquids containing about ten pints.
|
|
|
|
4:12. And thou shalt eat it as barley bread baked under the ashes: and
|
|
thou shalt cover it, in their sight, with the dung that cometh out of a
|
|
man.
|
|
|
|
4:13. And the Lord said: So shall the children of Israel eat their
|
|
bread all filthy among the nations whither I will cast them out.
|
|
|
|
4:14. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, behold my soul hath not been
|
|
defiled, and from my infancy even till now, I have not eaten any thing
|
|
that died of itself, or was torn by beasts, and no unclean flesh hath
|
|
entered into my mouth.
|
|
|
|
4:15. And he said to me: Behold I have given thee neat's dung for man's
|
|
dung, and thou shalt make thy bread therewith.
|
|
|
|
4:16. And he said to me: Son of man: Behold, I will break in pieces the
|
|
staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and
|
|
with care: and they shall drink water by measure, and in distress.
|
|
|
|
4:17. So that when bread and water fail, every man may fall against his
|
|
brother, and they may pine away in their iniquities.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
The judgments of God upon the Jews are foreshewn under the type of the
|
|
prophet's hair.
|
|
|
|
5:1. And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife that shaveth the
|
|
hair: and cause it to pass over thy head, and over thy beard: and take
|
|
thee a balance to weigh in, and divide the hair.
|
|
|
|
5:2. A third part thou shalt burn with fire in the midst of the city,
|
|
according to the fulfilling of the days of the siege: and thou shalt
|
|
take a third part, and cut it in pieces with the knife all round about:
|
|
and the other third part thou shalt scatter in the wind, and I will
|
|
draw out the sword after them.
|
|
|
|
5:3. And thou shalt take thereof a small number: and shalt bind them in
|
|
the skirt of thy cloak.
|
|
|
|
5:4. And thou shalt take of them again, and shalt cast them in the
|
|
midst of the fire, and shalt burn them with fire: and out of it shall
|
|
come forth a fire into all the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
5:5. Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem, I have set her in the
|
|
midst of the nations, and the countries round about her.
|
|
|
|
5:6. And she hath despised my judgments, so as to be more wicked than
|
|
the Gentiles; and my commandments, more than the countries that are
|
|
round about her: for they have cast off my judgments, and have not
|
|
walked in my commandments.
|
|
|
|
5:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have surpassed the
|
|
Gentiles that are round about you, and have not walked in my
|
|
commandments, and have not kept my judgments, and have not done
|
|
according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you:
|
|
|
|
5:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, and
|
|
I myself will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of
|
|
the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
5:9. And I will do in thee that which I have not done: and the like to
|
|
which I will do no more, because of all thy abominations.
|
|
|
|
5:10. 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 I will scatter thy whole remnant into every wind.
|
|
|
|
5:11. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God: Because thou hast
|
|
violated my sanctuary with all thy offences, and with all thy
|
|
abominations: I will also break thee in pieces, and my eye shall not
|
|
spare, and I will not have any pity.
|
|
|
|
5:12. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and shall be
|
|
consumed with famine in the midst of thee: and a third part of thee
|
|
shall fall by the sword round about thee: and a third part of thee will
|
|
I scatter into every wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.
|
|
|
|
5:13. And I will accomplish my fury, and will cause my indignation 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 shall have accomplished my
|
|
indignation in them.
|
|
|
|
5:14. And I will make thee desolate, and a reproach among the nations
|
|
that are round about thee, in the sight of every one that passeth by.
|
|
|
|
5:15. And thou shalt be a reproach, and a scoff, an example, and an
|
|
astonishment amongst the nations that are round about thee, when I
|
|
shall have executed judgments in thee in anger, and in indignation, and
|
|
in wrathful rebukes.
|
|
|
|
5:16. I the Lord have spoken it: When I shall send upon them the
|
|
grievous arrows of famine, which shall bring death, and which I will
|
|
send to destroy you: and I will gather together famine against you: and
|
|
I will break among you the staff of bread.
|
|
|
|
5:17. And I will send in upon you famine, and evil beasts unto utter
|
|
destruction: and pestilence, and blood shall pass through thee, and I
|
|
will bring in the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
The punishment of Israel for their idolatry: a remnant shall be saved.
|
|
|
|
6:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
6:2. Son of man set thy face towards the mountains of Israel, and
|
|
prophesy against them.
|
|
|
|
6:3. And say: Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God:
|
|
Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the
|
|
rocks, and the valleys: Behold, I will bring upon you the sword, and I
|
|
will destroy your high places.
|
|
|
|
6:4. And I will throw down your altars, and your idols shall be broken
|
|
in pieces: and I will cast down your slain before your idols.
|
|
|
|
6:5. And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before
|
|
your idols: and I will scatter your bones round about your altars,
|
|
|
|
6:6. In all your dwelling places. The cities shall be laid waste, and
|
|
the high places shall be thrown down, and destroyed, and your altars
|
|
shall be abolished, and shall be broken in pieces: and your idols shall
|
|
be no more, and your temples shall be destroyed, and your works shall
|
|
be defaced.
|
|
|
|
6:7. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you: and you shall know
|
|
that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
6:8. And I will leave in you some that shall escape the sword among the
|
|
nations, when I shall have scattered you through the countries.
|
|
|
|
6:9. And they that are saved of you shall remember me amongst the
|
|
nations, to which they are carried captives: because I have broken
|
|
their heart that was faithless, and revolted from me: and their eyes
|
|
that went a fornicating after their idols: and they shall be displeased
|
|
with themselves because of the evils which they have committed in all
|
|
their abominations.
|
|
|
|
6:10. And they shall know that I the Lord have not spoken in vain that
|
|
I would do this evil to them.
|
|
|
|
6:11. Thus saith the Lord God: Strike with thy hand and stamp with thy
|
|
foot, and say: Alas, for all the abominations of the evils of the house
|
|
of Israel: for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the
|
|
pestilence.
|
|
|
|
6:12. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence: and he that is
|
|
near, shall fall by the sword: and he that remaineth, and is besieged,
|
|
shall die by the famine: and I will accomplish my indignation upon
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
6:13. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when your slain shall be
|
|
amongst your idols, round about your altars, in every high hill, and on
|
|
all the tops of mountains, and under every woody tree, and under every
|
|
thick oak, the place where they burnt sweet smelling frankincense to
|
|
all their idols.
|
|
|
|
6:14. And I will stretch forth my hand upon them: and I will make the
|
|
land desolate, and abandoned from the desert of Deblatha in all their
|
|
dwelling places: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
The final desolation of Israel: from which few shall escape.
|
|
|
|
7:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
7:2. And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God to the land of
|
|
Israel: The end is come, the end is come upon the four quarters of the
|
|
land.
|
|
|
|
7:3. Now is an end come upon thee, and I will send my wrath upon thee,
|
|
and I will judge thee according to thy ways: and I will set all thy
|
|
abominations against thee.
|
|
|
|
7:4. And my eye shall not spare thee, and I will shew thee no pity: but
|
|
I will lay thy ways upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the
|
|
midst of thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
7:5. Thus saith the Lord God: One affliction, behold an affliction is
|
|
come.
|
|
|
|
7:6. An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee:
|
|
behold it is come.
|
|
|
|
7:7. Destruction is come upon thee that dwellest in the land: the time
|
|
is come, the day of slaughter is near, and not of the joy of mountains.
|
|
|
|
7:8. Now very shortly I will pour out my wrath upon thee, and I will
|
|
accomplish my anger in thee: and I will judge thee according to thy
|
|
ways, and I will lay upon thee all thy crimes.
|
|
|
|
7:9. And my eye shall not spare, neither will I shew mercy: but I will
|
|
lay thy ways upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the midst of
|
|
thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord that strike.
|
|
|
|
7:10. Behold the day, behold it is come: destruction is gone forth, the
|
|
rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
|
|
|
|
7:11. Iniquity is risen up into a rod of impiety: nothing of them shall
|
|
remain, nor of their people, nor of the noise of them: and there shall
|
|
be no rest among them.
|
|
|
|
7:12. The time is come, the day is at hand: let not the buyer rejoice:
|
|
nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the people thereof.
|
|
|
|
7:13. For the seller shall not return to that which he hath sold,
|
|
although their life be yet among the living. For the vision which
|
|
regardeth all the multitude thereof, shall not go back: neither shall
|
|
man be strengthened in the iniquity of his life.
|
|
|
|
7:14. Blow the trumpet, let all be made ready, yet there is none to go
|
|
to the battle: for my wrath shall be upon all the people thereof.
|
|
|
|
7:15. The sword without: and the pestilence, and the famine within: he
|
|
that is in the field shall die by the sword: and they that are in the
|
|
city, shall be devoured by the pestilence, and the famine.
|
|
|
|
7:16. And such of them as shall flee shall escape: and they shall be in
|
|
the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them trembling, every
|
|
one for his iniquity.
|
|
|
|
7:17. All hands shall be made feeble, and all knees shall run with
|
|
water.
|
|
|
|
7:18. And they shall gird themselves with haircloth, and fear shall
|
|
cover them and shame shall be upon every face, and baldness upon all
|
|
their heads.
|
|
|
|
7:19. Their silver shall be cast forth, and their gold shall become a
|
|
dunghill. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them
|
|
in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their soul,
|
|
and their bellies shall not be filled: because it hath been the
|
|
stumblingblock of their iniquity.
|
|
|
|
7:20. And they have turned the ornament of their jewels into pride, and
|
|
have made of it the images of their abominations, and idols: therefore
|
|
I have made it an uncleanness to them.
|
|
|
|
7:21. And I will give it into the hands of strangers for spoil, and to
|
|
the wicked of the earth for a prey, and they shall defile it.
|
|
|
|
7:22. And I will turn away my face from them, and they shall violate my
|
|
secret place: and robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
|
|
|
|
Secret place, etc. . .Viz., the inward sanctuary, the holy of holies.
|
|
|
|
7:23. Make a shutting up: for the land is full of the judgment of
|
|
blood, and the city is full of iniquity.
|
|
|
|
Make a shutting up. . .In Hebrew, a chain, viz., for imprisonment and
|
|
captivity.
|
|
|
|
7:24. And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess
|
|
their houses: and I will make the pride of the mighty to cease, and
|
|
they shall possess their sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
7:25. When distress cometh upon them, they will seek for peace and
|
|
there shall be none.
|
|
|
|
7:26. Trouble shall come upon trouble, and rumour upon rumour, and they
|
|
shall seek a vision of the prophet, and the law shall perish from the
|
|
priest, and counsel from the ancients.
|
|
|
|
7:27. The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with
|
|
sorrow, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled. I
|
|
will do to them according to their way, and will judge them according
|
|
to their judgments: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet sees in a vision the abominations committed in Jerusalem;
|
|
which determine the Lord to spare them no longer.
|
|
|
|
8:1. And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the
|
|
fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the ancients of Juda
|
|
sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me.
|
|
|
|
8:2. And I saw, and behold a likeness as the appearance of fire: from
|
|
the appearance of his loins, and downward, fire: and from his loins,
|
|
and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the appearance of
|
|
amber.
|
|
|
|
8:3. And the likeness of a hand was put forth and took me by a lock of
|
|
my head: and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven,
|
|
and brought me in the vision of God into Jerusalem, near the inner
|
|
gate, that looked toward the north, where was set the idol of jealousy
|
|
to provoke to jealousy.
|
|
|
|
8:4. And behold the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to
|
|
the vision which I had seen in the plain.
|
|
|
|
8:5. And he said to me: Son of man, lift up thy eyes towards the way of
|
|
the north, and I lifted up my eyes towards the way of the north: and
|
|
behold on the north side of the gate of the altar the idol of jealousy
|
|
in the very entry.
|
|
|
|
8:6. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou see, thinkest thou, what
|
|
these are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel
|
|
committeth here, that I should depart far off from my sanctuary? and
|
|
turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations.
|
|
|
|
8:7. And he brought me in to the door of the court: and I saw, and
|
|
behold a hole in the wall.
|
|
|
|
8:8. And he said to me: Son of man, dig in the wall, and when I had
|
|
digged in the wall, behold a door.
|
|
|
|
8:9. And he said to me: Go in, and see the wicked abominations which
|
|
they commit here.
|
|
|
|
8:10. And I went in and saw, and behold every form of creeping things,
|
|
and of living creatures, the abominations, and all the idols of the
|
|
house of Israel, were painted on the wall all round about.
|
|
|
|
8:11. And seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and
|
|
Jezonias the son of Saaphan stood in the midst of them, that stood
|
|
before the pictures: and every one had a censer in his hand: and a
|
|
cloud of smoke went up from the incense.
|
|
|
|
8:12. And he said to me: Surely thou seest, O son of man, what the
|
|
ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every one in private in
|
|
his chamber: for they say: The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath
|
|
forsaken the earth.
|
|
|
|
8:13. And he said to me: If thou turn thee again, thou shalt see
|
|
greater abominations which these commit.
|
|
|
|
8:14. And he brought me in by the door of the gate of the Lord's house,
|
|
which looked to the north: and behold women sat there mourning for
|
|
Adonis.
|
|
|
|
Adonis. . .The favourite of Venus, slain by a wild boar, as feigned by
|
|
the heathen poets, and which being here represented by an idol, is
|
|
lamented by the female worshippers of that goddess. In the Hebrew, the
|
|
name is Tammuz.
|
|
|
|
8:15. And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man: but turn
|
|
thee again, thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
|
|
|
|
8:16. And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord:
|
|
and behold at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and
|
|
the altar, were about five and twenty men having their backs towards
|
|
the temple of the Lord, in their faces to the east: and they adored
|
|
towards the rising of the sun.
|
|
|
|
8:17. And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man: is this a
|
|
light thing to the house of Juda, that they should commit these
|
|
abominations which they have committed here: because they have filled
|
|
the land with iniquity, and have turned to provoke me to anger? and
|
|
behold they put a branch to their nose.
|
|
|
|
8:18. Therefore I also will deal with them in my wrath: my eye shall
|
|
not spare them, neither will I shew mercy: and when they shall cry to
|
|
my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
All are ordered to be destroyed that are not marked in their foreheads.
|
|
God will not be entreated for them.
|
|
|
|
9:1. And he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying: The visitations
|
|
of the city are at hand, and every one hath a destroying weapon in his
|
|
hand.
|
|
|
|
9:2. And behold six men came from the way of the upper gate, which
|
|
looketh to the north: and each one had his weapon of destruction in his
|
|
hand: and there was one man in the midst of them clothed with linen,
|
|
with a writer's inkhorn at his reins: and they went in, and stood by
|
|
the brazen altar.
|
|
|
|
9:3. And the glory of the Lord of Israel went up from the cherub, upon
|
|
which he was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man
|
|
that was clothed with linen, and had a writer's inkhorn at his loins.
|
|
|
|
9:4. And the Lord said to him: Go through the midst of the city,
|
|
through the midst of Jerusalem: and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the
|
|
men that sigh, and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in
|
|
the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
Mark Thau. . .Thau, or Tau, is the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet,
|
|
and signifies a sign, or a mark; which is the reason why some
|
|
translators render this place set a mark, or mark a mark without
|
|
specifying what this mark was. But St. Jerome, and other interpreters,
|
|
conclude it was the form of the letter Thau, which in the ancient
|
|
Hebrew character, was the form of a cross.
|
|
|
|
9:5. And to the others he said in my hearing: Go ye after him through
|
|
the city, and strike: let not your eyes spare, nor be ye moved with
|
|
pity.
|
|
|
|
9:6. Utterly destroy old and young, maidens, children and women: but
|
|
upon whomsoever you shall see Thau, kill him not, and begin ye at my
|
|
sanctuary. So they began at the ancient men who were before the house.
|
|
|
|
9:7. And he said to them: Defile the house, and fill the courts with
|
|
the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew them that were in
|
|
the city.
|
|
|
|
9:8. And the slaughter being ended I was left; and I fell upon my face,
|
|
and crying, I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, wilt thou then
|
|
destroy all the remnant of Israel, by pouring out thy fury upon
|
|
Jerusalem?
|
|
|
|
9:9. And he said to me: The iniquity of the house of Israel, and of
|
|
Juda, is exceeding great, and the land is filled with blood, and the
|
|
city is filled with perverseness: for they have said: The Lord hath
|
|
forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.
|
|
|
|
9:10. Therefore neither shall my eye spare, nor will I have pity: I
|
|
will requite their way upon their head.
|
|
|
|
9:11. And behold the man that was clothed with linen, that had the
|
|
inkhorn at his back, returned the word, saying: I have done as thou
|
|
hast commanded me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fire is taken from the midst of the wheels under the cherubims, and
|
|
scattered over the city. A description of the cherubims.
|
|
|
|
10:1. And I saw and behold in the firmament that was over the heads of
|
|
the cherubims, there appeared over them as it were the sapphire stone,
|
|
as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
|
|
|
|
10:2. And he spoke to the man, that was clothed with linen, and said:
|
|
Go in between the wheels that are under the cherubims and fill thy hand
|
|
with the coals of fire that are between the cherubims, and pour them
|
|
out upon the city. And he went in, in my sight:
|
|
|
|
10:3. And the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the
|
|
man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.
|
|
|
|
10:4. And the glory of the Lord was lifted up from above the cherub to
|
|
the threshold of the house: and the house was filled with the cloud,
|
|
and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
10:5. And the sound of the wings of the cherubims was heard even to the
|
|
outward court as the voice of God Almighty speaking.
|
|
|
|
10:6. And when he had commanded the man that was clothed with linen,
|
|
saying: Take fire from the midst of the wheels that are between the
|
|
cherubims: he went in and stood beside the wheel.
|
|
|
|
10:7. And one cherub stretched out his arm from the midst of the
|
|
cherubims to the fire that was between the cherubims: and he took, and
|
|
put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it
|
|
and went forth.
|
|
|
|
10:8. And there appeared in the cherubims the likeness of a man's hand
|
|
under their wings.
|
|
|
|
10:9. And I saw, and behold there were four wheels by the cherubims:
|
|
one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the
|
|
appearance of the wheels was to the sight like the chrysolite stone:
|
|
|
|
10:10. And as to their appearance, all four were alike: as if a wheel
|
|
were in the midst of a wheel.
|
|
|
|
10:11. And when they went, they went by four ways: and they turned not
|
|
when they went: but to the place whither they first turned, the rest
|
|
also followed, and did not turn back.
|
|
|
|
By four ways. . .That is, by any of the four ways, forward, backward, to
|
|
the right or to the left.
|
|
|
|
10:12. And their whole body, and their necks, and their hands, and
|
|
their wings, and the circles were full of eyes, round about the four
|
|
wheels.
|
|
|
|
10:13. And these wheels he called voluble, in my hearing.
|
|
|
|
Voluble. . .That is, rolling wheels, galgal.
|
|
|
|
10:14. And every one had four faces: one face was the face of a cherub,
|
|
and the second face, the face of a man: and in the third was the face
|
|
of a lion: and in the fourth the face of an eagle.
|
|
|
|
10:15. And the cherubims were lifted up: this is the living creature
|
|
that I had seen by the river Chobar.
|
|
|
|
10:16. And when the cherubims went, the wheels also went by them: and
|
|
when the cherubims lifted up their wings, to mount up from the earth,
|
|
the wheels stayed not behind, but were by them.
|
|
|
|
10:17. When they stood, these stood: and when they were lifted up,
|
|
these were lifted up: for the spirit of life was in them.
|
|
|
|
10:18. And the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the
|
|
temple: and stood over the cherubims.
|
|
|
|
10:19. And the cherubims lifting up their wings, were raised from the
|
|
earth before me: and as they went out, the wheels also followed: and it
|
|
stood in the entry of the east gate of the house of the Lord: and the
|
|
glory of the God of Israel was over them.
|
|
|
|
10:20. This is the living creature, which I saw under the God of Israel
|
|
by the river Chobar: and I understood that they were cherubims.
|
|
|
|
10:21. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings: and the
|
|
likeness of a man's hand was under their wings.
|
|
|
|
10:22. And as to the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces
|
|
which I had seen by the river Chobar, and their looks, and the impulse
|
|
of every one to go straight forward.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophecy against the presumptuous assurance of the great ones. A
|
|
remnant shall be saved, and receive a new spirit, and a new heart.
|
|
|
|
11:1. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the east gate of
|
|
the house of the Lord, which looketh towards the rising of the sun: and
|
|
behold in the entry of the gate five and twenty men: and I saw in the
|
|
midst of them Jezonias the son of Azur, and Pheltias the son of
|
|
Banaias, princes of the people.
|
|
|
|
11:2. And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men that study
|
|
iniquity, and frame a wicked counsel in this city,
|
|
|
|
11:3. Saying: Were not houses lately built? This city is the caldron,
|
|
and we the flesh.
|
|
|
|
Were not houses lately built, etc. . .These men despised the predictions
|
|
and threats of the prophets; who declared to them from God, that the
|
|
city should be destroyed, and the inhabitants carried into captivity:
|
|
and they made use of this kind of argument against the prophets, that
|
|
the city, so far from being like to be destroyed, had lately been
|
|
augmented by the building of new houses; from whence they further
|
|
inferred, by way of a proverb, using the similitude of a cauldron, out
|
|
of which the flesh is not taken, till it is thoroughly boiled, and fit
|
|
to be eaten, that they should not be carried away out of their city,
|
|
but there end their days in peace.
|
|
|
|
11:4. Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, thou son of man.
|
|
|
|
11:5. And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me: Speak:
|
|
Thus saith the Lord: Thus have you spoken, O house of Israel, for I
|
|
know the thoughts of your heart.
|
|
|
|
11:6. You have killed a great many in this city, and you have filled
|
|
the streets thereof with the slain.
|
|
|
|
11:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid
|
|
in the midst thereof, they are the flesh, all this is the caldron: and
|
|
I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
11:8. You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you,
|
|
saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
11:9. And I will cast you out of the midst thereof, and I will deliver
|
|
you into the hand of the enemies, and I will execute judgments upon
|
|
you.
|
|
|
|
11:10. You shall fall by the sword: I will judge you in the borders of
|
|
Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
In the borders of Israel. . .They pretended that they should die in
|
|
peace in Jerusalem; God tells them it should not be so; but that they
|
|
should be judged and condemned, and fall by the sword in the borders of
|
|
Israel: viz., in Reblatha in the land of Emath, where all their chief
|
|
men were put to death by Nabuchodonosor. 4 Kings 25., and Jer. 52.10,
|
|
27.
|
|
|
|
11:11. This shall not be as a caldron to you, and you shall not be as
|
|
flesh in the midst thereof: I will judge you in the borders of Israel.
|
|
|
|
11:12. And you shall know that I am the Lord: because you have not
|
|
walked in my commandments, and have not done my judgments, but you have
|
|
done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about
|
|
you.
|
|
|
|
11:13. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pheltias the son of
|
|
Banaias died: and I fell down upon my face, and I cried with a loud
|
|
voice: and said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God: wilt thou make an end
|
|
of all the remnant of Israel?
|
|
|
|
11:14. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
11:15. Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy kinsmen, and all the
|
|
house of Israel, all they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have
|
|
said: Get ye far from the Lord, the land is given in possession to us.
|
|
|
|
Thy brethren, etc. . .He speaks of them that had been carried away
|
|
captives before; who were despised by them that remained in Jerusalem:
|
|
but as the prophet here declares to them from God, should be in a more
|
|
happy condition than they, and after some time return from their
|
|
captivity.
|
|
|
|
11:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because I have removed them
|
|
far off among the Gentiles, and because I have scattered them among the
|
|
countries: I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries
|
|
whither they are come.
|
|
|
|
11:17. Therefore speak to them: Thus saith the Lord God: I will gather
|
|
you from among the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries
|
|
wherein you are scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
|
|
|
|
11:18. And they shall go in thither, and shall take away all the
|
|
scandals, and all the abominations thereof from thence.
|
|
|
|
11:19. And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in
|
|
their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh,
|
|
and will give them a heart of flesh:
|
|
|
|
11:20. That they may walk in my commandments, and keep my judgments,
|
|
and do them: and that they may be my people, and I may be their God.
|
|
|
|
11:21. But as for them whose heart walketh after their scandals and
|
|
abominations, I will lay their way upon their head, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
11:22. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and the wheels with
|
|
them: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
|
|
|
|
11:23. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city,
|
|
and stood over the mount that is on the east side of the city.
|
|
|
|
11:24. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into Chaldea, to
|
|
them of the captivity, in vision, by the spirit of God: and the vision
|
|
which I had seen was taken up from me.
|
|
|
|
11:25. And I spoke to them of the captivity all the words of the Lord,
|
|
which he had shewn me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet forsheweth, by signs, the captivity of Sedecias, and the
|
|
desolation of the people: all which shall quickly come to pass.
|
|
|
|
12:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
12:2. Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who
|
|
have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they
|
|
are a provoking house.
|
|
|
|
12:3. Thou, therefore, O son of man, prepare thee all necessaries for
|
|
removing, and remove by day into their sight: and thou shalt remove out
|
|
of thy place to another place in their sight, if so be they will regard
|
|
it: for they are a provoking house.
|
|
|
|
12:4. And thou shalt bring forth thy furniture as the furniture of one
|
|
that is removing by day in their sight: and thou shalt go forth in the
|
|
evening in their presence, as one goeth forth that removeth his
|
|
dwelling.
|
|
|
|
12:5. Dig thee a way through the wall before their eyes: and thou shalt
|
|
go forth through it.
|
|
|
|
12:6. In their sight thou shalt be carried out upon men's shoulders,
|
|
thou shalt be carried out in the dark: thou shalt cover thy face, and
|
|
shalt not see the ground: for I have set thee for a sign of things to
|
|
come to the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
12:7. I did therefore as he had commanded me: I brought forth my goods
|
|
by day, as the goods of one that removeth: and in the evening I digged
|
|
through the wall with my hand, and I went forth in the dark, and was
|
|
carried on men's shoulders in their sight.
|
|
|
|
12:8. And the word of the Lord came to me in the morning, saying:
|
|
|
|
12:9. Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the provoking house,
|
|
said to thee: What art thou doing?
|
|
|
|
12:10. Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: This burden concerneth my
|
|
prince that is in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel, that are
|
|
among them.
|
|
|
|
12:11. Say: I am a sign of things to come to you: as I have done, so
|
|
shall it be done to them: they shall be removed from their dwellings,
|
|
and go into captivity.
|
|
|
|
12:12. And the prince that is in the midst of them, shall be carried on
|
|
shoulders, he shall go forth in the dark: they shall dig through the
|
|
wall to bring him out: his face shall be covered, that he may not see
|
|
the ground with his eyes.
|
|
|
|
12:13. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my
|
|
net: and I will bring him into Babylon, into the land of the Chaldeans,
|
|
and he shall not see it, and there he shall die.
|
|
|
|
He shall not see it. . .Because his eyes shall be put out by
|
|
Nabuchodonosor.
|
|
|
|
12:14. And all that are about him, his guards, and his troops I will
|
|
scatter into every wind: and I will draw out the sword after them.
|
|
|
|
12:15. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have
|
|
dispersed them among the nations, and scattered them in the countries.
|
|
|
|
12:16. And I will leave a few men of them from the sword, and from the
|
|
famine, and from the pestilence: that they may declare all their wicked
|
|
deeds among the nations whither they shall go: and they shall know that
|
|
I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
12:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
12:18. Son of man, eat thy bread in trouble and drink thy water in
|
|
hurry and sorrow.
|
|
|
|
12:19. And say to the people of the land: Thus saith the Lord God to
|
|
them that dwell in Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They shall eat
|
|
their bread in care, and drink their water in desolation: that the land
|
|
may become desolate from the multitude that is therein, for the
|
|
iniquity of all that dwell therein.
|
|
|
|
12:20. And the cities that are now inhabited shall be laid waste, and
|
|
the land shall be desolate: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
12:21. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
12:22. Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of
|
|
Israel? saying: The days shall be prolonged, and every vision shall
|
|
fail.
|
|
|
|
12:23. Say to them therefore: Thus saith the Lord God: I will make this
|
|
proverb to cease, neither shall it be any more a common saying in
|
|
Israel: and tell them that the days are at hand, and the effect of
|
|
every vision.
|
|
|
|
12:24. For there shall be no more any vain visions, nor doubtful
|
|
divination in the midst of the children of Israel.
|
|
|
|
12:25. For I the Lord will speak: and what word soever I shall speak,
|
|
it shall come to pass, and shall not be prolonged any more: but in your
|
|
days, ye provoking house, I will speak the word, and will do it, saith
|
|
the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
12:26. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
12:27. Son of man, behold the house of Israel, they that say: The
|
|
visions that this man seeth, is for many days to come: and this man
|
|
prophesieth of times afar off.
|
|
|
|
12:28. Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: not one word of
|
|
mine shall be prolonged any more: the word that I shall speak shall be
|
|
accomplished, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
God declares against false prophets and prophetesses, that deceive the
|
|
people with lies.
|
|
|
|
13:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
13:2. Son of man, prophesy thou against the prophets of Israel that
|
|
prophesy: and thou shalt say to them that prophesy out of their own
|
|
heart: Hear ye the word of the Lord:
|
|
|
|
13:3. Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets that follow
|
|
their own spirit, and see nothing.
|
|
|
|
13:4. Thy prophets, O Israel, were like foxes in the deserts.
|
|
|
|
13:5. You have not gone up to face the enemy, nor have you set up a
|
|
wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle in the day of the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
13:6. They see vain things, and they foretell lies, saying: The Lord
|
|
saith: whereas the Lord hath not sent them: and they have persisted to
|
|
confirm what they have said.
|
|
|
|
13:7. Have you not seen a vain vision and spoken a lying divination:
|
|
and you say: The Lord saith: whereas I have not spoken.
|
|
|
|
13:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have spoken vain
|
|
things, and have seen lies: therefore behold I come against you, saith
|
|
the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
13:9. And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vain things, and
|
|
that divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, nor
|
|
shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither
|
|
shall they enter into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am
|
|
the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
13:10. Because they have deceived my people, saying: Peace, and there
|
|
is no peace: and the people built up a wall, and they daubed it with
|
|
dirt without straw.
|
|
|
|
13:11. Say to them that daub without tempering, that it shall fall: for
|
|
there shall be an overflowing shower, and I will cause great hailstones
|
|
to fall violently from above, and a stormy wind to throw it down.
|
|
|
|
13:12. Behold, when the wall is fallen: shall it not be said to you:
|
|
Where is the daubing wherewith you have daubed it?
|
|
|
|
13:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Lo, I will cause a stormy
|
|
wind to break forth in my indignation, and there shall be an
|
|
overflowing shower in my anger: and great hailstones in my wrath to
|
|
consume.
|
|
|
|
13:14. And I will break down the wall that you have daubed with
|
|
untempered mortar: and I will make it even with the ground, and the
|
|
foundation thereof shall be laid bare: and it shall fall, and shall be
|
|
consumed in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
13:15. And I will accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that
|
|
daub it without tempering the mortar, and I will say to you: The wall
|
|
is no more, and they that daub it are no more.
|
|
|
|
13:16. Even the prophets of Israel that prophesy to Jerusalem, and that
|
|
see visions of peace for her: and there is no peace, saith the Lord
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
13:17. And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy
|
|
people that prophesy out of their own heart: and do thou prophesy
|
|
against them,
|
|
|
|
13:18. And say: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to them that sew cushions
|
|
under every elbow: and make pillows for the heads of persons of every
|
|
age to catch souls: and when they caught the souls of my people, they
|
|
gave life to their souls.
|
|
|
|
Sew cushions, etc. . .Viz., by making people easy in their sins, and
|
|
promising them impunity.--Ibid. They gave life to their souls. . .That
|
|
is, they flattered them with promises of life, peace, and security.
|
|
|
|
13:19. And they violated me among my people, for a handful of barley,
|
|
and a piece of bread, to kill souls which should not die, and to save
|
|
souls alive which should not live, telling lies to my people that
|
|
believe lies.
|
|
|
|
Violated me. . .That is, dishonoured and discredited me. Ibid. To kill
|
|
souls, etc. . .That is, to sentence souls to death, which are not to
|
|
die; and to promise life to them who are not to live.
|
|
|
|
13:20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I declare against your
|
|
cushions, wherewith you catch flying souls: and I will tear them off
|
|
from your arms: and I will let go the soul that you catch, the souls
|
|
that should fly.
|
|
|
|
13:21. And I will tear your pillows, and will deliver my people out of
|
|
your hand, neither shall they be any more in your hands to be a prey:
|
|
and you shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
13:22. Because with lies you have made the heart of the just to mourn,
|
|
whom I have not made sorrowful: and have strengthened the hands of the
|
|
wicked, that he should not return from his evil way, and live.
|
|
|
|
13:23. Therefore you shall not see vain things, nor divine divinations
|
|
any more, and I will deliver my people out of your hand: and you shall
|
|
know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
God suffers the wicked to be deceived in punishment of their
|
|
wickedness. The evils that shall come upon them for their sins: for
|
|
which they shall not be delivered by the prayers of Noe, Daniel, and
|
|
Job. But a remnant shall be preserved.
|
|
|
|
14:1. And some of the ancients of Israel came to me, and sat before me.
|
|
|
|
14:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
14:3. Son of man, these men have placed their uncleannesses in their
|
|
hearts, and have set up before their face the stumblingblock of their
|
|
iniquity: and shall I answer when they inquire of me?
|
|
|
|
Uncleanness. . .That is, their filthy idols, upon which they have set
|
|
their hearts: and which are a stumblingblock to their souls.
|
|
|
|
14:4. Therefore speak to them, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord
|
|
God: Man, man of the house of Israel that shall place his uncleannesses
|
|
in his heart, and set up the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his
|
|
face, and shall come to the prophet inquiring of me by him: I the Lord
|
|
will answer him according to the multitude of his uncleannesses:
|
|
|
|
Man, man. . .That is, every man, an Hebrew expression.
|
|
|
|
14:5. That the house of Israel may be caught in their own heart, with
|
|
which they have departed from me through all their idols.
|
|
|
|
14:6. Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Be
|
|
converted, and depart from your idols, and turn away your faces from
|
|
all your abominations.
|
|
|
|
14:7. For every man of the house of Israel, and every stranger among
|
|
the proselytes in Israel, if he separate himself from me, and place his
|
|
idols in his heart, and set the stumblingblock of his iniquity before
|
|
his face, and come to the prophet to inquire of me by him: I the Lord
|
|
will answer him by myself.
|
|
|
|
14:8. And I will set my face against that man, and will make him an
|
|
example, and a proverb, and will cut him off from the midst of my
|
|
people: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
14:9. And when the prophet shall err, and speak a word: I the Lord have
|
|
deceived that prophet: and I will stretch forth my hand upon him, and
|
|
will cut him off from the midst of my people Israel.
|
|
|
|
The prophet shall err, etc. . .He speaks of false prophets, answering
|
|
out of their own heads and according to their own corrupt
|
|
inclinations.--Ibid. I have deceived that prophet. . .God Almighty
|
|
deceives false prophets, partly by withdrawing his light from them; and
|
|
abandoning them to their own corrupt inclinations, which push them on
|
|
to prophesy such things as are agreeable to those who consult them: and
|
|
partly by disappointing them, and causing all thing to happen contrary
|
|
to what they have said.
|
|
|
|
14:10. And they shall bear their iniquity: according to the iniquity of
|
|
him that inquireth, so shall the iniquity of the prophet be.
|
|
|
|
14:11. That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, nor be
|
|
polluted with all their transgressions: but may be my people, and I may
|
|
be their God, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
14:12. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
14:13. Son of man, when a land shall sin against me, so as to
|
|
transgress grievously, I will stretch forth my hand upon it, and will
|
|
break the staff of the bread thereof: and I will send famine upon it,
|
|
and will destroy man and beast out of it.
|
|
|
|
14:14. And if these three men, Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in it:
|
|
they shall deliver their own souls by their justice, saith the Lord of
|
|
hosts.
|
|
|
|
14:15. And if I shall bring mischievous beasts also upon the land to
|
|
waste it, and it be desolate, so that there is none that can pass
|
|
because of the beasts:
|
|
|
|
14:16. If these three men shall be in it, as I live, saith the Lord,
|
|
they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters: but they only shall be
|
|
delivered, and the land shall be made desolate.
|
|
|
|
14:17. Or if I bring the sword upon that land, and say to the sword:
|
|
Pass through the land: and I destroy man and beast out of it:
|
|
|
|
14:18. And these three men be in the midst thereof: as I live, saith
|
|
the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they
|
|
themselves alone shall be delivered.
|
|
|
|
14:19. Or if I also send the pestilence upon that land, and pour out my
|
|
indignation upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
|
|
|
|
14:20. And Noe, and Daniel, and Job be in the midst thereof: as I live,
|
|
saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter: but
|
|
they shall only deliver their own souls by their justice.
|
|
|
|
14:21. For thus saith the Lord: Although I shall send in upon Jerusalem
|
|
my four grievous judgments, the sword, and the famine, and the
|
|
mischievous beasts, and the pestilence, to destroy out of it man and
|
|
beast,
|
|
|
|
14:22. Yet there shall be left in it some that shall be saved, who
|
|
shall bring away their sons and daughters: behold they shall come among
|
|
you, and you shall see their way, and their doings: and you shall be
|
|
comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, in
|
|
all things that I have brought upon it.
|
|
|
|
14:23. And they shall comfort you, when you shall see their ways, and
|
|
their doings: and you shall know that I have not done without cause all
|
|
that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 15
|
|
|
|
|
|
As a vine cut down is fit for nothing but the fire; so it shall be with
|
|
Jerusalem, for her sins.
|
|
|
|
15:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
15:2. Son of man, what shall be made of the wood of the vine, out of
|
|
all the trees of the woods that are among the trees of the forests?
|
|
|
|
15:3. Shall wood be taken of it, to do any work, or shall a pin be made
|
|
of it for any vessel to hang thereon?
|
|
|
|
15:4. Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel: the fire hath consumed
|
|
both ends thereof, and the midst thereof is reduced to ashes: shall it
|
|
be useful for any work?
|
|
|
|
15:5. Even when it was whole it was not fit for work: how much less,
|
|
when the fire hath devoured and consumed it, shall any work be made of
|
|
it?
|
|
|
|
15:6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree among the
|
|
trees of the forests which I have given to the fire to be consumed, so
|
|
will I deliver up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
15:7. And I will set my face against them: they shall go out from fire,
|
|
and fire shall consume them: and you shall know that I am the Lord,
|
|
when I shall have set my face against them.
|
|
|
|
15:8. And I shall have made their land a wilderness, and desolate,
|
|
because they have been transgressors, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 16
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the figure of an unfaithful wife, God upbraids Jerusalem with her
|
|
ingratitude and manifold disloyalties: but promiseth mercy by a new
|
|
covenant.
|
|
|
|
16:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
16:2. Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.
|
|
|
|
Make known to Jerusalem. . .That is, by letters, for the prophet was
|
|
then in Babylon.
|
|
|
|
16:3. And thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God to Jerusalem: Thy
|
|
root, and thy nativity is of the land of Chanaan, thy father was an
|
|
Amorrhite, and thy mother a Cethite.
|
|
|
|
16:4. And when thou wast born, in the day of thy nativity thy navel was
|
|
not cut, neither wast thou washed with water for thy health, nor salted
|
|
with salt, nor swaddled with clouts.
|
|
|
|
16:5. No eye had pity on thee to do any of these things for thee, out
|
|
of compassion to thee: but thou wast cast out upon the face of the
|
|
earth in the abjection of thy soul, in the day that thou wast born.
|
|
|
|
16:6. And passing by thee, I saw that thou wast trodden under foot in
|
|
thy own blood: and I said to thee when thou wast in thy blood: Live: I
|
|
have said to thee: Live in thy blood.
|
|
|
|
16:7. I caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field: and thou didst
|
|
increase and grow great, and advancedst, and camest to woman's
|
|
ornament: thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair grew: and thou was
|
|
naked, and full of confusion.
|
|
|
|
16:8. And I passed by thee, and saw thee: and behold thy time was the
|
|
time of lovers: and I spread my garment over thee, and covered thy
|
|
ignominy. and I swore to thee, and I entered into a covenant with thee,
|
|
saith the Lord God: and thou becamest mine.
|
|
|
|
16:9. And I washed thee with water, and cleansed away thy blood from
|
|
thee: and I anointed thee with oil.
|
|
|
|
16:10. And I clothed thee with embroidery, and shod thee with violet
|
|
coloured shoes: and I girded thee about with fine linen, and clothed
|
|
thee with fine garments.
|
|
|
|
16:11. I decked thee also with ornaments, and put bracelets on thy
|
|
hands, and a chain about thy neck.
|
|
|
|
I decked thee also with ornaments, etc. . .That is, with spiritual
|
|
benefits, giving you a law with sacrifices, sacraments, and other holy
|
|
rites.
|
|
|
|
16:12. And I put a jewel upon thy forehead and earrings in thy ears,
|
|
and a beautiful crown upon thy head.
|
|
|
|
16:13. And thou wast adorned with gold, and silver, and wast clothed
|
|
with fine linen, and embroidered work, and many colours: thou didst eat
|
|
fine flour, and honey, and oil, and wast made exceeding beautiful: and
|
|
wast advanced to be a queen.
|
|
|
|
16:14. And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty: for
|
|
thou wast perfect through my beauty, which I had put upon thee, saith
|
|
the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
16:15. But trusting in thy beauty, thou playedst the harlot because of
|
|
thy renown, and thou hast prostituted thyself to every passenger, to be
|
|
his.
|
|
|
|
16:16. And taking of thy garments thou hast made thee high places sewed
|
|
together on each side: and hast played the harlot upon them, as hath
|
|
not been done before, nor shall be hereafter.
|
|
|
|
16:17. And thou tookest thy beautiful vessels, of my gold, and my
|
|
silver, which I gave thee, and thou madest thee images of men, and hast
|
|
committed fornication with them.
|
|
|
|
16:18. And thou tookest thy garments of divers colours, and coveredst
|
|
them: and settest my oil and my sweet incense before them.
|
|
|
|
16:19. And my bread which I gave thee, the fine flour, and oil, and
|
|
honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast set before them for a sweet
|
|
odour; and it was done, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
16:20. And thou hast taken thy sons, and thy daughters, whom thou hast
|
|
borne to me: and hast sacrificed the same to them to be devoured. Is
|
|
thy fornication small?
|
|
|
|
16:21. Thou hast sacrificed and given my children to them, consecrating
|
|
them by fire.
|
|
|
|
Thou hast sacrificed, etc. . .As there is nothing more base and
|
|
abominable than the crimes mentioned throughout this chapter; so the
|
|
infidelities of the Israelites in forsaking God, and sacrificing even
|
|
their children to idols, are strongly figured by these allegories.
|
|
|
|
16:22. And after all thy abominations, and fornications, thou hast not
|
|
remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked, and full of
|
|
confusion, trodden under foot in thy own blood.
|
|
|
|
16:23. And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (woe, woe to thee,
|
|
saith the Lord God)
|
|
|
|
16:24. That thou didst also build thee a common stew, and madest thee a
|
|
brothel house in every street.
|
|
|
|
16:25. At every head of the way thou hast set up a sign of thy
|
|
prostitution: and hast made thy beauty to be abominable: and hast
|
|
prostituted thyself to every one that passed by, and hast multiplied
|
|
thy fornications.
|
|
|
|
16:26. And thou hast committed fornication with the Egyptians thy
|
|
neighbours, men of large bodies, and hast multiplied thy fornications
|
|
to provoke me.
|
|
|
|
16:27. Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will take away
|
|
thy justification: and I will deliver thee up to the will of the
|
|
daughters of the Philistines that hate thee, that are ashamed of thy
|
|
wicked way.
|
|
|
|
16:28. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Assyrians, because
|
|
thou wast not yet satisfied: and after thou hadst played the harlot
|
|
with them, even so thou wast not contented.
|
|
|
|
16:29. Thou hast also multiplied thy fornications in the land of
|
|
Chanaan with the Chaldeans: and neither so wast thou satisfied.
|
|
|
|
16:30. Wherein shall I cleanse thy heart, saith Lord God: seeing thou
|
|
dost all these the works of a shameless prostitute?
|
|
|
|
16:31. Because thou hast built thy brothel house at the head of every
|
|
way, and thou hast made thy high place in every street: and wast not as
|
|
a harlot that by disdain enhanceth her price,
|
|
|
|
16:32. But is an adulteress, that bringeth in strangers over her
|
|
husband.
|
|
|
|
16:33. Gifts are given to all harlots: but thou hast given hire to all
|
|
thy lovers, and thou hast given them gifts to come to thee from every
|
|
side, to commit fornication with thee.
|
|
|
|
16:34. And it hath happened in thee contrary to the custom of women in
|
|
thy fornications, and after thee there shall be no such fornication,
|
|
for in that thou gavest rewards, and didst not take rewards, the
|
|
contrary hath been done in thee.
|
|
|
|
16:35. Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
16:36. Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy money hath been poured out,
|
|
and thy shame discovered through thy fornications with thy lovers, and
|
|
with the idols of thy abominations, by the blood of thy children whom
|
|
thou gavest them:
|
|
|
|
16:37. Behold, I will gather together all thy lovers with whom thou
|
|
hast taken pleasure, and all whom thou hast loved, with all whom thou
|
|
hast hated: and I will gather them together against thee on every side,
|
|
and will discover thy shame in their sight, and they shall see all thy
|
|
nakedness.
|
|
|
|
16:38. And I will judge thee as adulteresses, and they that shed blood
|
|
are judged: and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
|
|
|
|
16:39. And I will deliver thee into their hands, and they shall destroy
|
|
thy brothel house, and throw down thy stews: and they shall strip thee
|
|
of thy garments, and shall take away the vessels of thy beauty: and
|
|
leave thee naked, and full of disgrace.
|
|
|
|
16:40. And they shall bring upon thee a multitude, and they shall stone
|
|
thee with stones, and shall slay thee with their swords.
|
|
|
|
16:41. And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and shall execute
|
|
judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and thou shalt cease
|
|
from fornication, and shalt give no hire any more.
|
|
|
|
16:42. And my indignation shall rest in thee: and my jealousy shall
|
|
depart from thee, and I will cease and be angry no more.
|
|
|
|
16:43. Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast
|
|
provoked me in all these things: wherefore I also have turned all thy
|
|
ways upon thy head, saith the Lord God, and I have not done according
|
|
to thy wicked deeds in all thy abominations.
|
|
|
|
16:44. Behold every one that useth a common proverb, shall use this
|
|
against thee, saying: As the mother was, so also is her daughter.
|
|
|
|
16:45. Thou art thy mother's daughter, that cast off her husband, and
|
|
her children: and thou art the sister of thy sisters, who cast off
|
|
their husbands, and their children: your mother was a Cethite, and your
|
|
father an Amorrhite.
|
|
|
|
16:46. And thy elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that
|
|
dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister that dwelleth at thy
|
|
right hand is Sodom, and her daughters.
|
|
|
|
16:47. But neither hast thou walked in their ways, nor hast thou done a
|
|
little less than they according to their wickednesses: thou hast done
|
|
almost more wicked things than they in all thy ways.
|
|
|
|
16:48. As I live, saith the Lord God, thy sister Sodom herself, and her
|
|
daughters, have not done as thou hast done, and thy daughters.
|
|
|
|
16:49. Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, pride, fulness
|
|
of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her, and of her daughters:
|
|
and they did not put forth their hand to the needy, and the poor.
|
|
|
|
This was the iniquity of Sodom, etc. . .That is, these were the steps by
|
|
which the Sodomites came to fall into those abominations for which they
|
|
were destroyed. For pride, gluttony, and idleness are the highroad to
|
|
all kinds of lust; especially when they are accompanied with a neglect
|
|
of the works of mercy.
|
|
|
|
16:50. And they were lifted up, and committed abominations before me:
|
|
and I took them away as thou hast seen.
|
|
|
|
16:51. And Samaria committed not half thy sins: but thou hast surpassed
|
|
them with thy crimes, and hast justified thy sisters by all thy
|
|
abominations which thou hast done.
|
|
|
|
16:52. Therefore do thou also bear thy confusion, thou that hast
|
|
surpassed thy sisters with thy sins, doing more wickedly than they: for
|
|
they are justified above thee, therefore be thou also confounded, and
|
|
bear thy shame, thou that hast justified thy sisters.
|
|
|
|
16:53. And I will bring back and restore them by bringing back Sodom,
|
|
with her daughters, and by bringing back Samaria, and her daughters:
|
|
and I will bring those that return of thee in the midst of them.
|
|
|
|
I will bring back, etc. . .This relates to the conversion of the
|
|
Gentiles out of all nations, and of many of the Jews, to the church of
|
|
Christ.
|
|
|
|
16:54. That thou mayest bear thy shame, and mayest be confounded in all
|
|
that thou hast done, comforting them.
|
|
|
|
16:55. And thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall return to their
|
|
ancient state: and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their
|
|
ancient state: and thou and thy daughters shall return to your ancient
|
|
state.
|
|
|
|
Ancient state. . .That is, to their former state of liberty, and their
|
|
ancient possessions. In the spiritual sense, to the true liberty, and
|
|
the happy inheritance of the children of God, through faith in Christ.
|
|
|
|
16:56. And Sodom thy sister was not heard of in thy mouth, in the day
|
|
of thy pride,
|
|
|
|
16:57. Before thy malice was laid open: as it is at this time, making
|
|
thee a reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all the daughters of
|
|
Palestine round about thee, that encompass thee on all sides.
|
|
|
|
16:58. Thou hast borne thy wickedness, and thy disgrace, saith the Lord
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
16:59. For thus saith the Lord God: I will deal with thee, as thou hast
|
|
despised the oath, in breaking the covenant:
|
|
|
|
16:60. And I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy
|
|
youth: and I will establish with thee an everlasting covenant.
|
|
|
|
16:61. And thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed: when thou
|
|
shalt receive thy sisters, thy elder and thy younger: and I will give
|
|
them to thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.
|
|
|
|
16:62. And I will establish my covenant with thee: and thou shalt know
|
|
that I am the Lord,
|
|
|
|
16:63. That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and mayest no more
|
|
open thy mouth because of thy confusion, when I shall be pacified
|
|
toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 17
|
|
|
|
|
|
The parable of the two eagles and the vine. A promise of the cedar of
|
|
Christ and his church.
|
|
|
|
17:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
17:2. Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house
|
|
of Israel,
|
|
|
|
17:3. And say: Thus saith the Lord God; A large eagle with great wings,
|
|
long-limbed, full of feathers, and of variety, came to Libanus, and
|
|
took away the marrow of the cedar.
|
|
|
|
A large eagle. . .Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon.--Ibid. Came to
|
|
Libanus. . .That is, to Jerusalem.--Ibid. Took away the marrow of the
|
|
cedar. . .King Jechonias.
|
|
|
|
17:4. He cropped off the top of the twigs thereof: and carried it away
|
|
into the land of Chanaan, and he set it in a city of merchants.
|
|
|
|
Chanaan. . .This name, which signifies traffic, is not taken here for
|
|
Palestine, but for Chaldea: and the city of merchants here mentioned is
|
|
Babylon.
|
|
|
|
17:5. And he took of the seed of the land, and put it in the ground for
|
|
seed, that it might take a firm root over many waters: he planted it on
|
|
the surface of the earth.
|
|
|
|
Of the seed of the land, etc. . .Viz., Sedecias, whom he made king.
|
|
|
|
17:6. And it sprung up and grew into a spreading vine of low stature,
|
|
and the branches thereof looked towards him: and the roots thereof were
|
|
under him. So it became a vine, and grew into branches, and shot forth
|
|
sprigs.
|
|
|
|
Towards him. . .Nabuchodonosor, to whom Sedecias swore allegiance.
|
|
|
|
17:7. And there was another large eagle, with great wings, and many
|
|
feathers: and behold this vine, bending as it were her roots towards
|
|
him, stretched forth her branches to him, that he might water it by the
|
|
furrows of her plantation.
|
|
|
|
Another large eagle. . .Viz., the king of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
17:8. It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might
|
|
bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large
|
|
vine.
|
|
|
|
17:9. Say thou: Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper then? shall
|
|
he not pull up the roots thereof, and strip off its fruit, and dry up
|
|
all the branches it hath shot forth, and make it wither: and this
|
|
without a strong arm, or many people to pluck it up by the root?
|
|
|
|
17:10. Behold, it is planted: shall it prosper then? shall it not be
|
|
dried up when the burning wind shall touch it, and shall it not wither
|
|
in the furrows where it grew?
|
|
|
|
17:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
17:12. Say to the provoking house: Know you not what these things mean?
|
|
Tell them: Behold the king of Babylon cometh to Jerusalem: and he shall
|
|
take away the king and the princes thereof and carry them with him to
|
|
Babylon.
|
|
|
|
Shall take away. . .Or, hath taken away, etc., for all this was now
|
|
done.
|
|
|
|
17:13. And he shall take one of the king's seed, and make a covenant
|
|
with him, and take an oath of him. Yea, and he shall take away the
|
|
mighty men of the land,
|
|
|
|
17:14. That it may be a low kingdom and not lift itself up, but keep
|
|
his covenant and observe it.
|
|
|
|
17:15. But he hath revolted from him and sent ambassadors to Egypt,
|
|
that it might give him horses, and much people. And shall he that hath
|
|
done thus prosper, or be saved? and shall he escape that hath broken
|
|
the covenant?
|
|
|
|
17:16. As I live, saith the Lord God: In the place where the king
|
|
dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he hath made void, and whose
|
|
covenant he broke, even in the midst of Babylon shall he die.
|
|
|
|
17:17. And not with a great army, nor with much people shall Pharao
|
|
fight against him: when he shall cast up mounts, and build forts, to
|
|
cut off many souls.
|
|
|
|
17:18. For he had despised the oath, breaking his covenant, and behold
|
|
he hath given his hand: and having done all these things, he shall not
|
|
escape.
|
|
|
|
17:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As I live, I will lay upon
|
|
his head the oath he hath despised, and the covenant he hath broken.
|
|
|
|
17:20. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my
|
|
net: and I will bring him into Babylon, and will judge him there for
|
|
the transgression by which he hath despised me.
|
|
|
|
17:21. And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the
|
|
sword: and the residue shall be scattered into every wind: and you
|
|
shall know that I the Lord have spoken.
|
|
|
|
17:22. Thus saith the Lord God: I myself will take of the marrow of the
|
|
high cedar, and will set it: I will crop off a tender twig from the top
|
|
of the branches thereof, and I will plant it on a mountain high and
|
|
eminent.
|
|
|
|
Of the marrow of the high cedar, etc. . .Of the royal stock of
|
|
David.--Ibid. A tender twig. . .Viz., Jesus Christ, whom God hath
|
|
planted in mount Sion, that is, the high mountain of his church, to
|
|
which all nations flow.
|
|
|
|
17:23. On the high mountains of Israel will I plant it, and it shall
|
|
shoot forth into branches and shall bear fruit, and it shall become a
|
|
great cedar: and all birds shall dwell under it, and every fowl shall
|
|
make its nest under the shadow of the branches thereof.
|
|
|
|
17:24. And all the trees of the country shall know that I the Lord have
|
|
brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree: and have dried up
|
|
the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flourish. I the Lord
|
|
have spoken and have done it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 18
|
|
|
|
|
|
One man shall not bear the sins of another, but every one his own; if a
|
|
wicked man truly repent, he shall be saved; and if a just man leave his
|
|
justice, he shall perish.
|
|
|
|
18:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What is the meaning?
|
|
|
|
18:2. That you use among you this parable as a proverb in the land of
|
|
Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of
|
|
the children are set on edge.
|
|
|
|
18:3. As I live, saith the Lord God, this parable shall be no more to
|
|
you a proverb in Israel.
|
|
|
|
18:4. Behold all souls are mine: as the soul of the father, so also the
|
|
soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, the same shall die.
|
|
|
|
18:5. And if a man be just, and do judgment and justice,
|
|
|
|
18:6. And hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to
|
|
the idols of the house of Israel: and hath not defiled his neighbour's
|
|
wife, nor come near to a menstruous woman:
|
|
|
|
Not eaten upon the mountains. . .That is, of the sacrifices there
|
|
offered to idols.
|
|
|
|
18:7. And hath not wronged any man: but hath restored the pledge to the
|
|
debtor, hath taken nothing away by violence: hath given his bread to
|
|
the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment:
|
|
|
|
18:8. Hath not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase: hath withdrawn
|
|
his hand from iniquity, and hath executed true judgment between man and
|
|
man:
|
|
|
|
18:9. Hath walked in my commandments, and kept my judgments, to do
|
|
truth: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
To do truth. . .That is, to act according to truth; for the Hebrews
|
|
called everything that was just, truth.
|
|
|
|
18:10. And if he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and
|
|
that hath done some one of these things:
|
|
|
|
18:11. Though he doth not all these things, but that eateth upon the
|
|
mountains, and that defileth his neighbour's wife:
|
|
|
|
18:12. That grieveth the needy and the poor, that taketh away by
|
|
violence, that restoreth not the pledge, and that lifteth up his eyes
|
|
to idols, that comitteth abomination:
|
|
|
|
18:13. That giveth upon usury, and that taketh an increase: shall such
|
|
a one live? he shall not live. Seeing he hath done all these detestable
|
|
things, he shall surely die, his blood shall be upon him.
|
|
|
|
18:14. But if he beget a son, who, seeing all his father's sins, which
|
|
he hath done, is afraid, and shall not do the like to them:
|
|
|
|
18:15. That hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes
|
|
to the idols of the house of Israel, and hath not defiled his
|
|
neighbour's wife:
|
|
|
|
18:16. And hath not grieved any man, nor withholden the pledge, nor
|
|
taken away with violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and
|
|
covered the naked with a garment:
|
|
|
|
18:17. That hath turned away his hand from injuring the poor, hath not
|
|
taken usury and increase, but hath executed my judgments, and hath
|
|
walked in my commandments: this man shall not die for the iniquity of
|
|
his father, but living he shall live.
|
|
|
|
18:18. As for his father, because he oppressed and offered violence to
|
|
his brother, and wrought evil in the midst of his people, behold he is
|
|
dead in his own iniquity.
|
|
|
|
18:19. And you say: Why hath not the son borne the iniquity of his
|
|
father? Verily, because the son hath wrought judgment and justice, hath
|
|
kept all my commandments, and done them, living, he shall live.
|
|
|
|
18:20. The soul that sinneth, the same shall die: the son shall not
|
|
bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the
|
|
iniquity of the son: the justice of the just shall be upon him, and the
|
|
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
|
|
|
|
18:21. But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath
|
|
committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice,
|
|
living he shall live, and shall not die.
|
|
|
|
18:22. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his
|
|
justice which he hath wrought, he shall live.
|
|
|
|
18:23. Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and
|
|
not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?
|
|
|
|
18:24. But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do
|
|
iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth
|
|
to work, shall he live? all his justices which he hath done, shall not
|
|
be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and
|
|
in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die.
|
|
|
|
18:25. And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye,
|
|
therefore, O house of Israel: Is it my way that is not right, and are
|
|
not rather your ways perverse?
|
|
|
|
18:26. For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and
|
|
comitteth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath
|
|
wrought he shall die.
|
|
|
|
18:27. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness,
|
|
which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save
|
|
his soul alive.
|
|
|
|
18:28. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his
|
|
iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die.
|
|
|
|
18:29. And the children of Israel say: The way of the Lord is not
|
|
right. Are not my ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather
|
|
your ways perverse?
|
|
|
|
18:30. Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house
|
|
of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all
|
|
your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin.
|
|
|
|
18:31. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have
|
|
transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and
|
|
why will you die, O house of Israel?
|
|
|
|
18:32. For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord
|
|
God, return ye and live.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 19
|
|
|
|
|
|
The parable of the young lions, and of the vineyard that is wasted.
|
|
|
|
19:1. Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
|
|
|
|
19:2. And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions,
|
|
and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions?
|
|
|
|
Thy mother the lioness. . .Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
19:3. And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and
|
|
he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.
|
|
|
|
One of her whelps. . .Viz., Joachaz, alias Sellum.
|
|
|
|
19:4. And the nations heard of him, and took him, but not without
|
|
receiving wounds: and they brought him in chains into the land of
|
|
Egypt.
|
|
|
|
19:5. But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took
|
|
one of her young lions, and set him up for a lion.
|
|
|
|
One of her young lions. . .Joakim.
|
|
|
|
19:6. And he went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and
|
|
he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.
|
|
|
|
19:7. He learned to make widows, and to lay waste their cities: and the
|
|
land became desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise of his
|
|
roaring.
|
|
|
|
19:8. And the nations came together against him on every side out of
|
|
the provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he
|
|
was taken.
|
|
|
|
19:9. And they put him into a cage, they brought him in chains to the
|
|
king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice should
|
|
no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
|
|
|
|
19:10. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her
|
|
fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.
|
|
|
|
19:11. And she hath strong rods to make sceptres for them that bear
|
|
rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her
|
|
height in the multitude of her branches.
|
|
|
|
19:12. But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, and the
|
|
burning wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are withered, and
|
|
dried up: the fire hath devoured her.
|
|
|
|
19:13. And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not
|
|
passable, and dry.
|
|
|
|
19:14. And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath
|
|
devoured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a sceptre
|
|
of rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 20
|
|
|
|
|
|
God refuses to answer the ancients of Israel inquiring by the prophet:
|
|
but by him setteth his benefits before their eyes, and their heinous
|
|
sins: threatening yet greater punishments: but still mixed with mercy.
|
|
|
|
20:1. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the
|
|
tenth day of the month: there came men of the ancients of Israel to
|
|
inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me.
|
|
|
|
20:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
20:3. Son of man, speak to the ancients of Israel and say to them: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord God: Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, I will
|
|
not answer you, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
20:4. If thou judgest them, if thou judgest, O son of man, declare to
|
|
them the abominations of their fathers.
|
|
|
|
If thou judgest them. . .Or, if thou wilt enter into the cause and plead
|
|
against them.
|
|
|
|
20:5. And say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when I chose
|
|
Israel, and lifted up my hand for the race of the house of Jacob: and
|
|
appeared to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted up my hand for them,
|
|
saying: I am the Lord your God:
|
|
|
|
20:6. In that day I lifted up my hand for them to bring them out of the
|
|
land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with
|
|
milk and honey, which excelled amongst all lands.
|
|
|
|
20:7. And I said to them: Let every man cast away the scandals of his
|
|
eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord
|
|
your God.
|
|
|
|
Scandals, etc. . .Offensiones. That is, the abominations or idols, to
|
|
the worship of which they were allured by their eyes.
|
|
|
|
20:8. But they provoked me, and would not hearken to me: they did not
|
|
every man cast away the abominations of his eyes, neither did they
|
|
forsake the idols of Egypt: and I said I would pour out my indignation
|
|
upon them, and accomplish my wrath against them in the midst of the
|
|
land of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
20:9. But I did otherwise for my name's sake, that it might not be
|
|
violated before the nations, in the midst of whom they were, and among
|
|
whom I made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of
|
|
Egypt.
|
|
|
|
20:10. Therefore I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought
|
|
them into the desert.
|
|
|
|
20:11. And I gave them my statutes, and I shewed them my judgments,
|
|
which if a man do, he shall live in them.
|
|
|
|
20:12. Moreover I gave them also my sabbaths, to be a sign between me
|
|
and them: and that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
20:13. But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert: they walked
|
|
not in my statutes, and they cast away my judgments, which if a man do
|
|
he shall live in them: and they grievously violated my sabbaths. I said
|
|
therefore that I would pour out my indignation upon them in the desert,
|
|
and would consume them.
|
|
|
|
20:14. But I spared them for the sake of my name, lest it should be
|
|
profaned before the nations, from which I brought them out, in their
|
|
sight.
|
|
|
|
20:15. So I lifted up my hand over them in the desert, not to bring
|
|
them into the land which I had given them flowing with milk and honey,
|
|
the best of all lands.
|
|
|
|
20:16. Because they cast off my judgments, and walked not in my
|
|
statutes, and violated my sabbaths: for their heart went after idols.
|
|
|
|
20:17. Yet my eye spared them, so that I destroyed them not: neither
|
|
did I consume them in the desert.
|
|
|
|
20:18. And I said to their children in the wilderness: Walk not in the
|
|
statutes of your fathers, and observe not their judgments, nor be ye
|
|
defiled with their idols:
|
|
|
|
20:19. I am the Lord your God: walk ye in my statutes, and observe my
|
|
judgments, and do them.
|
|
|
|
20:20. And sanctify my sabbaths, that they may be a sign between me and
|
|
you: and that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
|
|
|
|
20:21. But their children provoked me, they walked not in my
|
|
commandments, nor observed my judgments to do them: which if a man do,
|
|
he shall live in them: and they violated my sabbaths: and I threatened
|
|
to pour out my indignation upon them, and to accomplish my wrath in
|
|
them in the desert.
|
|
|
|
20:22. But I turned away my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that
|
|
it might not be violated before the nations, out of which I brought
|
|
them forth in their sight.
|
|
|
|
20:23. Again I lifted up my hand upon them in the wilderness, to
|
|
disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the
|
|
countries:
|
|
|
|
20:24. Because they had not done my judgments, and had cast off my
|
|
statutes, and had violated my sabbaths, and their eyes had been after
|
|
the idols of their fathers.
|
|
|
|
20:25. Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and
|
|
judgments, in which they shall not live.
|
|
|
|
Statutes that were not good, etc. . .Viz., the laws and ordinances of
|
|
their enemies; or those imposes upon them by that cruel tyrant the
|
|
devil, to whose power they were delivered up for their sins.
|
|
|
|
20:26. And I polluted them in their own gifts, when they offered all
|
|
that opened the womb, for their offences: and they shall know that I am
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
I polluted them, etc. . .That is, I gave them up to such blindness in
|
|
punishment of their offences, as to pollute themselves with the blood
|
|
of all their firstborn, whom they offered up to their idols in
|
|
compliance with their wicked devices.
|
|
|
|
20:27. Wherefore speak to the house of Israel, O son of man, and say to
|
|
them: Thus saith the Lord God: Moreover in this also your fathers
|
|
blaspheme me, when they had despised and contemned me;
|
|
|
|
20:28. And I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my
|
|
hand to give it them: they saw every high hill, and every shady tree,
|
|
and there they sacrificed their victims: and there they presented the
|
|
provocation of their offerings, and there they set their sweet odours,
|
|
and poured forth their libations.
|
|
|
|
20:29. And I said to them: What meaneth the high place to which you go?
|
|
and the name thereof was called High-place even to this day.
|
|
|
|
20:30. Wherefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God:
|
|
Verily, you are defiled in the way of your fathers, and you commit
|
|
fornication with their abominations.
|
|
|
|
20:31. And you defile yourselves with all your idols unto this day, in
|
|
the offering of your gifts, when you make your children pass through
|
|
the fire: and shall I answer you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith
|
|
the Lord God, I will not answer you.
|
|
|
|
20:32. Neither shall the thought of your mind come to pass, by which
|
|
you say: We will be as the Gentiles, and as the families of the earth,
|
|
to worship stocks and stones.
|
|
|
|
20:33. As I live, saith the Lord God, I will reign over you with a
|
|
strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
|
|
|
|
20:34. And I will bring you out from the people, and I will gather you
|
|
out of the countries, in which you are scattered, I will reign over you
|
|
with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured
|
|
out.
|
|
|
|
20:35. And I will bring you into the wilderness of people, and there
|
|
will I plead with you face to face.
|
|
|
|
The wilderness of people. . .That is, a desert in which there are no
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
20:36. As I pleaded against your fathers in the desert of the land of
|
|
Egypt; even so will I judge you, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
20:37. And I will make you subject to my sceptre, and will bring you
|
|
into the bands of the covenant.
|
|
|
|
20:38. And I will pick out from among you the transgressors, and the
|
|
wicked, and will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, and
|
|
they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I
|
|
am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
20:39. And as for you, O house of Israel: thus saith the Lord God: Walk
|
|
ye every one after your idols, and serve them. But if in this also you
|
|
hear me not, but defile my holy name any more with your gifts, and with
|
|
your idols;
|
|
|
|
Walk ye every one, etc. . .It is not an allowance, much less a
|
|
commandment to serve idols; but a figure of speech, by which God would
|
|
have them to understand that if they would walk after their idols, they
|
|
must not pretend to serve him at the same time: for that he would by no
|
|
means suffer such a mixture of worship.
|
|
|
|
20:40. In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the
|
|
Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them I
|
|
say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there will I
|
|
require your firstfruits, and the chief of your tithes with all your
|
|
sanctifications.
|
|
|
|
In my holy mountain, etc. . .The foregoing verse, to make the sense
|
|
complete, must be understood so as to condemn and reject that mixture
|
|
of worship which the Jews then followed. In this verse, God promises to
|
|
the true Israelites, especially to those of the Christian church, that
|
|
they shall serve him in another manner, in his holy mountain, the
|
|
spiritual Sion: and shall by accepted of by him.
|
|
|
|
20:41. I will accept of you for an odour of sweetness, when I shall
|
|
have brought you out from the people, and shall have gathered you out
|
|
of the lands into which you are scattered, and I will be sanctified in
|
|
you in the sight of the nations.
|
|
|
|
20:42. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have brought
|
|
you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up my
|
|
hand to give it to your fathers.
|
|
|
|
20:43. And there you shall remember your ways, and all your wicked
|
|
doings with which you have been defiled; and you shall be displeased
|
|
with yourselves in your own sight, for all your wicked deeds which you
|
|
committed.
|
|
|
|
20:44. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have done
|
|
well by you for my own name's sake, and not according to your evil
|
|
ways, nor according to your wicked deeds, O house of Israel, saith the
|
|
Lord God.
|
|
|
|
20:45. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
20:46. Son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop
|
|
towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field.
|
|
|
|
Of the south. . .Jerusalem lay towards the south of Babylon, (where the
|
|
prophet then was,) and is here called the forest of the south field,
|
|
and is threatened with utter desolation.
|
|
|
|
20:47. And say to the south forest: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord God: Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and will burn
|
|
in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the flame of the fire
|
|
shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the
|
|
south even to the north.
|
|
|
|
20:48. And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it
|
|
shall not be quenched.
|
|
|
|
20:49. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God: they say of me: Doth not
|
|
this man speak by parables?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 21
|
|
|
|
|
|
The destruction of Jerusalem by the sword is further described: the
|
|
ruin also of the Ammonites is forshewn. And finally Babylon, the
|
|
destroyer of others, shall be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
21:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
21:2. Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and let thy speech
|
|
flow towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel:
|
|
|
|
21:3. And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I
|
|
come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath,
|
|
and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked.
|
|
|
|
21:4. And forasmuch as I have cut off in thee the just and the wicked,
|
|
therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh,
|
|
from the south even to the north.
|
|
|
|
21:5. That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out
|
|
of its sheath not to be turned back.
|
|
|
|
21:6. And thou, son of man, mourn with the breaking of thy loins, and
|
|
with bitterness sigh before them.
|
|
|
|
21:7. And when they shall say to thee: Why mournest thou? thou shalt
|
|
say: For that which I hear: because it cometh, and every heart shall
|
|
melt, and all hands shall be made feeble, and every spirit shall faint,
|
|
and water shall run down every knee: behold it cometh, and it shall be
|
|
done, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
21:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
21:9. Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Say: The
|
|
sword, the sword is sharpened, and furbished.
|
|
|
|
21:10. It is sharpened to kill victims: it is furbished that it may
|
|
glitter: thou removest the sceptre of my son, thou hast cut down every
|
|
tree.
|
|
|
|
Thou removest the sceptre of my son. . .He speaks (according to St.
|
|
Jerome) to the sword of Nabuchodonosor: which was about to remove the
|
|
sceptre of Israel, whom God here calls his son.
|
|
|
|
21:11. And I have given it to be furbished, that it may be handled:
|
|
this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, that it may be in the
|
|
hand of the slayer.
|
|
|
|
21:12. Cry, and howl, O son of man, for this sword is upon my people,
|
|
it is upon all the princes of Israel, that are fled: they are delivered
|
|
up to the sword with my people, strike therefore upon thy thigh,
|
|
|
|
21:13. Because it is tried: and that when it shall overthrow the
|
|
sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
21:14. Thou therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike thy hands
|
|
together, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain
|
|
be tripled: this is the sword of a great slaughter, that maketh them
|
|
stand amazed,
|
|
|
|
21:15. And languish in heart, and that multiplieth ruins. In all their
|
|
gates I have set the dread of the sharp sword, the sword that is
|
|
furbished to glitter, that is made ready for slaughter.
|
|
|
|
21:16. Be thou sharpened, go to the right hand, or to the left, which
|
|
way soever thou hast a mind to set thy face.
|
|
|
|
21:17. And I will clap my hands together, and will satisfy my
|
|
indignation: I the Lord have spoken.
|
|
|
|
21:18. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
21:19. And thou son of man, set thee two ways, for the sword of the
|
|
king of Babylon to come: both shall come forth out of one land: and
|
|
with his hand he shall draw lots, he shall consult at the head of the
|
|
way of the city.
|
|
|
|
21:20. Thou shalt make a way that the sword may come to Rabbath of the
|
|
children of Ammon, and to Juda unto Jerusalem the strong city.
|
|
|
|
21:21. For the king of Babylon stood in the highway, at the head of two
|
|
ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows: he inquired of the idols,
|
|
and consulted entrails.
|
|
|
|
21:22. On his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set
|
|
battering rams, to open the mouth in slaughter, to lift up the voice in
|
|
howling, to set engines against the gates, to cast up a mount, to build
|
|
forts.
|
|
|
|
21:23. And he shall be in their eyes as one consulting the oracle in
|
|
vain, and imitating the leisure of sabbaths: but he will call to
|
|
remembrance the iniquity that they may be taken.
|
|
|
|
21:24. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have remembered
|
|
your iniquity, and have discovered your prevarications, and your sins
|
|
have appeared in all your devices: because, I say, You have remembered,
|
|
you shall be taken with the hand.
|
|
|
|
21:25. But thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come that
|
|
hath been appointed in the time of iniquity:
|
|
|
|
Thou profane, etc. . .He speaks to king Sedecias, who had broken his
|
|
oath, and was otherwise a wicked prince.
|
|
|
|
21:26. Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, take off the crown:
|
|
is it not this that hath exalted the low one, and brought down him that
|
|
was high?
|
|
|
|
Is it not this that hath exalted the low one. . .The royal crown of Juda
|
|
had exalted Sedecias from a private state and condition to the
|
|
sovereign power, as the loss of it had brought down Jechonias, etc.
|
|
|
|
21:27. I will shew it to be iniquity, iniquity, iniquity: but this was
|
|
not done till he came to whom judgment belongeth, and I will give it
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
I will shew it to be iniquity, etc. . .Or, I will overturn it, viz., the
|
|
crown of Juda for the manifold iniquities of the kings: but it shall
|
|
not be utterly removed, till Christ come whose right it is: and who
|
|
shall reign in the spiritual house of Jacob, that is, in his church,
|
|
for evermore.
|
|
|
|
21:28. And thou son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God
|
|
concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach, and
|
|
thou shalt say: O sword, O sword, come out of the scabbard to kill, be
|
|
furbished to destroy, and to glitter,
|
|
|
|
Concerning their reproach. . .By which they had reproached and insulted
|
|
over the Jews, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
21:29. Whilst they see vain things in thy regard, and they divine lies:
|
|
to bring thee upon the necks of the wicked that are wounded, whose
|
|
appointed day is come in the time of iniquity.
|
|
|
|
21:30. Return into thy sheath. I will judge thee in the place wherein
|
|
thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.
|
|
|
|
Return into thy sheath, etc. . .The sword of Babylon, after raging
|
|
against many nations, was shortly to be judged and destroyed at home by
|
|
the Medes and Persians.
|
|
|
|
21:31. And I will pour out upon thee my indignation: in the fire of my
|
|
rage will I blow upon thee, and will give thee into the hands of men
|
|
that are brutish and contrive thy destruction.
|
|
|
|
21:32. Thou shalt be fuel for the fire, thy blood shall be in the midst
|
|
of the land, thou shalt be forgotten: for I the Lord have spoken it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 22
|
|
|
|
|
|
The general corruption of the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for which God
|
|
will consume them as dross in his furnace.
|
|
|
|
22:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
22:2. And thou son of man, dost thou not judge, dost thou not judge the
|
|
city of blood?
|
|
|
|
22:3. And thou shalt shew her all her abominations, and shalt say: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord God: This is the city that sheddeth blood in the midst
|
|
of her, that her time may come: and that hath made idols against
|
|
herself, to defile herself.
|
|
|
|
22:4. Thou art become guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed: and
|
|
thou art defiled in thy idols which thou hast made: and thou hast made
|
|
thy days to draw near, and hast brought on the time of thy years:
|
|
therefore have I made thee a reproach to the Gentiles, and a mockery to
|
|
all countries.
|
|
|
|
22:5. Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall
|
|
triumph over thee: thou filthy one, infamous, great in destruction.
|
|
|
|
22:6. Behold the princes of Israel, every one hath employed his arm in
|
|
thee to shed blood.
|
|
|
|
22:7. They have abused father and mother in thee, they have oppressed
|
|
the stranger in the midst of thee, they have grieved the fatherless and
|
|
widow in thee.
|
|
|
|
22:8. Thou hast despised my sanctuaries, and profaned my sabbaths.
|
|
|
|
22:9. Slanderers have been in thee to shed blood, and they have eaten
|
|
upon the mountains in thee, they have committed wickedness in the midst
|
|
of thee.
|
|
|
|
22:10. They have discovered the nakedness of their father in thee, they
|
|
have humbled the uncleanness of the menstruous woman in thee.
|
|
|
|
22:11. And every one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's
|
|
wife, and the father in law hath wickedly defiled his daughter in law,
|
|
the brother hath oppressed his sister the daughter of his father in
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
22:12. They have taken gifts in thee to shed blood: thou hast taken
|
|
usury and increase, and hast covetously oppressed thy neighbours: and
|
|
thou hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
22:13. Behold, I have clapped my hands at thy covetousness, which thou
|
|
hast exercised: and at the blood that hath been shed in the midst of
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
22:14. Shall thy heart endure, or shall thy hands prevail in the days
|
|
which I will bring upon thee: I the Lord have spoken, and will do it.
|
|
|
|
22:15. And I will disperse thee in the nations, and will scatter thee
|
|
among the countries, and I will put an end to thy uncleanness in thee.
|
|
|
|
22:16. And I will possess thee in the sight of the Gentiles, and thou
|
|
shalt know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
22:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
22:18. Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all these
|
|
are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace:
|
|
they are become the dross of silver.
|
|
|
|
22:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you are all turned
|
|
into dross, therefore behold I will gather you together in the midst of
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
22:20. As they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in
|
|
the midst of the furnace: that I may kindle a fire in it to melt it: so
|
|
will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and will take my
|
|
rest, and I will melt you down.
|
|
|
|
22:21. And will gather you together, and will burn you in the fire of
|
|
my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
22:22. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be
|
|
in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I
|
|
have poured out my indignation upon you.
|
|
|
|
22:23. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
22:24. Son of man, say to her: Thou art a land that is unclean, and not
|
|
rained upon in the day of wrath.
|
|
|
|
22:25. There is a conspiracy of prophets in the midst thereof: like a
|
|
lion that roareth and catcheth the prey, they have devoured souls, they
|
|
have taken riches and hire, they have made many widows in the midst
|
|
thereof.
|
|
|
|
22:26. Her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my
|
|
sanctuaries: they have put no difference between holy and profane: nor
|
|
have distinguished between the polluted and the clean: and they have
|
|
turned away their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the
|
|
midst of them.
|
|
|
|
22:27. Her princes in the midst of her, are like wolves ravening the
|
|
prey to shed blood, and to destroy souls, and to run after gains
|
|
through covetousness.
|
|
|
|
22:28. And her prophets have daubed them without tempering the mortar,
|
|
seeing vain things, and divining lies unto them, saying: Thus saith the
|
|
Lord God: when the Lord hath not spoken.
|
|
|
|
22:29. The people of the land have used oppression, and committed
|
|
robbery: they afflicted the needy and poor, and they oppressed the
|
|
stranger by calumny without judgment.
|
|
|
|
22:30. And I sought among them for a man that might set up a hedge, and
|
|
stand in the gap before me in favour of the land, that I might not
|
|
destroy it: and I found none.
|
|
|
|
22:31. And I poured out my indignation upon them, in the fire of my
|
|
wrath I consumed them: I have rendered their way upon their own head,
|
|
saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 23
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the names of the two harlots, Oolla and Ooliba, are described the
|
|
manifold disloyalties of Samaria and Jerusalem, with the punishment of
|
|
them both.
|
|
|
|
23:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
23:2. Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.
|
|
|
|
23:3. And they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they
|
|
committed fornication: there were their breasts pressed down, and the
|
|
teats of their virginity were bruised.
|
|
|
|
Committed fornication. . .That is, idolatry.
|
|
|
|
23:4. And their names were Oolla the elder, and Ooliba her younger
|
|
sister: and I took them, and they bore sons and daughters. Now for
|
|
their names, Samaria is Oolla, and Jerusalem is Ooliba.
|
|
|
|
Oolla and Ooliba. . .God calls the kingdom of Israel Oolla, which
|
|
signifies their own habitation, because they separated themselves from
|
|
his temple: and the kingdom of Juda, Ooliba, which signifies his
|
|
habitation in her, because of his temple among them in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
23:5. And Oolla committed fornication against me, and doted on her
|
|
lovers, on the Assyrians that came to her,
|
|
|
|
On the Assyraians, etc. . .That is, the idols of the Assyrians: for all
|
|
that is said in this chapter of the fornications of Israel and Juda, is
|
|
to be understood in a spiritual sense, of their disloyalty to the Lord,
|
|
by worshipping strange gods.
|
|
|
|
23:6. Who were clothed with blue, princes, and rulers, beautiful
|
|
youths, all horsemen, mounted upon horses.
|
|
|
|
23:7. And she committed her fornications with those chosen men, all
|
|
sons of the Assyrians: and she defiled herself with the uncleanness of
|
|
all them on whom she doted.
|
|
|
|
23:8. Moreover also she did not forsake her fornications which she had
|
|
committed in Egypt: for they also lay with her in her youth, and they
|
|
bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured out their fornication
|
|
upon her.
|
|
|
|
23:9. Therefore have I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into
|
|
the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, upon whose lust she doted.
|
|
|
|
23:10. They discovered her disgrace, took away her sons and daughters,
|
|
and slew her with the sword: and they became infamous women, and they
|
|
executed judgments in her.
|
|
|
|
23:11. And when her sister Ooliba saw this, she was mad with lust more
|
|
than she: and she carried her fornication beyond the fornication of her
|
|
sister.
|
|
|
|
23:12. Impudently prostituting herself to the children of the
|
|
Assyrians, the princes, and rulers that came to her, clothed with
|
|
divers colours, to the horsemen that rode upon horses, and to young men
|
|
all of great beauty.
|
|
|
|
23:13. And I saw that she was defiled, and that they both took one way.
|
|
|
|
23:14. And she increased her fornications: and when she had seen men
|
|
painted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans set forth in colours,
|
|
|
|
23:15. And girded with girdles about their reins, and with dyed turbans
|
|
on their heads, the resemblance of all the captains, the likeness of
|
|
the sons of Babylon, and of the land of the Chaldeans wherein they were
|
|
born,
|
|
|
|
23:16. She doted upon them with the lust of her eyes, and she sent
|
|
messengers to them into Chaldea.
|
|
|
|
23:17. And when the sons of Babylon were come to her to the bed of
|
|
love, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by
|
|
them, and her soul was glutted with them.
|
|
|
|
23:18. And she discovered her fornications, and discovered her
|
|
disgrace: and my soul was alienated from her, as my soul was alienated
|
|
from her sister.
|
|
|
|
23:19. For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her
|
|
youth, in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
23:20. And she was mad with lust after lying with them whose flesh is
|
|
as the flesh of asses: and whose issue as the issue of horses.
|
|
|
|
23:21. And thou hast renewed the wickedness of thy youth, when thy
|
|
breasts were pressed in Egypt, and the paps of thy virginity broken.
|
|
|
|
23:22. Therefore, Ooliba, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will raise
|
|
up against thee all thy lovers with whom thy soul hath been glutted:
|
|
and I will gather them together against thee round about.
|
|
|
|
23:23. The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, and
|
|
the kings, and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, beautiful young
|
|
men, all the captains, and rulers, the princes of princes, and the
|
|
renowned horsemen.
|
|
|
|
23:24. And they shall come upon thee well appointed with chariot and
|
|
wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against thee on every
|
|
side with breastplate, and buckler, and helmet: and I will set judgment
|
|
before them, and they shall judge thee by their judgments.
|
|
|
|
23:25. And I will set my jealousy against thee, which they shall
|
|
execute upon thee with fury: they shall cut off thy nose and thy ears:
|
|
and what remains shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons, and
|
|
thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by fire.
|
|
|
|
23:26. And they shall strip thee of thy garments, and take away the
|
|
instruments of thy glory.
|
|
|
|
23:27. And I will put an end to thy wickedness in thee, and thy
|
|
fornication brought out of the land of Egypt: neither shalt thou lift
|
|
up thy eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.
|
|
|
|
23:28. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver thee into
|
|
the hands of them whom thou hatest, into their hands with whom thy soul
|
|
hath been glutted.
|
|
|
|
23:29. And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and they shall take
|
|
away all thy labours, and shall let thee go naked, and full of
|
|
disgrace, and the disgrace of thy fornication shall be discovered, thy
|
|
wickedness, and thy fornications.
|
|
|
|
23:30. They have done these things to thee, because thou hast played
|
|
the harlot with the nations among which thou wast defiled with their
|
|
idols.
|
|
|
|
23:31. Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister and I will give her
|
|
cup into thy hand.
|
|
|
|
23:32. Thus saith the Lord God: Thou shalt drink thy sister's cup, deep
|
|
and wide: thou shalt be had in derision and scorn, which containeth
|
|
very much.
|
|
|
|
23:33. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness, and sorrow: with the cup
|
|
of grief and sadness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
|
|
|
|
23:34. And thou shalt drink it, and shalt drink it up even to the
|
|
dregs, and thou shalt devour the fragments thereof, thou shalt rend thy
|
|
breasts: because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
23:35. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten
|
|
me, and hast cast me off behind thy back, bear thou also thy
|
|
wickedness, and thy fornications.
|
|
|
|
23:36. And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, dost thou judge
|
|
Oolla, and Ooliba, and dost thou declare to them their wicked deeds?
|
|
|
|
23:37. Because they have committed adultery, and blood is in their
|
|
hands, and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover
|
|
also their children, whom they bore to me, they have offered to them to
|
|
be devoured.
|
|
|
|
23:38. Yea, and they have done this to me. They polluted my sanctuary
|
|
on the same day, and profaned my sabbaths.
|
|
|
|
23:39. And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went
|
|
into my sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things
|
|
even in the midst of my house.
|
|
|
|
23:40. They sent for men coming from afar, to whom they had sent a
|
|
messenger: and behold they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, and
|
|
didst paint thy eyes, and wast adorned with women's ornaments.
|
|
|
|
23:41. Thou sattest on a very fine bed, and a table was decked before
|
|
thee: whereupon thou didst set my incense, and my ointment.
|
|
|
|
23:42. And there was in her the voice of a multitude rejoicing: and to
|
|
some that were brought of the multitude of men, and that came from the
|
|
desert, they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on
|
|
their heads.
|
|
|
|
23:43. And I said to her that was worn out in her adulteries: Now will
|
|
this woman still continue in her fornication.
|
|
|
|
23:44. And they went in to her, as to a harlot: so went they in unto
|
|
Oolla, and Ooliba, wicked women.
|
|
|
|
23:45. They therefore are just men: these shall judge them as
|
|
adulteresses are judged, and as shedders of blood are judged: because
|
|
they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
|
|
|
|
23:46. For thus saith the Lord God: Bring a multitude upon them, and
|
|
deliver them over to tumult and rapine:
|
|
|
|
23:47. And let the people stone them with stone, and let them be
|
|
stabbed with their swords: they shall kill their sons and daughters,
|
|
and their houses they shall burn with fire.
|
|
|
|
23:48. And I will take away wickedness out of the land: and all women
|
|
shall learn, not to do according to the wickedness of them.
|
|
|
|
23:49. And they shall render your wickedness upon you, and you shall
|
|
bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 24
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the parable of a boiling pot is shewn the utter destruction of
|
|
Jerusalem: for which the Jews at Babylon shall not dare to mourn.
|
|
|
|
24:1. And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the
|
|
tenth month, the tenth day of the month, saying:
|
|
|
|
24:2. Son of man, write thee the name of this day, on which the king of
|
|
Babylon hath set himself against Jerusalem to day.
|
|
|
|
24:3. And thou shalt speak by a figure a parable to the provoking
|
|
house, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Set on a pot, set it
|
|
on, I say, and put water in it.
|
|
|
|
24:4. Heap together into it the pieces thereof, every good piece, the
|
|
thigh and the shoulder, choice pieces and full of bones.
|
|
|
|
24:5. Take the fattest of the flock, and lay together piles of bones
|
|
under it: the seething thereof is boiling hot, and the bones thereof
|
|
are thoroughly sodden in the midst of it.
|
|
|
|
24:6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the
|
|
pot whose rust is in it, and its rust is not gone out of it: cast it
|
|
out piece by piece, there hath no lot fallen upon it.
|
|
|
|
24:7. For her blood is in the midst of her, she hath shed it upon the
|
|
smooth rock: she hath not shed it upon the ground, that it might be
|
|
covered with dust.
|
|
|
|
24:8. And that I might bring my indignation upon her, and take my
|
|
vengeance: I have shed her blood upon the smooth rock, that it should
|
|
not be covered.
|
|
|
|
24:9. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, of
|
|
which I will make a great bonfire.
|
|
|
|
24:10. Heap together the bones, which I will burn with fire: the flesh
|
|
shall be consumed, and the whole composition shall be sodden, and the
|
|
bones shall be consumed.
|
|
|
|
24:11. Then set it empty upon burning coals, that it may be hot, and
|
|
the brass thereof may be melted: and let the filth of it be melted in
|
|
the midst thereof, and let the rust of it be consumed.
|
|
|
|
24:12. Great pains have been taken, and the great rust thereof is not
|
|
gone out, not even by fire.
|
|
|
|
24:13. Thy uncleanness is execrable: because I desired to cleanse thee,
|
|
and thou art not cleansed from thy filthiness: neither shalt thou be
|
|
cleansed, before I cause my indignation to rest in thee.
|
|
|
|
24:14. I the Lord have spoken: it shall come to pass, and I will do it:
|
|
I will not pass by, nor spare, nor be pacified: I will judge thee
|
|
according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
24:15. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
24:16. Son of man, behold I take from thee the desire of thy eyes with
|
|
a stroke, and thou shall not lament, nor weep; neither shall thy tears
|
|
run down.
|
|
|
|
24:17. Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead: let the tire of
|
|
thy head be upon thee, and thy shoes on thy feet, and cover not thy
|
|
face, nor eat the meat of mourners.
|
|
|
|
24:18. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the
|
|
evening: and I did in the morning as he had commanded me.
|
|
|
|
24:19. And the people said to me: Why dost thou not tell us what these
|
|
things mean that thou doest?
|
|
|
|
24:20. And I said to them: The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
24:21. Speak to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I
|
|
will profane my sanctuary, the glory of your realm, and the thing that
|
|
your eyes desire, and for which your soul feareth: your sons, and your
|
|
daughters, whom you have left, shall fall by the sword.
|
|
|
|
24:22. And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your faces,
|
|
nor shall you eat the meat of mourners.
|
|
|
|
24:23. You shall have crowns on your heads, and shoes on your feet: you
|
|
shall not lament nor weep, but you shall pine away for your iniquities,
|
|
and every one shall sigh with his brother.
|
|
|
|
24:24. And Ezechiel shall be unto you for a sign of things to come:
|
|
according to all that he hath done, so shall you do, when this shall
|
|
come to pass: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
24:25. And thou, O son of man, behold in the day wherein I will take
|
|
away from them their strength, and the joy of their glory, and the
|
|
desire of their eyes, upon which their souls rest, their sons and their
|
|
daughters.
|
|
|
|
24:26. In that day when he that escapeth shall come to thee, to tell
|
|
thee:
|
|
|
|
24:27. In that day, I say, shall thy mouth be opened to him that hath
|
|
escaped, and thou shalt speak, and shalt be silent no more: and thou
|
|
shalt be unto them for a sign of things to come, and you shall know
|
|
that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 25
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophecy against the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines,
|
|
for their malice against the Israelites.
|
|
|
|
25:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
25:2. Son of man, set thy face against the children of Ammon, and thou
|
|
shalt prophesy of them.
|
|
|
|
25:3. And thou shalt say to the children of Ammon: Hear ye the word of
|
|
the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast said: Ha, ha,
|
|
upon my sanctuary, because it was profaned: and upon the land of
|
|
Israel, because it was laid waste: and upon the house of Juda, because
|
|
they are led into captivity:
|
|
|
|
25:4. Therefore will I deliver thee to the men of the east for an
|
|
inheritance, and they shall place their sheepcotes in thee, and shall
|
|
set up their tents in thee: they shall eat thy fruits: and they shall
|
|
drink thy milk.
|
|
|
|
25:5. And I will make Rabbath a stable for camels, and the children of
|
|
Ammon a couching place for flocks: and you shall know that I am the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
Rabbath. . .The capital city of the Ammonites: it was afterwards called
|
|
Philadelphia.
|
|
|
|
25:6. For thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast clapped thy hands
|
|
and stamped with thy foot, and hast rejoiced with all thy heart against
|
|
the land of Israel:
|
|
|
|
25:7. Therefore behold I will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and will
|
|
deliver thee to be the spoil of nations, and will cut thee off from
|
|
among the people, and destroy thee out of the lands, and break thee in
|
|
pieces: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
25:8. Thus saith the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir have said: Behold
|
|
the house of Juda is like all other nations:
|
|
|
|
25:9. Therefore behold I will open the shoulder of Moab from the
|
|
cities, from his cities, I say, and his borders, the noble cities of
|
|
the land of Bethiesimoth, and Beelmeon, and Cariathaim,
|
|
|
|
25:10. To the people of the east with the children of Ammon, and I will
|
|
give it them for an inheritance: that there may be no more any
|
|
remembrance of the children of Ammon among the nations.
|
|
|
|
25:11. And I will execute judgments in Moab: and they shall know that I
|
|
am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
25:12. Thus saith the Lord God: Because Edom hath taken vengeance to
|
|
revenge herself of the children of Juda, and hath greatly offended, and
|
|
hath sought revenge of them:
|
|
|
|
25:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I will stretch forth my hand
|
|
upon Edom, and will take away out of it man and beast, and will make it
|
|
desolate from the south: and they that are in Dedan shall fall by the
|
|
sword.
|
|
|
|
25:14. And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people
|
|
Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to my wrath, and my fury:
|
|
and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
25:15. Thus saith the Lord God: Because the Philistines have taken
|
|
vengeance, and have revenged themselves with all their mind, destroying
|
|
and satisfying old enmities:
|
|
|
|
25:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will stretch forth
|
|
my hand upon the Philistines, and will kill the killers, and will
|
|
destroy the remnant of the sea coast.
|
|
|
|
25:17. And I will execute great vengeance upon them, rebuking them in
|
|
fury: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my
|
|
vengeance upon them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 26
|
|
|
|
|
|
A prophecy of the destruction of the famous city of Tyre by
|
|
Nabuchodonosor.
|
|
|
|
26:1. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, the first day of the
|
|
month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
26:2. Son of man, because Tyre hath said of Jerusalem: Aha, the gates
|
|
of the people are broken, she is turned to me: I shall be filled, now
|
|
she is laid waste.
|
|
|
|
26:3. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, O
|
|
Tyre, and I will cause many nations to come up to thee, as the waves of
|
|
the sea rise up.
|
|
|
|
26:4. And they shall break down the walls of Tyre, and destroy the
|
|
towers thereof: and I will scrape her dust from her, and make her like
|
|
a smooth rock.
|
|
|
|
26:5. She shall be a drying place for nets in the midst of the sea,
|
|
because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and she shall be a spoil
|
|
to the nations.
|
|
|
|
26:6. Her daughters also that are in the field, shall be slain by the
|
|
sword: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
26:7. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will bring against Tyre
|
|
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, the king of kings, from the north, with
|
|
horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and companies, and much people.
|
|
|
|
26:8. Thy daughters that are in the field, he shall kill with the
|
|
sword: and he shall compass thee with forts, and shall cast up a mount
|
|
round about: and he shall lift up the buckler against thee.
|
|
|
|
26:9. And he shall set engines of war and battering rams against thy
|
|
walls, and shall destroy thy towers with his arms.
|
|
|
|
26:10. By reason of the multitude of his horses, their dust shall cover
|
|
thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and wheels,
|
|
and chariots, when they shall go in at thy gates, as by the entrance of
|
|
a city that is destroyed.
|
|
|
|
26:11. With the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all thy
|
|
streets, thy people he shall kill with the sword, and thy famous
|
|
statues shall fall to the ground.
|
|
|
|
26:12. They shall waste thy riches, they shall make a spoil of thy
|
|
merchandise: and they shall destroy thy walls, and pull down thy fine
|
|
houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber, and thy dust in
|
|
the midst of the waters.
|
|
|
|
26:13. And I will make the multitude of thy songs to cease, and the
|
|
sound of thy harps shall be heard no more.
|
|
|
|
26:14. And I will make thee like a naked rock, thou shalt be a drying
|
|
place for nets, neither shalt thou be built any more: for I have spoken
|
|
it, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
26:15. Thus saith the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the islands shake at
|
|
the sound of thy fall, and the groans of thy slain when they shall be
|
|
killed in the midst of thee?
|
|
|
|
26:16. Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their
|
|
thrones: and take off their robes, and cast away their broidered
|
|
garments, and be clothed with astonishment: they shall sit on the
|
|
ground, and with amazement shall wonder at thy sudden fall.
|
|
|
|
26:17. And taking up a lamentation over thee, they shall say to thee:
|
|
How art thou fallen, that dwellest in the sea, renowned city that wast
|
|
strong in the sea, with thy inhabitants whom all did dread?
|
|
|
|
26:18. Now shall the ships be astonished in the day of thy terror: and
|
|
the islands in the sea shall be troubled because no one cometh out of
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
26:19. For thus saith the Lord God: When I shall make thee a desolate
|
|
city like the cities that are not inhabited: and shall bring the deep
|
|
upon thee, and many waters shall cover thee:
|
|
|
|
26:20. And when I shall bring thee down with those that descend into
|
|
the pit to the everlasting people, and shall set thee in the lowest
|
|
parts of the earth, as places desolate of old, with them that are
|
|
brought down into the pit, that thou be not inhabited: and when I shall
|
|
give glory in the land of the living,
|
|
|
|
26:21. I will bring thee to nothing, and thou shalt not be, and if thou
|
|
be sought for, thou shalt not be found any more for ever, saith the
|
|
Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 27
|
|
|
|
|
|
A description of the glory and riches of Tyre: and of her irrecoverable
|
|
fall.
|
|
|
|
27:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
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27:2. Thou therefore, O son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre:
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27:3. And say to Tyre that dwelleth at the entry of the sea, being the
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mart of the people for many islands: Thus saith the Lord God: O Tyre,
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thou hast said: I am of perfect beauty,
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27:4. And situate in the heart of the sea. Thy neighbours, that built
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thee, have perfected thy beauty:
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27:5. With fir trees of Sanir they have built thee with all sea planks:
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they have taken cedars from Libanus to make thee masts.
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Sea planks. . .That is, timber brought by sea to build the city.
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27:6. They have cut thy oars out of the oaks of Basan: and they have
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made thee benches of Indian ivory and cabins with things brought from
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the islands of Italy.
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27:7. Fine broidered linen from Egypt was woven for thy sail, to be
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spread on thy mast: blue and purple from the islands of Elisa, were
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made thy covering.
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27:8. The inhabitants of Sidon, and the Arabians were thy rowers: thy
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wise men, O Tyre, were thy pilots.
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27:9. The ancients of Gebal, and the wise men thereof furnished
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mariners for the service of thy various furniture: all the ships of the
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sea, and their mariners were thy factors.
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27:10. The Persians, and Lydians, and the Libyans were thy soldiers in
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thy army: they hung up the buckler and the helmet in thee for thy
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ornament.
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27:11. The men of Arad were with thy army upon thy walls round about:
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the Pygmeans also that were in thy towers, hung up their quivers on thy
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walls round about: they perfected thy beauty.
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Pygmeans. . .That is, strong and valiant men. In Hebrew, Gammadim.
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27:12. The Carthaginians thy merchants supplied thy fairs with a
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multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead,
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27:13. Greece, Thubal, and Mosoch, they were thy merchants, they
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brought to thy people slaves and vessels of brass.
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27:14. From the house of Thogorma they brought horses, and horsemen,
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and mules to thy market.
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27:15. The men of Dedan were thy merchants: many islands were the
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traffic of thy hand, they exchanged for thy price teeth of ivory and
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ebony.
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27:16. The Syrian was thy merchant: by reason of the multitude of thy
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works, they set forth precious stories, and purple, and broidered
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works, and fine linen, and silk, and chodchod in thy market.
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Chodchod. . .It is the Hebrew name for some precious stone; but of what
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kind in particular interpreters are not agreed.
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27:17. Juda and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants with the
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best corn: they set forth balm, and honey, and oil and rosin in thy
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fairs.
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27:18. The men of Damascus were thy merchants in the multitude of thy
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works, the multitude of divers riches, in rich wine, in wool of the
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best colour.
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27:19. Dan, and Greece, and Mosel have set forth in thy marts wrought
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iron: stacte, and calamus were in thy market.
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27:20. The men of Dedan were thy merchants in tapestry for seats.
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27:21. Arabia, and all the princes of Cedar, they were the merchants of
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thy hand: thy merchants came to thee with lambs, and rams, and kids.
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27:22. The sellers of Saba, and Reema, they were thy merchants: with
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all the best spices, and precious stones, and gold, which they set
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forth in thy market.
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27:23. Haran, and Chene, and Eden were thy merchants; Saba, Assur, and
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Chelmad sold to thee.
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27:24. They were thy merchants in divers manners, with bales of blue
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cloth, and of embroidered work, and of precious riches, which were
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wrapped up and bound with cords: they had cedars also in thy
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merchandise.
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27:25. The ships of the sea, were thy chief in thy merchandise: and
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thou wast replenished, and glorified exceedingly in the heart of the
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sea.
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27:26. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the south wind
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hath broken thee in the heart of the sea.
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27:27. Thy riches, and thy treasures, and thy manifold furniture, thy
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mariners, and thy pilots, who kept thy goods, and were chief over thy
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people: thy men of war also, that were in thee, with all thy multitude
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that is in the midst of thee: shall fall in the heart of the sea in the
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day of thy ruin.
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27:28. Thy fleets shall be troubled at the sound of the cry of thy
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pilots.
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27:29. And all that handled the oar shall come down from their ships:
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the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea shall stand upon the land:
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27:30. And they shall mourn over thee with a loud voice and shall cry
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bitterly: and they shall cast up dust upon their heads and shall be
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sprinkled with ashes.
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27:31. And they shall shave themselves bald for thee, and shall be
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girded with haircloth: and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of
|
|
soul, with most bitter weeping.
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27:32. And they shall take up a mournful song for thee, and shall
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lament thee: What city is like Tyre, which is become silent in the
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midst of the sea?
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27:33. Which by thy merchandise that went from thee by sea didst fill
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many people: which by the multitude of thy riches, and of thy people
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didst enrich the kings of the earth.
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27:34. Now thou art destroyed by the sea, thy riches are in the bottom
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|
of the waters, and all the multitude that was in the midst of thee is
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fallen.
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27:35. All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at thee: and
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|
all their kings being struck with the storm have changed their
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|
countenance.
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27:36. The merchants of people have hissed at thee: thou art brought to
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nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.
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Ezechiel Chapter 28
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The king of Tyre, who affected to be like to God, shall fall under the
|
|
like sentence with Lucifer. The judgment of Sidon. The restoration of
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|
Israel.
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28:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
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28:2. Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus saith the Lord God:
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|
Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said: I am God, and I sit
|
|
in the chair of God in the heart of the sea: whereas thou art a man,
|
|
and not God: and hast set thy heart as if it were the heart of God.
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28:3. Behold thou art wiser than Daniel: no secret is hid from thee.
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Thou art wiser than Daniel. . .Viz., in thy own conceit. The wisdom of
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|
Daniel was so much celebrated in his days, that it became a proverb
|
|
amongst the Chaldeans, when any one would express an extraordinary
|
|
wisdom, to say he was as wise as Daniel.
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28:4. In thy wisdom and thy understanding thou hast made thyself
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|
strong: and hast gotten gold an silver into thy treasures.
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28:5. By the greatness of thy wisdom, and by thy traffic thou hast
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|
increased thy strength: and thy heart is lifted up with thy strength.
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28:6. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Because thy heart is lifted
|
|
up as the heart of God:
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28:7. Therefore behold, I will bring upon thee strangers: the strongest
|
|
of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of
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|
thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy beauty.
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28:8. They shall kill thee, and bring thee down: and thou shalt die the
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|
death of them that are slain in the heart of the sea.
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28:9. Wilt thou yet say before them that slay thee: I am God; whereas
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|
thou art a man, and not God, in the hand of them that slay thee?
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|
28:10. Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of
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|
strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
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|
28:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up
|
|
a lamentation upon the king of Tyre:
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|
28:12. And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Thou wast the seal of
|
|
resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
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|
Thou wast the seal of resemblance. . .The king of Tyre, by his dignity
|
|
and his natural perfections, bore in himself a certain resemblance to
|
|
God, by reason of which he might be called the seal of resemblance,
|
|
etc. But what is here said to him is commonly understood of Lucifer,
|
|
the king over all the children of pride.
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28:13. Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every
|
|
precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the
|
|
jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and
|
|
the carbuncle, and the emerald: gold the work of thy beauty: and thy
|
|
pipes were prepared in the day that thou wast created.
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28:14. Thou a cherub stretched out, and protecting, and I set thee in
|
|
the holy mountain of God, thou hast walked in the midst of the stones
|
|
of fire.
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|
A cherub stretched out. . .That is, thy wings extended. This alludes to
|
|
the figure of the cherubims in the sanctuary, which with stretched out
|
|
wings covered the ark.--Ibid. The stones of fire. . .That is, bright and
|
|
precious stones which sparkle like fire.
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28:15. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation,
|
|
until iniquity was found in thee.
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|
28:16. By the multitude of thy merchandise, thy inner parts were filled
|
|
with iniquity, and thou hast sinned: and I cast thee out from the
|
|
mountain of God, and destroyed thee, O covering cherub, out of the
|
|
midst of the stones of fire.
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28:17. And thy heart was lifted up with thy beauty: thou hast lost thy
|
|
wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast thee to the ground: I have set thee
|
|
before the face of kings, that they might behold thee.
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|
28:18. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thy
|
|
iniquities, and by the iniquity of thy traffic: therefore I will bring
|
|
forth a fire from the midst of thee, to devour thee, and I will make
|
|
thee as ashes upon the earth in the sight of all that see thee.
|
|
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|
28:19. All that shall see thee among the nations, shall be astonished
|
|
at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.
|
|
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|
28:20. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
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|
28:21. Son of man, set thy face against Sidon: and thou shalt prophesy
|
|
of it,
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|
28:22. And shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against
|
|
thee, Sidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they
|
|
shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall execute judgments in her,
|
|
and shall be sanctified in her.
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|
28:23. And I will send into her pestilence, and blood in her streets:
|
|
and they shall fall being slain by the sword on all sides in the midst
|
|
thereof: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
28:24. And the house of Israel shall have no more a stumblingblock of
|
|
bitterness, nor a thorn causing pain on every side round about them, of
|
|
them that are against them: and they shall know that I am the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
28:25. Thus saith the Lord God: When I shall have gathered together the
|
|
house of Israel out of the people among whom they are scattered: I will
|
|
be sanctified in them before the Gentiles: and they shall dwell in
|
|
their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.
|
|
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|
28:26. And they shall dwell therein secure, and they shall build
|
|
houses, and shall plant vineyards, and shall dwell with confidence,
|
|
when I shall have executed judgments upon all that are their enemies
|
|
round about: and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.
|
|
|
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|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 29
|
|
|
|
|
|
The king of Egypt shall be overthrown, and his kingdom wasted: it shall
|
|
be given to Nabuchodonosor for his service against Tyre.
|
|
|
|
29:1. In the tenth year, the tenth month, the eleventh day of the
|
|
month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
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|
29:2. Son of man, set thy face against Pharao king of Egypt: and thou
|
|
shalt prophesy of him, and of all Egypt:
|
|
|
|
29:3. Speak, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against
|
|
thee, Pharao king of Egypt, thou great dragon that liest in the midst
|
|
of thy rivers, and sayest: The river is mine, and I made myself.
|
|
|
|
29:4. But I will put a bridle in thy jaws: and I will cause the fish of
|
|
thy rivers to stick to thy scales: and I will draw thee out of the
|
|
midst of thy rivers, and all thy fish shall stick to thy scales.
|
|
|
|
29:5. And I will cast thee forth into the desert, and all the fish of
|
|
thy river: thou shalt fall upon the face of the earth, thou shalt not
|
|
be taken up, nor gathered together: I have given thee for meat to the
|
|
beasts of the earth, and to the fowls of the air.
|
|
|
|
29:6. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord:
|
|
because thou hast been a staff of a reed to the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
29:7. When they took hold of thee with the hand thou didst break, and
|
|
rent all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brokest,
|
|
and weakenest all their loins.
|
|
|
|
29:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring the sword
|
|
upon thee: and cut off man and beast out of thee.
|
|
|
|
29:9. And the land of Egypt shall become a desert, and a wilderness:
|
|
and they shall know that I am the Lord, because thou hast said: The
|
|
river is mine, and I made it.
|
|
|
|
29:10. Therefore, behold I come against thee, and thy rivers: and I
|
|
will make the land of Egypt utterly desolate, and wasted by the sword,
|
|
from the tower of Syene, even to the borders of Ethiopia.
|
|
|
|
29:11. The foot of man shall not pass through it, neither shall the
|
|
foot of beasts go through it: nor shall it be inhabited during forty
|
|
years.
|
|
|
|
29:12. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the
|
|
lands that are desolate, and the cities thereof in the midst of the
|
|
cites that are destroyed, and they shall be desolate for forty years:
|
|
and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse
|
|
them through the countries.
|
|
|
|
29:13. For thus saith the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will
|
|
gather the Egyptians from the people among whom they had been
|
|
scattered.
|
|
|
|
29:14. And I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will place
|
|
them in the land of Phatures, in the land of their nativity, and they
|
|
shall be there a low kingdom:
|
|
|
|
29:15. It shall be the lowest among other kingdoms, and it shall no
|
|
more be exalted over the nations, and I will diminish them that they
|
|
shall rule no more over the nations.
|
|
|
|
29:16. And they shall be no more a confidence to the house of Israel,
|
|
teaching iniquity, that they may flee, and follow them: and they shall
|
|
know that I am the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
29:17. And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year in the first
|
|
month, in the first of the month: that the word of the Lord came to me,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
29:18. Son of man, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath made his army to
|
|
undergo hard service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every
|
|
shoulder was peeled and there hath been no reward given him, nor his
|
|
army for Tyre, for the service that he rendered me against it.
|
|
|
|
29:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will set
|
|
Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon in the land of Egypt: and he shall
|
|
take her multitude, and take the booty thereof for a prey, and rifle
|
|
the spoils thereof: and it shall be wages for his army.
|
|
|
|
29:20. And for the service that he hath done me against it: I have
|
|
given him the land of Egypt, because he hath laboured for me, saith the
|
|
Lord God.
|
|
|
|
29:21. In that day a horn shall bud forth to the house of Israel, and I
|
|
will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them: and they shall know
|
|
that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 30
|
|
|
|
|
|
The desolation of Egypt and her helpers: all her cities shall be
|
|
wasted.
|
|
|
|
30:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
30:2. Son of man prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Howl ye,
|
|
Woe, woe to the day:
|
|
|
|
30:3. For the day is near, yea the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy
|
|
day, it shall be the time of the nations.
|
|
|
|
30:4. And the sword shall come upon Egypt: and there shall be dread in
|
|
Ethiopia, when the wounded shall fall in Egypt, and the multitude
|
|
thereof shall be taken away, and the foundations thereof shall be
|
|
destroyed.
|
|
|
|
30:5. Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the rest of the crowd,
|
|
and Chub, and the children of the land of the covenant, shall fall with
|
|
them by the sword.
|
|
|
|
30:6. Thus saith the Lord God: They also that uphold Egypt shall fall,
|
|
and the pride of her empire shall be brought down: from the tower of
|
|
Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord the God of
|
|
hosts.
|
|
|
|
30:7. And they shall be desolate in the midst of the lands that are
|
|
desolate, and the cities thereof shall be in the midst of the cities
|
|
that are wasted.
|
|
|
|
30:8. And they shall know that I am the Lord: when I shall have set a
|
|
fire in Egypt, and all the helpers thereof shall be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
30:9. In that day shall messengers go forth from my face in ships to
|
|
destroy the confidence of Ethiopia, and there shall be dread among them
|
|
in the day of Egypt: because it shall certainly come.
|
|
|
|
30:10. Thus saith the Lord God: I will make the multitude of Egypt to
|
|
cease by the hand of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
30:11. He and his people with him, the strongest of nations, shall be
|
|
brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords upon
|
|
Egypt: and shall fill the land with the slain.
|
|
|
|
30:12. And I will make the channels of the rivers dry, and will deliver
|
|
the land into the hand of the wicked: and will lay waste the land and
|
|
all that is therein by the hands of strangers, I the Lord have spoken
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
30:13. Thus saith the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols, and I
|
|
will make an end of the idols of Memphis: and there shall: be no more a
|
|
prince of the land of Egypt and I will cause a terror in the land of
|
|
Egypt.
|
|
|
|
30:14. And I will destroy the land of Phatures, and will make a fire in
|
|
Taphnis, and will execute judgments in Alexandria.
|
|
|
|
Alexandria. . .In the Hebrew, No: which was the ancient name of that
|
|
city, which was afterwards rebuilt by Alexander the Great, and from his
|
|
name called Alexandria.
|
|
|
|
30:15. And I will pour out my indignation upon Pelusium the strength of
|
|
Egypt, and will cut off the multitude of Alexandria.
|
|
|
|
30:16. And I will make a fire in Egypt: Pelusium shall be in pain like
|
|
a woman in labour, and Alexandria shall be laid waste, and in Memphis
|
|
there shall be daily distresses.
|
|
|
|
30:17. The young men of Heliopolis, and of Bubastus shall fall by the
|
|
sword, and they themselves shall go into captivity.
|
|
|
|
30:18. And in Taphnis the day shall be darkened, when I shall break
|
|
there the sceptres of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall cease in
|
|
her: a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall be led into
|
|
captivity.
|
|
|
|
30:19. And I will execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that
|
|
I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
30:20. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in
|
|
the seventh day of the month, that the word of the Lord came, me,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
30:21. Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharao king of Egypt: and
|
|
behold it is not bound up, to be healed, to be tied up with clothes,
|
|
and swathed with linen, that it might recover strength, and hold the
|
|
sword.
|
|
|
|
30:22. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against
|
|
Pharao king of Egypt, and I will break into pieces his strong arm,
|
|
which is already broken: and I will cause the sword to fall out of his
|
|
hand:
|
|
|
|
30:23. And I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and scatter them
|
|
through the countries.
|
|
|
|
30:24. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and will
|
|
put my sword in his hand: and I will break the arms of Pharao, and they
|
|
shall groan bitterly being slain before his face.
|
|
|
|
30:25. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the
|
|
arms of Pharao shall fall: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when
|
|
I shall have given my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and
|
|
he shall have stretched it forth upon the land of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
30:26. And I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and will scatter
|
|
them through the countries, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 31
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Assyrian empire fell for their pride: the Egyptian shall fall in
|
|
like manner.
|
|
|
|
31:1. And it came to pass, in the eleventh year, the third month the
|
|
first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
31:2. Son of man, speak to Pharao king of Egypt, and to his people: To
|
|
whom art thou like in thy greatness?
|
|
|
|
31:3. Behold, the Assyrian like a cedar in Libanus, with fair branches,
|
|
and full of leaves, of a high stature, and his top was elevated among
|
|
the thick boughs.
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|
|
|
31:4. The waters nourished him, the deep set him tip on high, the
|
|
streams thereof ran round about his roots, and it sent, forth its
|
|
rivulets to all the trees of the country.
|
|
|
|
31:5. Therefore was his height exalted above all the trees of the
|
|
country and his branches were multiplied, and his boughs were elevated
|
|
because of many waters.
|
|
|
|
31:6. And when he had spread forth his shadow, all the fowls of the air
|
|
made their nests in his boughs, and all the beasts of the forest
|
|
brought forth their young under his branches, and the assembly of many
|
|
nations dwelt under his shadow.
|
|
|
|
31:7. And he was most beautiful for his greatness, and for the
|
|
spreading of his branches: for his root was near great waters.
|
|
|
|
31:8. The cedars in the paradise of God were not higher than he, the
|
|
fir trees did not equal his top, neither were the plane trees to be
|
|
compared with him for branches: no tree in the paradise of God was like
|
|
him in his beauty.
|
|
|
|
31:9. For I made him beautiful and thick set with many branches: and
|
|
all the trees of pleasure, that were in the paradise of God, envied
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
31:10. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because he was exalted in
|
|
height, and shot up his top green and thick, and his heart was lifted
|
|
up in his height:
|
|
|
|
31:11. I have delivered him into the hands of the mighty one of the
|
|
nations, he shall deal with him: I have cast him out according to his
|
|
wickedness.
|
|
|
|
I have delivered. . .Here the time past is put for the future, i. e., I
|
|
shall deliver.--Ibid. The mighty one, etc. . .Viz., Nabuchodonosor, who
|
|
conquered both the Assyrians and Egyptians.
|
|
|
|
31:12. And strangers, and the most cruel of the nations shall cut him
|
|
down, and cast him away upon the mountains, and his boughs shall fall
|
|
in every valley, and his branches shall be broken on every rock of the
|
|
country: and all the people of the earth shall depart from his shadow,
|
|
and leave him.
|
|
|
|
31:13. All the fowls of the air dwelt upon his ruins, and all the
|
|
beasts of the field were among his branches.
|
|
|
|
31:14. For which cause none of the trees by the waters shall exalt
|
|
themselves for their height: nor shoot up their tops among the thick
|
|
branches and leaves, neither shall any of them that are watered stand
|
|
up in their height: for they are all delivered unto death to the lowest
|
|
parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that
|
|
go down into the pit.
|
|
|
|
31:15. Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when he went down to hell, I
|
|
brought in mourning, I covered him with the deep: and I withheld its
|
|
rivers, and restrained the many waters: Libanus grieved for him, and
|
|
all the trees of the field trembled.
|
|
|
|
31:16. I shook the nations with the sound of his fall, when I brought
|
|
him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees
|
|
of pleasure, the choice and best in Libanus, all that were moistened
|
|
with waters, were comforted in the lowest parts of the earth.
|
|
|
|
31:17. For they also shall go down with him to hell to them that are
|
|
slain by the sword; and the arm of every one shall sit down under his
|
|
shadow in the midst of the nations.
|
|
|
|
31:18. To whom art thou like, O thou that art famous and lofty among
|
|
the trees of pleasure? Behold, thou art brought down with the trees of
|
|
pleasure to the lowest parts of the earth: thou shalt sleep in the
|
|
midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain by the sword: this
|
|
is Pharao, and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 32
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet's lamentation for the king of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
32:1. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in
|
|
the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
32:2. Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharao the king of Egypt,
|
|
and say to him: Thou art like the lion of the nations, and the dragon
|
|
that is in the sea: and thou didst push with the horn in thy rivers,
|
|
and didst trouble the waters with thy feet, and didst trample upon
|
|
their streams.
|
|
|
|
32:3. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: I will spread out my net over
|
|
thee with the multitude of many people, and I will draw thee up in my
|
|
net.
|
|
|
|
32:4. And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away into
|
|
the open field and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell upon
|
|
thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with thee.
|
|
|
|
32:5. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and will fill thy
|
|
hills with thy corruption,
|
|
|
|
32:6. And I will water the earth with thy stinking blood upon the
|
|
mountains, and the valleys shall be filled with thee.
|
|
|
|
32:7. And I will cover the heavens, when thou shalt be put out, and I
|
|
will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud,
|
|
and the moon shall not give her light.
|
|
|
|
32:8. I will make all the lights of heaven to mourn over thee and I
|
|
will cause darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God, when thy wounded
|
|
shall fall in the midst of the land, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
32:9. And I shall provoke to anger the heart of many people, when I
|
|
shall have brought in thy destruction among the nations upon the lands,
|
|
which thou knowest not.
|
|
|
|
32:10. And I will make many people to be amazed at thee, and their
|
|
kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when my sword shall begin to
|
|
fly upon their faces: and they shall be astonished on a sudden, every
|
|
one for his own life, in the day of their ruin.
|
|
|
|
32:11. For thus saith the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon
|
|
shall come upon thee,
|
|
|
|
32:12. By the swords of the mighty I will overthrow thy multitude: all
|
|
these nations are invincible: and they shall waste the pride of Egypt,
|
|
and the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
32:13. I will destroy also all the beasts thereof that were beside the
|
|
great waters: and the foot of man shall trouble them no more, neither
|
|
shall the hoof of beasts trouble them.
|
|
|
|
32:14. Then will I make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to
|
|
run like oil, saith the Lord God:
|
|
|
|
32:15. When I shall have made the land of Egypt desolate: and the land
|
|
shall be destitute of her fulness, when I shall have struck all the
|
|
inhabitants thereof and they shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
32:16. This is the lamentation, and they shall lament therewith: the
|
|
daughters of the nations shall lament therewith for Egypt, and for the
|
|
multitude thereof they shall lament therewith, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
32:17. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of
|
|
the month, that the word of the Lord came to me saying:
|
|
|
|
32:18. Son of man, sing a mournful song for the multitude of Egypt: and
|
|
cast her down, both her, and the daughters of the mighty nations to the
|
|
lowest part of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.
|
|
|
|
32:19. Whom dost thou excel in beauty? go down and sleep with the
|
|
uncircumcised.
|
|
|
|
32:20. They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain with the
|
|
sword: the sword is given, they have drawn her down, and all her
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
32:21. The most mighty among the strong ones shall speak to him from
|
|
the midst of hell, they that went down with his helpers and slept
|
|
uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
|
|
|
|
32:22. Assur is there, and all his multitude: their graves are round
|
|
about him, all of them slain, and that fell by the sword.
|
|
|
|
32:23. Whose graves are set in the lowest parts of the pit: and his
|
|
multitude lay round about his grave: all of them slain, and fallen by
|
|
the sword, they that heretofore spread terror in the land of the
|
|
living.
|
|
|
|
32:24. There is Elam and all his multitude round about his grave, all
|
|
of them slain, and fallen by the sword; that went down uncircumcised to
|
|
the lowest parts of the earth: that caused their terror in the land of
|
|
the living, and they have borne their shame with them that go down into
|
|
the pit.
|
|
|
|
32:25. In the midst of the slain they have set him a bed among all his
|
|
people: their graves are round about him: all these are uncircumcised,
|
|
and slain by the sword: for they spread their terror in the land of the
|
|
living, and have borne their shame with them that descend into the pit:
|
|
they are laid in the midst of the slain.
|
|
|
|
32:26. There is Mosoch, and Thubal, and all their multitude: their
|
|
graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised and slain, and
|
|
fallen by the sword: though they spread their terror in the land of the
|
|
living.
|
|
|
|
32:27. And they shall not sleep with the brave, and with them that fell
|
|
uncircumcised, that went down to hell with their weapons, and laid
|
|
their swords under their heads, and their iniquities were in their
|
|
bones, because they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the
|
|
living.
|
|
|
|
32:28. So thou also shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised,
|
|
and shalt sleep with them that are slain by the sword.
|
|
|
|
32:29. There is Edom, and her kings, and all her princes, who with
|
|
their army are joined with them that are slain by the sword: and have
|
|
slept with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down into the pit.
|
|
|
|
32:30. There are all the princes of the north, and all the hunters: who
|
|
were brought down with the slain, fearing, and confounded in their
|
|
strength: who slept uncircumcised with them that are slain by the
|
|
sword, and have borne their shame with them that go down into the pit.
|
|
|
|
32:31. Pharao saw them, and he was comforted concerning all his
|
|
multitude, which was slain by the sword: Pharao, and all his army,
|
|
saith the Lord God:
|
|
|
|
32:32. Because I have spread my terror in the land of the living, and
|
|
he hath slept in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are
|
|
slain by the sword: Pharao and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 33
|
|
|
|
|
|
The duty of the watchman appointed by God: the justice of God's ways:
|
|
his judgments upon the Jews.
|
|
|
|
33:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
33:2. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them:
|
|
When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a
|
|
man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them:
|
|
|
|
33:3. And he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sound the
|
|
trumpet, and tell the people:
|
|
|
|
33:4. Then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be,
|
|
and doth not look to himself, if the sword come, and cut him off: his
|
|
blood shall be upon his own head.
|
|
|
|
33:5. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not look to himself,
|
|
his blood shall be upon him: but if he look to himself, he shall save
|
|
his life.
|
|
|
|
33:6. And if the watchman see the sword coming, and sound not the
|
|
trumpet: and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come, and
|
|
cut off a soul from among them: he indeed is taken away in his
|
|
iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman.
|
|
|
|
33:7. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house
|
|
of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt
|
|
tell it them from me.
|
|
|
|
33:8. When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if
|
|
thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way: that wicked
|
|
man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy
|
|
hand.
|
|
|
|
33:9. But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from
|
|
his ways, and he be not converted from his way he shall die in his
|
|
iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul.
|
|
|
|
33:10. Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus
|
|
you have spoken, saying: Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and
|
|
we pine away in them: how then can we live?
|
|
|
|
33:11. Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the
|
|
death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live.
|
|
Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of
|
|
Israel?
|
|
|
|
33:12. Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people:
|
|
The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he
|
|
shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what
|
|
day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be
|
|
able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin.
|
|
|
|
33:13. Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and
|
|
he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be
|
|
forgotten, and his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall
|
|
he die.
|
|
|
|
33:14. And it I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die: and he
|
|
do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice,
|
|
|
|
33:15. And if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he
|
|
had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust
|
|
thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die.
|
|
|
|
33:16. None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to
|
|
him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live.
|
|
|
|
33:17. And the children of thy people have said: The way of the Lord is
|
|
not equitable: whereas their own way is unjust.
|
|
|
|
33:18. For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit
|
|
iniquities, he shall die in them.
|
|
|
|
33:19. And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall
|
|
do judgments, and justice, he shall live in them.
|
|
|
|
33:20. And you say: The way of the Lord is not right, I will judge
|
|
every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
33:21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the
|
|
tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that there came to me one
|
|
that was fled from Jerusalem, saying: The city is laid waste.
|
|
|
|
33:22. And the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before
|
|
he that was fled came: and he opened my mouth till he came to me in the
|
|
morning, and my mouth being opened, I was silent no more.
|
|
|
|
33:23. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
33:24. Son of man, they that dwell in these ruinous places in the land
|
|
of Israel, speak, saying: Abraham was one, and he inherited the land,
|
|
but we are many, the land is given us in possession.
|
|
|
|
33:25. Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: You that eat
|
|
with the blood and lift up your eyes to your uncleannesses, and that
|
|
shed blood: shall you possess the land by inheritance?
|
|
|
|
33:26. You stood on your swords, you have committed abominations, and
|
|
every one hath defiled his neighbours wife; and shall you possess the
|
|
land by inheritance?
|
|
|
|
33:27. Say thou thus to them: Thus saith the Lord God: As I live, they
|
|
that dwell in the ruinous places, shall fall by the sword: and he that
|
|
is in the field, shall be given to the beasts to be devoured: and they
|
|
that are in holds, and caves, shall die of the pestilence.
|
|
|
|
33:28. And I will make the land a wilderness, and a desert, and the
|
|
proud strength thereof shall fail, and the mountains of Israel shall be
|
|
desolate, because there is none to pass by them,
|
|
|
|
33:29. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have made
|
|
their land waste and desolate, for all their abominations which they
|
|
have committed.
|
|
|
|
33:30. And thou son of man: the children of thy people, that talk of
|
|
thee by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to
|
|
another each man to his neighbour, saying: Come, and let us hear what
|
|
is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
33:31. And they come to thee, as if people were coming in, and my
|
|
people sit before thee: and hear thy words, and do them not: for they
|
|
turn them into a song of their mouth, and their heart goeth after their
|
|
covetousness.
|
|
|
|
33:32. And thou art to them as a musical song which is sung with a
|
|
sweet and agreeable voice: and they hear thy words, and do them not.
|
|
|
|
33:33. And when that which was foretold shall come to pass, for behold
|
|
it is coming, then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 34
|
|
|
|
|
|
Evil pastors are reproved. Christ the true pastor shall come, and
|
|
gather together his flock from all parts of the earth, and preserve it
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
34:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, it saying:
|
|
|
|
34:2. Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel:
|
|
prophesy, and say to the shepherds: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the
|
|
shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves: should not the flocks be fed
|
|
by the shepherds?
|
|
|
|
Shepherds. . .That is, princes, magistrates, chief priests, and scribes.
|
|
|
|
34:3. You ate the milk, and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and
|
|
you killed that which was fat: but my flock you did not feed.
|
|
|
|
34:4. The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you
|
|
have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that
|
|
which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you
|
|
sought that which was lost: but you ruled over them with rigour, and
|
|
with a high hand.
|
|
|
|
34:5. And my sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd and
|
|
they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were
|
|
scattered.
|
|
|
|
34:6. My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill:
|
|
and my flocks were scattered upon the face of the earth, and there was
|
|
none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them.
|
|
|
|
34:7. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
|
|
|
|
34:8. As I live, saith the Lord God, forasmuch as my flocks have been
|
|
made a spoil, and my sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the
|
|
field, because there was no shepherd: for my shepherds did not seek
|
|
after my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my
|
|
flocks:
|
|
|
|
34:9. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
|
|
|
|
34:10. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself come upon the
|
|
shepherds, I will require my flock at their hand, and I will cause them
|
|
to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds
|
|
feed themselves any more: and I will deliver my flock from their mouth,
|
|
and it shall no more be meat for them.
|
|
|
|
34:11. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep,
|
|
and will visit them.
|
|
|
|
34:12. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he shall be
|
|
in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit my
|
|
sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been
|
|
scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
|
|
|
|
34:13. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them
|
|
out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land: and I will
|
|
feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the
|
|
habitations of the land.
|
|
|
|
34:14. I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their
|
|
pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel: there shall they
|
|
rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains
|
|
of Israel.
|
|
|
|
34:15. I will feed my sheep: and I will cause them to lie down, saith
|
|
the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
34:16. I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driven away,
|
|
I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken, and I
|
|
will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong
|
|
I will preserve, and I will feed them in judgment.
|
|
|
|
34:17. And as for you, O my flocks, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I
|
|
judge between cattle and cattle, of rams and of he goats.
|
|
|
|
34:18. Was it not enough for you to feed upon good pastures? but you
|
|
must also tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures: and
|
|
when you drank the clearest water, you troubled the rest with your
|
|
feet.
|
|
|
|
34:19. And my sheep were fed with that which you had trodden with your
|
|
feet: and they drank what your feet had troubled.
|
|
|
|
34:20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God to you: Behold, I myself will
|
|
judge between the fat cattle and the lean.
|
|
|
|
34:21. Because you thrusted with sides and shoulders, and struck all
|
|
the weak cattle with your horns, till they were scattered abroad:
|
|
|
|
34:22. I will save my flock, and it shall be no more a spoil, and I
|
|
will judge between cattle and cattle.
|
|
|
|
34:23. And I WILL SET UP ONE SHEPHERD OVER THEM, and he shall feed
|
|
them, even my servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their
|
|
shepherd.
|
|
|
|
David. . .Christ, who is of the house of David.
|
|
|
|
34:24. And I the Lord will be their God: and my servant David the
|
|
prince in the midst of them: I the Lord have spoken it.
|
|
|
|
34:25. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and will cause
|
|
the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they that dwell in the
|
|
wilderness shall sleep secure in the forests.
|
|
|
|
34:26. And I will make them a blessing round about my hill: and I will
|
|
send down the rain in its season, there shall be showers of blessing.
|
|
|
|
34:27. And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth
|
|
shall yield her increase, and they shall be in their land without fear:
|
|
and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have broken the
|
|
bonds of their yoke, and shall have delivered them out of the hand of
|
|
those that rule over them.
|
|
|
|
34:28. And they shall be no more for a spoil to the nations, neither
|
|
shall the beasts of the earth devour them: but they shall dwell
|
|
securely without, any terror.
|
|
|
|
34:29. And I will raise up for them a bud of renown: and they shall be
|
|
no more consumed with famine in the land, neither shall they bear any
|
|
more the reproach of the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
A bud of renown. . .Germen nominatum. He speaks of Christ our Lord, the
|
|
illustrious bud of the house of David, renowned over all the earth. See
|
|
Jer. 33.15.
|
|
|
|
34:30. And they shall know that I the Lord their God am with them, and
|
|
that they are my people the house of Israel: saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
34:31. And you my flocks, the flocks of my pasture are men: and I am
|
|
the Lord your God, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 35
|
|
|
|
|
|
The judgment of mount Seir, for their hatred of Israel.
|
|
|
|
35:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
35:2. Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy
|
|
concerning it, and say to it:
|
|
|
|
35:3. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, mount Seir,
|
|
and I will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and I will make thee
|
|
desolate and waste.
|
|
|
|
35:4. I will destroy thy cities, and thou shalt be desolate: and thou
|
|
shalt know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
35:5. Because thou hast been an everlasting enemy, and hast shut up the
|
|
children of Israel in the hands of the sword in the time of their
|
|
affliction, in the time of their last iniquity.
|
|
|
|
35:6. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will deliver thee up
|
|
to blood, and blood shall pursue thee: and whereas thou hast hated
|
|
blood, blood shall pursue thee.
|
|
|
|
35:7. And I will make mount Seir waste and desolate: and I will take
|
|
away from it him that goeth and him that returneth.
|
|
|
|
35:8. And I will fill his mountains with his men that are slain: in thy
|
|
hills, and in thy valleys, and in thy torrents they shall fall that are
|
|
slain with the sword.
|
|
|
|
35:9. I will make thee everlasting desolations, and thy cities shall
|
|
not be inhabited: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
35:10. Because thou hast said: The two nations, and the two lands shall
|
|
be mine, and I will possess them by inheritance: whereas the Lord was
|
|
there.
|
|
|
|
35:11. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will do according to
|
|
thy wrath, and according to thy envy, which thou hast exercised in
|
|
hatred to them: and I will be made known by them, when I shall have
|
|
judged thee.
|
|
|
|
35:12. And thou shalt know that I the Lord have heard all thy
|
|
reproaches, that thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel,
|
|
saying. They are desolate, they are given to us to consume.
|
|
|
|
35:13. And you rose up against me with your mouth, and have derogated
|
|
from me by your words: I have heard them.
|
|
|
|
35:14. Thus saith the Lord God: When the whole earth shall rejoice, I
|
|
will make thee a wilderness.
|
|
|
|
35:15. As thou hast rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of
|
|
Israel, because it was laid waste, so will I do to thee: thou shalt be
|
|
laid waste, O mount Seir, and all Idumea: and they shall know that I am
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 36
|
|
|
|
|
|
The restoration of Israel, not for their merits, but by God's special
|
|
grace. Christ's baptism.
|
|
|
|
36:1. And thou son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and
|
|
say: Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord:
|
|
|
|
36:2. Thus saith the Lord God: Because the enemy hath said to you: Aha,
|
|
the everlasting heights are given to us for an inheritance.
|
|
|
|
36:3. Therefore prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Because you
|
|
have been desolate, and trodden under foot on every side, and made an
|
|
inheritance to the rest of the nations, and are become the subject of
|
|
the talk, and the reproach of the people:
|
|
|
|
36:4. Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God:
|
|
Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the
|
|
brooks, and to the valleys, and to desolate places, and ruinous walls,
|
|
and to the cities that are forsaken, that are spoiled, and derided by
|
|
the rest of the nations round about.
|
|
|
|
36:5. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: In the fire of my zeal I have
|
|
spoken of the rest of the nations, and of all Edom, who have taken my
|
|
land to themselves, for an inheritance with joy, and with all the
|
|
heart, and with the mind: and have cast it out to lay it waste.
|
|
|
|
36:6. Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say to the
|
|
mountains, and to the hills, to the ridges, and to the valleys: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord God: Behold I have spoken in my zeal, and in my
|
|
indignation, because you have borne the shame of the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
36:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I have lifted up my hand, that
|
|
the Gentiles who are round about you, shall themselves bear their
|
|
shame.
|
|
|
|
36:8. But as for you, O mountains of Israel, shoot ye forth your
|
|
branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel: for they are at
|
|
hand to come.
|
|
|
|
36:9. For I, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be
|
|
ploughed and sown.
|
|
|
|
36:10. And I will multiply men upon you, and all the house of Israel:
|
|
and the cities ball be inhabited, and the ruinous places shall be
|
|
repaired.
|
|
|
|
36:11. And I will make you abound with men and with beasts: and they
|
|
shall be multiplied, and increased: and I will settle you as from the
|
|
beginning, and will give you greater gifts, than you had from the
|
|
beginning: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
36:12. And I will bring men upon you, my people Israel, and they shall
|
|
possess thee for their inheritance: and thou shalt be their
|
|
inheritance, and shalt no more henceforth be without them.
|
|
|
|
36:13. Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy say of you: Thou art a
|
|
devourer of men, and one that suffocatest thy nation:
|
|
|
|
36:14. Therefore thou shalt devour men no more nor destroy thy nation
|
|
any more, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
36:15. Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the
|
|
nations any more, nor shalt thou bear the reproach of the people, nor
|
|
lose thy nation any more, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
Nor lose thy nation any more. . .This whole promise principally relates
|
|
to the church of Christ, and God's perpetual protection of her: for as
|
|
the carnal Jews, they have been removed out of their land these sixteen
|
|
hundred years.
|
|
|
|
36:16. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
36:17. Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land,
|
|
they defiled it with their ways, and with their doings: their way was
|
|
before me like the uncleanness of a menstruous woman.
|
|
|
|
36:18. And I poured out my indignation upon them for the blood which
|
|
they had shed upon the land, and with their idols they defiled it.
|
|
|
|
36:19. And I scattered them among the nations, and they are dispersed
|
|
through the countries: I have judged them according to their ways, and
|
|
their devices.
|
|
|
|
36:20. And when they entered among the nations whither they went, they
|
|
profaned my holy name, when it was said of them: This is the people of
|
|
the Lord, and they are come forth out of his land.
|
|
|
|
36:21. And I have regarded my own holy name, which the house of Israel
|
|
hath profaned among the nations to which they went in.
|
|
|
|
36:22. Therefore thou shalt say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the
|
|
Lord God: It is not for your sake that I will do this, O house of
|
|
Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the
|
|
nations whither you went.
|
|
|
|
36:23. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the
|
|
Gentiles, which you have profaned in the midst of them: that the
|
|
Gentiles may know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord of hosts, when I
|
|
shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
|
|
|
|
36:24. For I will take you from among the Gentiles, and will gather you
|
|
together out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own
|
|
land.
|
|
|
|
36:25. And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed
|
|
from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols.
|
|
|
|
36:26. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within
|
|
you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will
|
|
give you a heart of flesh.
|
|
|
|
36:27. And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause
|
|
you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them.
|
|
|
|
36:28. And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers,
|
|
and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
|
|
|
|
36:29. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call
|
|
for corn, and will multiply it, and will lay no famine upon you.
|
|
|
|
36:30. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of
|
|
the field, that you bear no more the reproach of famine among the
|
|
nations.
|
|
|
|
36:31. And you shall remember your wicked ways, and your doings that
|
|
were not good: and your iniquities, and your wicked deeds shall
|
|
displease you.
|
|
|
|
36:32. It is not for your sakes that I will do this, saith the Lord
|
|
God, be it known to you: be confounded, and ashamed at your own ways, O
|
|
house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
36:33. Thus saith the Lord God: In the day that I shall cleanse you
|
|
from all your iniquities, and shall cause the cities to be inhabited,
|
|
and shall repair the ruinous places,
|
|
|
|
36:34. And the desolate land shall be tilled, which before was waste in
|
|
the sight of all that passed by,
|
|
|
|
36:35. They shall say: This land that was untilled is become as a
|
|
garden of pleasure: and the cities that were abandoned, and desolate,
|
|
and destroyed, are peopled and fenced.
|
|
|
|
36:36. And the nations, that shall be left round about you, shall know
|
|
that I the Lord have built up what was destroyed, and planted what was
|
|
desolate, that I the Lord have spoken and done it.
|
|
|
|
36:37. Thus saith the Lord God: Moreover in this shall the house of
|
|
Israel find me, that I will do it for them: I will multiply them as a
|
|
flock of men,
|
|
|
|
36:38. As a holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts:
|
|
so shall the waste cities be full of flocks of men: and they shall know
|
|
that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 37
|
|
|
|
|
|
A vision of the resurrection of dry bones, foreshewing the deliverance
|
|
of the people from their captivity. Juda and Israel shall be all one
|
|
kingdom under Christ. God's everlasting covenant with the church.
|
|
|
|
37:1. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me forth in the
|
|
spirit of the Lord: and set me down in the midst of a plain that was
|
|
full of bones.
|
|
|
|
37:2. And he led me about through them on every side: now they were
|
|
very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceeding dry.
|
|
|
|
37:3. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou think these bones shall
|
|
live and I answered: O Lord God, thou knowest.
|
|
|
|
37:4. And he said to me: Prophesy concerning these bones; and say to
|
|
them: Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
37:5. Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send
|
|
spirit into you, and you shall live.
|
|
|
|
Spirit. . .That is, soul, life, and breath.
|
|
|
|
37:6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to grow over
|
|
you, and will cover you with skin: and I will give you spirit and you
|
|
shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
37:7. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and as I prophesied
|
|
there was a noise, and behold a commotion: and the bones came together,
|
|
each one, its joint.
|
|
|
|
37:8. And I saw, and behold the sinews, and the flesh came up upon
|
|
them: and the skin was stretched out over them, but there was no spirit
|
|
in them.
|
|
|
|
37:9. And he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, O son of
|
|
man, and say to the spirit: Thus saith the Lord God: Come, spirit, from
|
|
the four winds, and blow upon these slain, and let them live again.
|
|
|
|
37:10. And I prophesied as he had commanded me: and the spirit came
|
|
into them, and they lived: and they stood up upon their feet, an
|
|
exceeding great army.
|
|
|
|
37:11. And he said to me: Son of man: All these bones are the house of
|
|
Israel: they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we
|
|
are cut off.
|
|
|
|
37:12. Therefore prophesy, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God:
|
|
Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your
|
|
sepulchres, O my people: and will bring you into the land of Israel.
|
|
|
|
37:13. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened
|
|
your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my
|
|
people:
|
|
|
|
37:14. And shall have put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I
|
|
shall make you rest upon your own land: and you shall know that I the
|
|
Lord have spoken, and done it, saith the Lord God:
|
|
|
|
37:15. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
37:16. And thou son of man, take thee a stick: and write upon it: Of
|
|
Juda, and of the children of Israel his associates: and take another
|
|
stick and write upon it: For Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for all
|
|
the house of Israel, and of his associates.
|
|
|
|
37:17. And join them one to the other into one stick, and they shall
|
|
become one in thy hand.
|
|
|
|
37:18. And when the children of thy people shall speak to thee, saying:
|
|
Wilt thou not tell us what thou meanest by this?
|
|
|
|
37:19. Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will take the
|
|
stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of
|
|
Israel that are associated with him, and I will put them together with
|
|
the stick of Juda, and will make them one stick: and they shall be one
|
|
in his hand.
|
|
|
|
37:20. And the sticks whereon thou hast written, shall be in thy hand,
|
|
before their eyes.
|
|
|
|
37:21. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I
|
|
will take of the children of Israel from the midst of the nations
|
|
whither they are gone: and I will gather them on every side, and will
|
|
bring them to their own land.
|
|
|
|
37:22. And I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of
|
|
Israel, and one king shall be king over them all: and they shall no
|
|
more be two nations, neither shall they be divided any more into two
|
|
kingdoms.
|
|
|
|
37:23. Nor shall they be defiled any more with their idols, nor with
|
|
their abominations, nor with all their iniquities: and I will save them
|
|
out of all the places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse
|
|
them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
|
|
|
|
37:24. And my servant David shall be king over them, and they shall
|
|
have one shepherd: they shall walk in my judgments, and shall keep my
|
|
commandments, and shall do them.
|
|
|
|
37:25. And they shall dwell in the land which I gave to my servant
|
|
Jacob, wherein your fathers dwelt, and they shall dwell in it, they and
|
|
their children, and their children's children, for ever: and David my
|
|
servant shall be their prince for ever.
|
|
|
|
37:26. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an
|
|
everlasting covenant with them: and I will establish them, and will
|
|
multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever.
|
|
|
|
37:27. And my tabernacle shall be with them: and I will be their God,
|
|
and they shall be my people.
|
|
|
|
37:28. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord the sanctifier of
|
|
Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 38
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gog shall persecute the church in the latter days. He shall be
|
|
overthrown.
|
|
|
|
38:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
38:2. Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the
|
|
chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal: and prophesy of him,
|
|
|
|
Gog. . .This name, which signifies hidden or covered, is taken in this
|
|
place, either for the persecutors of the church of God in general, or
|
|
some arch-persecutor in particular: such as Antichrist shall be in the
|
|
latter days. See Apoc. 20.8. And what is said of the punishment of Gog,
|
|
is verified by the unhappy ends of persecutors.--Ibid. Magog. . .Scythia
|
|
or Tartary, from whence the Turks, and other enemies of the church of
|
|
Christ, originally sprung.
|
|
|
|
38:3. And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against
|
|
thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal.
|
|
|
|
38:4. And I will turn thee about, and I will put a bit in thy jaws: and
|
|
I will bring thee forth, and all thy army, horses and horsemen all
|
|
clothed with coats of mail, a great multitude, armed with spears and
|
|
shields and swords.
|
|
|
|
38:5. The Persians, Ethiopians, and Libyans with them, all with shields
|
|
and helmets.
|
|
|
|
38:6. Gomer, and all his bands, the house of Thogorma, the northern
|
|
parts and all his strength, and many peoples with thee.
|
|
|
|
38:7. Prepare and make thyself ready, and all thy multitude that is
|
|
assembled about thee, and be thou commander over them.
|
|
|
|
38:8. After many days thou shalt be visited: at the end of years thou
|
|
shalt come to the land that is returned from the sword, and is gathered
|
|
out of many nations, to the mountains of Israel which have been
|
|
continually waste: but it hath been brought forth out of the nations,
|
|
and they shall all of them dwell securely in it.
|
|
|
|
38:9. And thou shalt go up and come like a storm, and like a cloud to
|
|
cover the land, thou and all thy bands and many people with thee.
|
|
|
|
38:10. Thus saith the Lord God: In that day projects shall enter into
|
|
thy heart, and thou shalt conceive a mischievous design.
|
|
|
|
38:11. And thou shalt say: I will go up to the land which is without a
|
|
wall, I will come to them that are at rest, and dwell securely: all
|
|
these dwell without a wall, they have no bars nor gates:
|
|
|
|
38:12. To take spoils, and lay hold on the prey, to lay thy hand upon
|
|
them that had been wasted, and afterwards restored, and upon the people
|
|
that is gathered together out of the nations, which hath begun to
|
|
possess and to dwell in the midst of the earth.
|
|
|
|
38:13. Saba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tharsis, and all the lions
|
|
thereof shall say to thee: Art thou come to take spoils? behold, thou
|
|
hast gathered thy multitude to take a prey, to take silver, and gold,
|
|
and to carry away goods and substance, and to take rich spoils.
|
|
|
|
38:14. Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: Thus saith
|
|
the Lord God: Shalt thou not know, in that day, when my people of
|
|
Israel shall dwell securely?
|
|
|
|
38:15. And thou shalt come out of thy place from the northern parts,
|
|
thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great
|
|
company and a mighty army.
|
|
|
|
38:16. And thou shalt come upon my people of Israel like a cloud, to
|
|
cover the earth. Thou shalt be in the latter days, and I will bring
|
|
thee upon my land: that the nations may know me, when I shall be
|
|
sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
|
|
|
|
38:17. Thus saith the Lord God: Thou then art he, of whom I have spoken
|
|
in the days of old, by my servants the prophets of Israel, who
|
|
prophesied in the days of those times that I would bring thee upon
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
38:18. And it shall come to pass in that day, in the day of the coming
|
|
of Gog upon the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my indignation
|
|
shall come up in my wrath.
|
|
|
|
38:19. And I have spoken in my zeal, and in the fire of my anger, that
|
|
in that day there shall be a great commotion upon the land of Israel:
|
|
|
|
38:20. So that the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the
|
|
beasts of the field, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
|
|
ground, and all men that are upon the face of the earth, shall be moved
|
|
at my presence: and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the hedges
|
|
shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
|
|
|
|
38:21. And I will call in the sword against him in all my mountains,
|
|
saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be pointed against his
|
|
brother.
|
|
|
|
38:22. And I will judge him with pestilence, and with blood, and with
|
|
violent rain, and vast hailstones: I will rain fire and brimstone upon
|
|
him, and upon his army, and upon the many nations that are with him.
|
|
|
|
38:23. And I will be magnified, and I will be sanctified: and I will be
|
|
known in the eyes of many nations and they shall know that I am the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 39
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's judgments upon Gog. God's people were punished for their sins:
|
|
but shall be favoured with everlasting kindness.
|
|
|
|
39:1. And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say: Thus saith
|
|
the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of
|
|
Mosoch and Thubal.
|
|
|
|
39:2. And I will turn thee round, and I will lead thee out, and will
|
|
make thee go up from the northern parts: and will bring thee upon the
|
|
mountains of Israel.
|
|
|
|
39:3. And I will break thy bow in thy left hand, and I will cause thy
|
|
arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
|
|
|
|
39:4. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy
|
|
bands, and thy nations that are with thee: I have given thee to the
|
|
wild beasts, to the birds, and to every fowl, and to the beasts of the
|
|
earth to be devoured.
|
|
|
|
39:5. Thou shalt fall upon the face of the field: for I have spoken it,
|
|
saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
39:6. And I will send a fire on Magog, and on them that dwell
|
|
confidently in the islands: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
39:7. And I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people
|
|
Israel, and my holy name shall be profaned no more: and the Gentiles
|
|
shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
|
|
|
|
39:8. Behold it cometh, and it is done, saith the Lord God: this is the
|
|
day whereof I have spoken.
|
|
|
|
39:9. And the inhabitants shall go forth of the cities of Israel, and
|
|
shall set on fire and burn the weapons, the shields, and the spears,
|
|
the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves and the pikes: and they
|
|
shall burn them with fire seven years.
|
|
|
|
39:10. And they shall not bring wood out of the countries, nor cut down
|
|
out of the forests: for they shall burn the weapons with fire, and
|
|
shall make a prey of them to whom they had been a prey, and they shall
|
|
rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
39:11. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give Gog a
|
|
noted place for a sepulchre in Israel: the valley of the passengers on
|
|
the east of the sea, which shall cause astonishment in them that pass
|
|
by: and there shall they bury Gog, and all his multitude, and it shall
|
|
be called the valley of the multitude of Gog.
|
|
|
|
39:12. And the house of Israel shall bury them for seven months to
|
|
cleanse the land.
|
|
|
|
39:13. And all the people of the land shall bury him, and it shall be
|
|
unto them a noted day, wherein I was glorified, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
39:14. And they shall appoint men to go continually about the land, to
|
|
bury and to seek out them that were remaining upon the face of the
|
|
earth, that they may cleanse it: and after seven months they shall
|
|
begin to seek.
|
|
|
|
39:15. And they shall go about passing through the land: and when they
|
|
shall see the bone of a man, they shall set up sign by it, till the
|
|
buriers bury it in the valley, of the multitude of Gog.
|
|
|
|
39:16. And the name of the city shall be Amona, and they shall cleanse
|
|
the land.
|
|
|
|
39:17. And thou, O son of man, saith the Lord God, say to every fowl,
|
|
and to all the birds, and to all the beasts of the field: Assemble
|
|
yourselves, make haste, come together from every side to my victim,
|
|
which I slay for you, a great victim upon the mountains of Israel: to
|
|
eat flesh, and drink blood.
|
|
|
|
39:18. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and you shall drink the
|
|
blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, and of lambs, and of he
|
|
goats, and bullocks, and of all that are well fed and fat.
|
|
|
|
39:19. And you shall eat the fat till you be full, and shall drink
|
|
blood till you be drunk of the victim which I shall slay for you.
|
|
|
|
39:20. And you shall be filled at my table with horses, and mighty
|
|
horsemen, and all the men of war, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
39:21. And I will set my glory among the nations: and all nations shall
|
|
see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
39:22. And the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God
|
|
from that day and forward.
|
|
|
|
39:23. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel were made
|
|
captives for their iniquity, because they forsook me, and I hid my face
|
|
from them: and I delivered them into the hands of their enemies, and
|
|
they fell all by the sword.
|
|
|
|
39:24. I have dealt with them according to their uncleanness, and
|
|
wickedness, and hid my face from them.
|
|
|
|
39:25. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Now will I bring back the
|
|
captivity of Jacob, and will have mercy on all the house of Israel and
|
|
I will be jealous for my holy name.
|
|
|
|
39:26. And they shall bear their confusion, and all the transgressions
|
|
wherewith they have transgressed against me, when they shall dwell in
|
|
their land securely fearing no man:
|
|
|
|
39:27. And I shall have brought them back from among the nations, and
|
|
shall have gathered them together out of the lands of their enemies,
|
|
and shall be sanctified in them, in the sight of many nations.
|
|
|
|
39:28. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I
|
|
caused them to be carried away among the nations; and I have gathered
|
|
them together unto their own land, and have not left any of them there.
|
|
|
|
39:29. And I will hide my face no more from them, for I have poured out
|
|
my spirit upon all the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 40
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet sees in a vision the rebuilding of the temple: the
|
|
dimensions of several parts thereof.
|
|
|
|
40:1. In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning
|
|
of the year, the tenth day of the month, the fourteenth year after the
|
|
city was destroyed: in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon
|
|
me, and he brought me thither.
|
|
|
|
40:2. In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel, and
|
|
set me upon a very high mountain: upon which there was as the building
|
|
of a city, bending towards the south.
|
|
|
|
40:3. And he brought me in thither, and behold a man, whose appearance
|
|
was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and
|
|
a measuring reed in his hand, and he stood in the gate.
|
|
|
|
40:4. And this man said to me: Son of man, see with thy eyes, and hear
|
|
with thy ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall shew thee: for
|
|
thou art brought hither that they may be shewn to thee: declare all
|
|
that thou seest, to the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
40:5. And behold there was a wall on the outside of the house round
|
|
about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits and a
|
|
handbreadth: and he measured the breadth of the building one reed, and
|
|
the height one reed.
|
|
|
|
40:6. And he came to the gate that looked toward the east, and he went
|
|
up the steps thereof: and he measured the breadth of the threshold of
|
|
the gate one reed, that is, one threshold was one reed broad;
|
|
|
|
40:7. And every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad:
|
|
and between the little chambers were five cubits:
|
|
|
|
40:8. And the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within,
|
|
was one reed.
|
|
|
|
40:9. And he measured the porch of the gate eight cubits, and the front
|
|
thereof two cubits: and the porch of the gate was inward.
|
|
|
|
40:10. And the little chambers of the gate that looked eastward were
|
|
three on this side, and three on that side: all three were of one
|
|
measure, and the fronts of one measure, on both parts.
|
|
|
|
40:11. And he measured the breadth of the threshold of the gate ten
|
|
cubits: and the length of the gate thirteen cubits:
|
|
|
|
40:12. And the border before the little chambers one cubit: and one
|
|
cubit was the border on both sides: and the little chambers were six
|
|
cubits on this side and that side.
|
|
|
|
40:13. And he measured the gate from the roof of one little chamber to
|
|
the roof of another, in breadth five and twenty cubits: door against
|
|
door.
|
|
|
|
40:14. He made also fronts of sixty cubits: and to the front the court
|
|
of the gate on every side round about.
|
|
|
|
40:15. And before the face of the gate which reached even to the face
|
|
of the porch of the inner gate, fifty cubits.
|
|
|
|
40:16. And slanting windows in the little chambers, and in their
|
|
fronts, which were within the gate on every side round about: and in
|
|
like manner there were also in the porches windows round about within,
|
|
and before the fronts the representation of palm trees.
|
|
|
|
40:17. And he brought me into the outward court, and behold there were
|
|
chambers, and a pavement of stone in the court round about: thirty
|
|
chambers encompassed the pavement.
|
|
|
|
There were chambers. . .Gazophylacia, so called, because the priests and
|
|
Levites kept in them the stores and vessels that belonged to the
|
|
temple.
|
|
|
|
40:18. And the pavement in the front of the gates according to the
|
|
length of the gates was lower.
|
|
|
|
40:19. And he measured the breadth from the face of the lower gate to
|
|
the front of the inner court without, a hundred cubits to the east, and
|
|
to the north.
|
|
|
|
40:20. He measured also both the length and the breadth of the gate of
|
|
the outward court, which looked northward.
|
|
|
|
40:21. And the little chambers thereof three on this side, and three on
|
|
that side: and the front thereof, and the porch thereof according to
|
|
the measure of the former gate, fifty cubits long, and five and twenty
|
|
cubits broad.
|
|
|
|
40:22. And the windows thereof, and the porch, and the gravings
|
|
according to the measure of the gate that looked to the east, and they
|
|
went up to it by seven steps, and a porch was before it.
|
|
|
|
40:23. And the gate of the inner court was over against the gate of the
|
|
north, and that of the east: and he measured from gate to gate a
|
|
hundred cubits.
|
|
|
|
40:24. And he brought me out to the way of the south, and behold the
|
|
gate that looked to the south: and he measured the front thereof, and
|
|
the porch thereof according to the former measures.
|
|
|
|
40:25. And the windows thereof, and the porches round about, as the
|
|
other windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and
|
|
twenty cubits.
|
|
|
|
40:26. And there were seven steps to go up to it: and a porch before
|
|
the doors thereof: and there were graven palm trees, one on this side,
|
|
and another on that side in the front thereof.
|
|
|
|
40:27. And there was a gate of the inner court towards the south: and
|
|
he measured from gate to gate towards the south, a hundred cubits.
|
|
|
|
40:28. And he brought me into the inner court at the south gate: and he
|
|
measured the gate according to the former measures.
|
|
|
|
40:29. The little chamber thereof, and the front thereof, and the porch
|
|
thereof with the same measures: and the windows thereof, and the porch
|
|
thereof round about it was fifty cubits in length, and five and twenty
|
|
cubits in breadth.
|
|
|
|
40:30. And the porch round about was five and twenty cubits long, and
|
|
five cubits broad.
|
|
|
|
40:31. And the porch thereof to the outward court, and the palm trees
|
|
thereof in the front: and there were eight steps to go up to it.
|
|
|
|
40:32. And he brought me into the inner court by the way of the east:
|
|
and he measured the gate according to the former measures.
|
|
|
|
40:33. The little chamber thereof, and the front thereof, and the porch
|
|
thereof as before: and the windows thereof, and the porches thereof
|
|
round about it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.
|
|
|
|
40:34. And the porch thereof, that is, of the outward court: and the
|
|
graven palm trees in the front thereof on this side and on that side:
|
|
and the going up thereof was by eight steps.
|
|
|
|
40:35. And he brought me into the gate that looked to the north: and he
|
|
measured according to the former measures.
|
|
|
|
40:36. The little chamber thereof, and the front thereof, and the porch
|
|
thereof, and the windows thereof round about it was fifty cubits long,
|
|
and five and twenty cubits broad.
|
|
|
|
40:37. And the porch thereof looked to the outward court: and the
|
|
graving of palm trees in the front thereof was on this side and on that
|
|
side: and the going up to it was by eight steps.
|
|
|
|
40:38. And at every chamber was a door in the forefronts of the gates:
|
|
there they washed the holocaust.
|
|
|
|
40:39. And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and
|
|
two tables on that side: that the holocaust, and the sin offering, and
|
|
the trespass offering might be slain thereon.
|
|
|
|
40:40. And on the outward side, which goeth up to the entry of the gate
|
|
that looketh toward the north, were two tables: and at the other side
|
|
before the porch of the gate were two tables,
|
|
|
|
40:41. Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side at
|
|
the sides of the gate were eight tables, upon which they slew the
|
|
victims.
|
|
|
|
40:42. And the four tables for the holocausts were made of square
|
|
stones: one cubit and a half long, and one cubit and a half broad, and
|
|
one cubit high: to lay the vessels upon, in which the holocaust and the
|
|
victim is slain.
|
|
|
|
40:43. And the borders of them were of one handbreadth, turned inwards
|
|
round about: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering.
|
|
|
|
40:44. And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singing men
|
|
in the inner court, which was on the side of the gate that looketh to
|
|
the north: and their prospect was towards the south, one at the side of
|
|
the east gate, which looketh toward the north.
|
|
|
|
40:45. And he said to me: This chamber, which looketh toward the south
|
|
shall be for the priests that watch in the wards of the temple.
|
|
|
|
40:46. But the chamber that looketh towards the north shall be for the
|
|
priests that watch over the ministry of the altar. These are the sons
|
|
of Sadoc, who among the sons of Levi, come near to the Lord, to
|
|
minister to him.
|
|
|
|
40:47. And he measured the court a hundred cubits long, and a hundred
|
|
cubits broad foursquare: and the altar that was before the face of the
|
|
temple.
|
|
|
|
40:48. And he brought me into the porch of the temple: and he measured
|
|
the porch five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and
|
|
the breadth of the gate three cubits on this side, and three cubits on
|
|
that side.
|
|
|
|
40:49. And the length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth
|
|
eleven cubits, and there were eight steps to go up to it. And there
|
|
were pillars in the fronts: one on this side, and another on that side.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 41
|
|
|
|
|
|
A description of the temple, and of all the parts of it.
|
|
|
|
41:1. And he brought me into the temple, and he measured the fronts six
|
|
cubits broad on this side, and six cubits on that side, the breadth of
|
|
the tabernacle.
|
|
|
|
The temple. . .This plan of a temple, which was here shewn to the
|
|
prophet in a vision, partly had relation to the material temple, which
|
|
was to be rebuilt: and partly, in a mystical sense, to the spiritual
|
|
temple of God, the church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
41:2. And the breadth of the gate was ten cubits: and the sides of the
|
|
gate five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and he
|
|
measured the length thereof forty cubits, and the breadth twenty
|
|
cubits.
|
|
|
|
41:3. Then going inward he measured the front of the gate two cubits:
|
|
and the gate six cubits, and the breadth of the gate seven cubits.
|
|
|
|
41:4. And he measured the length thereof twenty cubits, and the breadth
|
|
twenty cubits, before the face of the temple: and he said to me: This
|
|
is the holy of holies.
|
|
|
|
41:5. And he measured the wall of the house six cubits: and the breadth
|
|
of every side chamber four cubits round about the house on every side.
|
|
|
|
41:6. And the side chambers one by another, were twice thirty-three:
|
|
and they bore outwards, that they might enter in through the wall of
|
|
the house in the sides round about, to hold in, and not to touch the
|
|
wall of the temple.
|
|
|
|
One by another. . .Or one over another; literally, side to side, or side
|
|
upon side.
|
|
|
|
41:7. And there was a broad passage round about, going up by winding
|
|
stairs, and it led into the upper loft of the temple all round:
|
|
therefore was the temple broader in the higher parts: and so from the
|
|
lower parts they went to the higher by the midst.
|
|
|
|
41:8. And I saw in the house the height round about, the foundations of
|
|
the side chambers which were the measure of a reed the space of six
|
|
cubits:
|
|
|
|
41:9. And the thickness of the wall for the side chamber without, which
|
|
was five cubits: and the inner house was within the side chambers of
|
|
the house,
|
|
|
|
And the inner house was within the side chambers of the
|
|
house. . .Because these side chambers were in the very walls of the
|
|
temple all round. Or, it may also be rendered (more agreeably to the
|
|
Hebrew) so as to signify that the thickness of the wall for the side
|
|
chamber within, was the same as that of the wall without; that is,
|
|
equally five cubits.
|
|
|
|
41:10. And between the chambers was the breadth of twenty cubits round
|
|
about the house on every side.
|
|
|
|
41:11. And the door of the side chambers was turned towards the place
|
|
of prayer: one door was toward the north, and another door was toward
|
|
the south: and the breadth of the place for prayer, was five cubits
|
|
round about.
|
|
|
|
41:12. And the building that was separate, and turned to the way that
|
|
looked toward the sea, was seventy cubits broad and the wall of the
|
|
building, five cubits thick round about: and ninety cubits long.
|
|
|
|
41:13. And he measured the length of the house, a hundred cubits: and
|
|
the separate building, and the walls thereof, a hundred cubits in
|
|
length.
|
|
|
|
41:14. And the breadth before the face of the house, and of the
|
|
separate place toward the east, a hundred cubits.
|
|
|
|
41:15. And he measured the length of the building over against it,
|
|
which was separated at the back of it: and the galleries on both sides
|
|
a hundred cubits: and the inner temple, and the porches of the court.
|
|
|
|
41:16. The thresholds, and the oblique windows, and the galleries round
|
|
about on three sides, over against the threshold of every one, and
|
|
floored with wood all round about: and the ground was up to the
|
|
windows, and the windows were shut over the doors.
|
|
|
|
41:17. And even to the inner house, and without all the wall round
|
|
about within and without, by measure.
|
|
|
|
41:18. And there were cherubims and palm trees wrought, so that a palm
|
|
tree was between a cherub and a cherub, and every cherub had two faces.
|
|
|
|
41:19. The face of a man was toward the palm tree on one side, and the
|
|
face of a lion was toward the palm tree on the other side: set forth
|
|
through all the house round about.
|
|
|
|
41:20. From the ground even to the upper parts of the gate, were
|
|
cherubims and palm trees wrought in the wall of the temple.
|
|
|
|
41:21. The threshold was foursquare, and the face of the sanctuary
|
|
sight to sight.
|
|
|
|
The threshold was foursquare. . .That is, the gate of the temple was
|
|
foursquare: and so placed as to answer the gate of the sanctuary
|
|
within.
|
|
|
|
41:22. The altar of wood was three cubits high: and the length thereof
|
|
was two cubits: and the corners thereof, aid the length thereof, and
|
|
the walls thereof, were of wood. And he said to me: This is the table
|
|
before the Lord.
|
|
|
|
41:23. And there were two doors in the temple, and in the sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
41:24. And in the two doors on both sides were two little doors, which
|
|
were folded within each other: for there were two wickets on both sides
|
|
of the doors.
|
|
|
|
41:25. And there were cherubims also wrought in the doors of the
|
|
temple, and the figures of palm trees, like as were made on the walls:
|
|
for which cause also the planks were thicker in the front of the porch
|
|
without.
|
|
|
|
41:26. Upon which were the oblique windows, and the representation of
|
|
palm trees on this side, and on that side in the sides of the porch,
|
|
according to the sides of the house, and the breadth of the walls.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 42
|
|
|
|
|
|
A description of the courts, chambers, and other places belonging to
|
|
the temple.
|
|
|
|
42:1. And he brought me forth into the outward court by the way that
|
|
leadeth to the north, and he brought me into the chamber that was over
|
|
against the separate building, and over against the house toward the
|
|
north.
|
|
|
|
42:2. In the face of the north door was the length of hundred cubits,
|
|
and the breadth of fifty cubits.
|
|
|
|
42:3. Over against the twenty cubits of the inner court, and over
|
|
against the pavement of the outward court that was paved with stone,
|
|
where there was a gallery joined to a triple gallery.
|
|
|
|
42:4. And before the chambers was a walk ten cubits broad, looking to
|
|
the inner parts of a way of one cubit. And their doors were toward the
|
|
north.
|
|
|
|
42:5. Where were the store chambers lower above: because they bore up
|
|
the galleries, which appeared above out of them from he lower parts,
|
|
and from the midst of the building.
|
|
|
|
42:6. For they were of three stories, and had not pillars, as the
|
|
pillars of the courts: therefore did they appear above out of the lower
|
|
places, and out of the middle places, fifty cubits from the ground.
|
|
|
|
42:7. And the outward wall that went about by the chambers, which were
|
|
towards the outward court on the forepart of the chambers, was fifty
|
|
cubits long.
|
|
|
|
42:8. For the length of the chambers of the outward court was fifty
|
|
cubits: and the length before the face of the temple, a hundred cubits.
|
|
|
|
42:9. And there was under these chambers, an entrance from the east,
|
|
for them that went into them out of the outward court.
|
|
|
|
42:10. In the breadth of the outward wall of the court that was toward
|
|
the east, over against the separate building, and there were chambers
|
|
before the building.
|
|
|
|
42:11. And the way before them was like the chambers which were toward
|
|
the north: they were as long as they, and as broad as they: and all the
|
|
going in to them, and their fashions, and their doors were alike.
|
|
|
|
42:12. According to the doors of the chambers that were towards the
|
|
south: there was a door in the head of the way, which way was before
|
|
the porch, separated towards the east as one entereth in.
|
|
|
|
42:13. And he said to me: The chambers of the north, and the chambers
|
|
of the south, which are before the separate building: they are holy
|
|
chambers, in which the priests shall eat, that approach to the Lord
|
|
into the holy of holies: there they shall lay the most holy things, and
|
|
the offering for sin, and for trespass: for it is a holy place.
|
|
|
|
42:14. And when the priests shall have entered in, they shall not go
|
|
out of the holy places into the outward court: but there they shall lay
|
|
their vestments, wherein they minister, for they are holy: and they
|
|
shall put on other garments, and so they shall go forth to the people.
|
|
|
|
42:15. Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he
|
|
brought me out by the way of the gate that looked toward the east: and
|
|
he measured it on every side round about.
|
|
|
|
42:16. And he measured toward the east with the measuring reed, five
|
|
hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.
|
|
|
|
42:17. And he measured toward the north five hundred reeds with the
|
|
measuring reed round about.
|
|
|
|
42:18. And towards the south he measured five hundred reeds with the
|
|
measuring reed round about.
|
|
|
|
42:19. And toward the west he measured five hundred reeds, with the
|
|
measuring reed.
|
|
|
|
42:20. By the four winds he measured the wall thereof on every side
|
|
round about, five hundred cubits and five hundred cubits broad, making
|
|
a separation between the sanctuary and the place of the people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 43
|
|
|
|
|
|
The glory of God returns to the new temple. The Israelites shall no
|
|
more profane God's name by idolatry: the prophet is commanded to shew
|
|
them the dimensions, and form of the temple, and of the altar, with the
|
|
sacrifices to be offered thereon.
|
|
|
|
43:1. And he brought me to the gate that looked towards the east.
|
|
|
|
43:2. And behold the glory of the God of Israel came in by the way of
|
|
the east: and his voice was like the noise of many waters, and the
|
|
earth shone with his majesty.
|
|
|
|
43:3. And I saw the vision according to the appearance which I had seen
|
|
when he came to destroy the city: and the appearance was according to
|
|
the vision which I had seen by the river Chobar: and I fell upon my
|
|
face.
|
|
|
|
43:4. And the majesty of the Lord went into the temple by the way of
|
|
the gate that looked to the east.
|
|
|
|
43:5. And the spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court:
|
|
and behold the house was filled with the glory of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
43:6. And I heard one speaking to me out of the house, and the man that
|
|
stood by me,
|
|
|
|
43:7. Said to me: Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of
|
|
the soles of my feet, where I dwell in the midst of the children of
|
|
Israel for ever: and the house of Israel shall no more profane my holy
|
|
name, they and their kings by their fornications, and by the carcasses
|
|
of their kings, and by the high places.
|
|
|
|
43:8. They who have set their threshold by my threshold, and their
|
|
posts by my posts: and there was but a wall between me, and them: and
|
|
they profaned my holy name by the abominations which they committed:
|
|
for which reason I consumed them in my wrath.
|
|
|
|
43:9. Now therefore let them put away their fornications, and the
|
|
carcasses of their kings far from me: and I will dwell in the midst of
|
|
them for ever.
|
|
|
|
43:10. But thou, son of man, shew to the house of Israel the temple,
|
|
and let them be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the
|
|
building:
|
|
|
|
43:11. And be ashamed of all that they have done. Shew them the form of
|
|
the house, and of the fashion thereof, the goings out and the comings
|
|
in, and the whole plan thereof, and all its ordinances, and all its
|
|
order, and all its laws, and thou shalt write it in their sight: that
|
|
they may keep the whole form thereof, and its ordinances, and do them.
|
|
|
|
43:12. This is the law of the house upon the top of the mountain: All
|
|
its border round about; most holy: this then is the law of the house.
|
|
|
|
43:13. And these are the measures of the altar by the truest cubit,
|
|
which is a cubit and a handbreadth: the bottom thereof was a cubit, and
|
|
the breadth a cubit: and the border thereof unto its edge, and round
|
|
about, one handbreadth: and this was the trench of the altar.
|
|
|
|
43:14. And from the bottom of the ground to the lowest brim two cubits,
|
|
and the breadth of one cubit: and from the lesser brim to the greater
|
|
brim four cubits, and the breadth of one cubit.
|
|
|
|
43:15. And the Ariel itself was four cubits: and from the Ariel upward
|
|
were four horns.
|
|
|
|
The Ariel. . .That is, the altar itself, or rather the highest part of
|
|
it, upon which the burnt offerings were laid. In the Hebrew it is
|
|
Harel, that is, the mountain of God: but in the following verse
|
|
Haariel, that is, the lion of God; a figure, from its consuming, and as
|
|
it were devouring the sacrifices, as a lion devours its prey.
|
|
|
|
43:16. And the Ariel was twelve cubits long, and twelve cubits broad,
|
|
foursquare, with equal sides.
|
|
|
|
43:17. And the brim was fourteen cubits long, and fourteen cubits broad
|
|
in the four corners thereof: and the crown round about it was half a
|
|
cubit, and the bottom of it one cubit round about: and its steps turned
|
|
toward the east.
|
|
|
|
43:18. And he said to me: Son of man, thus saith the Lord God: These
|
|
are the ceremonies of the altar, in what day soever it shall be made:
|
|
that holocausts may be offered upon it, and blood poured out.
|
|
|
|
43:19. And thou shalt give to the priests, and the Levites, that are of
|
|
the race of Sadoc, who approach to me, saith the Lord God, to offer to
|
|
me a calf of the herd for sin.
|
|
|
|
43:20. And thou shalt take of his blood, and shalt put it upon the four
|
|
horns thereof, and upon the four corners of the brim, and upon the
|
|
crown round about: and thou shalt cleanse, and expiate it.
|
|
|
|
43:21. And thou shalt take the calf, that is offered for sin: and thou
|
|
shalt burn him in a separate place of the house without the sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
43:22. And in the second day thou shalt offer a he goat without blemish
|
|
for sin: and they shall expiate the altar, as they expiated it with the
|
|
calf.
|
|
|
|
43:23. And when thou shalt have made an end of the expiation thereof,
|
|
thou shalt offer a calf of the herd without blemish, and a ram of the
|
|
flock without blemish.
|
|
|
|
43:24. And thou shalt offer them in the sight of the Lord, and the
|
|
priests shall put salt upon them, and shall offer them a holocaust to
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
43:25. Seven days shalt thou offer a he goat for sin daily: they shall
|
|
offer also a calf of the herd, and a ram of the flock without blemish.
|
|
|
|
43:26. Seven days shall they expiate the altar, and shall cleanse it:
|
|
and they shall consecrate it.
|
|
|
|
Consecrate it. . .Literally, fill its hand, that is, dedicate and apply
|
|
it to holy service.
|
|
|
|
43:27. And the days being expired, on the eighth day and thenceforward,
|
|
the priests shall offer your holocausts upon the altar, and the peace
|
|
offerings: and I will be pacified towards you, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 44
|
|
|
|
|
|
The east gate of the sanctuary shall be always shut. The uncircumcised
|
|
shall not enter into the sanctuary: nor the Levites that have served
|
|
idols: but the sons of Sadoc shall do the priestly functions, who stood
|
|
firm in the worst of times.
|
|
|
|
44:1. And he brought me back to the way of the gate of the outward
|
|
sanctuary, which looked towards the east: and it was shut.
|
|
|
|
44:2. And the Lord said to me: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be
|
|
opened, and no man shall pass through it: because the Lord the God of
|
|
Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shut
|
|
|
|
44:3. For the prince. The prince himself shall sit in it, to eat bread
|
|
before the Lord: he shall enter in by the way of the porch of the gate,
|
|
and shall go out by the same way.
|
|
|
|
44:4. And he brought me by the way of the north gate, in the sight of
|
|
the house: and I saw, and behold the glory of the Lord filled the house
|
|
of the Lord: and I fell on my face.
|
|
|
|
44:5. And the Lord said to me: Son of man, attend with thy heart and
|
|
behold with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears, all that I say to thee
|
|
concerning all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord, and concerning
|
|
all the laws thereof: and mark well the ways of the temple, with all
|
|
the goings out of the sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
44:6. And thou shalt say to the house of Israel that provoketh me: Thus
|
|
saith the Lord God: Let all your wicked doings suffice you, O house of
|
|
Israel:
|
|
|
|
44:7. In that you have brought in strangers uncircumcised in heart, and
|
|
uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, and to defile my house:
|
|
and you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood: and you have broken my
|
|
covenant by all your wicked doings.
|
|
|
|
44:8. And you have not kept the ordinances of my sanctuary: but you
|
|
have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
|
|
|
|
44:9. Thus saith the Lord God: No stranger uncircumcised in heart, and
|
|
uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, no stranger that
|
|
is in the midst of the children of Israel.
|
|
|
|
44:10. Moreover the Levites that went away far from me, when the
|
|
children of Israel went astray, and have wandered from me after their
|
|
idols, and have borne their iniquity:
|
|
|
|
44:11. They shall be officers in my sanctuary, and doorkeepers of the
|
|
gates of the house, and ministers to the house: they shall slay the
|
|
holocausts, and the victims of the people: and they shall stand in
|
|
their sight, to minister to them.
|
|
|
|
44:12. Because they ministered to them before their idols, and were a
|
|
stumblingblock of iniquity to the house of Israel: therefore have I
|
|
lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear
|
|
their iniquity:
|
|
|
|
44:13. And they shall not come near to me, to do the office of priest
|
|
to me, neither shall they come near to any of my holy things that are
|
|
by the holy of holies: but they shall bear their shame, and their
|
|
wickednesses which they have committed.
|
|
|
|
44:14. And I will make them doorkeepers of the house, for all the
|
|
service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.
|
|
|
|
44:15. But the priests, and Levites, the sons of Sadoc, who kept the
|
|
ceremonies of my sanctuary, when the children of Israel went astray
|
|
from me, they shall come near to me, to minister to me: and they shall
|
|
stand before me, to offer me the fat, and the blood, saith the Lord
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
44:16. They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to
|
|
my table, to minister unto me, and to keep my ceremonies.
|
|
|
|
44:17. And when they shall enter in at the gates of the inner court,
|
|
they shall be clothed with linen garments: neither shall any woollen
|
|
come upon them, when they minister in the gates of the inner court and
|
|
within.
|
|
|
|
44:18. They shall have linen mitres on their heads, and linen breeches
|
|
on their loins, and they shall not be girded with any thing that
|
|
causeth sweat.
|
|
|
|
44:19. And when they shall go forth to the outward court to the people,
|
|
they shall put off their garments wherein they ministered, and lay them
|
|
up in the store chamber of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe
|
|
themselves with other garments: and they shall not sanctify the people
|
|
with their vestments.
|
|
|
|
Shall not sanctify the people with their vestments. . .By exposing them
|
|
to the danger of touching the sacred vestments, which none were to
|
|
touch but they that were sanctified.
|
|
|
|
44:20. Neither shall they shave their heads, nor wear long hair: but
|
|
they shall only poll their heads.
|
|
|
|
44:21. And no priest shall drink wine when he is to go into the inner
|
|
court.
|
|
|
|
44:22. Neither shall they take to wife a widow, nor one that is
|
|
divorced, but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of
|
|
Israel: but they may take a widow also, that is, the widow of a priest.
|
|
|
|
44:23. And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and
|
|
profane, and shew them how to discern between clean and unclean.
|
|
|
|
44:24. And when there shall be a controversy, they shall stand in my
|
|
judgments, and shall judge: they shall keep my laws, and my ordinances
|
|
in all my solemnities, and sanctify my sabbaths.
|
|
|
|
44:25. And they shall come near no dead person, lest they be defiled,
|
|
only their father and mother, and son and daughter, and brother and
|
|
sister, that hath not had another husband: for whom they may become
|
|
unclean.
|
|
|
|
44:26. And after one is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven
|
|
days.
|
|
|
|
44:27. And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, to the inner
|
|
court, to minister unto me in the sanctuary, he shall offer for his
|
|
sin, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
44:28. And they shall have no inheritance, I am their inheritance:
|
|
neither shall you give them any possession in Israel, for I am their
|
|
possession.
|
|
|
|
44:29. They shall eat the victim both for sin and for trespass: and
|
|
every vowed thing in Israel shall be theirs.
|
|
|
|
30. And the firstfruits of all the firstborn, and all the libations of
|
|
all things that are offered, shall be the priest's: and you shall give
|
|
the firstfruits of your meats to the priest, that he may return a
|
|
blessing upon thy house.
|
|
|
|
44:31. The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself or
|
|
caught by a beast, whether it be fowl or cattle.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 45
|
|
|
|
|
|
Portions of land for the sanctuary, for the city, and for the prince.
|
|
Ordinances for the prince.
|
|
|
|
45:1. And when you shall begin to divide the land by lot, separate ye
|
|
firstfruits to the Lord, a portion of the land to be holy, in length
|
|
twenty-five thousand and in breadth ten thousand: it shall be holy in
|
|
all the borders thereof round about.
|
|
|
|
Twenty-five thousand. . .Viz., reeds or cubits.
|
|
|
|
45:2. And there shall be for the sanctuary on every side five hundred
|
|
by five hundred, foursquare round about: and fifty cubits for the
|
|
suburbs thereof round about.
|
|
|
|
45:3. And with this measure thou shalt measure the length of five and
|
|
twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand, and in it shall be
|
|
the temple and the holy of holies.
|
|
|
|
45:4. The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the
|
|
ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to the ministry of the Lord:
|
|
and it shall be a place for their houses, and for the holy place of the
|
|
sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
45:5. And five and twenty thousand of length, and ten thousand of
|
|
breadth shall be for the Levites, that minister in the house: they
|
|
shall possess twenty store chambers.
|
|
|
|
45:6. And you shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand
|
|
broad, and five and twenty thousand long, according to the separation
|
|
of the sanctuary, for the whole house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
45:7. For the prince also on the one side and on the other side,
|
|
according to the separation of the sanctuary, and according to the
|
|
possession of the city, over against the separation of the sanctuary,
|
|
and over against the possession of the city: from the side of the sea
|
|
even to the sea, and from the side of the east even to the east. And
|
|
the length according to every part from the west border to the east
|
|
border.
|
|
|
|
45:8. He shall have a portion of the land in Israel: and the princes
|
|
shall no more rob my people: but they shall give the land to the house
|
|
of Israel according to their tribes:
|
|
|
|
45:9. Thus saith the Lord God: Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel:
|
|
cease from iniquity and robberies, and execute judgment and justice,
|
|
separate your confines from my people, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
45:10. You shall have just balances, and a just ephi, and a just bate.
|
|
|
|
45:11. The ephi and the bate shall be equal, and of one measure: that
|
|
the bate may contain the tenth part of a core, and the ephi the tenth
|
|
part of a core: their weight shall be equal according to the measure of
|
|
a core.
|
|
|
|
The ephi and the bate. . .These measures were of equal capacity, but the
|
|
bate served for liquids, and the ephi for dry things.
|
|
|
|
45:12. And the sicle hath twenty obols. Now twenty sicles, and five and
|
|
twenty sicles, and fifteen sicles, make a mna,
|
|
|
|
45:13. And these are the firstfruits, which you shall take: the sixth
|
|
part of an ephi of a core of wheat, and the sixth part of an ephi of a
|
|
core of barley.
|
|
|
|
45:14. The measure of oil also, a bate of oil is the tenth part of a
|
|
core: and ten bates make a core: for ten bates fill a core.
|
|
|
|
45:15. And one ram out of a flock of two hundred, of those that Israel
|
|
feedeth for sacrifice, and for holocausts, and for peace offerings, to
|
|
make atonement for them, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
45:16. All the people of the land shall be bound to these firstfruits
|
|
for the prince in Israel.
|
|
|
|
45:17. And the prince shall give the holocaust, and the sacrifice, and
|
|
the libations on the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the sabbaths,
|
|
and on all the solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall offer the
|
|
sacrifice for sin, and the holocaust, and the peace offerings to make
|
|
expiation for the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
45:18. Thus saith the Lord God: In the first month, the first of the
|
|
month, thou shalt take a calf of the herd without blemish, and thou
|
|
shalt expiate the sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
45:19. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering: and
|
|
he shall put it on the posts of the house, and on the four corners of
|
|
the brim of the altar, and oil the posts of the gate of the inner
|
|
court.
|
|
|
|
45:20. And so shalt thou do in the seventh day of the month, for every
|
|
one that hath been ignorant, and hath been deceived by error, and thou
|
|
shalt make expiation for the house.
|
|
|
|
45:21. In the first month, the fourteenth day of the month, you shall
|
|
observe the solemnity of the pasch: seven days unleavened bread shall
|
|
be eaten.
|
|
|
|
45:22. And the prince on that day shall offer for himself, and for all
|
|
the people of the land, a calf for sin.
|
|
|
|
45:23. And in the solemnity of the seven days he shall offer for a
|
|
holocaust to the Lord, seven calves, and seven rams without blemish
|
|
daily for seven days: and for sin a he goat daily.
|
|
|
|
45:24. And he shall offer the sacrifice of an ephi for every calf, and
|
|
an ephi for every ram: and a hin of oil for every ephi.
|
|
|
|
45:25. In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the
|
|
solemn feast, he shall do the like for the seven days: as well in
|
|
regard to the sin offering, as to the holocaust, and the sacrifice, and
|
|
the oil.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 46
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other ordinances for the prince and for the sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
46:1. Thus saith the Lord God: The gate of the inner court that looketh
|
|
toward the east, shall be shut the six days, on which work is done; but
|
|
on the sabbath day it shall be opened, yea and on the day of the new
|
|
moon it shall be opened.
|
|
|
|
46:2. And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate
|
|
from without, and he shall stand at the threshold of the gate: and the
|
|
priests shall offer his holocaust, and his peace offerings: and he
|
|
shall adore upon the threshold of the gate, and shall go out: but the
|
|
gate shall not be shut till the evening.
|
|
|
|
46:3. And the people of the land shall adore at the door of that gate
|
|
before the Lord on the sabbaths, and on the new moons.
|
|
|
|
46:4. And the holocaust that the prince shall offer to the Lord on the
|
|
sabbath day, shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without
|
|
blemish.
|
|
|
|
46:5. And the sacrifice of all ephi for a ram: but for the lambs what
|
|
sacrifice his hand shall allow: and a hin of oil for every ephi.
|
|
|
|
46:6. And on the day of the new moon a calf of the herd without
|
|
blemish: and the six lambs, and the rams shall be without blemish.
|
|
|
|
46:7. And he shall offer in sacrifice an ephi for calf, an ephi also
|
|
for a ram: but for the lambs, as his hand shall find: and a hin of oil
|
|
for every ephi.
|
|
|
|
46:8. And when the prince is to go in, let him go in by the way of the
|
|
porch of the gate, and let him go out the same way.
|
|
|
|
46:9. But when the people of the land shall go in before the Lord in
|
|
the solemn feasts, he that goeth in by the north gate to adore, shall
|
|
go out by the way of the south gate; and he that goeth in by the way of
|
|
the south gate, shall go out by the way of the north gate: he shall not
|
|
return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go out at
|
|
that over against it.
|
|
|
|
46:10. And the prince in the midst of them, shall go in when they go
|
|
in, and go out when they go out.
|
|
|
|
46:11. And in the fairs, and in the solemnities there shall be the
|
|
sacrifice of an ephi to a calf, and an ephi to a ram: and to the lambs,
|
|
the sacrifice shall be as his hand shall find: and a hin of oil to
|
|
every ephi.
|
|
|
|
46:12. But when the prince shall offer a voluntary holocaust, or
|
|
voluntary peace offering to the Lord: the gate that looketh towards the
|
|
east shall be opened to him, and he shall offer his holocaust, and his
|
|
peace offerings, as it is wont to be done on the sabbath day: and he
|
|
shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he is gone forth.
|
|
|
|
46:13. And he shall offer every day for a holocaust to the Lord, a lamb
|
|
of the same year without blemish: he shall offer it always in the
|
|
morning.
|
|
|
|
46:14. And he shall offer the sacrifice for it morning by morning, the
|
|
sixth part of an ephi: and the third part of a hin of oil to be mingled
|
|
with the fine flour: a sacrifice to the Lord by ordinance continual and
|
|
everlasting.
|
|
|
|
46:15. He shall offer the lamb, and the sacrifice, and the oil morning
|
|
by morning: an everlasting holocaust.
|
|
|
|
46:16. Thus saith the Lord God: If the prince give a gift to any of his
|
|
sons: the inheritance of it shall go to his children, they shall
|
|
possess it by inheritance.
|
|
|
|
46:17. But if he give a legacy out of his inheritance to one of his
|
|
servants, it shall be his until the year of release, and it shall
|
|
return to the prince: but his inheritance shall go to his sons.
|
|
|
|
46:18. And the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by
|
|
violence, nor of their possession: but out of his own possession he
|
|
shall give an inheritance to his sons: that my people be not dispersed
|
|
every man from his possession.
|
|
|
|
46:19. And he brought me in by the entry that was at the side of the
|
|
gate, into the chambers of the sanctuary that were for the priests,
|
|
which looked toward the north. And there was a place bending to the
|
|
west.
|
|
|
|
46:20. And he said to me: This is the place where the priests shall
|
|
boil the sin offering, and the trespass offering: where they shall
|
|
dress the sacrifice, that they may not bring it out into the outward
|
|
court, and the people be sanctified.
|
|
|
|
46:21. And he brought me into the outward court, and he led me about by
|
|
the four corners of the court: and behold there was a little court in
|
|
the corner of the court, to every corner of the court there was a
|
|
little court.
|
|
|
|
46:22. In the four corners of the court were little courts disposed,
|
|
forty cubits long, and thirty broad, all the four were of one measure.
|
|
|
|
46:23. And there was a wall round about compassing the four little
|
|
courts, and there were kitchens built under the rows round about.
|
|
|
|
46:24. And he said to me: This is the house of the kitchens wherein the
|
|
ministers of the house of the Lord shall boil the victims of the
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 47
|
|
|
|
|
|
The vision of the holy waters issuing out from under the temple: the
|
|
borders of the land to be divided among the twelve tribes.
|
|
|
|
47:1. And he brought me again to the gate of the house, and behold
|
|
waters issued out from under the threshold of the house toward the
|
|
east: for the forefront of the house looked toward the east: but the
|
|
waters came down to the right side of the temple to the south part of
|
|
the altar.
|
|
|
|
Waters. . .These waters are not to be understood literally (for there
|
|
were none such that flowed from the temple); but mystically, of the
|
|
baptism of Christ, and of his doctrine and his grace: the trees that
|
|
grow on the banks are Christian virtues: the fishes are Christians,
|
|
that spiritually live in and by these holy waters, the fishermen are
|
|
the apostles, and apostolic preachers: the fenny places, where there is
|
|
no health, are such as by being out of the church are separated from
|
|
these waters of life.
|
|
|
|
47:2. And he led me out by the way of the north gate, and he caused me
|
|
to turn to the way without the outward gate to the way that looked
|
|
toward the east: and behold there ran out waters on the right side.
|
|
|
|
47:3. And when the man that had the line in his hand went out towards
|
|
the east, he measured a thousand cubits: and he brought me through the
|
|
water up to the ankles.
|
|
|
|
47:4. And again he measured a thousand, and he brought me through the
|
|
water up to the knees.
|
|
|
|
47:5. And he measured a thousand, and he brought me through the water
|
|
up to the loins. And he measured a thousand, and it was a torrent,
|
|
which I could not pass over: for the waters were risen so as to make a
|
|
deep torrent, which could not be passed over.
|
|
|
|
47:6. And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man. And he
|
|
brought me out, and he caused me to turn to the bank of the torrent.
|
|
|
|
47:7. And when I had turned myself, behold on the bank of the torrent
|
|
were very many trees on both sides.
|
|
|
|
47:8. And he said to me: These waters that issue forth toward the
|
|
hillocks of sand to the east, and go down to the plains of the desert,
|
|
shall go into the sea, and shall go out, and the waters shall be
|
|
healed.
|
|
|
|
47:9. And every living creature that creepeth whithersoever the torrent
|
|
shall come, shall live: and there shall be fishes in abundance after
|
|
these waters shall come thither, and they shall be healed, and all
|
|
things shall live to which the torrent shall come.
|
|
|
|
47:10. And the fishers shall stand over these waters, from Engaddi even
|
|
to Engallim there shall be drying of nets: there shall be many sorts of
|
|
the fishes thereof, as the fishes of the great sea, a very great
|
|
multitude:
|
|
|
|
47:11. But on the shore thereof, and in the fenny places they shall not
|
|
be healed, because they shall be turned into saltpits.
|
|
|
|
47:12. And by the torrent on the banks thereof on both sides shall grow
|
|
all trees that bear fruit: their leaf shall not fall off, and their
|
|
fruit shall not fail: every month shall they bring forth firstfruits,
|
|
because the waters thereof shall issue out of the sanctuary: and the
|
|
fruits thereof shall be for food, and the leaves thereof for medicine.
|
|
|
|
47:13. Thus saith the Lord God: This is the border, by which you shall
|
|
possess the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: for Joseph
|
|
hath a double portion.
|
|
|
|
47:14. And you shall possess it, every man in like manner as his
|
|
brother: concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to your
|
|
fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for a possession.
|
|
|
|
47:15. And this is the border of the land: toward the north side, from
|
|
the great sea by the way of Hethalon, as men go to Sedada,
|
|
|
|
47:16. Emath, Berotha, Sabarim, which is between the border of Damascus
|
|
and the border of Emath the house of Tichon, which is by the border of
|
|
Auran.
|
|
|
|
47:17. And the border from the sea even to the court of Enan, shall be
|
|
the border of Damascus, and from the north to the north: the border of
|
|
Emath, this is the north side.
|
|
|
|
47:18. And the east side is from the midst of Auran, and from the midst
|
|
of Damascus, and from the midst of Galaad, and from the midst of the
|
|
land of Israel, Jordan making the bound to the east sea, and thus you
|
|
shall measure the east side.
|
|
|
|
47:19. And the south side southward is, from Thamar even to the waters
|
|
of contradiction of Cades: and, the torrent even to the great sea: and
|
|
this is the south side southward.
|
|
|
|
47:20. And the side toward the sea, is the great sea from the borders
|
|
straight on, till thou come to Emath: this is the side of the sea.
|
|
|
|
47:21. And you shall divide this land unto you by the tribes of Israel:
|
|
|
|
47:22. And you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance to you, and to
|
|
the strangers that shall come over to you, that shall beget children
|
|
among you: and they shall be unto you as men of the same country born
|
|
among the children of Israel: they shall divide the possession with you
|
|
in the midst of the tribes of Israel.
|
|
|
|
47:23. And in what tribe soever the stranger shall be, there shall you
|
|
give him possession, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ezechiel Chapter 48
|
|
|
|
|
|
The portions of the twelve tribes, of the sanctuary, of the city, and
|
|
of the prince. The dimensions and gates of the city.
|
|
|
|
48:1. And these are the names of the tribes from the borders of the
|
|
north, by the way of Hethalon, as they go to Emath, the court of Enan
|
|
the border of Damascus northward, by the way off Emath. And from the
|
|
east side thereof to the sea shall be one portion for Dan.
|
|
|
|
48:2. And by the border of Dan, from the east side even to the side of
|
|
the sea, one portion for Aser:
|
|
|
|
48:3. And by the border of Aser, from the east side even to the side of
|
|
the sea one portion for Nephthali.
|
|
|
|
48:4. And by the border of Nephthali, from the east side even to the
|
|
side of the one portion for Manasses.
|
|
|
|
48:5. And by the border of Manasses, from the east side even to the
|
|
side of the sea, one portion for Ephraim.
|
|
|
|
48:6. And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the side
|
|
of the sea, one portion for Ruben.
|
|
|
|
48:7. And by the border of Ruben, from the east side even to the side
|
|
of the sea, one portion for Juda.
|
|
|
|
48:8. And by the border of Juda, from the east side even to the side of
|
|
the sea, shall be the firstfruits which you shall set apart, five and
|
|
twenty thousand in breadth, and length, as every one of the portions
|
|
from the east side to the side of the sea: and the sanctuary shall be
|
|
in the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
48:9. The firstfruits which you shall set apart for the Lord will be
|
|
the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten
|
|
thousand.
|
|
|
|
48:10. And these shall be the firstfruits of the sanctuary for the
|
|
priests: toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and
|
|
toward the sea ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east also ten
|
|
thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in
|
|
length: and the sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
48:11. The sanctuary shall be for the priests of the sons of Sadoc, who
|
|
kept my ceremonies, and went not astray when the children of Israel
|
|
went astray, as the Levites also went astray.
|
|
|
|
48:12. And for them shall be the firstfruits of the firstfruits of the
|
|
land holy of holies, by the border of the Levites,
|
|
|
|
48:13. And the Levites in like manner shall have by the borders of the
|
|
priests five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in
|
|
breadth. All the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the
|
|
breadth ten thousand.
|
|
|
|
48:14. And they shall not sell thereof, nor exchange, neither shall the
|
|
firstfruits of the land be alienated, because they are sanctified to
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
48:15. But the five thousand that remain in the breadth over against
|
|
the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city for
|
|
dwelling, and for suburbs and the city shall be in the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
48:16. And these are the measures thereof: on the north side four
|
|
thousand and five hundred: and on the south side four thousand and five
|
|
hundred: and on the east side four thousand and five hundred: and on
|
|
the west side four thousand and five hundred.
|
|
|
|
48:17. And the suburbs of the city shall be to the north two hundred
|
|
and fifty, and the south two hundred and fifty, and to the east two
|
|
hundred and fifty, and to the sea two hundred and fifty.
|
|
|
|
48:18. And the residue in length by the firstfruits of the sanctuary,
|
|
ten thousand toward the east, and ten thousand toward the west, shall
|
|
be as the firstfruits of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be
|
|
for bread to them that serve the city.
|
|
|
|
48:19. And they that serve the city, shall serve it out of all the
|
|
tribes of Israel.
|
|
|
|
48:20. All the firstfruits, of five and twenty thousand, by five and
|
|
twenty thousand foursquare, shall be set apart for the firstfruits of
|
|
the sanctuary, and for the possession of the city.
|
|
|
|
48:21. And the residue shall be for the prince on every side of the
|
|
firstfruits of the sanctuary, and of the possession of the city over
|
|
against the five and twenty thousand of the firstfruits unto the east
|
|
border: toward the sea also over against the five and twenty thousand,
|
|
unto the border of the sea, shall likewise be the portion of the
|
|
prince: and the firstfruits of the sanctuary, and the sanctuary of the
|
|
temple shall be in the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
48:22. And from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession
|
|
of the city which are in the midst of the prince's portions: what shall
|
|
be to the border of Juda, and to the border of Benjamin, shall also
|
|
belong to the prince.
|
|
|
|
48:23. And for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west
|
|
side, one portion for Benjamin.
|
|
|
|
48:24. And over against the border of Benjamin, from the east side to
|
|
the west side, one portion for Simeon.
|
|
|
|
48:25. And by the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west
|
|
side, one portion for Issachar.
|
|
|
|
48:26. And by the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west
|
|
side, one portion for Zabulon.
|
|
|
|
48:27. And by the border of Zabulon, from the east side to the side of
|
|
the sea, one portion for Gad.
|
|
|
|
48:28. And by the border of Gad, the south side southward: and the
|
|
border shall be from Thamar, even to the waters of contradiction of
|
|
Cades, the inheritance over against the great sea.
|
|
|
|
48:29. This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the tribes of
|
|
Israel: and these are the portions of them, saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
48:30. And these are the goings out of the city: on the north side thou
|
|
shalt measure four thousand and five hundred.
|
|
|
|
48:31. And the gates of the city according to the names of the tribes
|
|
of Israel, three gates on the north side, the gate of Ruben one, the
|
|
gate of Juda one, the gate of Levi one.
|
|
|
|
48:32. And at the east side, four thousand and five hundred: and three
|
|
gates, the gate of Joseph one, the gate of Benjamin one, the gate of
|
|
Dan one.
|
|
|
|
48:33. And at the south side, thou shalt measure four thousand and five
|
|
hundred: and three gates, the gate of Simeon one, the gate of Issachar
|
|
one, the gate of Zabulon one.
|
|
|
|
48:34. And at the west side, four thousand and five hundred, and their
|
|
three gates, the gate of Gad one, the gate of Aser one, the gate of
|
|
Nephthali one.
|
|
|
|
48:35. Its circumference was eighteen thousand: and the name of the
|
|
city from that day, The Lord is there.
|
|
|
|
The Lord is there. . . This name is here given to the city, that is, to
|
|
the church of Christ: because the Lord is always with her till the end
|
|
of the world. Matt. 28.20.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DANIEL, whose name signifies THE JUDGMENT OF GOD, was of the royal
|
|
blood of the kings of Juda: and one of those that were first of all
|
|
carried away into captivity. He was so renowned for wisdom and
|
|
knowledge, that it became a proverb among the Babylonians, AS WISE AS
|
|
DANIEL (Ezech. 28.3). And his holiness was so great from his very
|
|
childhood, that at the time when he was as yet but a young man, he is
|
|
joined by the SPIRIT of GOD with NOE and JOB, as three persons most
|
|
eminent for virtue and sanctity, Ezech. 14. He is not commonly numbered
|
|
by the Hebrews among THE PROPHETS: because he lived at court, and in
|
|
high station in the world: but if we consider his many clear
|
|
predictions of things to come, we shall find that no one better
|
|
deserves the name and title of A PROPHET: which also has been given him
|
|
by the SON of GOD himself, Matt. 24, Mark 13., Luke 21.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 1
|
|
|
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Daniel and his companions are taken into the palace of the king of
|
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Babylon: they abstain from his meat and wine, and succeed better with
|
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pulse and water. Their excellence and wisdom.
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1:1. In the third year of the reign of Joakim, king of Juda,
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Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem, and beseiged it.
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1:2. And the Lord delivered into his hands Joakim, the king of Juda,
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and part of the vessels of the house of God: and he carried them away
|
|
into the land of Sennaar, to the house of his god, and the vessels he
|
|
brought into the treasure house of his god.
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His god. . .Bel or Belus, the principal idol of the Chaldeans.
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1:3. And the king spoke to Asphenez, the master of the eunuchs, that he
|
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should bring in some of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed,
|
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and of the princes,
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1:4. Children in whom there was no blemish, well favoured, and skilful
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in all wisdom, acute in knowledge, and instructed in science, and such
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|
as might stand in the king's palace, that he might teach them the
|
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learning, and tongue of the Chaldeans.
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1:5. And the king appointed them a daily provision, of his own meat,
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and of the wine of which he drank himself, that being nourished three
|
|
years, afterwards they might stand before the king.
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1:6. Now there was among them of the children of Juda, Daniel, Ananias,
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|
Misael, and Azarias.
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1:7. And the master of the eunuchs gave them names: to Daniel,
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Baltassar: to Ananias, Sidrach: to Misael, Misach: and to Azarias,
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|
Abdenago.
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1:8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not be defiled with
|
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the king's table, nor with the wine which he drank: and he requested
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the master of the eunuchs that he might not be defiled.
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Be defiled, etc. . .Viz., either by eating meat forbidden by the law, or
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|
which had before been offered to idols.
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1:9. And God gave to Daniel grace and mercy in the sight of the prince
|
|
of the eunuchs.
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1:10. And the prince of the eunuchs said to Daniel: I fear my lord, the
|
|
king, who hath appointed you meat and drink: who if he should see your
|
|
faces leaner than those of the other youths, your equals, you shall
|
|
endanger my head to the king.
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1:11. And Daniel said to Malasar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had
|
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appointed over Daniel, Ananias, Misael, and Azarias:
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1:12. Try, I beseech thee, thy servants for ten days, and let pulse be
|
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given us to eat, and water to drink:
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|
Pulse. . .That is, pease, beans, and such like.
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1:13. And look upon our faces, and the faces of the children that eat
|
|
of the king's meat: and as thou shalt see, deal with thy servants.
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1:14. And when he had heard these words, he tried them for ten days.
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1:15. And after ten days, their faces appeared fairer and fatter than
|
|
all the children that ate of the king's meat.
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1:16. So Malasar took their portions, and the wine that they should
|
|
drink: and he gave them pulse.
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1:17. And to these children God gave knowledge, and understanding in
|
|
every book, and wisdom: but to Daniel the understanding also of all
|
|
visions and dreams.
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|
1:18. And when the days were ended, after which the king had ordered
|
|
they should be brought in: the prince of the eunuchs brought them in
|
|
before Nabuchodonosor.
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|
1:19. And when the king had spoken to them, there were not found among
|
|
them all such as Daniel, Ananias, Misael, and Azarias: and they stood
|
|
in the king's presence.
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|
1:20. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king
|
|
enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the diviners,
|
|
and wise men, that were in all his kingdom.
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1:21. And Daniel continued even to the first year of king Cyrus.
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Daniel Chapter 2
|
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|
Daniel, by divine revelation, declares the dream of Nabuchodonosor, and
|
|
the interpretation of it. He is highly honoured by the king.
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|
2:1. In the second year of the reign of Nabuchodonosor, Nabuchodonosor
|
|
had a dream, and his spirit was terrified, and his dream went out of
|
|
his mind.
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|
The second year. . .Viz., from the death of his father Nabopolassar; for
|
|
he had reigned before as partner with his father in the empire.
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|
2:2. Then the king commanded to call together the diviners and the wise
|
|
men, and the magicians, and the Chaldeans: to declare to the king his
|
|
dreams: so they came and stood before the king.
|
|
|
|
The Chaldeeans. . .That is, the astrologers, that pretended to divine by
|
|
stars.
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|
2:3. And the king said to them: I saw a dream: and being troubled in
|
|
mind I know not what I saw.
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|
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|
2:4. And the Chaldeans answered the king in Syriac: O king, live for
|
|
ever: tell to thy servants thy dream, and we will declare the
|
|
interpretation thereof.
|
|
|
|
2:5. And the king, answering, said to the Chaldeans: The thing is gone
|
|
out of my mind: unless you tell me the dream, and the meaning thereof,
|
|
you shall be put to death, and your houses shall be confiscated.
|
|
|
|
2:6. but if you tell the dream, and the meaning of it, you shall
|
|
receive of me rewards, and gifts, and great honour: therefore, tell me
|
|
the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
|
|
|
|
2:7. They answered again and said: Let the king tell his servants the
|
|
dream, and we will declare the interpretation of it.
|
|
|
|
2:8. The king answered and said: I know for certain, that you seek to
|
|
gain time, since you know that the thing is gone from me.
|
|
|
|
2:9. If, therefore, you tell me not the dream, there is one sentence
|
|
concerning you, that you have also framed a lying interpretation, and
|
|
full of deceit, to speak before me till the time pass away. Tell me,
|
|
therefore, the dream, that I may know that you also give a true
|
|
interpretation thereof.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Then the Chaldeans answered before the king, and said: There is
|
|
no man upon earth, that can accomplish thy word, O king; neither doth
|
|
any king, though great and mighty, ask such a thing of any diviner, or
|
|
wise man, or Chaldean.
|
|
|
|
2:11. For the thing that thou asketh, O king, is difficult: nor can any
|
|
one be found that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose
|
|
conversation is not with men.
|
|
|
|
2:12. Upon hearing this, the king in fury, and in great wrath,
|
|
commanded that all the wise men of Babylon should be put to death.
|
|
|
|
2:13. And the decree being gone forth, the wise men were slain: and
|
|
Daniel and his companions were sought for, to be put to death.
|
|
|
|
2:14. Then Daniel inquired concerning the law and the sentence, of
|
|
Arioch, the general of the king's army, who was gone forth to kill the
|
|
wise men of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
2:15. And he asked him that had received the orders of the king, why so
|
|
cruel a sentence was gone forth from the face of the king. And when
|
|
Arioch had told the matter to Daniel,
|
|
|
|
2:16. Daniel went in, and desired of the king, that he would give him
|
|
time to resolve the question, and declare it to the king.
|
|
|
|
2:17. And he went into his house, and told the matter to Ananias, and
|
|
Misael, and Azarias, his companions:
|
|
|
|
2:18. To the end that they should ask mercy at the face of the God of
|
|
heaven, concerning this secret, and that Daniel and his companions
|
|
might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
2:19. Then was the mystery revealed to Daniel by a vision in the night:
|
|
and Daniel blessed the God of heaven,
|
|
|
|
2:20. And speaking, he said: Blessed be the name of the Lord from
|
|
eternity and for evermore: for wisdom and fortitude are his.
|
|
|
|
2:21. And he changeth times and ages: taketh away kingdoms, and
|
|
establisheth them: giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them
|
|
that have understanding:
|
|
|
|
2:22. He revealeth deep and hidden things, and knoweth what is in
|
|
darkness: and light is with him.
|
|
|
|
2:23. To thee, O God of our fathers, I give thanks, and I praise thee:
|
|
because thou hast given me wisdom and strength: and now thou hast shewn
|
|
me what we desired of thee, for thou hast made known to us the king's
|
|
discourse.
|
|
|
|
2:24. After this Daniel went in to Arioch, to whom the king had given
|
|
orders to destroy the wise men of Babylon, and he spoke thus to him:
|
|
Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I
|
|
will tell the solution to the king.
|
|
|
|
2:25. Then Arioch in haste brought in Daniel to the king, and said to
|
|
him: I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Juda, that
|
|
will resolve the question to the king.
|
|
|
|
2:26. The king answered, and said to Daniel, whose name was Baltassar:
|
|
Thinkest thou indeed that thou canst tell me the dream that I saw, and
|
|
the interpretation thereof?
|
|
|
|
2:27. And Daniel made answer before the king, and said: The secret that
|
|
the king desireth to know, none of the wise men, or the philosophers,
|
|
or the diviners, or the soothsayers, can declare to the king.
|
|
|
|
2:28. But there is a God in heaven that revealeth mysteries, who hath
|
|
shewn to thee, O king Nabuchodonosor, what is to come to pass in the
|
|
latter times. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are
|
|
these:
|
|
|
|
2:29. Thou, O king, didst begin to think in thy bed, what should come
|
|
to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth mysteries shewed thee what
|
|
shall come to pass.
|
|
|
|
2:30. To me also this secret is revealed, not by any wisdom that I have
|
|
more than all men alive: but that the interpretation might be made
|
|
manifest to the king, and thou mightest know the thought of thy mind.
|
|
|
|
2:31. Thou, O king, sawest, and behold there was as it were a great
|
|
statue: this statue, which was great and high, tall of stature, stood
|
|
before thee, and the look thereof was terrible.
|
|
|
|
2:32. The head of this statue was of fine gold, but the breast and the
|
|
arms of silver, and the belly and the thighs of brass.
|
|
|
|
2:33. And the legs of iron, the feet part of iron and part of clay.
|
|
|
|
2:34. Thus thou sawest, till a stone was cut out of a mountain without
|
|
hands: and it struck the statue upon the feet thereof that were of iron
|
|
and clay, and broke them in pieces.
|
|
|
|
2:35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold
|
|
broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of a summer's
|
|
threshing floor, and they were carried away by the wind: and there was
|
|
no place found for them: but the stone that struck the statue became a
|
|
great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
|
|
|
|
2:36. This is the dream: we will also tell the interpretation thereof
|
|
before thee, O king.
|
|
|
|
2:37. Thou art a king of kings: and the God of heaven hath given thee a
|
|
kingdom, and strength, and power, and glory:
|
|
|
|
2:38. And all places wherein the children of men, and the beasts of the
|
|
field do dwell: he hath also given the birds of the air into thy hand,
|
|
and hath put all things under thy power: thou, therefore, art the head
|
|
of gold.
|
|
|
|
2:39. And after thee shall rise up another kingdom, inferior to thee,
|
|
of silver: and another third kingdom of brass, which shall rule over
|
|
all the world.
|
|
|
|
Another kingdom. . .Viz., that of the Medes and Persians. Ibid. Third
|
|
kingdom. . .Viz., that of Alexander the Great.
|
|
|
|
2:40. And the fourth kingdom shall be as iron. As iron breaketh into
|
|
pieces, and subdueth all things, so shall that break, and destroy all
|
|
these.
|
|
|
|
The fourth kingdom, etc. . .Some understand this of the successors of
|
|
Alexander, the kings of Syria and Egypt, others of the Roman empire,
|
|
and its civil wars.
|
|
|
|
2:41. And whereas thou sawest the feet, and the toes, part of potter's
|
|
clay, and part of iron: the kingdom shall be divided, but yet it shall
|
|
take its origin from the iron, according as thou sawest the iron mixed
|
|
with the miry clay.
|
|
|
|
2:42. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay:
|
|
the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
|
|
|
|
2:43. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall
|
|
be mingled indeed together with the seed of man, but they shall not
|
|
stick fast one to another, as iron cannot be mixed with clay.
|
|
|
|
2:44. But in the days of those kingdoms, the God of heaven will set up
|
|
a kingdom that shall never by destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be
|
|
delivered up to another people: and it shall break in pieces, and shall
|
|
consume all these kingdoms: and itself shall stand for ever.
|
|
|
|
A kingdom. . .Viz., the kingdom of Christ in the Catholic Church which
|
|
cannot be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
2:45. According as thou sawest, that the stone was cut out of the
|
|
mountain without hands, and broke in pieces the clay and the iron, and
|
|
the brass, and the silver, and the gold, the great God hath shewn the
|
|
king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is true, and the
|
|
interpretation thereof is faithful.
|
|
|
|
2:46. Then king Nabuchodonosor fell on his face, and worshipped Daniel,
|
|
and commanded that they should offer in sacrifice to him victims and
|
|
incense.
|
|
|
|
2:47. And the king spoke to Daniel, and said: Verily, your God is the
|
|
God of gods, and Lord of kings, and a revealer of hidden things: seeing
|
|
thou couldst discover this secret.
|
|
|
|
2:48. Then the king advanced Daniel to a high station, and gave him
|
|
many and great gifts: and he made him governor over all the provinces
|
|
of Babylon: and chief of the magistrates over all the wise men of
|
|
Babylon.
|
|
|
|
2:49. And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Sidrach,
|
|
Misach, and Abdenago, over the works of the province of Babylon: but
|
|
Daniel himself was in the king's palace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nabuchodonosor set up a golden statue; which he commands all to adore:
|
|
the three children for refusing to do it are cast into the fiery
|
|
furnace; but are not hurt by the flames. Their prayer and canticle of
|
|
praise.
|
|
|
|
3:1. King Nabuchodonosor made a statue of gold, of sixty cubits high,
|
|
and six cubits broad, and he set it up in the plain of Dura, of the
|
|
province of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
3:2. Then Nabuchodonosor, the king, sent to call together the nobles,
|
|
the magistrates, and the judges, the captains, the rulers, and
|
|
governors, and all the chief men of the provinces, to come to the
|
|
dedication of the statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up.
|
|
|
|
3:3. Then the nobles, the magistrates, and the judges, the captains,
|
|
and rulers, and the great men that were placed in authority, and all
|
|
the princes of the provinces, were gathered together to come to the
|
|
dedication of the statue, which king Nabuchodonosor had set up. And
|
|
they stood before the statue which king Nabuchodonosor had set up.
|
|
|
|
3:4. Then a herald cried with a strong voice: To you it is commanded, O
|
|
nations, tribes and languages:
|
|
|
|
3:5. That in the hour that you shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and
|
|
of the flute, and of the harp, of the sackbut, and of the psaltery, and
|
|
of the symphony, and of all kind of music, ye fall down and adore the
|
|
golden statue which king Nabuchodonosor hath set up.
|
|
|
|
3:6. But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same
|
|
hour be cast into a furnace of burning fire.
|
|
|
|
3:7. Upon this, therefore, at the time when all the people heard the
|
|
sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and the
|
|
psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, all the nations,
|
|
tribes, and languages fell down and adored the golden statue which king
|
|
Nabuchodonosor had set up.
|
|
|
|
3:8. And presently at that very time some Chaldeans came and accused
|
|
the Jews,
|
|
|
|
3:9. And said to king Nabuchodonosor: O king, live for ever:
|
|
|
|
3:10. Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear
|
|
the sound of the trumpet, the flute, and the harp, of the sackbut, and
|
|
the psaltery, of the symphony, and of all kind of music, shall
|
|
prostrate himself, and adore the golden statue:
|
|
|
|
3:11. And that if any man shall not fall down and adore, he should be
|
|
cast into a furnace of burning fire.
|
|
|
|
3:12. Now there are certain Jews, whom thou hast set over the works of
|
|
the province of Babylon, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago: these men, O
|
|
king, have slighted thy decree: they worship not thy gods, nor do they
|
|
adore the golden statue which thou hast set up.
|
|
|
|
3:13. Then Nabuchodonosor in fury, and in wrath, commanded that
|
|
Sidrach, Misach, ad Abdenago should be brought: who immediately were
|
|
brought before the king.
|
|
|
|
3:14. And Nabuchodonosor, the king, spoke to them, and said: Is it
|
|
true, O Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, that you do not worship my gods,
|
|
nor adore the golden statue that I have set up?
|
|
|
|
3:15. Now, therefore, if you be ready, at what hour soever, you shall
|
|
hear the sound of the trumpet, flute, harp, sackbut, and psaltery, and
|
|
symphony, and of all kind of music, prostrate yourselves, and adore the
|
|
statue which I have made: but if you do not adore, you shall be cast
|
|
the same hour into the furnace of burning fire: and who is the God that
|
|
shall deliver you out of my hand?
|
|
|
|
3:16. Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, answered, and said to king
|
|
Nabuchodonosor: We have no occasion to answer thee concerning this
|
|
matter.
|
|
|
|
3:17. For behold our God, whom we worship, is able to save us from the
|
|
furnace of burning fire, and to deliver us out of thy hands, O king.
|
|
|
|
3:18. But if he will not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not
|
|
worship thy gods, nor adore the golden statue which thou hast set up.
|
|
|
|
3:19. Then was Nabuchodonosor filled with fury: and the countenance of
|
|
his face was changed against Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and he
|
|
commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times more than it
|
|
had been accustomed to be heated.
|
|
|
|
3:20. And he commanded the strongest men that were in his army, to bind
|
|
the feet of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, and to cast them into the
|
|
furnace of burning fire.
|
|
|
|
3:21. And immediately these men were bound, and were cast into the
|
|
furnace of burning fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their
|
|
shoes, and their garments.
|
|
|
|
3:22. For the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace was heated
|
|
exceedingly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in
|
|
Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago.
|
|
|
|
3:23. But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, fell
|
|
down bound in the midst of the furnace of burning fire.
|
|
|
|
3:24. And they walked in the midst of the flame, praising God, and
|
|
blessing the Lord.
|
|
|
|
And they walked, etc. . .Here St. Jerome takes notice, that from this
|
|
verse, to ver. 91, was not in the Hebrew in his time. But as it was in
|
|
all the Greek Bibles, (which were originally translated from the
|
|
Hebrew,) it is more than probable that it had been formerly in the
|
|
Hebrew or rather in the Chaldaic, in which the book of Daniel was
|
|
written. But this is certain: that it is, and has been of old, received
|
|
by the church, and read as canonical scripture in her liturgy, and
|
|
divine offices.
|
|
|
|
3:25. Then Azarias standing up, prayed in this manner, and opening his
|
|
mouth in the midst of the fire, he said:
|
|
|
|
3:26. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and thy name is
|
|
worthy of praise, and glorious for ever:
|
|
|
|
3:27. For thou art just in all that thou hast done to us, and all thy
|
|
works are true, and thy ways right, and all thy judgments true.
|
|
|
|
3:28. For thou hast executed true judgments in all the things that thou
|
|
hast brought upon us, and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers:
|
|
for according to truth and judgment, thou hast brought all these things
|
|
upon us for our sins.
|
|
|
|
3:29. For we have sinned, and committed iniquity, departing from thee:
|
|
and we have trespassed in all things:
|
|
|
|
3:30. And we have not hearkened to thy commandments, nor have we
|
|
observed nor done as thou hadst commanded us, that it might go well
|
|
with us.
|
|
|
|
3:31. Wherefore, all that thou hast brought upon us, and every thing
|
|
that thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true judgment:
|
|
|
|
3:32. And thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies that are
|
|
unjust, and most wicked, and prevaricators, and to a king unjust, and
|
|
most wicked beyond all that are upon the earth.
|
|
|
|
3:33. And now we cannot open our mouths: we are become a shame, and a
|
|
reproach to thy servants, and to them that worship thee.
|
|
|
|
3:34. Deliver us not up for ever, we beseech thee, for thy name's sake,
|
|
and abolish not thy covenant.
|
|
|
|
3:35. And take not away thy mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, thy
|
|
beloved, and Isaac, thy servant, and Israel, thy holy one:
|
|
|
|
3:36. To whom thou hast spoken, promising that thou wouldst multiply
|
|
their seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea
|
|
shore.
|
|
|
|
3:37. For we, O Lord, are diminished more than any nation, and are
|
|
brought low in all the earth this day for our sins.
|
|
|
|
3:38. Neither is there at this time prince, or leader, or prophet, or
|
|
holocaust, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, or place of first
|
|
fruits before thee,
|
|
|
|
3:39. That we may find thy mercy: nevertheless, in a contrite heart and
|
|
humble spirit let us be accepted.
|
|
|
|
3:40. As in holocausts of rams, and bullocks, and as in thousands of
|
|
fat lambs: so let our sacrifice be made in thy sight this day, that it
|
|
may please thee: for there is no confusion to them that trust in thee.
|
|
|
|
3:41. And now we follow thee with all our heart, and we fear thee, and
|
|
seek thy face.
|
|
|
|
3:42. Put us not to confusion, but deal with us according to thy
|
|
meekness, and according to the multitude of thy mercies.
|
|
|
|
3:43. And deliver us, according to thy wonderful works, and give glory
|
|
to thy name, O Lord:
|
|
|
|
3:44. And let all them be confounded that shew evils to thy servants,
|
|
let them be confounded in all thy might, and let their strength be
|
|
broken:
|
|
|
|
3:45. And let them know that thou art the Lord, the only God, and
|
|
glorious over all the world.
|
|
|
|
3:46. Now the king's servants that had cast them in, ceased not to heat
|
|
the furnace with brimstone and tow, and pitch, and dry sticks,
|
|
|
|
3:47. And the flame mounted up above the furnace nine and forth cubits:
|
|
|
|
3:48. And it broke forth, and burnt such of the Chaldeans as it found
|
|
near the furnace.
|
|
|
|
3:49. But the angel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his
|
|
companions into the furnace: and he drove the flame of the fire out of
|
|
the furnace,
|
|
|
|
3:50. And made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of a wind
|
|
bringing dew, and the fire touched them not at all, nor troubled them,
|
|
nor did them any harm.
|
|
|
|
3:51. Then these three, as with one mouth, praised and glorified and
|
|
blessed God, in the furnace, saying:
|
|
|
|
3:52. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers; and worthy to
|
|
be praised, and glorified, and exalted above all for ever: and blessed
|
|
is the holy name of thy glory: and worthy to be praised and exalted
|
|
above all, in all ages.
|
|
|
|
3:53. Blessed art thou in the holy temple of thy glory: and exceedingly
|
|
to be praised and exalted above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:54 Blessed art thou on the throne of thy kingdom, and exceedingly to be
|
|
praised, and exalted above all forever.
|
|
|
|
3:55. Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths, and sittest upon the
|
|
cherubims: and worthy to be praised and exalted above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:56. Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven: and worthy of
|
|
praise, and glorious for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:57. All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:58. O ye angels of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:59. O ye heavens, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
3:60. O all ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord:
|
|
praise and exalt him above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:61. O all ye powers of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:62. O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:63. O ye stars of heaven, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above
|
|
all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:64. O every shower and dew, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:65. O all ye spirits of God, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:66. O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above
|
|
all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:67. O ye cold and heat, bless the Lord, praise and exalt him above
|
|
all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:68. O ye dews and hoar frost, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:69. O ye frost and cold, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above
|
|
all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:70. O ye ice and snow, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:71. O ye nights and days, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above
|
|
all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:72. O ye light and darkness, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:73. O ye lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:74. O let the earth bless the Lord: let it praise and exalt him above
|
|
all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:75 O ye mountains and hills, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above
|
|
all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:76. O all ye things that spring up in the earth, bless the Lord:
|
|
praise and exalt him above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:77. O ye fountains, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:78. O ye seas and rivers, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above
|
|
all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:79. O ye whales, and all that move in the waters, bless the Lord:
|
|
praise and exalt him above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:80. O all ye fowls of the air, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:81. O all ye beasts and cattle, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:82. O ye sons of men, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all
|
|
for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:83. O let Israel bless the Lord: let them praise and exalt him above
|
|
all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:84. O ye priests of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:85. O ye servants of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and exalt him
|
|
above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:86. O ye spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord: praise and
|
|
exalt him above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:87. O ye holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord: praise and exalt
|
|
him above all for ever.
|
|
|
|
3:88. O Ananias, Azarias, Misael, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt
|
|
him above all for ever. For he hath delivered us from hell, ad saved us
|
|
out of the hand of death, and delivered us out of the midst of the
|
|
burning flame, and saved us out of the midst of the fire.
|
|
|
|
3:89. O give thanks to the Lord, because he is good: because his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
3:90. O all ye religious, bless the Lord, the God of gods: praise him,
|
|
and give him thanks, because his mercy endureth for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
3:91. Then Nabuchodonosor, the king, was astonished, and rose up in
|
|
haste, and said to his nobles: Did we not cast three men bound into the
|
|
midst of the fire? They answered the king, and said: True, O king.
|
|
|
|
3:92. He answered, and said: Behold, I see four men loose, and walking
|
|
in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them, and the form of
|
|
the fourth is like the son of God.
|
|
|
|
3:93. Then Nabuchodonosor came to the door of the burning fiery
|
|
furnace, and said: Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, ye servants of the
|
|
most high God, go ye forth, and come. And immediately Sidrach, Misach,
|
|
and Abdenago, went out from the midst of the fire.
|
|
|
|
3:94. And the nobles, and the magistrates, and the judges, and the
|
|
great men of the king, being gathered together, considered these men,
|
|
that the fire had no power on their bodies, and that not a hair of
|
|
their head had been singed, nor their garments altered, nor the smell
|
|
of the fire had passed on them.
|
|
|
|
3:95. Then Nabuchodonosor breaking forth, said: Blessed be the God of
|
|
them, to wit, of Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, who hath sent his
|
|
angel, and delivered his servants that believed in him: and they
|
|
changed the king's word, and delivered up their bodies, that they might
|
|
not serve nor adore any god except their own God.
|
|
|
|
3:96. By me, therefore, this decree is made: That every people, tribe,
|
|
and tongue, which shall speak blasphemy against the God of Sidrach,
|
|
Misach, and Abdenago, shall be destroyed, and their houses laid waste:
|
|
for there is no other God that can save in this manner.
|
|
|
|
3:97. Then the king promoted Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago, in the
|
|
province of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
3:98. Nabuchodonosor, the king, to all peoples, nations, and tongues,
|
|
that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you.
|
|
|
|
Nabuchodonosor, etc. . .These last three verses are a kind of preface to
|
|
the following chapter, which is written in the style of an epistle from
|
|
the king.
|
|
|
|
3:99. The most high God hath wrought signs and wonders towards me. It
|
|
hath seemed good to me, therefore, to publish
|
|
|
|
3:100. His signs, because they are great: and his wonders, because they
|
|
are mighty: and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his power to
|
|
all generations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nabuchodonosor's dream, by which the judgments of God are denounced
|
|
against him for his pride, is interpreted by Daniel, and verified by
|
|
the event.
|
|
|
|
4:1. I, Nabuchodonosor, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my
|
|
palace:
|
|
|
|
4:2. I saw a dream that affrighted me: and my thoughts in my bed, and
|
|
the visions of my head, troubled me.
|
|
|
|
4:3. Then I set forth a decree, that all the wise men of Babylon should
|
|
be brought in before me, and that they should shew me the
|
|
interpretation of the dream.
|
|
|
|
4:4. Then came in the diviners, the wise men, the Chaldeans, and the
|
|
soothsayers, and I told the dream before them: but they did not shew me
|
|
the interpretation thereof.
|
|
|
|
4:5. Till their colleague, Daniel, came in before me, whose name is
|
|
Baltassar, according to the name of my god, who hath in him the spirit
|
|
of the holy gods: and I told the dream before him.
|
|
|
|
Baltassar, according to the name of my god. . .He says this, because the
|
|
name of Baltassar, or Belteshazzar, is derived from the name of Bel,
|
|
the chief god of the Babylonians.
|
|
|
|
4:6. Baltassar, prince of the diviners, because I know that thou hast
|
|
in thee the spirit of the holy gods, and that no secret is impossible
|
|
to thee, tell me the visions of my dreams that I have seen, and the
|
|
interpretation of them?
|
|
|
|
4:7. This was the vision of my head in my bed: I saw, and behold a tree
|
|
in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was exceeding great.
|
|
|
|
4:8. The tree was great and strong, and the height thereof reached unto
|
|
heaven: the sight thereof was even to the ends of all the earth.
|
|
|
|
4:9. Its leaves were most beautiful, and its fruit exceeding much: and
|
|
in it was food for all: under it dwelt cattle and beasts, and in the
|
|
branches thereof the fowls of the air had their abode: and all flesh
|
|
did eat of it.
|
|
|
|
4:10. I saw in the vision of my head upon my bed, and behold a watcher,
|
|
and a holy one came down from heaven.
|
|
|
|
A watcher. . .A vigilant angel, perhaps the guardian of Israel.
|
|
|
|
4:11. He cried aloud, and said thus: Cut down the tree, and chop off
|
|
the branches thereof: shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruits: let
|
|
the beasts fly away that are under it, and the birds from its branches.
|
|
|
|
4:12. Nevertheless, leave the stump of its roots in the earth, and let
|
|
it be tied with a band of iron and of brass, among the grass, that is
|
|
without, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let its portion
|
|
be with the wild beasts in the grass of the earth.
|
|
|
|
4:13. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be
|
|
given him: and let seven times pass over him.
|
|
|
|
Let his heart be changed, etc. . .It does not appear by scripture that
|
|
Nabuchodonosor was changed from human shape; much less that he was
|
|
changed into an ox; but only that he lost his reason, and became mad;
|
|
and in this condition remained abroad in the company of beasts, eating
|
|
grass like an ox, till his hair grew in such manner as to resemble the
|
|
feathers of eagles, and his nails to be like birds' claws.
|
|
|
|
4:14. This is the decree by the sentence of the watchers, and the word
|
|
and demand of the holy ones: till the living know, that the most High
|
|
ruleth in the kingdom of men: and he will give it to whomsoever it
|
|
shall please him, and he will appoint the basest man over it.
|
|
|
|
4:15. I, king Nabuchodonosor, saw this dream: thou, therefore, O
|
|
Baltassar, tell me quickly the interpretation: for all the wise men of
|
|
my kingdom are not able to declare the meaning of it to me: but thou
|
|
art able, because the spirit of the holy gods is in thee.
|
|
|
|
4:16. Then Daniel, whose name was Baltassar, began silently to think
|
|
within himself for about one hour: and his thought troubled him. But
|
|
the king answering, said: Baltassar, let not the dream and the
|
|
interpretation thereof trouble thee. Baltassar answered, and said: My
|
|
lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation
|
|
thereof to thy enemies.
|
|
|
|
4:17. The tree which thou sawest, which was high and strong, whose
|
|
height reached to the skies, and the sight thereof into all the earth:
|
|
|
|
4:18. And the branches thereof were most beautiful, and its fruit
|
|
exceeding much, and in it was food for all, under which the beasts of
|
|
the field dwelt, and the birds of the air had their abode in its
|
|
branches.
|
|
|
|
4:19. It is thou, O king, who art grown great, and become mighty: for
|
|
thy greatness hath grown, and hath reached to heaven, and thy power
|
|
unto the ends of the earth.
|
|
|
|
4:20. And whereas the king saw a watcher, and a holy one come down from
|
|
heaven, and say: Cut down the tree, and destroy it, but leave the stump
|
|
of the roots thereof in the earth, and let it be bound with iron and
|
|
brass, among the grass without, and let it be sprinkled with the dew of
|
|
heaven, and let his feeding be with the wild beasts, till seven times
|
|
pass over him.
|
|
|
|
4:21. This is the interpretation of the sentence of the most High,
|
|
which is come upon my lord, the king.
|
|
|
|
4:22. They shall cast thee out from among men, and thy dwelling shall
|
|
be with cattle, and with wild beasts, and thou shalt eat grass, as an
|
|
ox, and shalt be wet with the dew of heaven: and seven times shall pass
|
|
over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth over the kingdom of
|
|
men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
|
|
|
|
4:23. But whereas he commanded, that the stump of the roots thereof,
|
|
that is, of the tree, should be left: thy kingdom shall remain to thee,
|
|
after thou shalt have known that power is from heaven.
|
|
|
|
4:24. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to thee, and
|
|
redeem thou thy sins with alms, and thy iniquities with works of mercy
|
|
to the poor: perhaps he will forgive thy offences.
|
|
|
|
4:25. All these things came upon king Nabuchodonosor.
|
|
|
|
4:26. At the end of twelve months he was walking in the palace of
|
|
Babylon.
|
|
|
|
4:27. And the king answered, and said: Is not this the great Babylon,
|
|
which I have built, to be the seat of the kingdom, by the strength of
|
|
my power, and in the glory of my excellence?
|
|
|
|
4:28. And while the word was yet in the king's mouth, a voice came down
|
|
from heaven: To thee, O king Nabuchodonosor, it is said: Thy kingdom
|
|
shall pass from thee.
|
|
|
|
4:29. And they shall cast thee out from among men, and thy dwelling
|
|
shall be with cattle and wild beasts: thou shalt eat grass like an ox,
|
|
and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High
|
|
ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
|
|
|
|
4:30. The same hour the word was fulfilled upon Nabuchodonosor, and he
|
|
was driven away from among men, and did eat grass, like an ox, and his
|
|
body was wet with the dew of heaven: till his hairs grew like the
|
|
feathers of eagles, and his nails like birds' claws.
|
|
|
|
4:31. Now at the end of the days, I, Nabuchodonosor, lifted up my eyes
|
|
to heaven, and my sense was restored to me: and I blessed the most
|
|
High, and I praised and glorified him that liveth for ever: for his
|
|
power is an everlasting power, and his kingdom is to all generations.
|
|
|
|
4:32. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing
|
|
before him: for he doth according to his will, as well with the powers
|
|
of heaven, as among the inhabitants of the earth: and there is none
|
|
that can resist his hand, and say to him: Why hast thou done it?
|
|
|
|
4:33. At the same time my sense returned to me, and I came to the
|
|
honour and glory of my kingdom: and my shape returned to me: and my
|
|
nobles, and my magistrates, sought for me, and I was restored to my
|
|
kingdom: and greater majesty was added to me.
|
|
|
|
4:34. Therefore I, Nabuchodonosor, do now praise, and magnify, and
|
|
glorify the King of heaven: because all his works are true, and his
|
|
ways judgments, and them that walk in pride he is able to abase.
|
|
|
|
I, Nabuchodonosor, do now, etc. . .From this place some commentators
|
|
infer that this king became a true convert, and dying not long after,
|
|
was probably saved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baltasar's profane banquet: his sentence is denounced by a handwriting
|
|
on the wall, which Daniel reads and interprets.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Baltasar, the king, made a great feast for a thousand of his
|
|
nobles: and every one drank according to his age.
|
|
|
|
Baltasar. . .He is believed to be the same as Nabonydus, the last of the
|
|
Chaldean kings, grandson to Nabuchodonosor. He is called his son, ver.
|
|
2, 11, etc., according to the style of the scriptures, because he was a
|
|
descendant from him.
|
|
|
|
5:2. And being now drunk, he commanded that they should bring the
|
|
vessels of gold and silver, which Nabuchodonosor, his father, had
|
|
brought away out of the temple, that was in Jerusalem, that the king
|
|
and his nobles, and his wives, and his concubines, might drink in them.
|
|
|
|
5:3. Then were the golden and silver vessels brought, which he had
|
|
brought away out of the temple that was in Jerusalem: and the king and
|
|
his nobles, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
|
|
|
|
5:4. They drank wine, and praised their gods of gold, and of silver, of
|
|
brass, of iron, and of wood, and of stone.
|
|
|
|
5:5. In the same hour there appeared fingers, as it were of the hand of
|
|
a man, writing over against the candlestick, upon the surface of the
|
|
wall of the king's palace: and the king beheld the joints of the hand
|
|
that wrote.
|
|
|
|
5:6. Then was the king's countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled
|
|
him: and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees struck one
|
|
against the other.
|
|
|
|
5:7. And the king cried out aloud to bring in the wise men, the
|
|
Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spoke, and said to the
|
|
wise men of Babylon: Whosoever shall read this writing, and shall make
|
|
known to me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with purple,
|
|
and shall have a golden chain on his neck, and shall be the third man
|
|
in my kingdom.
|
|
|
|
5:8. Then came in all the king's wise men, but they could neither read
|
|
the writing, nor declare the interpretation to the king.
|
|
|
|
5:9. Wherewith king Baltasar was much troubled, and his countenance was
|
|
changed: and his nobles also were troubled.
|
|
|
|
5:10. Then the queen, on occasion of what had happened to the king, and
|
|
his nobles, came into the banquet-house: and she spoke, and said: O
|
|
king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, neither let thy
|
|
countenance be changed.
|
|
|
|
The queen. . .Not the wife, but the mother of the king.
|
|
|
|
5:11. There is a man in thy kingdom that hath the spirit of the holy
|
|
gods in him: and in the days of thy father knowledge and wisdom were
|
|
found in him: for king Nabuchodonosor, thy father, appointed him prince
|
|
of the wise men, enchanters, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, thy father, I
|
|
say, O king:
|
|
|
|
5:12. Because a greater spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, and
|
|
interpretation of dreams, and shewing of secrets, and resolving of
|
|
difficult things, were found in him, that is, in Daniel: whom the king
|
|
named Baltassar. Now, therefore, let Daniel be called for, and he will
|
|
tell the interpretation.
|
|
|
|
5:13. Then Daniel was brought in before the king. And the king spoke,
|
|
and said to him: Art thou Daniel, of the children of the captivity of
|
|
Juda, whom my father, the king, brought out of Judea?
|
|
|
|
5:14. I have heard of thee, that thou hast the spirit of the gods, and
|
|
excellent knowledge, and understanding, and wisdom are found in thee.
|
|
|
|
5:15. And now the wise men, the magicians, have come in before me, to
|
|
read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof; and they
|
|
could not declare to me the meaning of this writing.
|
|
|
|
5:16. But I have heard of thee, that thou canst interpret obscure
|
|
things, and resolve difficult things: now if thou art able to read the
|
|
writing, and to shew me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be
|
|
clothed with purple, and shalt have a chain of gold about thy neck, and
|
|
shalt be the third prince in my kingdom.
|
|
|
|
5:17. To which Daniel made answer, and said before the king: thy
|
|
rewards be to thyself, and the gifts of thy house give to another: but
|
|
the writing I will read to thee, O king, and shew thee the
|
|
interpretation thereof.
|
|
|
|
5:18. O king, the most high God gave to Nabuchodonosor, thy father, a
|
|
kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and honour.
|
|
|
|
5:19. And for the greatness that he gave to him, all people, tribes,
|
|
and languages trembled, and were afraid of him: whom he would, he slew:
|
|
and whom he would, he destroyed: and whom he would, he set up: and whom
|
|
he would, he brought down.
|
|
|
|
5:20. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit hardened unto
|
|
pride, he was put down from the throne of his kingdom, and his glory
|
|
was taken away.
|
|
|
|
5:21. And he was driven out from the sons of men, and his heart was
|
|
made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses, and he
|
|
did eat grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven:
|
|
till he knew that the most High ruled in the kingdom of men, and that
|
|
he will set over it whomsoever it shall please him.
|
|
|
|
5:22. Thou also, his son, O Baltasar, hast not humbled thy heart,
|
|
whereas thou knewest all these things:
|
|
|
|
5:23. But hast lifted thyself up against the Lord of heaven: and the
|
|
vessels of his house have been brought before thee: and thou, and thy
|
|
nobles, and thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them: and
|
|
thou hast praised the gods of silver, and of gold, and of brass, of
|
|
iron, and of wood, and of stone, that neither see, nor hear, nor feel:
|
|
but the God who hath thy breath in his hand, and all thy ways, thou
|
|
hast not glorified.
|
|
|
|
5:24. Wherefore, he hath sent the part of the hand which hath written
|
|
this that is set down.
|
|
|
|
5:25. And this is the writing that is written: MANE, THECEL, PHARES.
|
|
|
|
5:26. And this is the interpretation of the word. MANE: God hath
|
|
numbered thy kingdom, and hath finished it.
|
|
|
|
5:27. THECEL: thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting.
|
|
|
|
5:28. PHARES: thy kingdom is divided, and is given to the Medes and
|
|
Persians.
|
|
|
|
5:29. Then by the king's command, Daniel was clothed with purple, and a
|
|
chain of gold was put about his neck: and it was proclaimed of him that
|
|
he had power as the third man in the kingdom.
|
|
|
|
5:30. The same night Baltasar, the Chaldean king, was slain.
|
|
|
|
5:31. And Darius, the Mede, succeeded to the kingdom, being threescore
|
|
and two years old.
|
|
|
|
Darius. . .He is called Cyaxares by the historians; and was the son of
|
|
Astyages, and uncle to Cyrus.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel is promoted by Darius: his enemies procure a law forbidding
|
|
prayer; for the transgression of this law Daniel is cast into the
|
|
lions' den: but miraculously delivered.
|
|
|
|
6:1. It seemed good to Darius, and he appointed over the kingdom a
|
|
hundred and twenty governors, to be over his whole kingdom.
|
|
|
|
6:2. And three princes over them of whom Daniel was one: that the
|
|
governors might give an account to them, and the king might have no
|
|
trouble.
|
|
|
|
6:3. And Daniel excelled all the princes, and governors: because a
|
|
greater spirit of God was in him.
|
|
|
|
6:4. And the king thought to set him over all the kingdom; whereupon
|
|
the princes, and the governors, sought to find occasion against Daniel,
|
|
with regard to the king: and they could find no cause, nor suspicion,
|
|
because he was faithful, and no fault, nor suspicion was found in him.
|
|
|
|
6:5. Then these men said: We shall not find any occasion against this
|
|
Daniel, unless perhaps concerning the law of his God.
|
|
|
|
6:6. Then the princes, and the governors, craftily suggested to the
|
|
king, and spoke thus unto him: King Darius, live for ever:
|
|
|
|
6:7. All the princes of the kingdom, the magistrates, and governors,
|
|
the senators, and judges, have consulted together, that an imperial
|
|
decree, and an edict be published: That whosoever shall ask any
|
|
petition of any god, or man, for thirty days, but of thee, O king,
|
|
shall be cast into the den of the lions.
|
|
|
|
6:8. Now, therefore, O king, confirm the sentence, and sign the decree:
|
|
that what is decreed by the Medes and Persians may not be altered, nor
|
|
any man be allowed to transgress it.
|
|
|
|
6:9. So king Darius set forth the decree, and established it.
|
|
|
|
6:10. Now, when Daniel knew this, that is to say, that the law was
|
|
made, he went into his house: and opening the windows in his upper
|
|
chamber towards Jerusalem, he knelt down three times a day, and adored
|
|
and gave thanks before his God, as he had been accustomed to do before.
|
|
|
|
6:11. Wherefore those men carefully watching him, found Daniel praying
|
|
and making supplication to his God.
|
|
|
|
6:12. And they came and spoke to the king concerning the edict: O king,
|
|
hast thou not decreed, that every man that should make a request to any
|
|
of the gods, or men, for thirty days, but to thyself, O king, should be
|
|
cast into the den of the lions? And the king answered them, saying: The
|
|
word is true, according to the decree of the Medes and Persians, which
|
|
it is not lawful to violate.
|
|
|
|
6:13. Then they answered, and said before the king: Daniel, who is of
|
|
the children of the captivity of Juda, hath not regarded thy law, nor
|
|
the decree that thou hast made: but three times a day he maketh his
|
|
prayer.
|
|
|
|
6:14. Now when the king had heard these words, he was very much
|
|
grieved, and in behalf of Daniel he set his heart to deliver him, and
|
|
even till sunset he laboured to save him.
|
|
|
|
6:15. But those men perceiving the king's design, said to him: Know
|
|
thou, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, that no decree
|
|
which the king hath made, may be altered.
|
|
|
|
6:16. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him
|
|
into the den of the lions. And the king said to Daniel: Thy God, whom
|
|
thou always servest, he will deliver thee.
|
|
|
|
6:17. And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den:
|
|
which the king sealed with his own ring, and with the ring of his
|
|
nobles, that nothing should be done against Daniel.
|
|
|
|
6:18. And the king went away to his house, and laid himself down
|
|
without taking supper, and meat was not set before him, and even sleep
|
|
departed from him.
|
|
|
|
6:19. Then the king rising very early in the morning, went in haste to
|
|
the lions' den:
|
|
|
|
6:20. And coming near to the den, cried with a lamentable voice to
|
|
Daniel, and said to him: Daniel, servant of the living God, hath thy
|
|
God, whom thou servest always, been able, thinkest thou, to deliver
|
|
thee from the lions?
|
|
|
|
6:21. And Daniel answering the king, said: O king, live for ever:
|
|
|
|
6:22. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut up the mouths of the
|
|
lions, and they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him justice hath
|
|
been found in me: yea, and before thee, O king, I have done no offence.
|
|
|
|
6:23. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and he commanded that
|
|
Daniel should be taken out of the den: and Daniel was taken out of the
|
|
den, and no hurt was found in him, because he believed in his God.
|
|
|
|
6:24. And by the king's commandment, those men were brought that had
|
|
accused Daniel: and they were cast into the lions' den, they and their
|
|
children, and their wives: and they did not reach the bottom of the
|
|
den, before the lions caught them, and broke all their bones in pieces.
|
|
|
|
6:25. Then king Darius wrote to all people, tribes, and languages,
|
|
dwelling in the whole earth: PEACE be multiplied unto you.
|
|
|
|
6:26. It is decreed by me, that in all my empire and my kingdom, all
|
|
men dread and fear the God of Daniel. For he is the living and eternal
|
|
God for ever: and his kingdom shall not be destroyed, and his power
|
|
shall be for ever.
|
|
|
|
6:27. He is the deliverer, and saviour, doing signs and wonders in
|
|
heaven, and in earth: who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions' den.
|
|
|
|
6:28. Now Daniel continued unto the reign of Darius, and the reign of
|
|
Cyrus, the Persian.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel's vision of the four beasts, signifying four kingdoms: of God
|
|
sitting on his throne: and of the opposite kingdoms of Christ and
|
|
Antichrist.
|
|
|
|
7:1. In the first year of Baltasar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a
|
|
dream: and the vision of his head was upon his bed: and writing the
|
|
dream, he comprehended it in a few words: and relating the sum of it in
|
|
short, he said:
|
|
|
|
7:2. I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of the
|
|
heavens strove upon the great sea.
|
|
|
|
7:3. And four great beasts, different one from another, came up out of
|
|
the sea.
|
|
|
|
Four great beasts. . .Viz., the Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and Roman
|
|
empires. But some rather choose to understand the fourth beast of the
|
|
successors of Alexander the Great, more especially of them that reigned
|
|
in Asia and Syria.
|
|
|
|
7:4. The first was like a lioness, and had the wings of an eagle: I
|
|
beheld till her wings were plucked off, and she was lifted up from the
|
|
earth, and stood upon her feet as a man, and the heart of a man was
|
|
given to her.
|
|
|
|
7:5. And behold another beast, like a bear, stood up on one side: and
|
|
there were three rows in the mouth thereof, and in the teeth thereof,
|
|
and thus they said to it: Arise, devour much flesh.
|
|
|
|
7:6. After this I beheld, and lo, another like a leopard, and it had
|
|
upon it four wings, as of a fowl, and the beast had four heads, and
|
|
power was given to it.
|
|
|
|
7:7. After this I beheld in the vision of the night, and lo, a fourth
|
|
beast, terrible and wonderful, and exceeding strong, it had great iron
|
|
teeth, eating and breaking in pieces, and treading down the rest with
|
|
his feet: and it was unlike to the other beasts which I had seen before
|
|
it, and had ten horns.
|
|
|
|
Ten horns. . .That is, ten kingdoms, (as Apoc. 17.12,) among which the
|
|
empire of the fourth beast shall be parcelled. Or ten kings of the
|
|
number of the successors of Alexander; as figures of such as shall be
|
|
about the time of Antichrist.
|
|
|
|
7:8. I considered the horns, and behold another little horn sprung out
|
|
of the midst of them: and three of the first horns were plucked up at
|
|
the presence thereof: and behold eyes like the eyes of a man were in
|
|
this horn, and a mouth speaking great things.
|
|
|
|
Another little horn. . .This is commonly understood of Antichrist. It
|
|
may also be applied to that great persecutor Antiochus Epiphanes, as a
|
|
figure of Antichrist.
|
|
|
|
7:9. I beheld till thrones were placed, and the ancient of days sat:
|
|
his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean
|
|
wool: his throne like flames of fire: the wheels of it like a burning
|
|
fire.
|
|
|
|
7:10. A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him: thousands of
|
|
thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand
|
|
stood before him: the judgment sat, and the books were opened.
|
|
|
|
7:11. I beheld, because of the voice of the great words which that horn
|
|
spoke: and I saw that the beast was slain, and the body thereof was
|
|
destroyed, and given to the fire to be burnt:
|
|
|
|
7:12. And that the power of the other beasts was taken away: and that
|
|
times of life were appointed them for a time, and a time.
|
|
|
|
7:13. I beheld, therefore, in the vision of the night, and lo, one like
|
|
the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the
|
|
ancient of days: and they presented him before him.
|
|
|
|
7:14. And he gave him power, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples,
|
|
tribes, and tongues shall serve him: his power is an everlasting power
|
|
that shall not be taken away: and his kingdom that shall not be
|
|
destroyed.
|
|
|
|
7:15. My spirit trembled; I, Daniel, was affrighted at these things,
|
|
and the visions of my head troubled me.
|
|
|
|
7:16. I went near to one of them that stood by, and asked the truth of
|
|
him concerning all these things, and he told me the interpretation of
|
|
the words, and instructed me:
|
|
|
|
7:17. These four great beasts, are four kingdoms, which shall arise out
|
|
of the earth.
|
|
|
|
7:18. But the saints of the most high God shall take the kingdom: and
|
|
they shall possess the kingdom for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
7:19. After this I would diligently learn concerning the fourth beast,
|
|
which was very different from all, and exceeding terrible: his teeth
|
|
and claws were of iron: he devoured and broke in pieces, and the rest
|
|
he stamped upon with his feet:
|
|
|
|
7:20. And concerning the ten horns that he had on his head: and
|
|
concerning the other that came up, before which three horns fell: and
|
|
of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and was
|
|
greater than the rest.
|
|
|
|
7:21. I beheld, and lo, that horn made war against the saints, and
|
|
prevailed over them,
|
|
|
|
7:22. Till the ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of
|
|
the most High, and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom.
|
|
|
|
7:23. And thus he said: The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom
|
|
upon earth, which shall be greater than all the kingdoms, and shall
|
|
devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in
|
|
pieces.
|
|
|
|
7:24. And the ten horns of the same kingdom, shall be ten kings: and
|
|
another shall rise up after them, and he shall be mightier than the
|
|
former, and he shall bring down three kings.
|
|
|
|
7:25. And he shall speak words against the High One, and shall crush
|
|
the saints of the most High: and he shall think himself able to change
|
|
times and laws, and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time,
|
|
and times, and half a time.
|
|
|
|
A time, and times, and half a time. . .That is, three years and a half;
|
|
which is supposed to be the length of the duration of the persecution
|
|
of Antichrist.
|
|
|
|
7:26. And a judgment shall sit, that his power may be taken away, and
|
|
be broken in pieces, and perish even to the end.
|
|
|
|
7:27. And that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the
|
|
kingdom, under the whole heaven, may be given to the people of the
|
|
saints of the most High: whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and
|
|
all kings shall serve him, and shall obey him.
|
|
|
|
7:28. Hitherto is the end of the word. I, Daniel, was much troubled
|
|
with my thoughts, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the
|
|
word in my heart.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel's vision of the ram and the he goat interpreted by the angel
|
|
Gabriel.
|
|
|
|
8:1. In the third year of the reign of king Baltasar, a vision appeared
|
|
to me. I, Daniel, after what I had seen in the beginning,
|
|
|
|
8:2. Saw in my vision when I was in the castle of Susa, which is in the
|
|
province of Elam: and I saw in the vision that I was over the gate of
|
|
Ulai.
|
|
|
|
8:3. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a ram stood before
|
|
the water, having two high horns, and one higher than the other, and
|
|
growing up. Afterward
|
|
|
|
A ram. . .The empire of the Medes and Persians.
|
|
|
|
8:4. I saw the ram pushing with his horns against the west, and against
|
|
the north, and against the south: and no beasts could withstand him,
|
|
nor be delivered out of his hand: and he did according to his own will,
|
|
and became great.
|
|
|
|
8:5. And I understood: and behold a he goat came from the west on the
|
|
face of the whole earth, and he touched not the ground, and the he goat
|
|
had a notable horn between his eyes.
|
|
|
|
A he goat. . .The empire of the Greeks, or Macedonians. Ibid. He
|
|
touched not the ground. . .He conquered all before him, with so much
|
|
rapidity, that he seemed rather to fly, than to walk upon the
|
|
earth.--Ibid. A notable horn. . .Alexander the Great.
|
|
|
|
8:6. And he went up to the ram that had the horns, which I had seen
|
|
standing before the gate, and he ran towards him in the force of his
|
|
strength.
|
|
|
|
8:7. And when he was come near the ram, he was enraged against him, and
|
|
struck the ram: and broke his two horns, and the ram could not
|
|
withstand him: and when he had cast him down on the ground, he stamped
|
|
upon him, and none could deliver the ram out of his hand.
|
|
|
|
8:8. And the he goat became exceeding great: and when he was grown, the
|
|
great horn was broken, and there came up four horns under it towards
|
|
the four winds of heaven.
|
|
|
|
Four horns. . .Seleucus, Antigonus, Philip, and Ptolemeus, the
|
|
successors of Alexander, who divided his empire among them.
|
|
|
|
8:9. And out of one of them came forth a little horn: and it became
|
|
great against the south, and against the east, and against the
|
|
strength.
|
|
|
|
A little horn. . .Antiochus Epiphanes, a descendant of Seleucus. He grew
|
|
against the south, and the east, by his victories over the kings of
|
|
Egypt and Armenia: and against the strength, that is, against Jerusalem
|
|
and the people of God.
|
|
|
|
8:10. And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it
|
|
threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them.
|
|
|
|
Unto the strength of heaven. . .or, against the strength of heaven. So
|
|
are here called the army of the Jews, the people of God.
|
|
|
|
8:11. And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it
|
|
took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of
|
|
his sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
8:12. And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice,
|
|
because of sins: and truth shall be cast down on the ground, and he
|
|
shall do and shall prosper.
|
|
|
|
8:13. And I heard one of the saints speaking, and one saint said to
|
|
another I know not to whom, that was speaking: How long shall be the
|
|
vision, concerning the continual sacrifice, and the sin of the
|
|
desolation that is made: and the sanctuary, and the strength be trodden
|
|
under foot?
|
|
|
|
8:14. And he said to him: Unto evening and morning two thousand three
|
|
hundred days: and the sanctuary shall be cleansed.
|
|
|
|
Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days. . .That is,
|
|
six years and almost four months: which was the whole time from the
|
|
beginning of the persecution of Antiochus till his death.
|
|
|
|
8:15. And it came to pass when I, Daniel, saw the vision, and sought
|
|
the meaning, that behold there stood before me as it were the
|
|
appearance of a man.
|
|
|
|
8:16. And I heard the voice of a man between Ulai: and he called, and
|
|
said: Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.
|
|
|
|
8:17. And he came, and stood near where I stood: and when he was come,
|
|
I fell on my face, trembling, and he said to me: Understand, O son of
|
|
man, for in the time of the end the vision shall be fulfilled.
|
|
|
|
8:18. And when he spoke to me, I fell flat on the ground: and he
|
|
touched me, and set me upright.
|
|
|
|
8:19. And he said to me: I will shew thee what things are to come to
|
|
pass in the end of the malediction: for the time hath its end.
|
|
|
|
8:20. The ram, which thou sawest with horns, is the king of the Medes
|
|
and Persians.
|
|
|
|
8:21. And the he goat, is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn
|
|
that was between his eyes, the same is the first king.
|
|
|
|
8:22. But whereas when that was broken, there arose up four for it,
|
|
four kings shall rise up of his nation, but not with his strength.
|
|
|
|
8:23. And after their reign, when iniquities shall be grown up, there
|
|
shall arise a king of a shameless face, and understanding dark
|
|
sentences.
|
|
|
|
8:24. And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own force:
|
|
and he shall lay all things waste, and shall prosper, and do more than
|
|
can be believed. And he shall destroy the mighty, and the people of the
|
|
saints,
|
|
|
|
8:25. According to his will, and craft shall be successful in his hand:
|
|
and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance of all things he
|
|
shall kill many: and he shall rise up against the prince of princes,
|
|
and shall be broken without hand.
|
|
|
|
8:26. And the vision of the evening and the morning, which was told, is
|
|
true: thou, therefore, seal up the vision, because it shall come to
|
|
pass after many days.
|
|
|
|
8:27. And I, Daniel, languished, and was sick for some days: and when I
|
|
was risen up, I did the king's business, and I was astonished at the
|
|
vision, and there was none that could interpret it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel's confession and prayer: Gabriel informs him concerning the
|
|
seventy weeks to the coming of Christ.
|
|
|
|
9:1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Assuerus, of the seed of
|
|
the Medes, who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans:
|
|
|
|
9:2. The first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by books the
|
|
number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to
|
|
Jeremias, the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the
|
|
desolation of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
9:3. And I set my face to the Lord, my God, to pray and make
|
|
supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.
|
|
|
|
9:4. And I prayed to the Lord, my God, and I made my confession, and
|
|
said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the
|
|
covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.
|
|
|
|
9:5. We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly,
|
|
and have revolted: and we have gone aside from thy commandments, and
|
|
thy judgments.
|
|
|
|
9:6. We have not hearkened to thy servants, the prophets, that have
|
|
spoken in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to
|
|
all the people of the land.
|
|
|
|
9:7. To thee, O Lord, justice: but to us confusion of face, as at this
|
|
day to the men of Juda, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all
|
|
Israel, to them that are near, and to them that are far off, in all the
|
|
countries whither thou hast driven them, for their iniquities, by which
|
|
they have sinned against thee.
|
|
|
|
9:8. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our princes, and to
|
|
our fathers, that have sinned.
|
|
|
|
9:9. But to thee, the Lord our God, mercy and forgiveness, for we have
|
|
departed from thee:
|
|
|
|
9:10. And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord, our God, to
|
|
walk in his law, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets.
|
|
|
|
9:11. And all Israel have transgressed thy law, and have turned away
|
|
from hearing thy voice, and the malediction, and the curse, which is
|
|
written in the book of Moses, the servant of God, is fallen upon us,
|
|
because we have sinned against him.
|
|
|
|
9:12. And he hath confirmed his words which he spoke against us, and
|
|
against our princes that judged us, that he would bring in upon us a
|
|
great evil, such as never was under all the heaven, according to that
|
|
which hath been done in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
9:13. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon
|
|
us: and we entreated not thy face, O Lord our God, that we might turn
|
|
from our iniquities, and think on thy truth.
|
|
|
|
9:14. And the Lord hath watched upon the evil, and hath brought it upon
|
|
us: the Lord, our God, is just in all his works which he hath done: for
|
|
we have not hearkened to his voice.
|
|
|
|
9:15. And now, O Lord, our God, who hast brought forth thy people out
|
|
of the land of Egypt, with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name as
|
|
at this day: we have sinned, we have committed iniquity,
|
|
|
|
9:16. O Lord, against all thy justice: let thy wrath and thy
|
|
indignation be turned away, I beseech thee, from thy city, Jerusalem,
|
|
and from thy holy mountain. For by reason of our sins, and the
|
|
iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people, are a reproach to
|
|
all that are round about us.
|
|
|
|
9:17. Now, therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant,
|
|
and his prayers: and shew thy face upon thy sanctuary, which is
|
|
desolate, for thy own sake.
|
|
|
|
9:18. Incline, O my God, thy ear, and hear: open thy eyes, and see our
|
|
desolation, and the city upon which thy name is called: for it is not
|
|
for our justifications that we present our prayers before thy face, but
|
|
for the multitude of thy tender mercies.
|
|
|
|
9:19. O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken, and do: delay not,
|
|
for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy
|
|
city, and upon thy people.
|
|
|
|
9:20. Now while I was yet speaking, and praying, and confessing my
|
|
sins, and the sins of my people of Israel, and presenting my
|
|
supplications in the sight of my God, for the holy mountain of my God:
|
|
|
|
9:21. As I was yet speaking in prayer, behold the man, Gabriel, whom I
|
|
had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me at
|
|
the time of the evening sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
The man Gabriel. . .The angel Gabriel in the shape of a man.
|
|
|
|
9:22. And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am
|
|
now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand.
|
|
|
|
9:23. From the beginning of thy prayers the word came forth: and I am
|
|
come to shew it to thee, because thou art a man of desires: therefore,
|
|
do thou mark the word, and understand the vision.
|
|
|
|
Man of desires. . .that is, ardently praying for the Jews then in
|
|
captivity.
|
|
|
|
9:24. Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy
|
|
city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and
|
|
iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and
|
|
vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the Saint of saints may be
|
|
anointed.
|
|
|
|
Seventy weeks. . .Viz., of years, (or seventy times seven, that is, 490
|
|
years,) are shortened; that is, fixed and determined, so that the time
|
|
shall be no longer.
|
|
|
|
9:25. Know thou, therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth
|
|
of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ, the prince,
|
|
there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall
|
|
be built again, and the walls, in straitness of times.
|
|
|
|
From the going forth of the word, etc. . .That is, from the twentieth
|
|
year of king Artaxerxes, when by his commandment Nehemias rebuilt the
|
|
walls of Jerusalem, 2 Esd. 2. From which time, according to the best
|
|
chronology, there were just sixty-nine weeks of years, that is, 483
|
|
years to the baptism of Christ, when he first began to preach and
|
|
execute the office of Messias.--Ibid. In straitness of
|
|
times. . .angustia temporum: which may allude both to the difficulties
|
|
and opposition they met with in building: and to the shortness of the
|
|
time in which they finished the wall, viz., fifty-two days.
|
|
|
|
9:26. And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people
|
|
that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people, with their leader,
|
|
that shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary: and the end
|
|
thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed
|
|
desolation.
|
|
|
|
A people with their leader. . .The Romans under Titus.
|
|
|
|
9:27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in
|
|
the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fail: and there
|
|
shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and the
|
|
desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end.
|
|
|
|
In the half of the week. . .or, in the middle of the week, etc. Because
|
|
Christ preached three years and a half: and then by his sacrifice upon
|
|
the cross abolished all the sacrifices of the law.--Ibid. The
|
|
abomination of desolation. . .Some understand this of the profanation of
|
|
the temple by the crimes of the Jews, and by the bloody faction of the
|
|
zealots. Others of the bringing in thither the ensigns and standard of
|
|
the pagan Romans. Others, in fine, distinguish three different times of
|
|
desolation: viz., that under Antiochus; that when the temple was
|
|
destroyed by the Romans; and the last near the end of the world under
|
|
Antichrist. To all which, as they suppose, this prophecy may have a
|
|
relation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel having humbled himself by fasting and penance seeth a vision,
|
|
with which he is much terrified; but he is comforted by an angel.
|
|
|
|
10:1. In the third year of Cyrus, king of the Persians, a word was
|
|
revealed to Daniel, surnamed Baltassar, and a true word, and great
|
|
strength: and he understood the word: for there is need of
|
|
understanding in a vision.
|
|
|
|
10:2. In those days I, Daniel, mourned the days of three weeks.
|
|
|
|
10:3. I ate no desirable bread, and neither flesh, nor wine, entered
|
|
into my mouth, neither was I anointed with ointment: till the days of
|
|
three weeks were accomplished.
|
|
|
|
10:4. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, I was by
|
|
the great river, which is the Tigris.
|
|
|
|
10:5. And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw: and behold a man clothed in
|
|
linen, and his loins were girded with the finest gold:
|
|
|
|
10:6. And his body was like the chrysolite, and his face as the
|
|
appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp: and his arms,
|
|
and all downward even to the feet, like in appearance to glittering
|
|
brass: and the voice of his word like the voice of a multitude.
|
|
|
|
10:7. And I, Daniel alone, saw the vision: for the men that were with
|
|
me saw it not: but an exceeding great terror fell upon them, and they
|
|
fled away, and hid themselves.
|
|
|
|
10:8. And I, being left alone, saw this great vision: and there
|
|
remained no strength in me, and the appearance of my countenance was
|
|
changed in me, and I fainted away, and retained no strength.
|
|
|
|
10:9. And I heard the voice of his words: and when I heard I lay in a
|
|
consternation upon my face, and my face was close to the ground.
|
|
|
|
10:10. And behold a hand touched me, and lifted me up upon my knees,
|
|
and upon the joints of my hands.
|
|
|
|
10:11. And he said to me: Daniel, thou man of desires, understand the
|
|
words that I speak to thee, and stand upright: for I am sent now to
|
|
thee. And when he had said this word to me, I stood trembling.
|
|
|
|
10:12. And he said to me: Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that
|
|
thou didst set thy heart to understand, to afflict thyself in the sight
|
|
of thy God, thy words have been heard: and I am come for thy words.
|
|
|
|
10:13. But the prince of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me one
|
|
and twenty days: and behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to
|
|
help me, and I remained there by the king of the Persians.
|
|
|
|
The prince, etc. . .That is, the angel guardian of Persia: who according
|
|
to his office, seeking the spiritual good of the Persians was desirous
|
|
that many of the Jews should remain among them.
|
|
|
|
10:14. But I am come to teach thee what things shall befall thy people
|
|
in the latter days, for as yet the vision is for days.
|
|
|
|
10:15. And when he was speaking such words to me, I cast down my
|
|
countenance to the ground, and held my peace.
|
|
|
|
10:16. And behold as it were the likeness of a son of man touched my
|
|
lips: then I opened my mouth and spoke, and said to him that stood
|
|
before me: O my lord, at the sight of thee my joints are loosed, and no
|
|
strength hath remained in me.
|
|
|
|
10:17. And how can the servant of my lord speak with my lord? for no
|
|
strength remaineth in me; moreover, my breath is stopped.
|
|
|
|
10:18. Therefore, he that looked like a man, touched me again, and
|
|
strengthened me.
|
|
|
|
10:19. And he said: Fear not, O man of desires, peace be to thee: take
|
|
courage, and be strong. And when he spoke to me, I grew strong, and I
|
|
said: Speak, O my lord, for thou hast strengthened me.
|
|
|
|
10:20. And he said: Dost thou know wherefore I am come to thee? And now
|
|
I will return, to fight against the prince of the Persians. When I went
|
|
forth, there appeared the prince of the Greeks coming.
|
|
|
|
10:21. But I will tell thee what is set down in the scripture of truth:
|
|
and none is my helper in all these things, but Michael your prince.
|
|
|
|
Michael your prince. . .The guardian general of the church of God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
The angel declares to Daniel many things to come, with regard to the
|
|
Persian and Grecian kings: more especially with regard to Antiochus as
|
|
a figure of Antichrist.
|
|
|
|
11:1. And from the first year of Darius, the Mede, I stood up, that he
|
|
might be strengthened, and confirmed.
|
|
|
|
11:2. And now I will shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand yet
|
|
three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be enriched exceedingly
|
|
above them all: and when he shall be grown mighty by his riches, he
|
|
shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.
|
|
|
|
Three kings. . .Viz., Cambyses, Smerdes Magus, and Darius, the son of
|
|
Hystaspes.--Ibid. The fourth. . .Xerxes.
|
|
|
|
11:3. But there shall rise up a strong king, and shall rule with great
|
|
power: and he shall do what he pleaseth.
|
|
|
|
A strong king. . .Alexander.
|
|
|
|
11:4. And when he shall come to his height, his kingdom shall be
|
|
broken, and it shall be divided towards the four winds of the heaven:
|
|
but not to his posterity, nor according to his power with which he
|
|
ruled. For his kingdom shall be rent in peices, even for strangers,
|
|
besides these.
|
|
|
|
11:5. And the king of the south shall be strengthened, and one of his
|
|
princes shall prevail over him, and he shall rule with great power: for
|
|
his dominions shall be great.
|
|
|
|
The king of the south. . .Ptolemeus the son of Lagus, king of Egypt,
|
|
which lies south of Jerusalem.--Ibid. One of his princes. . .that is,
|
|
one of Alexander's princes, shall prevail over him: that is, shall be
|
|
stronger than the king of Egypt. He speaks of Seleucus Nicator, king of
|
|
Asia and Syria, whose successors are here called the kings of the
|
|
north, because their dominions lay to the north in respect to
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
11:6. And after the end of years they shall be in league together: and
|
|
the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the
|
|
north to make friendship, but she shall not obtain the strength of the
|
|
arm, neither shall her seed stand: and she shall be given up, and her
|
|
young men that brought her, and they that strengthened her in these
|
|
times.
|
|
|
|
The daughter of the king of the south. . .Viz., Berenice, daughter of
|
|
Ptolemeus Philadelphus, given in marriage to Antiochus Theos, grandson
|
|
of Seleucus.
|
|
|
|
11:7. And a plant of the bud of her roots shall stand up: and he shall
|
|
come with an army, and shall enter into the province of the king of the
|
|
north: and he shall abuse them, and shall prevail.
|
|
|
|
A plant, etc. . .Ptolemeus Evergetes, the son of Philadelphus.
|
|
|
|
11:8. And he shall also carry away captive into Egypt their gods, and
|
|
their graven things, and their precious vessels of gold and silver: he
|
|
shall prevail against the king of the north.
|
|
|
|
The king of the north. . .Seleucus Callinicus.
|
|
|
|
11:9. And the king of the south shall enter into the kingdom, and shall
|
|
return to his own land.
|
|
|
|
11:10. And his sons shall be provoked, and they shall assemble a
|
|
multitude of great forces: and he shall come with haste like a flood:
|
|
and he shall return, and be stirred up, and he shall join battle with
|
|
his force.
|
|
|
|
His sons. . .Seleucus Ceraunius, and Antiochus the Great, the sons of
|
|
Callinicus.--Ibid. He shall come. . .Viz., Antiochus the Great.
|
|
|
|
11:11. And the king of the south being provoked, shall go forth, and
|
|
shall fight against the king of the north, and shall prepare an
|
|
exceeding great multitude, and a multitude shall be given into his
|
|
hands.
|
|
|
|
The king of the south. . .Ptolemeus Philopator, son of Evergetes.
|
|
|
|
11:12. And he shall take a multitude, and his heart shall be lifted up,
|
|
and he shall cast down many thousands: but he shall not prevail.
|
|
|
|
11:13. For the king of the north shall return, and shall prepare a
|
|
multitude much greater than before: and in the end of times, and years,
|
|
he shall come in haste with a great army, and much riches.
|
|
|
|
11:14. And in those times many shall rise up against the king of the
|
|
south, and the children of prevaricators of thy people shall lift up
|
|
themselves to fulfil the vision, and they shall fall.
|
|
|
|
11:15. And the king of the north shall come, and shall cast up a mount,
|
|
and shall take the best fenced cities: and the arms of the south shall
|
|
not withstand, and his chosen ones shall rise up to resist, and they
|
|
shall not have strength.
|
|
|
|
11:16. And he shall come upon him, and do according to his pleasure,
|
|
and there shall be none to stand against his face: and he shall stand
|
|
in the glorious land, and it shall be consumed by his hand.
|
|
|
|
He shall come upon him. . .Viz., Antiochus shall come upon the king of
|
|
the south.--Ibid. The glorious land. . .Judea.
|
|
|
|
11:17. And he shall set his face to come to possess all his kingdom,
|
|
and he shall make upright conditions with him: and he shall give him a
|
|
daughter of women, to overthrow it: and she shall not stand, neither
|
|
shall she be for him.
|
|
|
|
All his kingdom. . .Viz., all the kingdom of Ptolemeus Epiphanes, son of
|
|
Philopator.--Ibid. A daughter of women. . .That is, a most beautiful
|
|
woman, viz., his daughter Cleopatra.--Ibid. To overthrow it. . .Viz.,
|
|
the kingdom of Epiphanes: but his policy shall not succeed; for
|
|
Cleopatra shall take more to heart the interest of her husband, than that
|
|
of her father.
|
|
|
|
11:18. And he shall turn his face to the islands, and shall take many:
|
|
and he shall cause the prince of his reproach to cease, and his
|
|
reproach shall be turned upon him.
|
|
|
|
The prince of his reproach. . .Seipio the Roman general, called the
|
|
prince of his reproach, because he overthrew Antiochus, and obliged him
|
|
to submit to very dishonourable terms, before he would cease from the
|
|
war.
|
|
|
|
11:19. And he shall turn his face to the empire of his own land, and he
|
|
shall stumble, and fall, ans shall not be found.
|
|
|
|
11:20. And there shall stand up in his place one most vile, and
|
|
unworthy of kingly honour: and in a few days he shall be destroyed, not
|
|
in rage nor in battle.
|
|
|
|
One most vile. . .Seleucus Philopator, who sent Heliodorus to plunder
|
|
the temple: and was shortly after slain by the same Heliodorus.
|
|
|
|
11:21. And there shall stand up in his place one despised, and the
|
|
kingly honour shall not be given him: and he shall come privately, and
|
|
shall obtain the kingdom by fraud.
|
|
|
|
One despised. . .Viz., Antiochus Epiphanes, who at first was despised
|
|
and not received for king. What is here said of this prince, is
|
|
accommodated by St. Jerome and others to Antichrist; of whom this
|
|
Antiochus was a figure.
|
|
|
|
11:22. And the arms of the fighter shall be overcome before his face,
|
|
and shall be broken: yea, also the prince of the covenant.
|
|
|
|
Of the fighter. . .That is, of them that shall oppose him, and shall
|
|
fight against him.--Ibid. The prince of the covenant. . .or, of the
|
|
league. The chief of them that conspired against him: or the king of
|
|
Egypt his most powerful adversary.
|
|
|
|
11:23. And after friendships, he will deal deceitfully with him: and he
|
|
shall go up, and shall overcome with a small people.
|
|
|
|
11:24. And he shall enter into rich and plentiful cities: and he shall
|
|
do that which his fathers never did, nor his fathers' fathers: he shall
|
|
scatter their spoils, and their prey, and their riches, and shall
|
|
forecast devices against the best fenced places: and this until a time.
|
|
|
|
11:25. And his strength, and his heart, shall be stirred up against the
|
|
king of the south, with a great army: and the king of the south shall
|
|
be stirred up to battle with many and very strong succours: and they
|
|
shall not stand, for they shall form designs against him.
|
|
|
|
The king. . .Ptolemeus Philometor.
|
|
|
|
11:26. And they that eat bread with him, shall destroy him, and his
|
|
army shall be overthrown: and many shall fall down slain.
|
|
|
|
11:27. And the heart of the two kings shall be to do evil, and they
|
|
shall speak lies at one table, and they shall not prosper: because as
|
|
yet the end is unto another time.
|
|
|
|
11:28. And he shall return into his land with much riches: and his
|
|
heart shall be against the holy covenant, and he shall succeed, and
|
|
shall return into his own land.
|
|
|
|
11:29. At the time appointed he shall return, and he shall come to the
|
|
south, but the latter time shall not be like the former.
|
|
|
|
11:30. And the galleys and the Romans shall come upon him, and he shall
|
|
be struck, and shall return, and shall have indignation against the
|
|
covenant of the sanctuary, and he shall succeed: and he shall return,
|
|
and shall devise against them that have forsaken the covenant of the
|
|
sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
The galleys and the Romans. . .Popilius, and the other Roman
|
|
ambassadors, who came in galleys, and obliged him to depart from Egypt.
|
|
|
|
11:31. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall defile the
|
|
sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice: and
|
|
they shall place there the abomination unto desolation.
|
|
|
|
They shall place there the abomination, etc. . .The idol of Jupiter
|
|
Olympius, which Antiochus ordered to be set up in the sanctuary of the
|
|
temple: which is here called the sanctuary of strength, from the
|
|
Almighty that was worshipped there.
|
|
|
|
11:32. And such as deal wickedly against the covenant shall deceitfully
|
|
dissemble: but the people that know their God shall prevail and
|
|
succeed.
|
|
|
|
11:33. And they that are learned among the people shall teach many: and
|
|
they shall fall by the sword, and by fire, and by captivity, and by
|
|
spoil for many days.
|
|
|
|
11:34. And when they shall have fallen, they shall be relieved with a
|
|
small help: and many shall be joined to them deceitfully.
|
|
|
|
11:35. And some of the learned shall fall, that they may be tried, and
|
|
may be chosen, and made white, even to the appointed time: because yet
|
|
there shall be another time.
|
|
|
|
11:36. And the king shall do according to his will, and he shall be
|
|
lifted up, and shall magnify himself against every god: and he shall
|
|
speak great things against the God of gods, and shall prosper, till the
|
|
wrath be accomplished. For the determination is made.
|
|
|
|
11:37. And he shall make no account of the God of his fathers: and he
|
|
shall follow the lust of women, and he shall not regard any gods: for
|
|
he shall rise up against all things.
|
|
|
|
11:38. But he shall worship the god Maozim, in his place: and a god
|
|
whom his fathers knew not, he shall worship with gold, and silver, and
|
|
precious stones, and things of great price.
|
|
|
|
The god Maozim. . .That is, the god of forces or strong holds.
|
|
|
|
11:39. And he shall do this to fortify Maozim with a strange god, whom
|
|
he hath acknowledged, and he shall increase glory, and shall give them
|
|
power over many, and shall divide the land gratis.
|
|
|
|
And he shall increase glory, etc. . .He shall bestow honours, riches and
|
|
lands, upon them that shall worship his god.
|
|
|
|
11:40. And at the time prefixed the king of the south shall fight
|
|
against him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a
|
|
tempest, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with a great navy, and
|
|
he shall enter into the countries, and shall destroy, and pass through.
|
|
|
|
11:41. And he shall enter into the glorious land, and many shall fall:
|
|
and these only shall be saved out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the
|
|
principality of the children of Ammon.
|
|
|
|
11:42. And he shall lay his hand upon the lands: and the land of Egypt
|
|
shall not escape.
|
|
|
|
11:43. And he shall have power over the treasures of gold, and of
|
|
silver, and all the precious things of Egypt: and he shall pass through
|
|
Lybia, and Ethiopia.
|
|
|
|
11:44. And tidings out of the east, and out of the north, shall trouble
|
|
him: and he shall come with a great multitude to destroy and slay many.
|
|
|
|
11:45. And he shall fix his tabernacle, Apadno, between the seas, upon
|
|
a glorious and holy mountain: and he shall come even to the top
|
|
thereof, and none shall help him.
|
|
|
|
Apadno. . .Some take it for the proper name of a place: others, from the
|
|
Hebrew, translate it his palace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michael shall stand up for the people of God: with other things
|
|
relating to Antichrist, and the end of the world.
|
|
|
|
12:1. But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who
|
|
standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come, such as
|
|
never was from the time that nations began, even until that time. And
|
|
at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found
|
|
written in the book.
|
|
|
|
12:2. And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall
|
|
awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it
|
|
always.
|
|
|
|
12:3. But they that are learned, shall shine as the brightness of the
|
|
firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all
|
|
eternity.
|
|
|
|
Learned. . .Viz., in the law of God and true wisdom, which consists in
|
|
knowing and loving God.
|
|
|
|
12:4. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to
|
|
the time appointed: many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be
|
|
manifold.
|
|
|
|
12:5. And I, Daniel, looked, and behold as it were two others stood:
|
|
one on this side upon the bank of the river, and another on that side,
|
|
on the other bank of the river.
|
|
|
|
12:6. And I said to the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon
|
|
the waters of the river: How long shall it be to the end of these
|
|
wonders?
|
|
|
|
12:7. And I heard the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon
|
|
the waters of the river, when he had lifted up his right hand, and his
|
|
left hand to heaven, and had sworn by him that liveth for ever, that it
|
|
should be unto a time, and times, and half a time. And when the
|
|
scattering of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all
|
|
these things shall be finished.
|
|
|
|
12:8. And I heard, and understood not. And I said: O my lord, what
|
|
shall be after these things?
|
|
|
|
12:9. And he said: Go, Daniel, because the words are shut up, and
|
|
sealed until the appointed time.
|
|
|
|
12:10. Many shall be chosen, and made white, and shall be tried as
|
|
fire: and the wicked shall deal wickedly, and none of the wicked shall
|
|
understand, but the learned shall understand.
|
|
|
|
12:11. And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken
|
|
away, and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall
|
|
be a thousand two hundred ninety days.
|
|
|
|
12:12. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh unto a thousand three
|
|
hundred thirty-five days.
|
|
|
|
12:13. But go thou thy ways until the time appointed: and thou shalt
|
|
rest, and stand in thy lot unto the end of the days.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
The history of Susanna and the two elders.
|
|
|
|
This history of Susanna, in all the ancient Greek and Latin Bibles, was
|
|
placed in the beginning of the book of Daniel: till St. Jerome, in his
|
|
translation, detached it from thence; because he did not find it in the
|
|
Hebrew: which is also the case of the history of Bel and the Dragon.
|
|
But both the one and the other are received by the Catholic Church: and
|
|
were from the very beginning a part of the Christian Bible.
|
|
|
|
13:1. Now there was a man that dwelt in Babylon, and his name was
|
|
Joakim:
|
|
|
|
13:2. And he took a wife, whose name was Susanna, the daughter of
|
|
Helcias, a very beautiful woman, and one that feared God.
|
|
|
|
13:3. For her parents being just, had instructed their daughter
|
|
according to the law of Moses.
|
|
|
|
13:4. Now Joakim was very rich, and had an orchard near his house: and
|
|
the Jews resorted to him, because he was the most honourable of them
|
|
all.
|
|
|
|
13:5. And there were two of the ancients of the people appointed judges
|
|
that year, of whom the Lord said: That iniquity came out from Babylon,
|
|
from the ancient judges, that seemed to govern the people.
|
|
|
|
13:6. These men frequented the house of Joakim, and all that hand any
|
|
matters of judgment came to them.
|
|
|
|
13:7. And when the people departed away at noon, Susanna went in, and
|
|
walked in her husband's orchard.
|
|
|
|
13:8. And the old men saw her going in every day, and walking: and they
|
|
were inflamed with lust towards her:
|
|
|
|
13:9. And they perverted their own mind, and turned away their eyes,
|
|
that they might not look unto heaven, nor remember just judgments.
|
|
|
|
13:10. So they were both wounded with the love of her, yet they did not
|
|
make known their grief one to the other.
|
|
|
|
13:11. For they were ashamed to declare to one another their lust,
|
|
being desirous to have to do with her:
|
|
|
|
13:12. And they watched carefully every day to see her. And one said to
|
|
the other:
|
|
|
|
13:13. Let us now go home, for it is dinner time. So going out, they
|
|
departed one from another.
|
|
|
|
13:14. And turning back again, they came both to the same place: and
|
|
asking one another the cause, they acknowledged their lust: and then
|
|
they agreed together upon a time, when they might find her alone.
|
|
|
|
13:15. And it fell out, as they watched a fit day, she went in on a
|
|
time, as yesterday and the day before, with two maids only, and was
|
|
desirous to wash herself in the orchard: for it was hot weather.
|
|
|
|
13:16. And there was nobody there, but the two old men that had hid
|
|
themselves, and were beholding her.
|
|
|
|
13:17. So she said to the maids: Bring me oil, and washing balls, and
|
|
shut the doors of the orchard, that I may wash me.
|
|
|
|
13:18. And they did as she bade them: and they shut the doors of the
|
|
orchard, and went out by a back door to fetch what she had commanded
|
|
them, and they knew not that the elders were hid within.
|
|
|
|
13:19. Now when the maids were gone forth, the two elders arose, and
|
|
ran to her, and said:
|
|
|
|
13:20. Behold the doors of the orchard are shut, and nobody seeth us,
|
|
and we are in love with thee: wherefore consent to us, and lie with us.
|
|
|
|
13:21. But if thou wilt not, we will bear witness against thee, that a
|
|
young man was with thee, and therefore thou didst send away thy maids
|
|
form thee.
|
|
|
|
13:22. Susanna sighed, and said: I am straitened on every side: for if
|
|
I do this thing, it is death to me: and if I do it not, I shall not
|
|
escape your hands.
|
|
|
|
13:23. But it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing
|
|
it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
13:24. With that Susanna cried out with a loud voice: and the elders
|
|
also cried out against her.
|
|
|
|
13:25. And one of them ran to the door of the orchard, and opened it.
|
|
|
|
13:26. So when the servants of the house heard the cry in the orchard,
|
|
they rushed in by the back door, to see what was the matter.
|
|
|
|
13:27. But after the old men had spoken, the servants were greatly
|
|
ashamed: for never had there been any such word said of Susanna. And on
|
|
the next day,
|
|
|
|
13:28. When the people were come to Joakim, her husband, the two elders
|
|
also came full of wicked device against Susanna, to put her to death.
|
|
|
|
13:29. And they said before the people: Send to Susanna, daughter of
|
|
Helcias, the wife of Joakim. And presently they sent.
|
|
|
|
13:30. And she came with her parents, and children and all her kindred.
|
|
|
|
13:31. Now Susanna was exceeding delicate, and beautiful to behold.
|
|
|
|
13:32. But those wicked men commanded that her face should be
|
|
uncovered, (for she was covered) that so at least they might be
|
|
satisfied with her beauty.
|
|
|
|
13:33. Therefore her friends, and all her acquaintance wept.
|
|
|
|
13:34. But the two elders rising up in the midst of the people, laid
|
|
their hands upon her head.
|
|
|
|
13:35. And she weeping, looked up to heaven, for her heart had
|
|
confidence in the Lord.
|
|
|
|
13:36. And the elders said: As we walked in the orchard alone, this
|
|
woman came in with two maids, and shut the doors of the orchard, ans
|
|
sent away the maids from her.
|
|
|
|
13:37. Then a young man that was there hid came to her, and lay with
|
|
her.
|
|
|
|
13:38. But we that were in a corner of the orchard, seeing this
|
|
wickedness, ran up to them, and we saw them lie together.
|
|
|
|
13:39. And him indeed we could not take, because he was stronger than
|
|
us, and opening the doors, he leaped out:
|
|
|
|
13:40. But having taken this woman, we asked who the young man was, but
|
|
she would not tell us: of this thing we are witnesses.
|
|
|
|
13:41. The multitude believed them, as being the elders, and the judges
|
|
of the people, and they condemned her to death.
|
|
|
|
13:42. Then Susanna cried out with a loud voice, and said: O eternal
|
|
God, who knowest hidden things, who knowest all things before they come
|
|
to pass,
|
|
|
|
13:43. Thou knowest that they have borne false witness against me: and
|
|
behold I must die, whereas I have done none of these things, which
|
|
these men have maliciously forged against me.
|
|
|
|
13:44. And the Lord heard her voice.
|
|
|
|
13:45. And when she was led to be put to death, the Lord raised up the
|
|
holy spirit of a young boy, whose name was Daniel:
|
|
|
|
13:46. And he cried out with a loud voice: I am clear from the blood of
|
|
this woman.
|
|
|
|
13:47. Then all the people turning themselves towards him, said: What
|
|
meaneth this word that thou hast spoken?
|
|
|
|
13:48. But he standing in the midst of them, said: Are ye so foolish,
|
|
ye children of Israel, that without examination or knowledge of the
|
|
truth, you have condemned a daughter of Israel?
|
|
|
|
13:49. Return to judgment, for they have borne false witness against
|
|
her.
|
|
|
|
13:50. So all the people turned again in haste, and the old men said to
|
|
him: Come, and sit thou down among us, and shew it us: seeing God hath
|
|
given thee the honour of old age.
|
|
|
|
13:51. And Daniel said to the people: Separate these two far from one
|
|
another, and I will examine them.
|
|
|
|
13:52. So when they were put asunder one from the other, he called one
|
|
of them, and said to him: O thou that art grown old in evil days, now
|
|
are thy sins come out, which thou hast committed before:
|
|
|
|
13:53. In judging unjust judgments, oppressing the innocent, and
|
|
letting the guilty to go free, whereas the Lord saith: The innocent and
|
|
the just thou shalt not kill.
|
|
|
|
13:54. Now then if thou sawest her, tell me under what tree thou sawest
|
|
them conversing together: He said: Under a mastic tree.
|
|
|
|
13:55. And Daniel said: Well hast thou lied against thy own head: for
|
|
behold the angel of God having received the sentence of him, shall cut
|
|
thee in two.
|
|
|
|
13:56. And having put him aside, he commanded that the other should
|
|
come, and he said to him: O thou seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda,
|
|
beauty hath deceived tee, and lust hath perverted thy heart:
|
|
|
|
13:57. Thus did you do to the daughters of Israel, and they for fear
|
|
conversed with you: but a daughter of Juda would not abide your
|
|
wickedness.
|
|
|
|
13:58. Now, therefore, tell me, under what tree didst thou take them
|
|
conversing together. And he answered: Under a holm tree.
|
|
|
|
13:59. And Daniel said to him: Well hast thou also lied against thy own
|
|
head: for the angel of the Lord waiteth with a sword to cut thee in
|
|
two, and to destroy you.
|
|
|
|
13:60. With that all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and they
|
|
blessed God, who saveth them that trust in him.
|
|
|
|
13:61. And they rose up against the two elders, (for Daniel had
|
|
convicted them of false witness by their own mouth) and they did to
|
|
them as they had maliciously dealt against their neighbour,
|
|
|
|
13:62. To fulfil the law of Moses: and they put them to death, and
|
|
innocent blood was saved in that day.
|
|
|
|
13:63. But Helcias, and his wife, praised God, for their daughter,
|
|
Susanna, with Joakim, her husband, and all her kindred, because there
|
|
was no dishonesty found in her.
|
|
|
|
13:64. And Daniel became great in the sight of the people from that
|
|
day, and thence forward.
|
|
|
|
13:65. And king Astyages was gathered to his fathers; and Cyrus, the
|
|
Persian, received his kingdom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daniel Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
The history of Bel, and of the great serpent worshipped by the
|
|
Babylonians.
|
|
|
|
14:1. And Daniel was the king's guest, and was honoured above all his
|
|
friends.
|
|
|
|
The king's guest. . .It seems most probable, that the king here spoken
|
|
of was Evilmerodach, the son and successor of Nabuchodonosor, and a
|
|
great favourer of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
14:2. Now the Babylonians had an idol called Bel: and there was spent
|
|
upon him every day twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty
|
|
sheep, and six vessels of wine.
|
|
|
|
14:3. The king also worshipped him, and went every day to adore him:
|
|
but Daniel adored his God. And the king said to him: Why dost thou not
|
|
adore Bel?
|
|
|
|
14:4. And he answered, and said to him: Because I do not worship idols
|
|
made with hands, but the living God, that created heaven and earth, and
|
|
hath power over all flesh.
|
|
|
|
14:5. And the king said to him: Doth not Bel seem to thee to be a
|
|
living god? Seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?
|
|
|
|
14:6. Then Daniel smiled, and said: O king, be not deceived: for this
|
|
is but clay within, and brass without, neither hath he eaten at any
|
|
time.
|
|
|
|
14:7. And the king being angry, called for his priests, and said to
|
|
them: If you tell me not who it is that eateth up these expenses, you
|
|
shall die.
|
|
|
|
14:8. But if you can shew that Bel eateth these things, Daniel shall
|
|
die, because he hath blasphemed against Bel. And Daniel said to the
|
|
king: Be it done according to thy word.
|
|
|
|
14:9. Now the priests of Bel were seventy, beside their wives, and
|
|
little ones, and children. And the king went with Daniel into the
|
|
temple of Bel.
|
|
|
|
14:10. And the priests of Bel said: Behold, we go out: and do thou, O
|
|
king, set on the meats, and make ready the wine, and shut the door
|
|
fast, and seal it with thy own ring:
|
|
|
|
14:11. And when thou comest in the morning, if thou findest not that
|
|
Bel hath eaten up all, we will suffer death, or else Daniel, that hath
|
|
lied against us.
|
|
|
|
14:12. And they little regarded it, because they had made under the
|
|
table a secret entrance, and they always came in by it, and consumed
|
|
those things.
|
|
|
|
14:13. So it came to pass after they were gone out, the king set the
|
|
meats before Bel: and Daniel commanded his servants, and they brought
|
|
ashes, and he sifted them all over the temple before the king: and
|
|
going forth, they shut the door, and having sealed it with the king's
|
|
ring, they departed.
|
|
|
|
14:14. But the priests went in by night, according to their custom,
|
|
with their wives, and their children: and they eat and drank up all.
|
|
|
|
14:15. And the king arose early in the morning, and Daniel with him.
|
|
|
|
14:16. And the king said: Are the seals whole, Daniel? And he answered:
|
|
They are whole, O king.
|
|
|
|
14:17. And as soon as he had opened the door, the king looked upon the
|
|
table, and cried out with a loud voice: Great art thou, O Bel, and
|
|
there is not any deceit with thee.
|
|
|
|
14:18. And Daniel laughed: and he held the king, that he should not go
|
|
in: and he said: Behold the pavement, mark whose footsteps these are.
|
|
|
|
14:19. And the king said: I see the footsteps of men, and women, and
|
|
children. And the king was angry.
|
|
|
|
14:20. Then he took the priests, and their wives, and their children:
|
|
and they shewed him the private doors by which they came in, and
|
|
consumed the things that were on the table.
|
|
|
|
14:21. The king, therefore, put them to death, and delivered Bel into
|
|
the power of Daniel: who destroyed him and his temple.
|
|
|
|
14:22. And there was a great dragon in that place, and the Babylonians
|
|
worshipped him.
|
|
|
|
14:23. And the king said to Daniel: Behold, thou canst not say now,
|
|
that this is not a living god: adore him, therefore.
|
|
|
|
14:24. And Daniel said: I adore the Lord, my God: for he is the living
|
|
God: but that is no living god.
|
|
|
|
14:25. But give me leave, O king, and I will kill this dragon without
|
|
sword or club. And the king said, I give thee leave.
|
|
|
|
14:26. Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and boiled them
|
|
together: and he made lumps, and put them into the dragon's mouth, and
|
|
the dragon burst asunder. And he said: Behold him whom you worship.
|
|
|
|
14:27. And when the Babylonians had heard this, they took great
|
|
indignation: and being gathered together against the king, they said:
|
|
The king is become a Jew. He hath destroyed Bel, he hath killed the
|
|
dragon, and he hath put the priests to death.
|
|
|
|
14:28. And they came to the king, and said: Deliver us Daniel, or else
|
|
we will destroy thee and thy house.
|
|
|
|
14:29. And the king saw that they pressed upon him violently: and being
|
|
constrained by necessity: he delivered Daniel to them.
|
|
|
|
14:30. And they cast him into the den of lions, and he was there six
|
|
days.
|
|
|
|
The den of lions. . .Daniel was twice cast into the den of lions; one
|
|
under Darius the Mede, because he had transgressed the king's edict, by
|
|
praying three times a day: and another time under Evilmerodach by a
|
|
sedition of the people. This time he remained six days in the lions'
|
|
den; the other time only one night.
|
|
|
|
14:31. And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given to
|
|
them two carcasses every day, and two sheep: but then they were not
|
|
given unto them, that they might devour Daniel.
|
|
|
|
14:32. Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, and he had
|
|
boiled pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl: and was going into the
|
|
field, to carry it to the reapers.
|
|
|
|
Habacuc. . .The same, as some think whose prophecy is found among the
|
|
lesser prophets but others believe him to be different.
|
|
|
|
14:33. And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc: Carry the dinner
|
|
which thou hast into Babylon, to Daniel, who is in the lions' den.
|
|
|
|
14:34. And Habacuc said: Lord, I never saw Babylon, nor do I know the
|
|
den.
|
|
|
|
14:35. And the angel of the Lord took him by the top of his head, and
|
|
carried him by the hair of his head, and set him in Babylon, over the
|
|
den, in the force of his spirit.
|
|
|
|
14:36. And Habacuc cried, saying: O Daniel, thou servant of God, take
|
|
the dinner that God hath sent thee.
|
|
|
|
14:37. And Daniel said, Thou hast remembered me, O God, and thou hast
|
|
not forsaken them that love thee.
|
|
|
|
14:38. And Daniel arose, and eat. And the angel of the Lord presently
|
|
set Habacuc again in his own place.
|
|
|
|
14:39. And upon the seventh day the king came to bewail Daniel: and he
|
|
came to the den, and looked in, and behold Daniel was sitting in the
|
|
midst of the lions.
|
|
|
|
14:40. And the king cried out with a loud voice, saying: Great art
|
|
thou, O Lord, the God of Daniel. And he drew him out of the lions' den.
|
|
|
|
14:41. But those that had been the cause of his destruction, he cast
|
|
into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before him.
|
|
|
|
14:42. Then the king said: Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth
|
|
fear the God of Daniel: for he is the Saviour, working signs, and
|
|
wonders in the earth: who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions' den.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF OSEE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
OSEE, or Hosea, whose name signifies A saviour, was the first in the
|
|
order of time among those who are commonly called lesser prophets,
|
|
because their prophecies are short. He prophesied in the kingdom of
|
|
Israel, that is, of the ten tribes, about the same time that Isaias
|
|
prophesied in the kingdom of Juda.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
By marrying a harlot, and by the names of his children, the prophet
|
|
sets forth the crimes of Israel and their punishment. He foretells
|
|
their redemption by Christ.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The word of the Lord, that came to Osee, the son of Beeri, in the
|
|
days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda, and in the
|
|
days of Jeroboam, the son of Joas, king of Israel.
|
|
|
|
1:2. The beginning of the Lord's speaking by Osee: and the Lord said to
|
|
Osee: Go, take thee a wife of fornications, and have of her children of
|
|
fornications: for the land by fornication shall depart from the Lord.
|
|
|
|
A wife of fornications. . .That is, a wife that has been given to
|
|
fornication. This was to represent the Lord's proceedings with his
|
|
people Israel, who, by spiritual fornication, were continually
|
|
offending him.--Ibid. Children of fornications. . .So called from the
|
|
character of their mother, if not also from their own wicked
|
|
dispositions.
|
|
|
|
1:3. So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Debelaim: and she
|
|
conceived, and bore him a son.
|
|
|
|
1:4. And the Lord said to him: Call his name Jezrahel: for yet a little
|
|
while, and I will visit the blood of Jezrahel upon the house of Jehu,
|
|
and I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
1:5. And in that day I will break in pieces the bow of Israel in the
|
|
valley of Jezrahel.
|
|
|
|
1:6. And she conceived again, and bore a daughter, and he said to him:
|
|
Call her name, Without mercy: for I will not add any more to have mercy
|
|
on the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them.
|
|
|
|
Without mercy. . .Lo-Ruhamah.
|
|
|
|
1:7. And I will have mercy on the house of Juda, and I will save them
|
|
by the Lord, their God: and I will not save them by bow, nor by sword,
|
|
nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen.
|
|
|
|
1:8. And she weaned her that was called Without mercy. And she
|
|
conceived, and bore a son.
|
|
|
|
1:9. And he said: Call his name, Not my people: for you are not my
|
|
people, and I will not be yours.
|
|
|
|
Not my people. . .Lo-ammi.
|
|
|
|
1:10. And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of
|
|
the sea, that is without measure, and shall not be numbered. And it
|
|
shall be in the place where it shall be said to them: You are not my
|
|
people: it shall be said to them: Ye are the sons of the living God.
|
|
|
|
The number, etc. . .Viz., of the true Israelites, the children of the
|
|
church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
1:11. And the children of Juda, and the children of Israel, shall be
|
|
gathered together: and they shall appoint themselves one head, and
|
|
shall come up out of the land: for great is the day of Jezrahel.
|
|
|
|
One head. . .viz., Christ.--Ibid. Great is the day of Jezrahel. . .That
|
|
is, of the seed of God; for Jezrahel signifies the seed of God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
Israel is justly punished for leaving God. The abundance of grace in
|
|
the church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
2:1. Say ye to your brethren: You are my people: and to your sister:
|
|
Thou hast obtained mercy.
|
|
|
|
Say to your brethren, etc. . .or, Call your brethren, My people: and
|
|
your sister, Her that hath obtained mercy. This is connected with the
|
|
latter end of the foregoing chapter, and relates to the converts of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
2:2. Judge your mother, judge her: because she is not my wife, and I am
|
|
not her husband. Let her put away her fornications from her face, and
|
|
her adulteries from between her breasts.
|
|
|
|
Your mother. . .The synagogue.
|
|
|
|
2:3. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was
|
|
born: and I will make her as a wilderness, and will set her as a land
|
|
that none can pass through and will kill her with drought.
|
|
|
|
2:4. And I will not have mercy on her children. for they are the
|
|
children of fornications.
|
|
|
|
2:5. For their mother hath committed fornication, she that conceived
|
|
them is covered with shame: for she said: I will go after my lovers,
|
|
that give me my bread, and my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and
|
|
my drink.
|
|
|
|
2:6. Wherefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will
|
|
stop it up with a wall, and she shall not find her paths.
|
|
|
|
2:7. And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake
|
|
them: and she shall seek them, and shall not find, and she shall say: I
|
|
will go, and return to my first husband: because it was better with me
|
|
then than now.
|
|
|
|
2:8. And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and
|
|
multiplied her silver, and gold, which they have used in the service of
|
|
Baal.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in its season, and
|
|
my wine in its season, and I will set at liberty my wool, and my flax,
|
|
which covered her disgrace.
|
|
|
|
2:10. And now I will lay open her folly in the eyes of her lovers: and
|
|
no man shall deliver her out of my hand:
|
|
|
|
2:11. And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her solemnities, her new
|
|
moons, her sabbaths, and all her festival times.
|
|
|
|
2:12. And I will destroy her vines, and her fig trees, of which she
|
|
said: These are my rewards, which my lovers have given me: and I will
|
|
make her as a forest and the beasts of the field shall devour her.
|
|
|
|
2:13. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, to whom she burnt
|
|
incense, and decked herself out with her earrings, and with her jewels,
|
|
and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:14. Therefore, behold I will allure her, and will lead her into the
|
|
wilderness: and I will speak to her heart.
|
|
|
|
I will allure her, etc. . .After all her disloyalties, I will still
|
|
allure her by my grace etc., and send her vinedressers, viz., the
|
|
apostles: originally her own children, who shall open to her the gates
|
|
of hope; as heretofore at her coming into the land of promise, she had
|
|
all good success after she had satisfied the divine justice by the
|
|
execution of Achan in the valley of Achor. Jos. 7.
|
|
|
|
2:15. And I will give her vinedressers out of the same place, and the
|
|
valley of Achor for an opening of hope: and she shall sing there
|
|
according to the days of her youth, and according to the days of her
|
|
coming up out of the land of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
2:16. And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord: That she shall call
|
|
me: My husband, and she shall call me no more Banli.
|
|
|
|
My husband. . .In Hebrew, Ishi. Baali, my lord. The meaning of this
|
|
verse is: that whereas Ishi and Baali were used indifferently in those
|
|
days by wives speaking to their husbands; the synagogue, whom God was
|
|
pleased to consider as his spouse, should call him only Ishi, and
|
|
abstain from the name of Baali, because of its affinity with the idol
|
|
Baal.
|
|
|
|
2:17. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and
|
|
she shall no more remember their name.
|
|
|
|
Baalim. . .It is the plural number of Baal: for there were divers idols
|
|
of Baal.
|
|
|
|
2:18. And in that day I will make a covenant with them, with the beasts
|
|
of the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping
|
|
things of the earth: and I will destroy the bow, and the sword, and war
|
|
out of the land: and I will make them sleep secure.
|
|
|
|
2:19. And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee
|
|
to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations.
|
|
|
|
I will espouse thee, etc. . .This relates to the happy espousals of
|
|
Christ with his church: which shall never be dissolved.
|
|
|
|
2:20. And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that
|
|
I am the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:21. And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear, saith the
|
|
Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth.
|
|
|
|
Hear the heavens, etc. . .All shall conspire in favour of the church,
|
|
which in the following verse is called Jezrahel, that is, the seed of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
2:22. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and
|
|
these shall hear Jezrahel.
|
|
|
|
2:23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on
|
|
her that was without mercy.
|
|
|
|
2:24. And I will say to that which is not my people: Thou art my
|
|
people: and they shall say: Thou art my God.
|
|
|
|
That which was not my people, etc. . .This relates to the conversion of
|
|
the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet is commanded again to love an adulteress; to signify God's
|
|
love to the synagogue. The wretched state of the Jews for a long time,
|
|
till at last they shall be converted.
|
|
|
|
3:1. And the Lord said to me: Go yet again, and love a woman beloved of
|
|
her friend, and an adulteress: as the Lord loveth the children of
|
|
Israel, and they look to strange gods, and love the husks of the
|
|
grapes.
|
|
|
|
3:2. And I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a
|
|
core of barley, and for half a core of barley.
|
|
|
|
3:3. And I said to her: Thou shalt wait for me many days: thou shalt
|
|
not play the harlot, and thou shalt be no man's, and I also will wait
|
|
for thee.
|
|
|
|
3:4. For the children of Israel shall sit many days without king, and
|
|
without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without
|
|
ephod, and without theraphim.
|
|
|
|
Theraphim. . .Images or representations.
|
|
|
|
3:5. And after this the children of Israel shall return and shall seek
|
|
the Lord, their God, and David, their king: and they shall fear the
|
|
Lord, and his goodness, in the last days.
|
|
|
|
David their king. . .That is, Christ, who is of the house of David.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's judgment against the sins of Israel: Juda is warned not to follow
|
|
their example.
|
|
|
|
4:1. Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel, for the Lord
|
|
shall enter into judgment with the inhabitants of the land: for there
|
|
is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in
|
|
the land.
|
|
|
|
4:2. Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery, have
|
|
overflowed, and blood hath touched blood.
|
|
|
|
4:3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth in it
|
|
shall languish with the heat of the field, and with the fowls of the
|
|
air: yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be gathered together.
|
|
|
|
4:4. But yet let not any man judge: and let not a man be rebuked: for
|
|
thy people are as they that contradict the priest.
|
|
|
|
Let not any man judge, etc. . .As if he would say: It is in vain to
|
|
strive with them, or reprove them, they are so obstinate in evil.
|
|
|
|
4:5. And thou shalt fall today, and the prophet also shall fall with
|
|
thee: in the night I have made thy mother to be silent.
|
|
|
|
4:6. My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge: because
|
|
thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt not
|
|
do the office of priesthood to me: and thou hast forgotten the law of
|
|
thy God, I also will forget thy children.
|
|
|
|
4:7. According to the multitude of them, so have they sinned against
|
|
me: I will change their glory into shame.
|
|
|
|
4:8. They shall eat the sins of my people, and shall lift up their
|
|
souls to their iniquity.
|
|
|
|
4:9. And there shall be like people like priest: and I will visit their
|
|
ways upon them, and I will repay them their devices.
|
|
|
|
4:10. And they shall eat and shall not be filled: they have committed
|
|
fornication, and have not ceased: because they have forsaken the Lord
|
|
in not observing the law.
|
|
|
|
4:11. Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness, take away the
|
|
understanding.
|
|
|
|
4:12. My people have consulted their stocks, and their staff hath
|
|
declared unto them: for the spirit of fornication hath deceived them,
|
|
and they have committed fornication against their God.
|
|
|
|
4:13. They offered sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burnt
|
|
incense upon the hills: under the oak, and the poplar, and the
|
|
turpentine tree, because the shadow thereof was good: therefore shall
|
|
your daughters commit fornication, aud your spouses shall be
|
|
adulteresses.
|
|
|
|
4:14. I will not visit upon your daughters, when they shall commit
|
|
fornication, and upon your spouses when they shall commit adultery:
|
|
because themselves conversed with harlots, and offered sacrifice with
|
|
the effeminate, and the people that doth not understand shall be
|
|
beaten.
|
|
|
|
4:15. If thou play the harlot, O Israel, at least let not Juda offend:
|
|
and go ye not into Galgal, and come not up into Bethaven, and do not
|
|
swear: The Lord liveth.
|
|
|
|
Galgal and Bethaven. . .Places where idols were worshipped. Bethel,
|
|
which signifies the house of God, is called by the prophet, Bethaven,
|
|
that is, the house of vanity, from Jeroboam's golden calf that was
|
|
worshipped there.
|
|
|
|
4:16. For Israel hath gone astray like a wanton heifer now will the
|
|
Lord feed them, as a lamb in a spacious place.
|
|
|
|
4:17. Ephraim is a partaker with idols, let him alone.
|
|
|
|
4:18. Their banquet is separated, they have gone astray by fornication:
|
|
they that should have protected them have loved to bring shame upon
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
4:19. The wind hath bound them up in its wings, and they shall be
|
|
confounded because of their sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
God's threats against the priests, the people, and princes of Israel,
|
|
for their idolatry.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Hear ye this, O priests, and hearken, O ye house of Israel, and
|
|
give ear, O house of the king: for there is a judgment against you,
|
|
because you have been a snare to them whom you should have watched over
|
|
and a net spread upon Thabor.
|
|
|
|
O priests. . .What is said of priests in this prophecy is chiefly
|
|
understood of the priests of the kingdom of Israel; who were not true
|
|
priests of the race of Aaron; but served the calves at Bethel and Dan.
|
|
|
|
5:2. And you have turned aside victims into the depth and I am the
|
|
teacher of them all.
|
|
|
|
5:3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me for now Ephraim hath
|
|
committed fornication, Israel is defiled.
|
|
|
|
5:4. They will not set their thoughts to return to their God: for the
|
|
spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
5:5. And the pride of Israel shall answer in his face: and Israel, and
|
|
Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity, Juda also shall fall with them.
|
|
|
|
5:6. With their flocks and with their herds, they shall go to seek the
|
|
Lord, and shall not find him: he is withdrawn from them.
|
|
|
|
5:7. They have transgressed against the Lord: for they have begotten
|
|
children that are strangers: now shall a month devour them with their
|
|
portions.
|
|
|
|
Children that are strangers. . .That is, aliens from God: and therefore
|
|
they are threatened with speedy destruction.
|
|
|
|
5:8. Blow ye the cornet in Gabaa, the trumpet in Rama: howl ye in
|
|
Bethaven, behind thy back, O Benjamin.
|
|
|
|
5:9. Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke: among the
|
|
tribes of Israel I have shewn that which shall surely be.
|
|
|
|
5:10. The princes of Juda are become as they that take up the bound: I
|
|
will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
|
|
|
|
As they that take up the bound. . .That is, they that remove the
|
|
boundary, encroaching on the property of their neighbors: figuratively:
|
|
going beyond the boundary of the laws of God.
|
|
|
|
5:11. Ephraim is under oppression, and broken in judgment: because he
|
|
began to go after filthiness.
|
|
|
|
5:12. And I will be like a moth to Ephraim: and like rottenness to the
|
|
house of Juda.
|
|
|
|
5:13. And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Juda his band: and Ephraim went
|
|
to the Assyrian, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be
|
|
able to heal you, neither shall he be able to take off the band from
|
|
you.
|
|
|
|
5:14. For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion's whelp
|
|
to the house of Juda: I, I will catch, and go: I will take away, and
|
|
there is none that can rescue.
|
|
|
|
5:15. I will go and return to my place: until you are consumed, and
|
|
seek my face.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
Affliction shall be a means to bring many to Christ, a complaint of the
|
|
untowardness of the Jews. God loves mercy more than sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
6:1. In their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us
|
|
return to the Lord.
|
|
|
|
6:2. For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he
|
|
will cure us.
|
|
|
|
6:3. He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise
|
|
us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall
|
|
follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as
|
|
the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter
|
|
rain to the earth.
|
|
|
|
6:4. What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, O
|
|
Juda? your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away
|
|
in the morning.
|
|
|
|
6:5. For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain
|
|
them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the
|
|
light.
|
|
|
|
6:6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God
|
|
more than holocausts.
|
|
|
|
6:7. But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant, there have
|
|
they dealt treacherously against me.
|
|
|
|
6:8. Galaad is a city of workers of idols, supplanted with blood.
|
|
|
|
Supplanted with blood. . .that is, undermined and brought to ruin, for
|
|
shedding of blood: and, as it is signified in the following verse, for
|
|
conspiring with the priests (of Bethel) like robbers, to murder in the
|
|
way such as passed out of Sichem to go towards the temple of Jerusalem.
|
|
Or else . . .upplanted with blood. . .signifies flowing in such manner
|
|
with blood, as to suffer none to walk there without imbruing the soles
|
|
of their feet in blood.
|
|
|
|
6:9. And like the jaws of highway robbers, they conspire with the
|
|
priests who murder in the way those that pass out of Sichem: for they
|
|
have wrought wickedness.
|
|
|
|
6:10. I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: the
|
|
fornications of Ephraim there: Israel is defiled.
|
|
|
|
6:11. And thou also, O Juda, set thee a harvest, when I shall bring
|
|
back the captivity of my people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
The manifold sins of Israel, and of their kings, hinder the Lord from
|
|
healing them.
|
|
|
|
7:1. When I would have healed Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was
|
|
discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have committed
|
|
falsehood, and the thief is come in to steal, the robber is without.
|
|
|
|
7:2. And lest they may say in their hearts, that I remember all their
|
|
wickedness: their own devices now have beset them about, they have been
|
|
done before my face.
|
|
|
|
7:3. They have made the king glad with their wickedness: and the
|
|
princes with their lies.
|
|
|
|
Made the king glad, etc. . .To please Jeroboam, and their other kings
|
|
they have given themselves up to the wicked worship of idols, which are
|
|
mere falsehood and lies.
|
|
|
|
7:4. They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker: the
|
|
city rested a little from the mingling of the leaven, till the whole
|
|
was leavened.
|
|
|
|
7:5. The day of our king, the princes began to be mad with wine: he
|
|
stretched out his hand with scorners.
|
|
|
|
7:6. Because they have applied their heart like an oven, when he laid
|
|
snares for them: he slept all the night baking them, in the morning he
|
|
himself was heated as a flaming fire.
|
|
|
|
7:7. They were all heated like an oven, and have devoured their judges:
|
|
all their kings have fallen: there is none amongst them that calleth
|
|
unto me.
|
|
|
|
7:8. Ephraim himself is mixed among the nations: Ephraim is become as
|
|
bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned.
|
|
|
|
7:9. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not: yea,
|
|
grey hairs also are spread about upon him, and he is ignorant of it.
|
|
|
|
7:10. And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and
|
|
they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him
|
|
in all these.
|
|
|
|
7:11. And Ephraim is become as a dove that is decoyed, not having a
|
|
heart: they called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
7:12. And when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will
|
|
bring them down as the fowl of the air, I will strike them as their
|
|
congregation hath heard.
|
|
|
|
7:13. Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they shall be wasted
|
|
because they have transgressed against me: and I redeemed them: and
|
|
they have spoken lies against me.
|
|
|
|
7:14. And they have not cried to me with their heart, but they howled
|
|
in their beds: they have thought upon wheat and wine, they are departed
|
|
from me.
|
|
|
|
7:15. And I have chastised them, and strengthened their arms: and they
|
|
have imagined evil against me.
|
|
|
|
7:16. They returned, that they might be without yoke: they became like
|
|
a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, for the rage of
|
|
their tongue. This is their derision in the land of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Israelites are threatened with destruction for their impiety and
|
|
idolatry.
|
|
|
|
8:1. Let there be a trumpet in thy throat like an eagle upon the house
|
|
of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and have
|
|
violated my law.
|
|
|
|
8:2. They shall call upon me: O my God, we, Israel, know thee.
|
|
|
|
8:3. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good, the enemy shall
|
|
pursue him.
|
|
|
|
8:4. They have reigned, but not by me: they have been princes, and I
|
|
knew not: of their silver and their gold they have made idols to
|
|
themselves, that they might perish.
|
|
|
|
8:5. Thy calf, O Samaria, is cast off, my wrath is kindled against
|
|
them. How long will they be incapable of being cleansed?
|
|
|
|
8:6. For itself also is the invention of Israel: a workman made it, and
|
|
it is no god: for the calf of Samaria shall be turned to spiders' webs.
|
|
|
|
8:7. For they shall sow wind, and reap a whirlwind, there is no
|
|
standing stalk in it, the bud shall yield no meal; and if it should
|
|
yield, strangers shall eat it.
|
|
|
|
8:8. Israel is swallowed up: now is he become among the nations like an
|
|
unclean vessel.
|
|
|
|
8:9. For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself:
|
|
Ephraim hath given gifts to his lovers.
|
|
|
|
8:10. But even though they shall have hired the nations, now will I
|
|
gather them together: and they shall rest a while from the burden of
|
|
the king, and the princes.
|
|
|
|
8:11. Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin: altars are become
|
|
to him unto sin.
|
|
|
|
8:12. I shall write to him my manifold laws, which have been accounted
|
|
as foreign.
|
|
|
|
8:13. They shall offer victims, they shall sacrifice flesh, and shall
|
|
eat it, and the Lord will not receive them: now will he remember their
|
|
iniquity, and will visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
|
|
|
|
8:14. And Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and hath built temples: and
|
|
Juda hath built many fenced cities: and I will send a fire upon his
|
|
cities, and it shall devour the houses thereof.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
The distress and captivity of Israel for their sins and idolatry.
|
|
|
|
9:1. Rejoice not, O Israel: rejoice not as the nations do: for thou
|
|
hast committed fornication against thy God, thou hast loved a reward
|
|
upon every cornfloor.
|
|
|
|
9:2. The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the wine
|
|
shall deceive them.
|
|
|
|
9:3. They shall not dwell in the Lord's land: Ephraim is returned to
|
|
Egypt, and hath eaten unclean things among the Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
9:4. They shall not offer wine to the Lord, neither shall they please
|
|
him: their sacrifices shall be like the bread of mourners: all that
|
|
shall eat it shall be defiled: for their bread is life for their soul,
|
|
it shall not enter into the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
9:5. What will you do in the solemn day, in the day of the feast of the
|
|
Lord?
|
|
|
|
9:6. For behold they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall
|
|
gather them together, Memphis shall bury them: nettles shall inherit
|
|
their beloved silver, the bur shall be in their tabernacles.
|
|
|
|
9:7. The days of visitation are come, the days of repaying are come:
|
|
know ye, O Israel, that the prophet was foolish, the spiritual man was
|
|
mad, for the multitude of thy iniquity, and the multitude of thy
|
|
madness.
|
|
|
|
9:8. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: the prophet is become a
|
|
snare of ruin upon all his ways, madness is in the house of his God.
|
|
|
|
9:9. They have sinned deeply, as in the days of Gabaa: he will remember
|
|
their iniquity, and will visit their sin.
|
|
|
|
9:10. I found Israel like grapes in the desert, I saw their fathers
|
|
like the firstfruits of the fig tree in the top thereof: but they went
|
|
in to Beelphegor, and alienated themselves to that confusion, and
|
|
became abominable, as those things were, which they loved.
|
|
|
|
9:11. As for Ephraim, their glory hath flown away like bird from the
|
|
birth, and from the womb, and from the conception.
|
|
|
|
9:12. And though they should bring up their children, I will make them
|
|
without children among men: yea, and woe to them, when I shall depart
|
|
from them.
|
|
|
|
9:13. Ephraim, as I saw, was a Tyre, founded in beauty: and Ephraim
|
|
shall bring out his children to the murderer.
|
|
|
|
9:14. Give them, O Lord. What wilt thou give them? Give them a womb
|
|
without children, and dry breasts.
|
|
|
|
9:15. All their wickedness is in Galgal, for there I hated them: for
|
|
the wickedness of their devices I will cast them forth out of my house:
|
|
I will love them no more, all their princes are revolters.
|
|
|
|
9:16. Ephraim is struck, their root is dried up, they shall yield no
|
|
fruit. And if they should have issue, I will slay the best beloved
|
|
fruit of their womb.
|
|
|
|
9:17. My God will cast them away, because they hearkened not to him:
|
|
and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
After many benefits, great affliction shall fall upon the ten tribes,
|
|
for their ingratitude to God.
|
|
|
|
10:1. Israel a vine full of branches, the fruit is agreeable to it:
|
|
according to the multitude of his fruit, he hath multiplied altars,
|
|
according to the plenty of his land he hath abounded with idols.
|
|
|
|
10:2. Their heart is divided: now they shall perish: he shall break
|
|
down their idols, he shall destroy their altars.
|
|
|
|
10:3. For now they shall say: We have no king: because we fear not the
|
|
Lord: and what shall a king do to us?
|
|
|
|
10:4. You speak words of an unprofitable vision, and you shall make a
|
|
covenant: and judgment shall spring up as bitterness in the furrows of
|
|
the field.
|
|
|
|
10:5. The inhabitants of Samaria have worshipped the kine of Bethaven:
|
|
for the people thereof have mourned over it, and the wardens of its
|
|
temple that rejoiced over it in its glory because it is departed from
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
The kine of Bethaven. . .The golden calves of Jeroboam.
|
|
|
|
10:6. For itself also is carried into Assyria, a present to the
|
|
avenging king: shame shall fall upon Ephraim, and Israel shall be
|
|
confounded in his own will.
|
|
|
|
Itself also is carried, etc. . .One of the golden calves was given by
|
|
king Manahem, to Phul, king of the Assyrians, to engage him to stand by
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
10:7. Samaria hath made her king to pass as froth upon the face of the
|
|
water.
|
|
|
|
10:8. And the high places of the idol, the sin of Israel shall be
|
|
destroyed: the bur and the thistle shall grow up over their altars: and
|
|
they shall say to the mountains Cover us; and to the hills: Fall upon
|
|
us.
|
|
|
|
10:9. From the days of Gabaa, Israel hath sinned, there they stood: the
|
|
battle in Gabaa against the children of iniquity shall not overtake
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
10:10. According to my desire, I will chastise them: and the nations
|
|
shall be gathered together against them, when they shall be chastised
|
|
for their two iniquities.
|
|
|
|
Their two iniquities. . .Their two calves.
|
|
|
|
10:11. Ephraim is a heifer taught to love to tread out corn, but I
|
|
passed over upon the beauty of her neck: I will ride upon Ephraim, Juda
|
|
shall plough, Jacob shall break the furrows for himself.
|
|
|
|
10:12. Sow for yourselves in justice, and reap in the mouth of mercy,
|
|
break up your fallow ground: but the time to seek the Lord is, when he
|
|
shall come that shall teach you justice.
|
|
|
|
10:13. You have ploughed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have
|
|
eaten the fruit of lying: because thou hast trusted in thy ways, in the
|
|
multitude of thy strong ones.
|
|
|
|
10:14. A tumult shall arise among thy people: and all thy fortresses
|
|
shall be destroyed as Salmana was destroyed, by the house of him that
|
|
judged Baal in the day of battle, the mother being dashed in pieces
|
|
upon her children.
|
|
|
|
As Salmana, king of the Midianites, was destroyed by the house, that
|
|
is, by the followers of him that judged Baal; that is, of Gideon, who
|
|
threw down the altar of Baal; and was therefore called Jerubaal. See
|
|
Judges 6 and 8.
|
|
|
|
10:15. So hath Bethel done to you, because of the evil of your
|
|
iniquities.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
God proceeds in threatening Israel for their ingratitude: yet he will
|
|
not utterly destroy them.
|
|
|
|
11:1. As the morning passeth, so hath the king of Israel passed away.
|
|
Because Israel was a child, and I loved him: and I called my son out of
|
|
Egypt.
|
|
|
|
I called my son. . .Viz., Israel. But as the calling of Israel out of
|
|
Egypt, was a figure of the calling of Christ from thence; therefore
|
|
this text is also applicable to Christ, as we learn from Matthew 2.15.
|
|
|
|
11:2. As they called them, they went away from before their face: they
|
|
offered victims to Baalim, and sacrificed to idols.
|
|
|
|
They called. . .Viz., Moses and Aaron called; but they went away after
|
|
other gods and would not hear.
|
|
|
|
11:3. And I was like a foster father to Ephraim, I carried them in my
|
|
arms: and they knew not that I healed them.
|
|
|
|
11:4. I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love:
|
|
and I will be to them as one that taketh off the yoke on their jaws:
|
|
and I put his meat to him that he might eat.
|
|
|
|
11:5. He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian
|
|
shall be his king: because they would not be converted.
|
|
|
|
11:6. The sword hath begun in his cities, and it shall consume his
|
|
chosen men, and shall devour their heads.
|
|
|
|
11:7. And my people shall long for my return: but a yoke shall be put
|
|
upon them together, which shall not be taken off.
|
|
|
|
11:8. How shall I deal with thee, O Ephraim, shall I protect thee, O
|
|
Israel? how shall I make thee as Adama, shall I set thee as Seboim? my
|
|
heart is turned within me, my repentance is stirred up.
|
|
|
|
Adama, etc. . .Adama and Seboim were two cities in the neighborhood of
|
|
Sodom: and underwent the like destruction.
|
|
|
|
11:9. I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath: I will not return
|
|
to destroy Ephraim: because I am God, and not man: the holy one in the
|
|
midst of thee, and I will not enter into the city.
|
|
|
|
11:10. They shall walk after the Lord, he shall roar as a lion: because
|
|
he shall roar, and the children of the sea shall fear.
|
|
|
|
11:11. And they shall fly away like a bird out of Egypt, and like a
|
|
dove out of the land of the Assyrians: and I will place them in their
|
|
own houses, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
11:12. Ephraim hath compassed me about with denials, and the house of
|
|
Israel with deceit: but Juda went down as a witness with God, and is
|
|
faithful with the saints.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
Israel is reproved for sin. God's favours to them.
|
|
|
|
12:1. Ephraim feedeth on the wind, and followeth the burning heat: all
|
|
the day long he multiplied lies and desolation: and he hath made a
|
|
covenant with the Assyrians, and carried oil into Egypt.
|
|
|
|
12:2. Therefore there is a judgment of the Lord with Juda, and a
|
|
visitation for Jacob: he will render to him according to his ways, and
|
|
according to his devices.
|
|
|
|
12:3. In the womb he supplanted his brother: and by his strength he had
|
|
success with an angel.
|
|
|
|
12:4. And he prevailed over the angel, and was strengthened: he wept,
|
|
and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he
|
|
spoke with us.
|
|
|
|
12:5. Even the Lord God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial.
|
|
|
|
12:6. Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and hope
|
|
in thy God always.
|
|
|
|
12:7. He is like Chanaan, there is a deceitful balance in his hand, he
|
|
hath loved oppression.
|
|
|
|
12:8. And Ephraim said: But yet I am become rich, I have found me an
|
|
idol: all my labours shall not find me the iniquity that I have
|
|
committed.
|
|
|
|
12:9. And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt, will yet
|
|
cause thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the feast.
|
|
|
|
12:10. And I have spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied
|
|
visions, and I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets.
|
|
|
|
12:11. If Galaad be an idol, then in vain were they in Galgal offering
|
|
sacrifices with bullocks: for their altars also are as heaps in the
|
|
furrows of the field.
|
|
|
|
If Galaad be an idol, etc. . .That is, if Galaad with all its idols and
|
|
sacrifices be like a mere idol itself, being brought to nothing by
|
|
Theglathphalasar: how vain is it to expect, that the idols worshipped
|
|
in Galgal shall be of any service to the tribes that remain.
|
|
|
|
12:12. Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a
|
|
wife, and was a keeper for a wife.
|
|
|
|
12:13. But the Lord by a prophet brought Israel out of Egypt: and he
|
|
was preserved by a prophet.
|
|
|
|
12:14. Ephraim hath provoked me to wrath with his bitterness, and his
|
|
blood shall come upon him, and his Lord will render his reproach unto
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
The judgments of God upon Israel for their sins. Christ shall one day
|
|
redeem them.
|
|
|
|
13:1. When Ephraim spoke, a horror seized Israel: and he sinned in
|
|
Baal, and died.
|
|
|
|
13:2. And now they have sinned more and more: and they have made to
|
|
themselves a molten thing of their silver as the likeness of idols: the
|
|
whole is the work of craftsmen: to these that say: Sacrifice men, ye
|
|
that adore calves.
|
|
|
|
13:3. Therefore they shall be as a morning cloud, and as the early dew
|
|
that passeth away, as the dust that is driven with a whirlwind out of
|
|
the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
|
|
|
|
13:4. But I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt: and thou shalt
|
|
know no God but me, and there is no saviour beside me.
|
|
|
|
13:5. I knew thee in the desert, in the land of the wilderness.
|
|
|
|
13:6. According to their pastures they were filled, and were made full:
|
|
and they lifted up their heart, and have forgotten me.
|
|
|
|
13:7. And I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of
|
|
the Assyrians.
|
|
|
|
13:8. I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her whelps, and I
|
|
will rend the inner parts of their liver: and I will devour them there
|
|
as a lion, the beast of the field shall tear them.
|
|
|
|
13:9. Destruction is thy own, O Israel: thy help is only in me.
|
|
|
|
13:10. Where is thy king? now especially let him save thee in all thy
|
|
cities: and thy judges, of whom thou saidst: Give me kings and princes.
|
|
|
|
13:11. I will give thee a king in my wrath, and will take him away in
|
|
my indignation.
|
|
|
|
13:12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hidden.
|
|
|
|
13:13. The sorrows of a woman in labour shall come upon him, he is an
|
|
unwise son: for now he shall not stand in the breach of the children.
|
|
|
|
13:14. I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them
|
|
from death: O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite:
|
|
comfort is hidden from my eyes.
|
|
|
|
13:15. Because he shall make a separation between brothers: the Lord
|
|
will bring a burning wind that shall rise from the desert, and it shall
|
|
dry up his springs, and shall make his fountain desolate, and he shall
|
|
carry off the treasure of every desirable vessel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Osee Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
Samaria shall be destroyed. An exhortation to repentance: God's favour
|
|
through Christ to the penitent.
|
|
|
|
14:1. Let Samaria perish, because she hath stirred up her God to
|
|
bitterness: let them perish by the sword, let their little ones be
|
|
dashed, and let the women with child be ripped up.
|
|
|
|
Perish, because she hath stirred up her God to bitterness. . .It is not
|
|
a curse or imprecation, but a prophecy of what should come to pass.
|
|
|
|
14:2. Return, O Israel, to the Lord thy God: for thou hast fallen down
|
|
by thy iniquity.
|
|
|
|
14:3. Take with you words, and return to the Lord, and say to him: Take
|
|
away all iniquity, and receive the good: and we will render the calves
|
|
of our lips.
|
|
|
|
14:4. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither
|
|
will we say any more: The works of our hands are our gods: for thou
|
|
wilt have mercy on the fatherless that is in thee.
|
|
|
|
14:5. I will heal their breaches, I will love them freely: for my wrath
|
|
is turned away from them.
|
|
|
|
14:6. I will be as the dew, Israel shall spring as the lily, and his
|
|
root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus.
|
|
|
|
14:7. His branches shall spread, and his glory shall be as the olive
|
|
tree: and his smell as that of Libanus.
|
|
|
|
14:8. They shall be converted that sit under his shadow: they shall
|
|
live upon wheat, and they shall blossom as a vine: his memorial shall
|
|
be as the wine of Libanus.
|
|
|
|
14:9. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I will
|
|
hear him, and I will make him flourish like a green fir tree: from me
|
|
is thy fruit found.
|
|
|
|
14:10. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and
|
|
he shall know these things? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the
|
|
just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall in them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF JOEL
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
JOEL, whose name, according to ST. JEROME, signifies THE LORD GOD: or,
|
|
as others say, THE COMING DOWN OF GOD: prophesied about the same time
|
|
in the kingdom of Judea, as OSEE did in the kingdom of Israel. He
|
|
foretells under figure the great evils that were coming upon the people
|
|
for their sins: earnestly exhorts them to repentance: and comforts them
|
|
with the promise of a TEACHER OF JUSTICE, viz., CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD,
|
|
and of the coming down of his holy SPIRIT.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joel Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet describes the judgments that shall fall upon the people,
|
|
and invites them to fasting and prayer.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The word of the Lord, that came to Joel, the son of Phatuel.
|
|
|
|
1:2. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the
|
|
land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your
|
|
fathers?
|
|
|
|
1:3. Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their
|
|
children, and their children to another generation.
|
|
|
|
1:4. That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and
|
|
that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which
|
|
the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed.
|
|
|
|
That which the palmerworm hath left, etc. . .Some understand this
|
|
literally of the desolation of the land by these insects: others
|
|
understand it of the different invasions of the Chaldeans, or other
|
|
enemies.
|
|
|
|
1:5. Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take
|
|
delight; in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.
|
|
|
|
1:6. For a nation come up upon my land, strong, and without number: his
|
|
teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion's
|
|
whelp.
|
|
|
|
1:7. He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my
|
|
fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches
|
|
thereof are made white.
|
|
|
|
1:8. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her
|
|
youth.
|
|
|
|
1:9. Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the
|
|
priests, the Lord's ministers, have mourned:
|
|
|
|
1:10. The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn
|
|
is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished.
|
|
|
|
1:11. The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the
|
|
wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is
|
|
perished.
|
|
|
|
1:12. The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the
|
|
pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the
|
|
trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the
|
|
children of men.
|
|
|
|
1:13. Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of
|
|
the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because
|
|
sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.
|
|
|
|
1:14. Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly, gather together the
|
|
ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God:
|
|
and cry ye to the Lord:
|
|
|
|
1:15. Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand,
|
|
and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.
|
|
|
|
1:16. Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from
|
|
the house of our God?
|
|
|
|
1:17. The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed,
|
|
the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.
|
|
|
|
1:18. Why did the beasts groan, why did the herds of cattle low?
|
|
because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are
|
|
perished.
|
|
|
|
1:19. To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the
|
|
beautiful places of the wilderness: and the flame hath burnt all the
|
|
trees of the country.
|
|
|
|
1:20. Yea, and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a
|
|
garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are
|
|
dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the
|
|
wilderness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joel Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
2:1. Blow ye the trumpet in Sion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain,
|
|
let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: because the day of the
|
|
Lord cometh, because it is nigh at hand.
|
|
|
|
The day of the Lord. . .That is, the time when he will execute justice
|
|
upon sinners.
|
|
|
|
2:2. A day of darkness, and of gloominess, a day of clouds and
|
|
whirlwinds: a numerous and strong people as the morning spread upon the
|
|
mountains: the like to it hath not been from the beginning, nor shall
|
|
be after it, even to the years of generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
A numerous and strong people. . .The Assyrians, or Chaldeans. Others
|
|
understand all this of an army of locusts laying waste the land.
|
|
|
|
2:3. Before the face thereof a devouring fire, and behind it a burning
|
|
flame: the land is like a garden of pleasure before it, and behind it a
|
|
desolate wilderness, neither is there any one that can escape it.
|
|
|
|
2:4. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and they
|
|
shall run like horsemen.
|
|
|
|
2:5. They shall leap like the noise of chariots upon the tops of
|
|
mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, as
|
|
a strong people prepared to battle.
|
|
|
|
2:6. At their presence the people shall be in grievous pains: all faces
|
|
shall be made like a kettle.
|
|
|
|
2:7. They shall run like valiant men: like men of war they shall scale
|
|
the wall: the men shall march every one on his way, and they shall not
|
|
turn aside from their ranks.
|
|
|
|
2:8. No one shall press upon his brother: they shall walk every one in
|
|
his path: yea, and they shall fall through the windows, and shall take
|
|
no harm.
|
|
|
|
2:9. They shall enter into the city: they shall run upon the wall, they
|
|
shall climb up the houses, they shall come in at the windows, as a
|
|
thief.
|
|
|
|
2:10. At their presence the earth hath trembled, the heavens are moved:
|
|
the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their
|
|
shining.
|
|
|
|
2:11. And the Lord hath uttered his voice before the face of his army:
|
|
for his armies are exceedingly great, for they are strong, and execute
|
|
his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who
|
|
can stand it?
|
|
|
|
2:12. Now, therefore, saith the Lord. Be converted to me with all your
|
|
heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and mourning.
|
|
|
|
2:13. And rend your hearts, and not your garments and turn to the Lord
|
|
your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy,
|
|
and ready to repent of the evil.
|
|
|
|
2:14. Who knoweth but he will return, and forgive, and leave a blessing
|
|
behind him, sacrifice and libation to the Lord your God?
|
|
|
|
2:15. Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn
|
|
assembly,
|
|
|
|
2:16. Gather together the people, sanctify the church, assemble the
|
|
ancients, gather together the little ones, and them that suck at the
|
|
breasts: let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride out of
|
|
her bridal chamber.
|
|
|
|
2:17. Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord's
|
|
ministers, shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people:
|
|
and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathens should rule
|
|
over them. Why should they say among the nations: Where is their God?
|
|
|
|
2:18. The Lord hath been zealous for his land, and hath spared his
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
2:19. And the Lord answered, and said to his people: Behold I will send
|
|
you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be filled with them: and I
|
|
will no more make you a reproach among the nations.
|
|
|
|
2:20. And I will remove far off from you the northern enemy: and I will
|
|
drive him into a land unpassable, and desert, with his face towards the
|
|
east sea, and his hinder part towards the utmost sea: and his stench
|
|
shall ascend, and his rottenness shall go up, because he hath done
|
|
proudly.
|
|
|
|
The northern enemy. . .Some understand this of Holofernes and his army:
|
|
others, of the locusts.
|
|
|
|
2:21. Fear not, O land, be glad, and rejoice: for the Lord hath done
|
|
great things.
|
|
|
|
2:22. Fear not, ye beasts of the fields: for the beautiful places of
|
|
the wilderness are sprung, for the tree hath brought forth its fruit,
|
|
the fig tree, and the vine have yielded their strength.
|
|
|
|
2:23. And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord
|
|
your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will
|
|
make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the
|
|
beginning.
|
|
|
|
2:24. And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall
|
|
overflow with wine, and oil.
|
|
|
|
2:25. And I will restore to you the years which the locust, and the
|
|
bruchus, and the mildew, and the palmerworm hath eaten; my great host
|
|
which I sent upon you.
|
|
|
|
2:26. And you shall eat in plenty, and shall be filled and you shall
|
|
praise the name of the Lord your God; who hath done wonders with you,
|
|
and my people shall not be confounded for ever.
|
|
|
|
2:27. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the
|
|
Lord your God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be
|
|
confounded forever.
|
|
|
|
2:28. And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out my
|
|
spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy:
|
|
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
|
|
|
|
2:29. Moreover, upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will
|
|
pour forth my spirit.
|
|
|
|
2:30. And I will shew wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire,
|
|
and vapour of smoke.
|
|
|
|
2:31. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood:
|
|
before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come.
|
|
|
|
2:32. And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall call upon
|
|
the name of the Lord, shall be saved: for in Mount Sion, and in
|
|
Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord hath said, and in the residue
|
|
whom the Lord shall call.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joel Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
3:1. For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back
|
|
the captivity of Juda, and Jerusalem:
|
|
|
|
3:2. I will gather together all nations and will bring them down into
|
|
the valley of Josaphat: and I will plead with them there for my people,
|
|
and for my inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the
|
|
nations, and have parted my land.
|
|
|
|
3:3. And they have cast lots upon my people: and the boy they have put
|
|
in the stews, and the girl they have sold for wine, that they might
|
|
drink.
|
|
|
|
3:4. But what have you to do with me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the
|
|
coast of the Philistines? will you revenge yourselves on me? and if you
|
|
revenge yourselves on me, I will very soon return you a recompense upon
|
|
your own head.
|
|
|
|
3:5. For you have taken away my silver, and my gold: and my desirable,
|
|
and most beautiful things you have carried into your temples.
|
|
|
|
3:6. And the children of Juda, and the children of Jerusalem, you have
|
|
sold to the children of the Greeks, that you might remove them far off
|
|
from their own country.
|
|
|
|
3:7. Behold, I will raise them up out of the place wherein you have
|
|
sold them: and I will return your recompense upon your own heads.
|
|
|
|
3:8. And I will sell your sons, and your daughters, by the hands of the
|
|
children of Juda, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far
|
|
off, for the Lord hath spoken it.
|
|
|
|
3:9. Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war, raise up the
|
|
strong: let them come, let all the men of war come up.
|
|
|
|
3:10. Cut your ploughshares into swords, and your spades into spears.
|
|
Let the weak say: I am strong.
|
|
|
|
3:11. Break forth, and come, all ye nations from round about, and
|
|
gather yourselves together: there will the Lord cause all thy strong
|
|
ones to fall down.
|
|
|
|
3:12. Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of
|
|
Josaphat: for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.
|
|
|
|
3:13. Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe: come and go down,
|
|
for the press is full, the fats run over: for their wickedness is
|
|
multiplied.
|
|
|
|
3:14. Nations, nations in the valley of destruction: for the day of the
|
|
Lord is near in the valley of destruction.
|
|
|
|
3:15. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn
|
|
their shining.
|
|
|
|
3:16. And the Lord shall roar out of Sion, and utter his voice from
|
|
Jerusalem: and the heavens and the earth shall be moved, and the Lord
|
|
shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
3:17. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Sion,
|
|
my holy mountain: and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall pass
|
|
through it no more.
|
|
|
|
3:18. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall
|
|
drop down sweetness, aud the hills shall flow with milk: and waters
|
|
shall flow through all the rivers of Juda: and a fountain shall come
|
|
forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the torrent of thorns.
|
|
|
|
A fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, etc. . .Viz., the
|
|
fountain of grace in the church militant, and of glory in the church
|
|
triumphant: which shall water the torrent or valley of thorns, that is,
|
|
the souls that before, like barren ground brought forth nothing but
|
|
thorns; or that were afflicted with the thorns of crosses and
|
|
tribulations.
|
|
|
|
3:19. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a wilderness destroyed:
|
|
because they have done unjustly against the children of Juda, and have
|
|
shed innocent blood in their land.
|
|
|
|
3:20. And Judea shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to
|
|
generation and generation.
|
|
|
|
Judea--and Jerusalem. . .That is, the spiritual Jerusalem, viz., the
|
|
church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
3:21. And I will cleanse their blood, which I had not cleansed: and the
|
|
Lord will dwell in Sion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF AMOS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AMOS prophesied in Israel about the same time as OSEE: and was called
|
|
from following the cattle to denounce GOD'S judgments to the people of
|
|
Israel, and the neighbouring nations, for their repeated crimes, in
|
|
which they continued without repentance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amos Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet threatens Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon with the
|
|
judgments of God, for their obstinacy in sin.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Thecua: which he
|
|
saw concerning Israel in the days of Ozias king of Juda, and in the
|
|
days of Jeroboam the son of Joas king of Israel two years before the
|
|
earthquake.
|
|
|
|
The earthquake. . .Many understand this of a great earthquake, which
|
|
they say was felt at the time that king Ozias attempted to offer
|
|
incense in the temple. But the best chronologists prove that the
|
|
earthquake here spoken of must have been before that time: because
|
|
Jeroboam the second, under whom Amos prophesied, was dead long before
|
|
that attempt of Ozias.
|
|
|
|
1:2. And he said: The Lord will roar from Sion, and utter his voice
|
|
from Jerusalem: and the beautiful places of the shepherds have mourned,
|
|
and the top of Carmel is withered.
|
|
|
|
1:3. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Damascus, and for four I
|
|
will not convert it: because they have thrashed Galaad with iron wains.
|
|
|
|
For three crimes--and for four. . .That is, for their many unrepented of
|
|
crimes.--Ibid. I will not convert it. . .That is, I will not spare them,
|
|
nor turn away the punishments I design to inflict upon them.
|
|
|
|
1:4. And I will send a fire into the house of Azael, and it shall
|
|
devour the houses of Benadad.
|
|
|
|
1:5. And I will break the bar of Damascus: and I will cut off the
|
|
inhabitants from the plain of the idol, and him that holdeth the
|
|
sceptre from the house of pleasure: and the people of Syria shall be
|
|
carried away to Cyrene, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
1:6. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Gaza, and for four I will
|
|
not convert it: because they have carried away a perfect captivity to
|
|
shut them up in Edom.
|
|
|
|
1:7. And I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour
|
|
the houses thereof.
|
|
|
|
1:8. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Azotus, and him that
|
|
holdeth the sceptre from Ascalon: and I will turn my hand against
|
|
Accaron, and the rest of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
1:9. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Tyre, and for four I will
|
|
not convert it: because they have shut up an entire captivity in Edom,
|
|
and have not remembered the covenant of brethren.
|
|
|
|
1:10. And I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour
|
|
the houses thereof.
|
|
|
|
1:11. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Edom, and for four I
|
|
will not convert him: because he hath pursued his brother with the
|
|
sword, and hath carried on his fury, and hath kept his wrath to the
|
|
end.
|
|
|
|
1:12. I will send a fire into Theman: and it shall devour the houses of
|
|
Bosra.
|
|
|
|
1:13. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of the children of Ammon,
|
|
and for four I will not convert him: because he hath ripped up the
|
|
women with child of Galaad to enlarge his border.
|
|
|
|
1:14. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabba: and it shall
|
|
devour the houses thereof with shouting in the day of battle, and with
|
|
a whirlwind in the day of trouble.
|
|
|
|
1:15. And Melchom shall go into captivity, both he, and his princes
|
|
together, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
Melchom. . .The god or idol of the Ammonites, otherwise called Moloch,
|
|
and Melech: which in Hebrew signifies a king, and Melchom their king.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amos Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
The judgments with which God threatens Moab, Juda, and Israel for their
|
|
sins, and their ingratitude.
|
|
|
|
2:1. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Moab, and for four I will
|
|
not convert him: because he hath burnt the bones of the king of Edom
|
|
even to ashes.
|
|
|
|
2:2. And I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses
|
|
of Carioth: and Moab shall die with a noise, with the sound of the
|
|
trumpet:
|
|
|
|
2:3. And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay
|
|
all his princes with him, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:4. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Juda, and for four I will
|
|
not convert him: because he hath cast away the law of the Lord, and
|
|
hath not kept his commandments: for their idols have caused them to
|
|
err, after which their fathers have walked.
|
|
|
|
2:5. And I will send a fire into Juda, and it shall devour the houses
|
|
of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
2:6. Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four I
|
|
will not convert him: because he hath sold the just man for silver, and
|
|
the poor man for a pair of shoes.
|
|
|
|
2:7. They bruise the heads of the poor upon the dust of the earth, and
|
|
turn aside the way of the humble: and the son and his father have gone
|
|
to the same young woman, to profane my holy name.
|
|
|
|
2:8. And they sat down upon garments laid to pledge by every altar: and
|
|
drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Yet I cast out the Amorrhite before their face: whose height was
|
|
like the height of cedars, and who was strong as an oak: and I
|
|
destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots beneath.
|
|
|
|
2:10. It is I that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I led
|
|
you forty years through the wilderness, that you might possess the land
|
|
of the Amorrhite.
|
|
|
|
2:11. And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men
|
|
for Nazarites. Is it not so, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord?
|
|
|
|
2:12. And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command the
|
|
prophets, saying: Prophesy not.
|
|
|
|
2:13. Behold, I will screak under you as a wain screaketh that is laden
|
|
with hay.
|
|
|
|
I will screak. . .Unable to bear any longer the enormous load of your
|
|
sins, etc. The spirit of God, as St. Jerome takes notice, accommodates
|
|
himself to the education of the prophet and inspires him with
|
|
comparisons taken from country affairs.
|
|
|
|
2:14. And flight shall perish from the swift, and the valiant shall not
|
|
possess his strength, neither shall the strong save his life.
|
|
|
|
2:15. And he that holdeth the bow shall not stand, and the swift of
|
|
foot shall not escape, neither shall the rider of the horse save his
|
|
life.
|
|
|
|
2:16. And the stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in
|
|
that day, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amos Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
The evils that shall fall upon Israel for their sins.
|
|
|
|
3:1. Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye
|
|
children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out
|
|
of the land of Egypt, saying:
|
|
|
|
3:2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore
|
|
will I visit upon you all your iniquities.
|
|
|
|
Visit upon. . .That is, punish.
|
|
|
|
3:3. Shall two walk together except they be agreed?
|
|
|
|
3:4. Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the
|
|
lion's whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
|
|
|
|
3:5. Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no
|
|
fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath
|
|
taken somewhat?
|
|
|
|
3:6. Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid?
|
|
Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?
|
|
|
|
Evil in a city. . .He speaks of the evil of punishments of war, famine,
|
|
pestilence, desolation, etc., but not of the evil of sin, of which God
|
|
is not the author.
|
|
|
|
3:7. For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his
|
|
servants the prophets.
|
|
|
|
3:8. The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken,
|
|
who shall not prophesy?
|
|
|
|
3:9. Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land
|
|
of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria,
|
|
and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer
|
|
oppression in the inner rooms thereof.
|
|
|
|
3:10. And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord,
|
|
storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses.
|
|
|
|
3:11. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in
|
|
tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be
|
|
taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled.
|
|
|
|
3:12. Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the
|
|
lion's mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of
|
|
Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a place of a bed, and in
|
|
the couch of Damascus.
|
|
|
|
3:13. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord the
|
|
God of hosts:
|
|
|
|
3:14. That in the day when I shall begin to visit the transgressions of
|
|
Israel, I will visit upon him, and upon the altars of Bethel: and the
|
|
horns of the altars shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground.
|
|
|
|
3:15. And I will strike the winter house with the summer house: and the
|
|
houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith
|
|
the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amos Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Israelites are reproved for their oppressing the poor, for their
|
|
idolatry, and their incorrigibleness.
|
|
|
|
4:1. Hear this word, ye fat kine that are in the mountains of Samaria:
|
|
you that oppress the needy, and crush the poor: that say to your
|
|
masters: Bring, and we will drink.
|
|
|
|
Fat kine. . .He means the great ones that lived in plenty and wealth.
|
|
|
|
4:2. The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the days shall
|
|
come upon you, when they shall lift you up on pikes, and what shall
|
|
remain of you in boiling pots.
|
|
|
|
4:3. And you shall go out at the breaches one over against the other,
|
|
and you shall be cast forth into Armon, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
Armon. . .A foreign country; some understand it of Armenia.
|
|
|
|
4:4. Come ye to Bethel, and do wickedly: to Galgal, and multiply
|
|
transgressions: and bring in the morning your victims, your tithes in
|
|
three days.
|
|
|
|
4:5. And offer a sacrifice of praise with leaven: and call free
|
|
offerings, and proclaim it: for so you would do, O children of Israel,
|
|
saith the Lord God.
|
|
|
|
4:6. Whereupon I also have given you dulness of teeth in all your
|
|
cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet you have not returned
|
|
to me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
4:7. I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet
|
|
three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon on city, and
|
|
caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon: and
|
|
the piece whereupon I rained not, withered.
|
|
|
|
4:8. And two and three cities went to one city to drink water, and were
|
|
not filled: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
4:9. I struck you with a burning wind, and with mildew, the palmerworm
|
|
hath eaten up your many gardens, and your vineyards: your olive groves,
|
|
and fig groves: yet you returned not to me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
4:10. I sent death upon you in the way of Egypt, I slew your young men
|
|
with the sword, even to the captivity of your horses: and I made the
|
|
stench of your camp to come up into your nostrils: yet you returned not
|
|
to me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
4:11. I destroyed some of you, as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, and
|
|
you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet you returned
|
|
not to me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
4:12. Therefore I will do these things to thee, O Israel: and after I
|
|
shall have done these things to thee, be prepared to meet thy God, O
|
|
Israel.
|
|
|
|
4:13. For behold he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind,
|
|
and declareth his word to man, he that maketh the morning mist, and
|
|
walketh upon the high places of the earth: the Lord the God of hosts is
|
|
his name.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amos Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
A lamentation for Israel: an exhortation to return to God.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a
|
|
lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more.
|
|
|
|
5:2. The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to
|
|
raise her up.
|
|
|
|
5:3. For thus saith the Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a
|
|
thousand, there shall be left in it a hundred: and out of which there
|
|
came a hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
5:4. For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and
|
|
you shall live.
|
|
|
|
5:5. But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgal, neither shall you
|
|
pass over to Bersabee: for Galgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel
|
|
shall be unprofitable.
|
|
|
|
Bethel,--Galgal,--Bersabee. . .The places where they worshipped their
|
|
idols.
|
|
|
|
5:6. Seek ye the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burnt with
|
|
fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel.
|
|
|
|
5:7. You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the
|
|
land,
|
|
|
|
5:8. Seek him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth
|
|
darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth
|
|
the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth:
|
|
The Lord is his name.
|
|
|
|
Arcturus and Orion. . .Arcturus is a bright star in the north: Orion a
|
|
beautiful constellation in the south.
|
|
|
|
5:9. He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and
|
|
waste upon the mighty.
|
|
|
|
With a smile. . .That is, with all ease, and without making any effort.
|
|
|
|
5:10. They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred
|
|
him that speaketh perfectly.
|
|
|
|
5:11. Therefore because you robbed the poor, and took the choice prey
|
|
from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell
|
|
in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and shall not drink
|
|
the wine of them.
|
|
|
|
5:12. Because I know your manifold crimes, and your grievous sins:
|
|
enemies of the just, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the
|
|
gate.
|
|
|
|
5:13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence at that time, for it is
|
|
an evil time.
|
|
|
|
5:14. Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord the
|
|
God of hosts will be with you, as you have said.
|
|
|
|
5:15. Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it
|
|
may be the Lord the God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of
|
|
Joseph.
|
|
|
|
5:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of hosts the sovereign
|
|
Lord: In every street there shall be wailing: and in all places that
|
|
are without, they shall say: Alas, alas! and they shall call the
|
|
husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to
|
|
lament.
|
|
|
|
5:17. And in all vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass
|
|
through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
5:18. Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it
|
|
for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.
|
|
|
|
5:19. As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear
|
|
should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon
|
|
the wall, and a serpent should bite him.
|
|
|
|
5:20. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and
|
|
obscurity, and no brightness in it?
|
|
|
|
5:21. I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not
|
|
receive the odour of your assemblies.
|
|
|
|
5:22. And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not
|
|
receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts.
|
|
|
|
5:23. Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear
|
|
the canticles of thy harp.
|
|
|
|
5:24. But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty
|
|
torrent.
|
|
|
|
5:25. Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for
|
|
forty years, O house of Israel?
|
|
|
|
Did you offer, etc. . .Except the sacrifices that were offered at the
|
|
first, in the dedication of the tabernacle, the Israelites offered no
|
|
sacrifices in the desert.
|
|
|
|
5:26.But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of
|
|
your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.
|
|
|
|
A tabernacle, etc. . .All this alludes to the idolatry which they
|
|
committed, when they were drawn away by the daughters of Moab to the
|
|
worship of their gods. Num. 25.
|
|
|
|
5:27. And I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith
|
|
the Lord, the God of hosts is his name.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amos Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
The desolation of Israel for their pride and luxury.
|
|
|
|
6:1. Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion, and to you that have
|
|
confidence in the mountain of Samaria: ye great men, heads of the
|
|
people, that go in with state into the house of Israel.
|
|
|
|
6:2. Pass ye over to Chalane, and see, and go from thence into Emath
|
|
the great: and go down into Geth of the Philistines, and to all the
|
|
best kingdoms of these: if their border be larger than your border.
|
|
|
|
6:3. You that are separated unto the evil day: and that approach to the
|
|
throne of iniquity;
|
|
|
|
6:4. You that sleep upon beds of ivory, and are wanton on your couches:
|
|
that eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of
|
|
the herd;
|
|
|
|
6:5. You that sing to the sound of the psaltery: they have thought
|
|
themselves to have instruments of music like David;
|
|
|
|
6:6. That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best
|
|
ointments: and they are not concerned for the affliction of Joseph.
|
|
|
|
6:7. Wherefore now they shall go captive at the head of them that go
|
|
into captivity: and the faction of the luxurious ones shall be taken
|
|
away.
|
|
|
|
6:8. The Lord God hath sworn by his own soul, saith the Lord the God of
|
|
hosts: I detest the pride of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will
|
|
deliver up the city with the inhabitants thereof.
|
|
|
|
6:9. And if there remain ten men in one house, they also shall die.
|
|
|
|
6:10. And a man's kinsman shall take him up, and shall burn him, that
|
|
he may carry the bones out of the house; and he shall say to him that
|
|
is in the inner rooms of the house: Is there yet any with thee?
|
|
|
|
6:11. And he shall answer: There is an end. And he shall say to him:
|
|
Hold thy peace, and mention not the name of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
6:12. For behold the Lord hath commanded, and he will strike the
|
|
greater house with breaches, and the lesser house with clefts.
|
|
|
|
6:13. Can horses run upon the rocks, or can any one plough with
|
|
buffles? for you have turned judgment into bitterness, and the fruit of
|
|
justice into wormwood.
|
|
|
|
6:14. You that rejoice in a thing of nought: you that say: Have we not
|
|
taken unto us horns by our own strength?
|
|
|
|
6:15. But behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of
|
|
Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall destroy you
|
|
from the entrance of Emath, even to the torrent of the desert.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amos Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet sees, in three visions, evils coming upon Israel: he is
|
|
accused of treason by the false priest of Bethel.
|
|
|
|
7:1. These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the locust was
|
|
formed in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter rain, and lo,
|
|
it was the latter rain after the king's mowing.
|
|
|
|
The locust, etc. . .These judgments by locusts and fire, which, by the
|
|
prophet's intercession, were moderated, signify the former invasions of
|
|
the Assyrians under Phul and Theglathphalasar, before the utter
|
|
desolation of Israel by Salmanasar.
|
|
|
|
7:2. And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the
|
|
grass of the land, I said: O Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee: who
|
|
shall raise up Jacob, for he is very little?
|
|
|
|
7:3. The Lord had pity upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord.
|
|
|
|
7:4. These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the Lord called
|
|
for judgment unto fire, and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a
|
|
part at the same time.
|
|
|
|
7:5. And I said: O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee, who shall raise up
|
|
Jacob, for he is a little one?
|
|
|
|
7:6. The Lord had pity upon this. Yea this also shall not be, said the
|
|
Lord God.
|
|
|
|
7:7. These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold the Lord was
|
|
standing upon a plastered wall, and in his hand a mason's trowel.
|
|
|
|
7:8. And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A
|
|
mason's trowel. And the Lord said: Behold, I will lay down the trowel
|
|
in the midst of my people Israel. I will plaster them over no more.
|
|
|
|
7:9. And the high places of the idol shall be thrown down, and the
|
|
sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste: and I will rise up against
|
|
the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
|
|
|
|
7:10. And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel,
|
|
saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the midst of the house of
|
|
Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
|
|
|
|
7:11. For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel
|
|
shall be carried away captive out of their own land.
|
|
|
|
Jeroboam shall die by the sword. . .The prophet did not say this; but
|
|
that the Lord would rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the
|
|
sword: which was verified, when Zacharias, the son and successor of
|
|
Jeroboam, was slain by the sword. 4 Kings 15.10.
|
|
|
|
7:12. And Amasias said to Amos: Thou seer, go, flee away into the land
|
|
of Juda: and eat bread there, and prophesy there.
|
|
|
|
7:13. But prophesy not again any more in Bethel: because it is the
|
|
king's sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom.
|
|
|
|
7:14. And Amos answered and said to Amasias: I am not a prophet, nor am
|
|
I the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs.
|
|
|
|
I am not a prophet. . .That is, I am not a prophet by education: nor is
|
|
prophesying my calling or profession: but I am a herdsman, whom God was
|
|
pleased to send hither to prophesy to Israel.
|
|
|
|
7:15. And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said
|
|
to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel.
|
|
|
|
7:16. And now hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, thou shalt
|
|
not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word upon the
|
|
house of the idol.
|
|
|
|
The house of the idol. . .Viz., of the calf worshipped in Bethel.
|
|
|
|
7:17. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall play the harlot in
|
|
the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and
|
|
thy land shall be measured by a line: and thou shalt die in a polluted
|
|
land, and Israel shall go into captivity out of their land.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amos Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the figure of a hook, which bringeth down the fruit, the
|
|
approaching desolation of Israel is foreshewed for their avarice and
|
|
injustices.
|
|
|
|
8:1. These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold a hook to draw down
|
|
the fruit.
|
|
|
|
8:2. And he said: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A hook to draw
|
|
down fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end is come upon my people
|
|
Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.
|
|
|
|
8:3. And the hinges of the temple shall screak in that day, saith the
|
|
Lord God: many shall die: silence shall be cast in every place.
|
|
|
|
8:4. Hear this, you that crush the poor, and make the needy of the land
|
|
to fail,
|
|
|
|
8:5. Saying: When will the month be over, and we shall sell our wares:
|
|
and the sabbath, and we shall open the corn: that we may lessen the
|
|
measure, and increase the sicle, and may convey in deceitful balances,
|
|
|
|
8:6. That we may possess the needy for money, and the poor for a pair
|
|
of shoes, and may sell the refuse of the corn?
|
|
|
|
8:7. The Lord hath sworn against the pride of Jacob: surely I will
|
|
never forget all their works.
|
|
|
|
8:8. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that
|
|
dwelleth therein: and rise up altogether as a river, and be cast out,
|
|
and run down as the river of Egypt?
|
|
|
|
8:9. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that
|
|
the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the earth dark in the
|
|
day of light:
|
|
|
|
8:10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs
|
|
into lamentation: and I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of
|
|
yours, and baldness upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning
|
|
of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day.
|
|
|
|
8:11. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send forth a
|
|
famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but
|
|
of hearing the word of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
8:12. And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the
|
|
east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not
|
|
find it.
|
|
|
|
8:13. In that day the fair virgins, and the young men shall faint for
|
|
thirst.
|
|
|
|
8:14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Thy God, O Dan,
|
|
liveth: and the way of Bersabee liveth: and they shall fall, and shall
|
|
rise no more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amos Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
The certainty of the desolation of Israel: the restoring of the
|
|
tabernacle of David, and the conversion of the Gentiles to the church;
|
|
which shall flourish for ever.
|
|
|
|
9:1. I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the
|
|
hinges, and let the lintels be shook: for there is covetousness in the
|
|
head of them all, and I will slay the last of them with the sword:
|
|
there shall be no flight for them: they shall flee, and he that shall
|
|
flee of them shall not be delivered.
|
|
|
|
9:2. Though they go down even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them
|
|
out: and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.
|
|
|
|
9:3. And though they be hid in the top of Carmel, I will search and
|
|
take them away from thence: and though they hide themselves from my
|
|
eyes in the depth of the sea, there will I command the serpent and he
|
|
shall bite them.
|
|
|
|
9:4. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I
|
|
command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon
|
|
them for evil, and not for good.
|
|
|
|
9:5. And the Lord the God of hosts is he who toucheth the earth, and it
|
|
shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise
|
|
up as a river, and shall run down as the river of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
9:6. He that buildeth his ascension in heaven, and hath founded his
|
|
bundle upon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth
|
|
them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name.
|
|
|
|
His ascension. . .That is, his high throne.--Ibid. His bundle. . .That
|
|
is, his church bound up together by the bands of one faith and communion.
|
|
|
|
9:7. Are not you as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children
|
|
of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel, out of the land
|
|
of Egypt: and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of
|
|
Cyrene?
|
|
|
|
As the children of the Ethiopians. . .That is, as black as they, by your
|
|
iniquities.
|
|
|
|
9:8. Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I
|
|
will destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet I will not utterly
|
|
destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
9:9. For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel
|
|
among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a
|
|
little stone fall to the ground.
|
|
|
|
9:10. All the sinners of my people shall fall by the sword: who say:
|
|
The evils shall not approach, and shall not come upon us.
|
|
|
|
9:11. In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is
|
|
fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and
|
|
repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old.
|
|
|
|
9:12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all nations,
|
|
because my name is invoked upon them: saith the Lord that doth these
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
9:13. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall
|
|
overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed:
|
|
and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled.
|
|
|
|
Shall overtake, etc. . .By this is meant the great abundance of
|
|
spiritual blessings; which, as it were, by a constant succession, shall
|
|
enrich the church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
9:14. And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they
|
|
shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them: and they shall
|
|
plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens,
|
|
and eat the fruits of them. And I will plant them upon their own land:
|
|
and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given
|
|
them, saith the Lord thy God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF ABDIAS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ABDIAS, whose name is interpreted THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, is believed
|
|
to have prophesied about the same time as OSEE, JOEL, and AMOS: though
|
|
some of the Hebrews, who believe him to be the same with ACHAB's
|
|
steward, make him much more ancient. His prophecy is the shortest of
|
|
any in number of words, but yields to none, says ST. JEROME, in the
|
|
sublimity of mysteries. It contains but one chapter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Abdias Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The destruction of Edom for their pride: and the wrongs they did to
|
|
Jacob: the salvation and victory of Israel.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The vision of Abdias. Thus saith the Lord God to Edom: We have
|
|
heard a rumour from the Lord, and he hath sent an ambassador to the
|
|
nations: Arise, and let us rise up to battle against him.
|
|
|
|
1:2. Behold I have made thee small among the nations: thou art
|
|
exceeding contemptible.
|
|
|
|
1:3. The pride of thy heart hath lifted thee up, who dwellest in the
|
|
clefts of the rocks, and settest up thy throne on high: who sayest in
|
|
thy heart: Who shall bring me down to the ground?
|
|
|
|
1:4. Though thou be exalted as an eagle, and though thou set thy nest
|
|
among the stars: thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
1:5. If thieves had gone in to thee, if robbers by night, how wouldst
|
|
thou have held thy peace? would they not have stolen till they had
|
|
enough? if the grapegatherers had come in to thee, would they not have
|
|
left thee at the least a cluster?
|
|
|
|
1:6. How have they searched Esau, how have they sought out his hidden
|
|
things?
|
|
|
|
1:7. They have sent thee out even to the border: all the men of thy
|
|
confederacy have deceived thee: the men of thy peace have prevailed
|
|
against thee: they that eat with thee shall lay snares under thee:
|
|
there is no wisdom in him.
|
|
|
|
1:8. Shall not I in that day, saith the Lord, destroy the wise out of
|
|
Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
|
|
|
|
1:9. And thy valiant men of the south shall be afraid, that man may be
|
|
cut off from the mount of Esau.
|
|
|
|
1:10. For the slaughter, and for the iniquity against thy brother
|
|
Jacob, confusion shall cover thee, and thou shalt perish for ever.
|
|
|
|
1:11. In the day when thou stoodest against him, when strangers carried
|
|
away his army captive, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast
|
|
lots upon Jerusalem: thou also wast as one of them.
|
|
|
|
1:12. But thou shalt not look on in the day of thy brother, in the day
|
|
of his leaving his country: and thou shalt not rejoice over the
|
|
children of Juda, in the day of their destruction: and thou shalt not
|
|
magnify thy mouth in the day of distress.
|
|
|
|
Thou shalt not look, etc. . .or, thou shouldst not, etc. It is a
|
|
reprehension for what they had done, and at the same time a declaration
|
|
that these things should not pass unpunished.--Ibid. Thou shalt not
|
|
magnify thy mouth. . .That is, thou shalt not speak arrogantly against
|
|
the children of Juda as insulting them in their distress.
|
|
|
|
1:13. Neither shalt thou enter into the gate of my people in the day of
|
|
their ruin: neither shalt thou also look on in his evils in the day of
|
|
his calamity: and thou shalt not be sent out against his army in the
|
|
day of his desolation.
|
|
|
|
1:14. Neither shalt thou stand in the crossways to kill them that flee:
|
|
and thou shalt not shut up them that remain of him in the day of
|
|
tribulation.
|
|
|
|
1:15. For the day of the Lord is at hand upon all nations: as thou hast
|
|
done, so shall it be done to thee: he will turn thy reward upon thy own
|
|
head.
|
|
|
|
1:16. For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so all nations shall
|
|
drink continually: and they shall drink, and sup up, and they shall be
|
|
as though they were not.
|
|
|
|
1:17. And in mount Sion shall be salvation, and it shall be holy, and
|
|
the house of Jacob shall possess those that possessed them.
|
|
|
|
1:18. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a
|
|
flame, and the house of Esau stubble: and they shall be kindled in
|
|
them, and shall devour them: and there shall be no remains of the house
|
|
of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it.
|
|
|
|
1:19. And they that are toward the south, shall inherit the mount of
|
|
Esau, and they that are in the plains, the Philistines: and they shall
|
|
possess the country of Ephraim, and the country of Samaria: and
|
|
Benjamin shall possess Galaad.
|
|
|
|
1:20. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, all the
|
|
places of the Chanaanites even to Sarepta: and the captivity of
|
|
Jerusalem that is in Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the south.
|
|
|
|
1:21. And saviours shall come up into mount Sion to judge the mount of
|
|
Esau: and the kingdom shall be for the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF JONAS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
JONAS prophesied in the reign of JEREBOAM the second: as we learn from
|
|
4 Kings 14.25. To whom also he foretold his success in restoring all
|
|
the borders of Israel. He was of GETH OPHER in the tribe of ZABULON,
|
|
and consequently of GALILEE: which confutes that assertion of the
|
|
Pharisees, John 7.52, that no prophet ever rose out of GALILEE. He
|
|
prophesied and prefigured in his own person the death and resurrection
|
|
of CHRIST: and was the only one among the prophets that was sent to
|
|
preach to the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jonas Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jonas being sent to preach in Ninive, fleeth away by sea: a tempest
|
|
riseth: of which he being found, by lot, to be the cause, is cast into
|
|
the sea, which thereupon is calmed.
|
|
|
|
1:1. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonas, the son of Amathi, saying:
|
|
|
|
1:2. Arise and go to Ninive, the great city, and preach in it: For the
|
|
wickedness thereof is come up before me.
|
|
|
|
Nineve. . .The capital city of the Assyrian empire.
|
|
|
|
1:3. And Jonas rose up to flee into Tharsis from the face of the Lord,
|
|
and he went down to Joppe, and found a ship going to Tharsis: and he
|
|
paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to
|
|
Tharsis from the face of the Lord,
|
|
|
|
Tharsis. . .Which some take to be Tharsus of Cilicia, others to be
|
|
Tartessus of Spain, others to be Carthage.
|
|
|
|
1:4. But the Lord sent a great wind to the sea: and a great tempest was
|
|
raised in the sea, and the ship was in danger to be broken.
|
|
|
|
1:5. And the mariners were afraid, and the men cried to their god: and
|
|
they cast forth the wares that were in the ship, into the sea, to
|
|
lighten it of them: and Jonas went down into the inner part of the
|
|
ship, and fell into a deep sleep.
|
|
|
|
A deep sleep. . .This is a lively image of the insensibility of sinners,
|
|
fleeing from God, and threatened on every side with his judgments: and
|
|
yet sleeping as if they were secure.
|
|
|
|
1:6. And the ship master came to him and said to him: Why art thou fast
|
|
asleep? rise up call upon thy God, if so be that God will think of us
|
|
that we may not perish.
|
|
|
|
1:7. And they said every one to his fellow: Come and let us cast lots,
|
|
that we may know why this evil is upon us. And they cast lots, and the
|
|
lot fell upon Jonas.
|
|
|
|
1:8. And they said to him: Tell us for what cause this evil is upon us,
|
|
what is thy business? of what country art thou? and whither goest thou?
|
|
or of what people art thou?
|
|
|
|
1:9. And he said to them: I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, and the
|
|
God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land.
|
|
|
|
1:10. And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him: Why hast
|
|
thou done this? (For the men knew that he fled from the face of the
|
|
Lord: because he had told them.)
|
|
|
|
1:11. And they said to him: What shall we do with thee, that the sea
|
|
may be calm to us? for the sea flowed and swelled.
|
|
|
|
1:12. And he said to them: take me up, and cast me into the sea, and
|
|
the sea shall be calm to you: for I know for my sake this great tempest
|
|
is upon you.
|
|
|
|
1:13. And the men rowed hard to return the land, but they were not
|
|
able: because the sea tossed and swelled upon them.
|
|
|
|
1:14. And they cried to the Lord, and said: We beseech thee, O Lord let
|
|
us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood:
|
|
for thou, oh Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.
|
|
|
|
1:15. And they took Jonas, and cast him into the sea, and the sea
|
|
ceased from raging.
|
|
|
|
1:16. And the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and sacrificed victims
|
|
to the Lord, and made vows.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jonas Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jonas is swallowed up by a great fish: he prayeth with confidence in
|
|
God; and the fish casteth him out on the dry land.
|
|
|
|
2:1. Now the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonas: and Jonas
|
|
was in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights.
|
|
|
|
2:2. And Jonas prayed to the Lord, his God, out of the belly of the
|
|
fish.
|
|
|
|
2:3. And he said: I cried out of my affliction to the Lord, and he
|
|
heard me: I cried out of the belly of hell, and thou hast heard my
|
|
voice.
|
|
|
|
2:4. And thou hast cast me forth into the deep, in the heart of the
|
|
sea, and a flood hast compassed me: all thy billows, and thy waves have
|
|
passed over me.
|
|
|
|
2:5. And I said: I am cast away out of the sight of thy eyes: but yet I
|
|
shall see the holy temple again.
|
|
|
|
2:6. The waters compassed me about even to the soul: the deep hath
|
|
closed me round about, the sea hath covered my head.
|
|
|
|
2:7. I went down to the lowest parts of the mountains: the bars of the
|
|
earth have shut me up for ever: and thou wilt bring up my life from
|
|
corruption, O Lord, my God.
|
|
|
|
2:8. When my soul was in distress within me, I remembered the Lord:
|
|
that my prayer may come to thee, unto the holy temple.
|
|
|
|
2:9. They that in vain observe vanities, forsake their own mercy.
|
|
|
|
2:10. But I with the voice of praise will sacrifice to thee: I will pay
|
|
whatsoever I have vowed for my salvation to the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:11. And the Lord spoke to the fish: and it vomited out Jonas upon the
|
|
dry land.
|
|
|
|
Spoke to the fish. . .God's speaking to the fish, was nothing else but
|
|
his will, which all things obey.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jonas Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jonas is sent again to preach in Ninive. Upon their fasting and
|
|
repentance, God recalleth the sentence by which they were to be
|
|
destroyed.
|
|
|
|
3:1. And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time saying:
|
|
|
|
3:2. Arise, and go to Ninive, the great city: and preach in it the
|
|
preaching that I bid thee.
|
|
|
|
3:3. And Jonas arose, and went to Ninive, according to the word of the
|
|
Lord: now Ninive was a great city of three days' journey.
|
|
|
|
Of three days' journey. . .By the computation of some ancient
|
|
historians, Ninive was about fifty miles round: so that to go through
|
|
all the chief streets and public places was three days' journey.
|
|
|
|
3:4. And Jonas began to enter into the city one day's journey: and he
|
|
cried and said: Yet forty days and Ninive shall be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
3:5. And the men of Ninive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast,
|
|
and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least.
|
|
|
|
3:6. And the word came to the king of Ninive: and he rose up out of his
|
|
throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed in sackcloth,
|
|
and sat in ashes.
|
|
|
|
3:7. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Ninive, from
|
|
the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: Let neither men nor
|
|
beasts, oxen, nor sheep taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink
|
|
water.
|
|
|
|
3:8. And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the
|
|
Lord with all their strength, and let them turn every one from his evil
|
|
way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands.
|
|
|
|
3:9. Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away
|
|
from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish?
|
|
|
|
3:10. And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil
|
|
way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which he had said that
|
|
he would do to them, and he did it not.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jonas Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
4:1. And Jonas was exceedingly troubled, and was angry:
|
|
|
|
Was exceedingly troubled, etc. . .His concern was lest he should pass
|
|
for a false prophet; or rather, lest God's word, by this occasion,
|
|
might come to be slighted and disbelieved.
|
|
|
|
4:2. And he prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord, is
|
|
not this what I said, when I was yet in my own country? therefore I
|
|
went before to flee into Tharsis: for I know that thou art a gracious
|
|
and merciful God, patient, and of much compassion, and easy to forgive
|
|
evil.
|
|
|
|
4:3. And now, O Lord, I beseech thee take my life from me: for it is
|
|
better for me to die than to live.
|
|
|
|
4:4. And the Lord said: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be angry?
|
|
|
|
4:5. Then Jonas went out of the city, and sat toward the east side of
|
|
the city: and he made himself a booth there, and he sat under it in the
|
|
shadow, till he might see what would befall the city.
|
|
|
|
4:6. And the Lord God prepared an ivy, and it came up over the head of
|
|
Jonas, to be a shadow over his head, and to cover him (for he was
|
|
fatigued): and Jonas was exceeding glad of the ivy.
|
|
|
|
The Lord God prepared an ivy. . .Hederam. In the Hebrew it is Kikajon,
|
|
which some render a gourd: others a palmerist, or palma Christi.
|
|
|
|
4:7. But God prepared a worm, when the morning arose on the following
|
|
day: and it struck the ivy and it withered.
|
|
|
|
4:8. And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded a hot and burning
|
|
wind: and the sun beat upon the head of Jonas, and he broiled with the
|
|
heat: and he desired for his soul that he might die, and said: It is
|
|
better for me to die than to live.
|
|
|
|
4:9. And the Lord said to Jonas: Dost thou think thou hast reason to be
|
|
angry, for the ivy? And he said: I am angry with reason even unto
|
|
death.
|
|
|
|
4:10. And the Lord said: Thou art grieved for the ivy, for which thou
|
|
hast not laboured, nor made it to grow, which in one night came up, and
|
|
in one night perished.
|
|
|
|
4:11. And shall I not spare Ninive, that great city, in which there are
|
|
more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons, that know how to
|
|
distinguish between their right hand and their left, and many beasts?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF MICHEAS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MICHEAS, of Morasti, a little town in the tribe of JUDA, was
|
|
contemporary with the prophet ISAIAS: whom he resembles both in his
|
|
spirit and his style. He is different from the prophet MICHEAS
|
|
mentioned in the third book of Kings, chap. 22. For that MICHEAS lived
|
|
in the days of king ACHAB, one hundred and fifty years before the time
|
|
of EZECHIAS, under whom this MICHEAS prophesied.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Micheas Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Samaria for her sins shall be destroyed by the Assyrians; they shall
|
|
also invade Juda and Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The word of the Lord, that came to Micheas, the Morasthite, in the
|
|
days of Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda: which he saw
|
|
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
1:2. Hear, all ye people: and let the earth give ear, and all that is
|
|
therein: and let the Lord God be a witness to you, the Lord from his
|
|
holy temple.
|
|
|
|
1:3. For behold the Lord will come forth out of his place: and he will
|
|
come down, and will tread upon the high places of the earth.
|
|
|
|
1:4. And the mountains shall be melted under him: and the valleys shall
|
|
be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as waters that run down a steep
|
|
place.
|
|
|
|
1:5. For the wickedness of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the
|
|
house of Israel. What is the wickedness of Jacob? is it not Samaria?
|
|
and what are the high places of Juda? are they not Jerusalem?
|
|
|
|
1:6. And I will make Samaria as a heap of stones in the field when a
|
|
vineyard is planted: and I will bring down the stones thereof into the
|
|
valley, and will lay her foundations bare.
|
|
|
|
1:7. And all her graven things shall be cut in pieces, and all her
|
|
wages shall be burnt with fire, and I will bring to destruction all her
|
|
idols: for they were gathered together of the hire of a harlot, and
|
|
unto the hire of a harlot they shall return.
|
|
|
|
Her wages. . .That is, her donaries or presents offered to her idols: or
|
|
the hire of all her traffic and labour.--Ibid. Of the hire of a harlot,
|
|
etc. . .They were gathered together by one idolatrous city, viz.,
|
|
Samaria: and they shall be carried away to another idolatrous city,
|
|
viz., Ninive.
|
|
|
|
1:8. Therefore will I lament, and howl: I will go stript and naked: I
|
|
will make a wailing like the dragons, and a mourning like the
|
|
ostriches.
|
|
|
|
1:9. Because her wound is desperate, because it is come even to Juda,
|
|
it hath touched the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
It hath touched the gate, etc. . .That is, the destruction of Samaria
|
|
shall be followed by the invasion of my people of Juda, and the
|
|
Assyrians shall come and lay all waste even to the confines of
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
1:10. Declare ye it not in Geth, weep ye not with tears: in the house
|
|
of Dust sprinkle yourselves with dust.
|
|
|
|
Declare ye it not in Geth. . .Viz., amongst the Philistines, lest they
|
|
rejoice at your calamity.--Ibid. Weep ye not, etc. . .Keep in your
|
|
tears, that you may not give your enemies an occasion of insulting over
|
|
you; but in your own houses, or in your house of dust, your earthly
|
|
habitation, sprinkle yourselves with dust, and put on the habit of
|
|
penitents. Some take the house of dust (in Hebrew, Aphrah) to be the
|
|
proper name of a city.
|
|
|
|
1:11. And pass away, O thou that dwellest in the beautiful place,
|
|
covered with thy shame: she went not forth that dwelleth in the
|
|
confines: the house adjoining shall receive mourning from you, which
|
|
stood by herself.
|
|
|
|
Thou that dwellest in the Beautiful place, viz., in Samaria. In the
|
|
Hebrew the Beautiful place is expressed by the word Sapir, which some
|
|
take for the proper name of a city.--Ibid. She went not forth,
|
|
etc. . .that is, they that dwelt in the confines came not forth, but kept
|
|
themselves within, for fear.--Ibid. The house adjoining, etc. . .Viz.,
|
|
Judea and Jerusalem, neighbours to Samaria, and partners in her sins,
|
|
shall share also in her mourning and calamity; though they have
|
|
pretended to stand by themselves, trusting in their strength.
|
|
|
|
1:12. For she is become weak unto good that dwelleth in bitterness: for
|
|
evil is come down from the Lord into the gate of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
She is become weak, etc. . .Jerusalem is become weak unto any good;
|
|
because she dwells in the bitterness of sin.
|
|
|
|
1:13. A tumult of chariots hath astonished the inhabitants of Lachis:
|
|
it is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Sion for in thee were
|
|
found the crimes of Israel.
|
|
|
|
It is the beginning, etc. . .That is, Lachis was the first city of Juda
|
|
that learned from Samaria the worship of idols, and communicated it to
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
1:14. Therefore shall she send messengers to the inheritance of Geth:
|
|
the houses of lying to deceive the kings of Israel.
|
|
|
|
Therefore shall she send, etc. . .Lachis shall send to Geth for help:
|
|
but in vain: for Geth, instead of helping, shall be found to be a house
|
|
of lying and deceit to Israel.
|
|
|
|
1:15. Yet will I bring an heir to thee that dwellest in Maresa: even to
|
|
Odollam shall the glory of Israel come.
|
|
|
|
An heir, etc. . .Maresa (which was the name of a city of Juda) signifies
|
|
inheritance: but here God by his prophet tells the Jews, that he will
|
|
bring them an heir to take possession of their inheritance: and that
|
|
the glory of Israel shall be obliged to give place, and to retire even
|
|
to Odollam, a city in the extremity of their dominions. And therefore
|
|
he exhorts them to penance in the following verse.
|
|
|
|
1:16. Make thee bald, and be polled for thy delicate children: enlarge
|
|
thy baldness as the eagle: for they are carried into captivity from
|
|
thee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Micheas Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Israelites by their crying injustices provoke God to punish them.
|
|
He shall at last restore Jacob.
|
|
|
|
2:1. Woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil
|
|
in your beds: in the morning light they execute it, because their hand
|
|
is against God.
|
|
|
|
2:2. And they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and
|
|
houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his
|
|
house, a man and his inheritance.
|
|
|
|
2:3. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I devise an evil against
|
|
this family: from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you
|
|
shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time.
|
|
|
|
2:4. In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall
|
|
be sung with melody by them that say: We are laid waste and spoiled:
|
|
the portion of my people is changed: how shall he depart from me,
|
|
whereas he is returning that will divide our land?
|
|
|
|
How shall he depart, etc. . .How do you pretend to say that the Assyrian
|
|
is departing; when indeed he is coming to divide our lands amongst his
|
|
subjects?
|
|
|
|
2:5. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot
|
|
in the assembly of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
Thou shalt have none, etc. . .Thou shalt have no longer any lot or
|
|
inheritance in the land of the people of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:6. Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion
|
|
shall not take them.
|
|
|
|
It shall not drop, etc. . .That is, the prophecy shall not come upon
|
|
these. Such were the sentiments of the people that were unwilling to
|
|
believe the threats of the prophets.
|
|
|
|
2:7. The house of Jacob saith: Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened or
|
|
are these his thoughts? Are not my words good to him that walketh
|
|
uprightly?
|
|
|
|
2:8. But my people, on the contrary, are risen up as an enemy: you have
|
|
taken away the cloak off from the coat: and them that passed harmless
|
|
you have turned to war.
|
|
|
|
You have taken away, etc. . .You have even stripped people of their
|
|
necessary garments: and have treated such as were innocently passing on
|
|
the way, as if they were at war with you.
|
|
|
|
2:9. You have cast out the women of my people from their houses, in
|
|
which they took delight: you have taken my praise forever from their
|
|
children.
|
|
|
|
You have cast out, etc. . .either by depriving them of their houses: or,
|
|
by your crimes, given occasion to their being carried away captives,
|
|
and their children, by that means, never learning to praise the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that
|
|
uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous
|
|
corruption.
|
|
|
|
2:11. Would God I were not a man that hath the spirit, and that I
|
|
rather spoke a lie: I will let drop to thee of wine, and of
|
|
drunkenness: and it shall be this people upon whom it shall drop.
|
|
|
|
Would God, etc. . .The prophet could have wished, out of his love to his
|
|
people, that he might be deceived in denouncing to them these evils
|
|
that were to fall upon them: but by conforming himself to the will of
|
|
God, he declares to them, that he is sent to prophesy, literally to let
|
|
drop upon them, the wine of God's indignation, with which they should
|
|
be made drunk; that is, stupified and cast down.
|
|
|
|
2:12. I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will
|
|
bring together the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as a
|
|
flock in the fold, as sheep in the midst of the sheepcotes, they shall
|
|
make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men.
|
|
|
|
2:13. For he shall go up that shall open the way before them: they
|
|
shall divide and pass through the gate, and shall come in by it: and
|
|
their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Micheas Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the sins of the rich oppressing the poor, of false prophets
|
|
flattering for lucre, and of judges perverting justice, Jerusalem and
|
|
the temple shall be destroyed.
|
|
|
|
3:1. And I said: Hear, O ye princes of Jacob, and ye chiefs of the
|
|
house of Israel: Is it not your part to know judgment,
|
|
|
|
3:2. You that hate good, and love evil: that violently pluck off their
|
|
skins from them and their flesh from their bones?
|
|
|
|
3:3. Who have eaten the flesh of my people, and have flayed their skin
|
|
off them: and have broken, and chopped their bones as for the kettle,
|
|
and as flesh in the midst of the pot.
|
|
|
|
3:4. Then shall they cry to the Lord, and he will not hear them: and he
|
|
will hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved
|
|
wickedly in their devices.
|
|
|
|
3:5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people
|
|
err: that bite with their teeth, and preach peace: and if a man give
|
|
not something into their mouth, they prepare war against him.
|
|
|
|
3:6. Therefore night shall be to you instead of vision, and darkness to
|
|
you instead of divination: and the sun shall go down upon the prophets,
|
|
and the day shall be darkened over them.
|
|
|
|
3:7. And they shall be confounded that see visions, and the diviners
|
|
shall be confounded: and they shall all cover their faces, because
|
|
there is no answer of God.
|
|
|
|
3:8. But yet I am filled with the strength of the spirit of the Lord,
|
|
with judgment and power: to declare unto Jacob his wickedness and to
|
|
Israel his sin.
|
|
|
|
3:9. Hear this, ye princes of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of the
|
|
house of Israel: you that abhor judgment and pervert all that is right.
|
|
|
|
3:10. You that build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
|
|
|
|
3:11. Her princes have judged for bribes: and her priests have taught
|
|
for hire, and her prophets divined for money: and they leaned upon the
|
|
Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? no evil shall come
|
|
among us.
|
|
|
|
3:12. Therefore because of you, Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and
|
|
Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple
|
|
as the high places of the forests.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Micheas Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
The glory of the church of Christ, by the conversion of the Gentiles.
|
|
The Jews shall be carried captives to Babylon, and be delivered again.
|
|
|
|
4:1. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of
|
|
the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountains,
|
|
and high above the hills: and people shall flow to it.
|
|
|
|
4:2. And many nations shall come in haste, and say: Come, let us go up
|
|
to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and
|
|
he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the
|
|
law shall go forth out of Sion, and the word of the Lord out of
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
4:3. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations
|
|
afar off: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their
|
|
spears into spades: nation shall not take sword against nation: neither
|
|
shall they learn war anymore.
|
|
|
|
Neither shall they learn, etc. . .The law of Christ is a law of peace;
|
|
and all his true subjects, as much as lies in them love and keep peace
|
|
with all the world.
|
|
|
|
4:4. And every man shall sit under his vine, and under his fig tree,
|
|
and there shall be none to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord
|
|
of hosts hath spoken.
|
|
|
|
4:5. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god: but we
|
|
will walk in the name of the Lord, our God, for ever and ever.
|
|
|
|
4:6. In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather up her that halteth:
|
|
and her that I had cast out, I will gather up: and her whom I had
|
|
afflicted.
|
|
|
|
4:7. And I will make her that halted, a remnant: and her that had been
|
|
afflicted, a mighty nation: and the Lord will reign over them in Mount
|
|
Sion, from this time now and forever.
|
|
|
|
4:8. And thou, O cloudy tower of the flock, of the daughter of Sion,
|
|
unto thee shall it come: yea the first power shall come, the kingdom to
|
|
the daughter of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
4:9. Now, why art thou drawn together with grief? Hast thou no king in
|
|
thee, or is thy counselor perished, because sorrow hath taken thee as a
|
|
woman in labour.
|
|
|
|
4:10. Be in pain and labour, O daughter of Sion, as a woman that
|
|
bringeth forth: for now shalt thou go out of the city, and shalt dwell
|
|
in the country, and shalt come even to Babylon, there thou shalt be
|
|
delivered: there the Lord will redeem thee out of the hand of thy
|
|
enemies.
|
|
|
|
4:11. And now many nations are gathered together against thee, and they
|
|
say: Let her be stoned: and let our eye look upon Sion.
|
|
|
|
4:12. But they have not known the thoughts of the Lord, and have not
|
|
understood his counsel: because he hath gathered them together as the
|
|
hay of the floor.
|
|
|
|
4:13. Arise, and tread, O daughter of Sion: for I will make thy horn
|
|
iron, and thy hoofs I will make brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces
|
|
many peoples, and shalt immolate the spoils of them to the Lord, and
|
|
their strength to the Lord of the whole earth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Micheas Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
The birth of Christ in Bethlehem: his reign and spiritual conquests.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Now shalt thou be laid waste, O daughter of the robber: they have
|
|
laid siege against us, with a rod shall they strike the cheek of the
|
|
judge of Israel.
|
|
|
|
Daughter of the robber. . .Some understand this of Babylon; which robbed
|
|
and pillaged the temple of God: others understand it of Jerusalem; by
|
|
reason of the many rapines and oppressions committed there.
|
|
|
|
5:2. And thou Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands
|
|
of Juda, out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the
|
|
ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the
|
|
days of eternity.
|
|
|
|
His going forth, etc. . .That is, he who as man shall be born in thee,
|
|
as God was born of his Father from all eternity.
|
|
|
|
5:3. Therefore will he give them up even till the time wherein she that
|
|
travaileth shall bring forth: and the remnant of his brethren shall be
|
|
converted to the children of Israel.
|
|
|
|
5:4. And he shall stand, and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the
|
|
height of the name of the Lord, his God: and they shall be converted,
|
|
for now shall he be magnified even to the ends of the earth.
|
|
|
|
5:5. And this man shall be our peace, when the Assyrian shall come into
|
|
our land, and when he shall set his foot in our houses: and we shall
|
|
raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
|
|
|
|
The Assyrian. . .That is, the persecutors of the church: who are here
|
|
called Assyrians by the prophet: because the Assyrians were at that
|
|
time the chief enemies and persecutors of the people of God.--Ibid.
|
|
Seven shepherds, etc. . .Viz., the pastors of God's church, and the
|
|
defenders of the faith. The number seven in scripture is taken to
|
|
signify many: and when eight is joined with it, we are to understand
|
|
that the number will be very great.
|
|
|
|
5:6. And they shall feed the land of Assyria with the sword, and the
|
|
land of Nemrod with the spears thereof: and he shall deliver us from
|
|
the Assyrian when he shall come into our land, and when he shall tread
|
|
in our borders.
|
|
|
|
They shall feed, etc. . .They shall make spiritual conquests in the
|
|
lands of their persecutors, with the word of the spirit, which is the
|
|
word of God. Eph. 6.17.
|
|
|
|
5:7. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, as
|
|
a dew from the Lord, and as drops upon the grass, which waiteth not for
|
|
man, nor tarrieth for the children of men.
|
|
|
|
The remnant of Jacob. . .Viz., the apostles, and the first preachers of
|
|
the Jewish nation; whose doctrine, like dew, shall make the plants of
|
|
the converted Gentiles grow up, without waiting for any man to
|
|
cultivate them by human learning.
|
|
|
|
5:8. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst
|
|
of many peoples, as a lion among the beasts of the forests, and as a
|
|
young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, when he shall go through,
|
|
and tread down, and take there is none to deliver.
|
|
|
|
As a lion, etc. . .This denotes the fortitude of these first preachers;
|
|
and their success in their spiritual enterprises.
|
|
|
|
5:9. Thy hand shall be lifted up over thy enemies, and all thy enemies
|
|
shall be cut off.
|
|
|
|
5:10. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I
|
|
will take away thy horses out of the midst of thee, and will destroy
|
|
thy chariots.
|
|
|
|
I will take away thy horses, etc. . .Some understand this, and all that
|
|
follows to the end of the chapter, as addressed to the enemies of the
|
|
church. But it may as well be understood of the converts to the church:
|
|
who should no longer put their trust in any of these things.
|
|
|
|
5:11. And I will destroy the cities of thy land, and will throw down
|
|
all thy strong holds, and I will take away sorceries out of thy hand,
|
|
and there shall be no divinations in thee.
|
|
|
|
5:12. And I will destroy thy graven things, and thy statues, out of the
|
|
midst of thee: and thou shalt no more adore the works of thy hands.
|
|
|
|
5:13. And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: and will
|
|
crush thy cities.
|
|
|
|
5:14. And I will execute vengeance in wrath, and in indignation, among
|
|
all the nations that have not given ear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Micheas Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
God expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude and sins: for
|
|
which they shall be punished.
|
|
|
|
6:1. Hear ye what the Lord saith: Arise, contend thou in judgment
|
|
against the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
|
|
|
|
The mountains, etc. . .That is, the great ones, the princes of the
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
6:2. Let the mountains hear the judgment of the Lord, and the strong
|
|
foundations of the earth: for the Lord will enter into judgment with
|
|
his people, and he will plead against Israel.
|
|
|
|
6:3. O my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested
|
|
thee? answer thou me.
|
|
|
|
6:4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and delivered thee
|
|
out of the house of slaves: and I sent before thy face Moses, and
|
|
Aaron, and Mary.
|
|
|
|
6:5. O my people, remember, I pray thee, what Balach, the king of Moab,
|
|
purposed: and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him, from Setim to
|
|
Galgal, that thou mightest know the justice of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
From Setim to Galgal. . .He puts them in mind of the favour he did them,
|
|
in not suffering them to be quite destroyed by the evil purpose of
|
|
Balach, and the wicked counsel of Balaam: and then gives them a hint of
|
|
the wonders he wrought, in order to bring them into the land of
|
|
Promise, by stopping the course of the Jordan, in their march from
|
|
Setim to Galgal.
|
|
|
|
6:6. What shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? wherewith shall I
|
|
kneel before the high God? shall I offer holocausts unto him, and
|
|
calves of a year old?
|
|
|
|
What shall I offer, etc. . .This is spoken in the person of the people,
|
|
desiring to be informed what they are to do to please God.
|
|
|
|
6:7. May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many
|
|
thousands of fat he goats? shall I give my firstborn for my wickedness,
|
|
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
|
|
|
|
6:8. I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth
|
|
of thee: Verily to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk
|
|
solicitous with thy God.
|
|
|
|
6:9. The voice of the Lord crieth to the city, and salvation shall be
|
|
to them that fear thy name: hear O ye tribes, and who shall approve it?
|
|
|
|
6:10. As yet there is a fire in the house of the wicked, the treasures
|
|
of iniquity, and a scant measure full of wrath.
|
|
|
|
Full of wrath, etc. . .That is, highly provoking in the sight of God.
|
|
|
|
6:11. Shall I justify wicked balances, and the deceitful weights of the
|
|
bag?
|
|
|
|
6:12. By which her rich men were filled with iniquity, and the
|
|
inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue was deceitful in
|
|
their mouth.
|
|
|
|
6:13. And I therefore began to strike thee with desolation for thy
|
|
sins.
|
|
|
|
6:14. Thou shalt eat, but shalt not be filled: and thy humiliation
|
|
shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not
|
|
save: and those whom thou shalt save, I will give up to the sword.
|
|
|
|
6:15. Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap: thou shalt tread the olives,
|
|
but shalt not be anointed with oil: and the new wine, but shalt not
|
|
drink the wine.
|
|
|
|
6:16. For thou hast kept the statutes of Amri, and all the works of the
|
|
house of Achab: and thou hast walked according their wills, that I
|
|
should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing,
|
|
and you shall bear the reproach of my people.
|
|
|
|
The statutes of Amri, etc. . .The wicked ways of Amri and Achab,
|
|
idolatrous kings.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Micheas Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet laments, that notwithstanding all his preaching, the
|
|
generality are still corrupt in their manners: therefore their
|
|
desolation is at hand: but they shall be restored again and prosper;
|
|
and all mankind shall be redeemed by Christ.
|
|
|
|
7:1. Woe is me, for I am become as one that gleaneth in autumn the
|
|
grapes of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat, my soul desired the
|
|
first ripe figs.
|
|
|
|
7:2. The holy man is perished out of the earth, and there is none
|
|
upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood, every one hunteth
|
|
his brother to death.
|
|
|
|
7:3. The evil of their hands they call good: the prince requireth, and
|
|
the judge is for giving: and the great man hath uttered the desire of
|
|
his soul, and they have troubled it.
|
|
|
|
7:4. He that is best among them, is as a brier, and he that is
|
|
righteous, as the thorn of the hedge. The day of thy inspection, thy
|
|
visitation cometh: now shall be their destruction.
|
|
|
|
7:5. Believe not a friend, and trust not in a prince: keep the doors of
|
|
thy mouth from her that sleepeth in thy bosom.
|
|
|
|
7:6. For the son dishonoureth the father, and the daughter riseth up
|
|
against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law: and
|
|
a man's enemies are they of his own household.
|
|
|
|
7:7. But I will look towards the Lord, I will wait for God, my saviour:
|
|
my God will hear me.
|
|
|
|
7:8. Rejoice not, thou my enemy, over me, because I am fallen: I shall
|
|
arise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.
|
|
|
|
7:9. I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against
|
|
him: until he judge my cause, and execute judgement for me: he will
|
|
bring me forth into the light, I shall behold his justice.
|
|
|
|
7:10. And my enemy shall behold, and she shall be covered with shame,
|
|
who saith to me: Where is the Lord thy God? my eyes shall look down
|
|
upon her: now shall she be trodden under foot as the mire of the
|
|
streets.
|
|
|
|
She shall be covered, etc. . .Viz., Babylon my enemy.
|
|
|
|
7:11. The day shall come, that thy walls may be built up: in that day
|
|
shall the law be far removed.
|
|
|
|
The law. . .Viz., of thy enemies, who have tyrannized over thee.
|
|
|
|
7:12. In that day they shall come even from Assyria to thee, and to the
|
|
fortified cities: and from the fortified cities even to the river, and
|
|
from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
|
|
|
|
7:13. And the land shall be made desolate because of the inhabitants
|
|
thereof, and for the fruit of their devices.
|
|
|
|
The land, etc. . .Viz., of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
7:14. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy inheritance, them
|
|
that dwell alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed
|
|
in Basan and Galaad, according to the days of old.
|
|
|
|
7:15. According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, I
|
|
will shew him wonders.
|
|
|
|
7:16. The nations shall see, and shall be confounded at all their
|
|
strength: they shall put the hand upon the mouth, their ears shall be
|
|
deaf.
|
|
|
|
7:17. They shall lick the dust like serpents, as the creeping things of
|
|
the earth, they shall be disturbed in their houses: they shall dread
|
|
the Lord, our God, and shall fear thee.
|
|
|
|
7:18. Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, and passest
|
|
by the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? he will send his fury in
|
|
no more, because he delighteth in mercy.
|
|
|
|
7:19. He will turn again, and have mercy on us: he will put away our
|
|
iniquities: and he will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea.
|
|
|
|
7:20. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, the mercy to Abraham: which
|
|
thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF NAHUM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NAHUM, whose name signifies A COMFORTER, was a native of Elcese, or
|
|
Elcesai, supposed to be a little town in Galilee. He prophesied, after
|
|
the ten tribes were carried into captivity, and foretold the utter
|
|
destruction of Ninive, by the Babylonians and Medes: which happened in
|
|
the reign of JOSIAS.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nahum Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The majesty of God, his goodness to his people, and severity to his
|
|
enemies.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The burden of Ninive. The book of the vision of Nahum, the
|
|
Elcesite.
|
|
|
|
1:2. The Lord is a jealous God, and a revenger: the Lord is a revenger,
|
|
and hath wrath: the Lord taketh vengeance on his adversaries, and he is
|
|
angry with his enemies.
|
|
|
|
1:3. The Lord is patient, and great in power, and will not cleanse and
|
|
acquit the guilty. The Lord's ways are in a tempest, and a whirlwind,
|
|
and clouds are the dust of his feet.
|
|
|
|
1:4. He rebuketh the sea and drieth it up: and bringeth all the rivers
|
|
to be a desert. Basan languisheth and Carmel: and the flower of Libanus
|
|
fadeth away.
|
|
|
|
1:5. The mountains tremble at him, and the hills are made desolate: and
|
|
the earth hath quaked at his presence, and the world, and all that
|
|
dwell therein.
|
|
|
|
1:6. Who can stand before the face of his indignation? and who shall
|
|
resist in the fierceness of his anger? his indignation is poured out
|
|
like fire: and the rocks are melted by him.
|
|
|
|
1:7. The Lord is good, and giveth strength in the day of trouble: and
|
|
knoweth them that hope in him.
|
|
|
|
1:8. But with a flood that passeth by, he will make an utter end of the
|
|
place thereof: and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
|
|
|
|
Of the place thereof. . .Viz., of Ninive.
|
|
|
|
1:9. What do ye devise against the Lord? he will make an utter end:
|
|
there shall not rise a double affliction.
|
|
|
|
1:10. For as thorns embrace one another: so while they are feasting and
|
|
drinking together, they shall be consumed as stubble that is fully dry.
|
|
|
|
1:11. Out of thee shall come forth one that imagineth evil against the
|
|
Lord, contriving treachery in his mind.
|
|
|
|
Shall come forth one, etc. . .Some understand this of Sennacherib. But
|
|
as his attempt against the people seems to have been prior to the
|
|
prophecy of Nahum, we may better understand it of Holofernes.
|
|
|
|
1:12. Thus saith the Lord: Though they were perfect: and many of them
|
|
so, yet thus shall they be cut off, and he shall pass: I have afflicted
|
|
thee, and I will afflict thee no more.
|
|
|
|
Though they were perfect, etc. . .That is, however strong or numerous
|
|
their forces may be, they shall be cut off; and their prince or leader
|
|
shall pass away and disappear.
|
|
|
|
1:13. And now I will break in pieces his rod with which he struck thy
|
|
back, and I will burst thy bonds asunder.
|
|
|
|
1:14. And the Lord will give a commandment concerning thee, that no
|
|
more of thy name shall be sown: I will destroy the graven and molten
|
|
thing out of the house of thy God, I will make it thy grave, for thou
|
|
art disgraced.
|
|
|
|
Will give a commandment. . .That is, a decree, concerning thee, O king
|
|
of Ninive, thy seed shall fail, etc.
|
|
|
|
1:15. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good
|
|
tidings, and that preacheth peace: O Juda, keep thy festivals, and pay
|
|
thy vows: for Belial shall no more pass through thee again, he is
|
|
utterly cut off.
|
|
|
|
Belial. . .The wicked one, viz., the Assyrian.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nahum Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
God sends his armies against Ninive to destroy it.
|
|
|
|
2:1. He is come up that shall destroy before thy face, that shall keep
|
|
the siege: watch the way, fortify thy loins, strengthen thy power
|
|
exceedingly.
|
|
|
|
2:2. For the Lord hath rendered the pride of Jacob, as the pride of
|
|
Israel: because the spoilers have laid them waste, and have marred
|
|
their vine branches.
|
|
|
|
Hath rendered the pride of Jacob, etc. . .He hath punished Jacob for his
|
|
pride; and therefore Ninive must not expect to escape. Or else,
|
|
rendering the pride of Jacob means rewarding, that is, punishing Ninive
|
|
for the pride they exercised against Jacob.
|
|
|
|
2:3. The shield of his mighty men is like fire, the men of the army are
|
|
clad in scarlet, the reins of the chariot are flaming in the day of his
|
|
preparation, and the drivers are stupefied.
|
|
|
|
Of his mighty men, etc. . .He speaks of the Chaldeans and Medes sent to
|
|
destroy Ninive.--Ibid. Stupefied. . .consopiti. That is, they drive on
|
|
furiously like men intoxicated with wine.
|
|
|
|
2:4. They are in confusion in the ways, the chariots jostle one against
|
|
another in the streets: their looks are like torches, like lightning
|
|
running to and fro.
|
|
|
|
2:5. He will muster up his valiant men, they shall stumble in their
|
|
march: they shall quickly get upon the walls thereof: and a covering
|
|
shall be prepared.
|
|
|
|
Stumble in their march. . .By running hastily on.
|
|
|
|
2:6. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the temple is thrown down
|
|
to the ground.
|
|
|
|
2:7. And the soldier is led away captive: and her bondwomen were led
|
|
away mourning as doves, murmuring in their hearts.
|
|
|
|
2:8. And as for Ninive, her waters are like a great pool: but the men
|
|
flee away. They cry: Stand, stand, but there is none that will return
|
|
back.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Take ye the spoil of the silver, take the spoil of the gold: for
|
|
there is no end of the riches of all the precious furniture.
|
|
|
|
2:10. She is destroyed, and rent, and torn: the heart melteth, and the
|
|
knees fail, and all the loins lose their strength: and the faces of
|
|
them all are as the blackness of a kettle.
|
|
|
|
2:11. Where is now the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of
|
|
the young lions, to which the lion went, to enter in thither, the young
|
|
lion, and there was none to make them afraid?
|
|
|
|
2:12. The lion caught enough for his whelps, and killed for his
|
|
lionesses: and he filled his holes with prey, and his den with rapine.
|
|
|
|
2:13. Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will
|
|
burn thy chariots even to smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young
|
|
lions: and I will cut off thy prey out of the land, and the voice of
|
|
thy messengers shall be heard no more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nahum Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
The miserable destruction of Ninive.
|
|
|
|
3:1. Woe to thee, O city of blood, all full of lies and violence:
|
|
rapine shall not depart from thee.
|
|
|
|
3:2. The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the
|
|
wheels, and of the neighing horse; and of the running chariot, and of
|
|
the horsemen coming up,
|
|
|
|
3:3. And of the shining sword, and of the glittering spear, and of a
|
|
multitude slain, and of a grievous destruction: and there is no end of
|
|
carcasses, and they shall fall down on their dead bodies.
|
|
|
|
3:4. Because of the multitude of the fornications of the harlot that
|
|
was beautiful and agreeable, and that made use of witchcraft, that sold
|
|
nations through her fornications, and families through her witchcrafts.
|
|
|
|
3:5. Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will
|
|
discover thy shame to thy face, and will shew thy nakedness to the
|
|
nations, and thy shame to kingdoms.
|
|
|
|
3:6. And I will cast abominations upon thee, and will disgrace thee,
|
|
and will make an example of thee.
|
|
|
|
3:7. And it shall come to pass that every one that shall see thee,
|
|
shall flee from thee, and shall say: Ninive is laid waste: who shall
|
|
bemoan thee? whence shall I seek a comforter for thee?
|
|
|
|
3:8. Art thou better than the populous Alexandria, that dwelleth among
|
|
the rivers? waters are round about it: the sea is its riches: the
|
|
waters are its walls.
|
|
|
|
Populous Alexandria. . .No-Ammon. A populous city of Egypt destroyed by
|
|
the Chaldeans, and afterwards rebuilt by Alexander, and called
|
|
Alexandria. Others suppose No-Ammon to be the same as Diospolis.
|
|
|
|
3:9. Ethiopia and Egypt were the strength thereof, and there is no end:
|
|
Africa and the Libyans were thy helpers.
|
|
|
|
3:10. Yet she also was removed and carried into captivity: her young
|
|
children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they
|
|
cast lots upon her nobles, and all her great men were bound in fetters.
|
|
|
|
3:11. Therefore thou also shalt be made drunk, and shalt be despised:
|
|
and thou shalt seek help from the enemies.
|
|
|
|
3:12. All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green
|
|
figs: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.
|
|
|
|
3:13. Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of
|
|
thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies, the fire shall devour
|
|
thy bars.
|
|
|
|
3:14. Draw thee water for the siege, build up thy bulwarks: go into the
|
|
clay, and tread, work it and make brick.
|
|
|
|
3:15. There shall the fire devour thee: thou shalt perish by the sword,
|
|
it shall devour thee like the bruchus: assemble together like the
|
|
bruchus, make thyself many like the locust.
|
|
|
|
3:16. Thou hast multiplied thy merchandises above the stars of heaven:
|
|
the bruchus hath spread himself and flown away.
|
|
|
|
3:17. Thy guards are like the locusts: and thy little ones like the
|
|
locusts of locusts which swarm on the hedges in the day of cold: the
|
|
sun arose, and they flew away, and their place was not known where they
|
|
were.
|
|
|
|
Locusts of locusts. . .The young locusts.
|
|
|
|
3:18. Thy shepherds have slumbered, O king of Assyria, thy princes
|
|
shall be buried: thy people are hid in the mountains, and there is none
|
|
to gather them.
|
|
|
|
3:19. Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous: all that
|
|
have heard the fame of thee, have clapped their hands over thee: for
|
|
upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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THE PROPHECY OF HABACUC
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HABACUC was a native of Bezocher, and prophesied in JUDA, some time
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before the invasion of the CHALDEANS, which he foretold. He lived to
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see this prophecy fulfilled, and for many years after, according to the
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general opinion, which supposes him to be the same that was brought by
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the ANGEL to DANIEL in BABYLON, Dan. 14.
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Habacuc Chapter 1
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The prophet complains of the wickedness of the people: God reveals to
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him the vengeance he is going to take of them by the Chaldeans.
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1:1. The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw.
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Burden. . .Such prophecies more especially are called burdens, as
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threaten grievous evils and punishments.
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1:2. How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry
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out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save?
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1:3. Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and
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injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more
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powerful.
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1:4. Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to
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the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore
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wrong judgment goeth forth.
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1:5. Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished:
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for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it
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shall be told.
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1:6. For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift
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nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling
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places that are not their own.
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1:7. They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their
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judgment, and their burden proceed.
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1:8. Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening
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wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen
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shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to
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eat.
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1:9. They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning
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wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand.
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1:10. And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be
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his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall
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cast up a mount, and shall take it.
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1:11. Then shall his spirit be changed, and he shall pass, and fall:
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this is his strength of his god.
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Then shall his spirit, etc. . .Viz., the spirit of the king of Babylon.
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It alludes to the judgment of God upon Nabuchodonosor, recorded Dan.
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4., and to the speedy fall of the Chaldean empire.
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1:12. Wast thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my holy one, and
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we shall not die? Lord, thou hast appointed him for judgment: and made
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him strong for correction.
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1:13. Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on
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iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest
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thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than
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himself?
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1:14. And thou wilt make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the
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creeping things that have no ruler.
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1:15. He lifted up all them with his hook, he drew them in his drag,
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and gathered them into his net: for this he will be glad and rejoice.
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1:16. Therefore will he offer victims to his drag, and he will
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sacrifice to his net: because through them his portion is made fat, and
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his meat dainty.
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1:17. For this cause therefore he spreadeth his net, and will not spare
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continually to slay the nations.
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Habacuc Chapter 2
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The prophet is admonished to wait with faith. The enemies of God's
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people shall assuredly be punished.
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2:1. I will stand upon my watch, and fix my foot upon the tower: and I
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will watch, to see what will be said to me, and what I may answer to
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him that reproveth me.
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Will stand, etc. . .Waiting to see what the Lord will answer to my
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complaint, viz., that the Chaldeans, who are worse than the Jews, and
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who attribute all their success to their own strength, or to their
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idols, should nevertheless prevail over the people of the Lord. The
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Lord's answer is, that the prophet must wait with patience and faith:
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that all should be set right in due time; and the enemies of God and
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his people punished according to their deserts.
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2:2. And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision, and make it
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plain upon tables: that he that readeth it may run over it.
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2:3. For as yet the vision is far off, and it shall appear at the end,
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and shall not lie: if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall
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surely come, and it shall not be slack.
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2:4. Behold, he that is unbelieving, his soul shall not be right in
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himself: but the just shall live in his faith.
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2:5. And as wine deceiveth him that drinketh it: so shall the proud man
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be, and he shall not be honoured: who hath enlarged his desire like
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hell: and is himself like death, and he is never satisfied: but will
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gather together unto him all nations, and heap together unto him all
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people.
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As wine deceiveth, etc. . .Viz., by affording only a short passing
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pleasure; followed by the evils and disgrace that are the usual
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consequences of drunkenness; so shall it be with the proud enemies of
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the people of God; whose success affordeth them only a momentary
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pleasure, followed by innumerable and everlasting evils.
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2:6. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a dark
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speech concerning him: and it shall be said: Woe to him that heapeth
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together that which is not his own? how long also doth he load himself
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with thick clay?
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Thick clay. . .Ill-gotten goods, that, like mire, both burden and defile
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the soul.
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2:7. Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee: and they be
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stirred up that shall tear thee, and thou shalt be a spoil to them?
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2:8. Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all that shall be left of
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the people shall spoil thee: because of men's blood, and for the
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iniquity of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
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2:9. Woe to him that gathereth together an evil covetousness to his
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house, that his nest may be on high, and thinketh he may be delivered
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out of the hand of evil.
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2:10. Thou hast devised confusion to thy house, thou hast cut off many
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people, and thy soul hath sinned.
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2:11. For the stone shall cry out of the wall: and the timber that is
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between the joints of the building, shall answer.
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2:12. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and prepareth a city
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by iniquity.
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2:13. Are not these things from the Lord of hosts? for the people shall
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labour in a great fire: and the nations in vain, and they shall faint.
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Are not these things, etc. . .That is, shall not these punishments that
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are here recorded, come from the Lord upon him that is guilty of such
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crimes.--Ibid. The people shall labour, etc. . .Viz., the enemies of
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God's people.
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2:14. For the earth shall be filled, that men may know the glory of the
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Lord, as waters covering the sea.
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2:15. Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and presenteth his
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gall, and maketh him drunk, that he may behold his nakedness.
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2:16. Thou art filled with shame instead of glory: drink thou also, and
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fall fast asleep: the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall compass
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thee, and shameful vomiting shall be on thy glory.
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2:17. For the iniquity of Libanus shall cover thee, and the ravaging of
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beasts shall terrify them because of the blood of men, and the iniquity
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of the land, and of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
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The iniquity of Libanus. . .That is, the iniquity committed by the
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Chaldeans against the temple of God, signified here by the name of
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Libanus.
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2:18. What doth the graven thing avail, because the maker thereof hath
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graven it, a molten, and a false image? because the forger thereof hath
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trusted in a thing of his own forging, to make dumb idols.
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2:19. Woe to him that saith to wood: Awake: to the dumb stone: Arise:
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can it teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold, and silver, and there
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is no spirit in the bowels thereof.
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2:20. But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep
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silence before him.
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Habacuc Chapter 3
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3:1. A PRAYER OF HABACUC THE PROPHET FOR IGNORANCES.
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For ignorances. . .That is, for the sins of his people. In the Hebrew,
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it is Sigionoth: which some take to signify a musical instrument, or
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tune; with which this sublime prayer and canticle was to be sung.
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3:2. O Lord, I have heard thy hearing, and was afraid. O Lord, thy
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work, in the midst of the years bring it to life: In the midst of the
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years thou shalt make it known: when thou art angry, thou wilt remember
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mercy.
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Thy hearing, etc. . .That is, thy oracles, the great and wonderful
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things thou hast revealed to me; and I was struck with a reverential
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fear and awe.--Ibid. Thy work. . .The great work of the redemption of
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man, which thou wilt bring to life and light in the midst of the years,
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when our calamities and miseries shall be at their height.
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3:3. God will come from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan:
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His glory covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.
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God will come from the south, etc. . .God himself will come to give us
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his law, and to conduct us into the true land of promise: as heretofore
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he came from the South (in the Hebrew Theman) and from mount Pharan to
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give his law to his people in the desert. See Deut. 33.2.
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3:4. His brightness shall be as the light: horns are in his hands:
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There is his strength hid:
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Horns, etc. . .That is, strength and power, which, by a Hebrew phrase,
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are called horns. Or beams of light, which come forth from his hands.
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Or it may allude to the cross, in the horns of which the hands of
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Christ were fastened, where his strength was hidden, by which he
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overcame the world, and drove out death and the devil.
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3:5. Death shall go before his face. And the devil shall go forth
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before his feet.
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Death shall go before his face, etc. . .Both death and the devil shall
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be the executioners of his justice against his enemies: as they were
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heretofore against the Egyptians and Chanaanites.
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3:6. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld, and melted the
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nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces. The hills of
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the world were bowed down by the journeys of his eternity.
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He beheld, etc. . .One look of his eye is enough to melt all the
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nations, and to reduce them to nothing. For all heaven and earth
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disappear when they come before his light. Apoc. 20.11. Ibid. The
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ancient mountains, etc. . .By the mountains and hills are signified the
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great ones of the world, that persecute the church, whose power was
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quickly crushed by the Almighty.
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3:7. I saw the tents of Ethiopia for their iniquity, the curtains of
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the land of Madian shall be troubled.
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Ethiopia. . .the land of the Blacks, and Madian, are here taken for the
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enemies of God and his people: who shall perish for their iniquity.
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3:8. Wast thou angry, O Lord, with the rivers? or was thy wrath upon
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the rivers? or thy indignation in the sea? Who will ride upon thy
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horses: and thy chariots are salvation.
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With the rivers, etc. . .He alludes to the wonders wrought heretofore by
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the Lord in favour of his people Israel, when the waters of the rivers,
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viz., of Arnon and Jordan, and of the Red Sea, retired before their
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face: when he came as it were with his horses and chariots to save them
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when he took up his bow for their defence, in consequence of the oath
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he had made to their tribes: when the mountains trembled, and the deep
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stood with its waves raised up in a heap, as with hands lifted up to
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heaven: when the sun and the moon stood still at his command, etc., to
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comply with his anger, not against the rivers and sea, but against the
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enemies of his people. How much more will he do in favour of his Son:
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and against the enemies of his church?
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3:9. Thou wilt surely take up thy bow: according to the oaths which
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thou hast spoken to the tribes. Thou wilt divide the rivers of the
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earth.
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3:10. The mountains saw thee, and were grieved: the great body of
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waters passed away. The deep put forth its voice: the deep lifted up
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its hands.
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3:11. The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation, in the
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light of thy arrows, they shall go in the brightness of thy glittering
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spear.
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3:12. In thy anger thou wilt tread the earth under foot: in thy wrath
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thou wilt astonish the nations.
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3:13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people: for salvation
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with thy Christ. Thou struckest the head of the house of the wicked:
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thou hast laid bare his foundation even to the neck.
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The head of the house of the wicked. . .Such was Pharao heretofore: such
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shall Antichrist be hereafter.
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3:14. Thou hast cursed his sceptres, the head of his warriors, them
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that came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their joy was like that of
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him that devoureth the poor man in secret.
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3:15. Thou madest a way in the sea for thy horses, in the mud of many
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waters.
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Thou madest a way in the sea, etc. . .To deliver thy people from the
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Egyptian bondage: and thou shalt work the like wonders in the spiritual
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way, to rescue the children of the church from their enemies.
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3:16. I have heard and my bowels were troubled: my lips trembled at the
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voice. Let rottenness enter into my bones, and swarm under me. That I
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may rest in the day of tribulation: that I may go up to our people that
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are girded.
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I have heard, etc. . .Viz., the evils that are now coming upon the
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Israelites for their sins; and that shall come hereafter upon all
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impenitent sinners; and the foresight that I have of these miseries
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makes me willing to die, that I may be at rest, before this general
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tribulation comes, in which all good things shall be withdrawn from the
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wicked.--Ibid. That I may go up to our people, etc. . .That I may join
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the happy company in the bosom of Abraham, that are girded, that is,
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prepared for their journey, by which they shall attend their Lord, when
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he shall ascend into heaven. To which high and happy place, my Jesus,
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that is, my Saviour, the great conqueror of death and hell, shall one
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day conduct me rejoicing and singing psalms of praise, ver. 18 and 19.
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3:17. For the fig tree shall not blossom: and there shall be no spring
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in the vines. The labour of the olive tree shall fail: and the fields
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shall yield no food: the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and
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there shall be no herd in the stalls.
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3:18. But I will rejoice in the Lord: and I will joy in God my Jesus.
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3:19. The Lord God is my strength: and he will make my feet like the
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feet of harts: and he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places
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singing psalms.
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THE PROPHECY OF SOPHONIAS
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SOPHONIAS, whose name, saith St. Jerome, signifies The Watchman of the
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Lord, or The hidden of the Lord, prophesied in the beginning of the
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reign of Josias. He was a native of Sarabatha, and of the tribe of
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Simeon, according to the more general opinion. He prophesied the
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punishments of the Jews, for their idolatry and other crimes; also the
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punishments that were to come on divers nations; the coming of Christ,
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the conversion of the Gentiles, the blindness of the Jews, and their
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conversion towards the end of the world.
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Sophonias Chapter 1
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For divers enormous sins, the kingdom of Juda is threatened with severe
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judgment.
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1:1. The word of the Lord that came to Sophonias the son of Chusi, the
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son of Godolias, the son of Amarias, the son of Ezechias, in the days
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of Josias, the son of Amon king of Juda.
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1:2. Gathering, I will gather together all things from off the face of
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the land, saith the Lord:
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Gathering, I will gather, etc. . .That is, I will assuredly take away,
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and wholly consume, either by captivity, or death, both men and beasts
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out of this land.
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1:3. I will gather man, and beast, I will gather the birds of the air,
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and the fishes of the sea: and the ungodly shall meet with ruin: and I
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will destroy men from off the face of the land, saith the Lord.
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1:4. And I will stretch out my hand upon Juda, and upon all the
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inhabitants of Jerusalem: and I will destroy out of this place the
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remnant of Baal, and the names of the wardens of the temples with the
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priests:
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The wardens, etc. . .Viz., of the temples of the idols. AEdituos, in
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Hebrew, the Chemarims, that is, such as kindle the fires, or burn
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incense.
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1:5. And them that worship the host of heaven upon the tops of houses,
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and them that adore, and swear by the Lord, and swear by Melchom.
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Melchom. . .The idol of the Ammonites.
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1:6. And them that turn away from following after the Lord, and that
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have not sought the Lord, nor searched after him.
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1:7. Be silent before the face of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord
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is near, for the Lord hath prepared a victim, he hath sanctified his
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guests.
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1:8. And it shall come to pass in the day of the victim of the Lord,
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that I will visit upon the princes, and upon the king's sons, and upon
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all such as are clothed with strange apparel:
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1:9. And I will visit in that day upon every one that entereth
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arrogantly over the threshold: them that fill the house of the Lord
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their God with iniquity and deceit.
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1:10. And there shall be in that day, saith the Lord, the noise of a
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cry from the fish gate, and a howling from the Second, and a great
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destruction from the hills.
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The Second. . .A part of the city so called.
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1:11. Howl, ye inhabitants of the Morter. All the people of Chanaan is
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hush, all are cut off that were wrapped up in silver.
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The Morter. . .Maktesh. A valley in or near Jerusalem. Ibid. The
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people of Chanaan. . .So he calls the Jews, from their following the
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wicked ways of the Chanaanites.
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1:12. And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search
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Jerusalem with lamps, and will visit upon the men that are settled on
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their lees: that say in their hearts: The Lord will not do good, nor
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will he do evil.
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Settled on their lees. . .That is, the wealthy, and such as live at
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their ease, resting upon their riches, like wine upon the lees.
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1:13. And their strength shall become a booty, and their houses as a
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desert: and they shall build houses, and shall not dwell in them: and
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they shall plant vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.
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1:14. The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and exceeding
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swift: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man shall
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there meet with tribulation.
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1:15. That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a
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day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of
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clouds and whirlwinds,
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1:16. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and
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against the high bulwarks.
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1:17. And I will distress men, and they shall walk like blind men,
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because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be
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poured out as earth, and their bodies as dung.
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1:18. Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to deliver them
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in the day of the wrath of the Lord: all the land shall be devoured by
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the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy destruction
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of all them that dwell in the land.
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Sophonias Chapter 2
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An exhortation to repentance. The judgment of the Philistines, of the
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Moabites, and the Ammonites; of the Ethiopians and the Assyrians.
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2:1.Assemble yourselves together, be gathered together, O nation not
|
|
worthy to be loved:
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|
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|
2:2. Before the decree bring forth the day as dust passing away, before
|
|
the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the
|
|
Lord's indignation come upon you.
|
|
|
|
2:3. Seek the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, you that have wrought his
|
|
judgment: seek the just, seek the meek: if by any means you may be hid
|
|
in the day of the Lord's indignation.
|
|
|
|
2:4. For Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ascalon shall be a desert, they
|
|
shall cast out Azotus at noonday, and Accaron shall be rooted up.
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|
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|
2:5. Woe to you that inhabit the sea coast, O nation of reprobates: the
|
|
word of the Lord upon you, O Chanaan, the land of the Philistines, and
|
|
I will destroy thee, so that there shall not be an inhabitant.
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|
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|
2:6. And the sea coast shall be the resting place of shepherds, and
|
|
folds for cattle:
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|
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|
2:7. And it shall be the portion of him that shall remain of the house
|
|
of Juda, there they shall feed: in the houses of Ascalon they shall
|
|
rest in the evening: because the Lord their God will visit them, and
|
|
bring back their captivity.
|
|
|
|
2:8. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the blasphemies of the
|
|
children of Ammon, with which they reproached my people, and have
|
|
magnified themselves upon their borders.
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|
|
|
2:9. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel,
|
|
Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrha, the
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|
dryness of thorns, and heaps of salt, and a desert even for ever: the
|
|
remnant of my people shall make a spoil of them, and the residue of my
|
|
nation shall possess them.
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|
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2:10. This shall befall them for their pride: because they have
|
|
blasphemed, and have been magnified against the people of the Lord of
|
|
hosts.
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2:11. The Lord shall be terrible upon them, and shall consume all the
|
|
gods of the earth: and they shall adore him every man from his own
|
|
place, all the islands of the Gentiles.
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2:12. You Ethiopians, also shall be slain with my sword.
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2:13. And he will stretch out his hand upon the north, and will destroy
|
|
Assyria: and he will make the beautiful city a wilderness, and as a
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|
place not passable, and as a desert.
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|
|
|
The beautiful city, viz. . .Ninive, which was destroyed soon after this,
|
|
viz., in the sixteenth year of the reign of Josias.
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2:14. And flocks shall lie down in the midst thereof, all the beasts of
|
|
the nations: and the bittern and the urchin shall lodge in the
|
|
threshold thereof: the voice of the singing bird in the window, the
|
|
raven on the upper post, for I will consume her strength.
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2:15. This is the glorious city that dwelt in security: that said in
|
|
her heart: I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a
|
|
desert, a place for beasts to lie down in? every one that passeth by
|
|
her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
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|
Sophonias Chapter 3
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|
|
A woe to Jerusalem for her sins. A prophecy of the conversion of the
|
|
Gentiles, and of the poor of Israel: God shall be with them. The Jews
|
|
shall be converted at last.
|
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|
3:1. Woe to the provoking and redeemed city, the dove.
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|
3:2. She hath not hearkened to the voice, neither hath she received
|
|
discipline: she hath not trusted in the Lord, she drew not near to her
|
|
God.
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3:3. Her princes are in the midst of her as roaring lions: her judges
|
|
are evening wolves, they left nothing for the morning.
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3:4. Her prophets are senseless, men without faith: her priests have
|
|
polluted the sanctuary, they have acted unjustly against the law.
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3:5. The just Lord is in the midst thereof, he will not do iniquity: in
|
|
the morning, in the morning he will bring his judgment to light, and it
|
|
shall not be hid: but the wicked man hath not known shame.
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|
3:6. I have destroyed the nations, and their towers are beaten down: I
|
|
have made their ways desert, so that there is none that passeth by:
|
|
their cities are desolate, there is not a man remaining, nor any
|
|
inhabitant.
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3:7. I said: Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive correction:
|
|
and her dwelling shall not perish, for all things wherein I have
|
|
visited her: but they rose early, and corrupted all their thoughts.
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|
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|
3:8. Wherefore expect me, saith the Lord, in the day of my resurrection
|
|
that is to come, for my judgment is to assemble the Gentiles, and to
|
|
gather the kingdoms: and to pour upon them my indignation, all my
|
|
fierce anger: for with the fire of my jealousy shall all the earth be
|
|
devoured.
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|
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|
3:9. Because then I will restore to the people a chosen lip, that all
|
|
may call upon the name of the Lord, and may serve him with one
|
|
shoulder.
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3:10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, shall my suppliants, the
|
|
children of my dispersed people, bring me an offering.
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3:11. In that day thou shalt not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein
|
|
thou hast transgressed against me for then I will take away out of the
|
|
midst of thee thy proud boasters, and thou shalt no more be lifted up
|
|
because of my holy mountain.
|
|
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|
3:12. And I will leave in the midst of thee a poor and needy people:
|
|
and they shall hope in the name of the Lord.
|
|
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|
3:13. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies, nor
|
|
shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed,
|
|
and shall lie down, and there shall be none to make them afraid.
|
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3:14. Give praise, O daughter of Sion: shout, O Israel: be glad, and
|
|
rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
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|
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|
3:15. The Lord hath taken away thy judgment, he hath turned away thy
|
|
enemies: the king of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of thee, thou
|
|
shalt fear evil no more.
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|
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|
3:16. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Fear not: to Sion:
|
|
Let not thy hands be weakened.
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|
3:17. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, he will save: he
|
|
will rejoice over thee with gladness, he will be silent in his love, he
|
|
will be joyful over thee in praise.
|
|
|
|
3:18. The triflers that were departed from the law, I will gather
|
|
together, because they were of thee: that thou mayest no more suffer
|
|
reproach for them.
|
|
|
|
3:19. Behold I will cut off all that have afflicted thee at that time:
|
|
and I will save her that halteth, and will gather her that was cast
|
|
out: and I will get them praise, and a name, in all the land where they
|
|
had been put to confusion.
|
|
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|
3:20. At that time, when I will bring you: and at the time that I will
|
|
gather you: for I will give you a name, and praise among all the people
|
|
of the earth, when I shall have brought back your captivity before your
|
|
eyes, saith the Lord.
|
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|
THE PROPHECY OF AGGEUS
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AGGEUS was one of those that returned from the captivity of Babylon, in
|
|
the first year of the reign of king Cyrus. He was sent by the Lord, in
|
|
the second year of the reign of king Darius, the son of Hystaspes, to
|
|
exhort Zorobabel the prince of Juda, and Jesus the high priest, to the
|
|
building of the temple; which they had begun, but left off again
|
|
through the opposition of the Samaritans. In consequence of this
|
|
exhortation they proceeded in the building and finished the temple. And
|
|
the prophet was commissioned by the Lord to assure them that this
|
|
second temple should be more glorious than the former, because the
|
|
Messiah should honour it with his presence: signifying withal how much
|
|
the church of the New Testament should excel that of the Old Testament.
|
|
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|
Aggeus Chapter 1
|
|
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|
|
|
The people are reproved for neglecting to build the temple. They are
|
|
encouraged to set about the work.
|
|
|
|
1:1. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the
|
|
first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus
|
|
the prophet, to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, governor of Juda, and
|
|
to Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, saying:
|
|
|
|
1:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: This people saith: The time
|
|
is not yet come for building the house of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
1:3. And the word of the Lord came by the hand of Aggeus the prophet,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
1:4. Is it time for you to dwell in ceiled houses, and this house lie
|
|
desolate?
|
|
|
|
1:5. And now thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts to consider
|
|
your ways.
|
|
|
|
1:6. You have sowed much, and brought in little: you have eaten, but
|
|
have not had enough: you have drunk, but have not been filled with
|
|
drink: you have clothed yourselves, but have not been warmed: and he
|
|
that hath earned wages, put them into a bag with holes.
|
|
|
|
1:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Set your hearts upon your ways:
|
|
|
|
1:8. Go up to the mountain, bring timber, and build the house: and it
|
|
shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
1:9. You have looked for more, and behold it became less, and you
|
|
brought it home, and I blowed it away: why, saith the Lord of hosts?
|
|
because my house is desolate, and you make haste every man to his own
|
|
house.
|
|
|
|
1:10. Therefore the heavens over you were stayed from giving dew, and
|
|
the earth was hindered from yielding her fruits:
|
|
|
|
1:11. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains,
|
|
and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon all
|
|
that the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon beasts, and upon
|
|
all the labour of the hands.
|
|
|
|
1:12. Then Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the son of Josedec
|
|
the high priest, and all the remnant of the people hearkened to the
|
|
voice of the Lord their God, and to the words of Aggeus the prophet, as
|
|
the Lord their God sent him to them: and the people feared before the
|
|
Lord.
|
|
|
|
1:13. And Aggeus the messenger of the Lord, as one of the messengers of
|
|
the Lord, spoke, saying to the people: I am with you, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
1:14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zorobabel the son of
|
|
Salathiel governor of Juda, and the spirit of Jesus the son of Josedec
|
|
the high priest, and the spirit of all the rest of the people: and they
|
|
went in, and did the work in the house of the Lord of Hosts their God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aggeus Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christ by his coming shall make the latter temple more glorious than
|
|
the former. The blessing of God shall reward their labour in building.
|
|
God's promise to Zorobabel.
|
|
|
|
2:1. In the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth month, in
|
|
the second year of Darius the king, they began.
|
|
|
|
2:2. And in the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of
|
|
Aggeus the prophet, saying:
|
|
|
|
2:3. Speak to Zorobabel the son of Salathiel the governor of Juda, and
|
|
to Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and to the rest of the
|
|
people, saying:
|
|
|
|
2:4. Who is left among you, that saw this house in its first glory? and
|
|
how do you see it now? is it not in comparison to that as nothing in
|
|
your eyes?
|
|
|
|
2:5. Yet now take courage, O Zorobabel, saith the Lord, and take
|
|
courage, Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and take courage,
|
|
all ye people of the land, saith the Lord of hosts: and perform (for I
|
|
am with you, saith the Lord of hosts)
|
|
|
|
2:6. The word that I convenanted with you when you came out of the land
|
|
of Egypt: and my spirit shall be in the midst of you: fear not.
|
|
|
|
2:7. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet one little while, and I will
|
|
move the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.
|
|
|
|
2:8. And I will move all nations: AND THE DESIRED OF ALL NATIONS SHALL
|
|
COME: and I will fill this house with glory: saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
2:9. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the
|
|
first, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place I will give peace,
|
|
saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
2:11. In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second
|
|
year of Darius the king, the word of the Lord came to Aggeus the
|
|
prophet, saying:
|
|
|
|
2:12. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests the law, saying:
|
|
|
|
2:13. If a man carry sanctified flesh in the skirt of his garment, and
|
|
touch with his skirt, bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat:
|
|
shall it be sanctified? And the priests answered, and said: No.
|
|
|
|
2:14. And Aggeus said: If one that is unclean by occasion of a soul
|
|
touch any of all these things, shall it be defiled? And the priests
|
|
answered, and said: It shall be defiled.
|
|
|
|
By occasion of a soul. . .That is, by having touched the dead; in which
|
|
case, according to the prescription of the law, Num. 19.13, 22, a
|
|
person not only became unclean himself, but made every thing that he
|
|
touched unclean. The prophet applies all this to the people, whose
|
|
souls remained unclean by neglecting the temple of God; and therefore
|
|
were not sanctified by the flesh they offered in sacrifice: but rather
|
|
defiled their sacrifices by approaching to them in the state of
|
|
uncleanness.
|
|
|
|
2:15. And Aggeus answered, and said: So is this people, and so is this
|
|
nation before my face, saith the Lord, and so is all the work of their
|
|
hands: and all that they have offered there, shall be defiled.
|
|
|
|
2:16. And now consider in your hearts, from this day and upward, before
|
|
there was a stone laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:17. When you went to a heap of twenty bushels, and they became ten:
|
|
and you went into the press, to press out fifty vessels, and they
|
|
became twenty.
|
|
|
|
2:18. I struck you with a blasting wind, and all the works of your hand
|
|
with the mildew and with hail, yet there was none among you that
|
|
returned to me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:19. Set your hearts from this day, and henceforward, from the four
|
|
and twentieth day of the ninth month: from the day that the foundations
|
|
of the temple of the Lord were laid, and lay it up in your hearts.
|
|
|
|
2:20. Is the seed as yet sprung up? or hath the vine, and the fig tree,
|
|
and the pomegranate, and the olive tree as yet flourished? from this
|
|
day I will bless you.
|
|
|
|
2:21. And the word of the Lord came a second time to Aggeus in the four
|
|
and twentieth day of the month, saying:
|
|
|
|
2:22. Speak to Zorobabel the governor of Juda, saying: I will move both
|
|
heaven and earth.
|
|
|
|
2:23. And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and will destroy the
|
|
strength of the kingdom of the Gentiles: and I will overthrow the
|
|
chariot, and him that rideth therein: and the horses and their riders
|
|
shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
|
|
|
|
2:24. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I will take thee, O
|
|
Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, my servant, saith the Lord, and will
|
|
make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
O Zorobabel. . .This promise principally relates to Christ, who was of
|
|
the race of Zorobabel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF ZACHARIAS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ZACHARIAS began to prophesy in the same year as Aggeus, and upon the
|
|
same occasion. His prophecy is full of mysterious figures and promises
|
|
of blessings, partly relating to the synagogue, and partly to the
|
|
church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prophet exhorts the people to return to God, and declares his
|
|
visions, by which he puts them in hopes of better times.
|
|
|
|
1:1. In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word
|
|
of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo,
|
|
the prophet, saying:
|
|
|
|
1:2. The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers.
|
|
|
|
1:3. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye
|
|
to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will turn to you, saith the Lord
|
|
of hosts.
|
|
|
|
1:4. Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried,
|
|
saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye from your evil ways, and
|
|
from your wicked thoughts: but they did not give ear, neither did they
|
|
hearken to me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
1:5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall they live
|
|
always?
|
|
|
|
1:6. But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in charge to my
|
|
servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers, and they
|
|
returned, and said: As the Lord of hosts thought to do to us according
|
|
to our ways, and according to our devices, so he hath done to us.
|
|
|
|
1:7. In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month which is
|
|
called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came
|
|
to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet,
|
|
saying:
|
|
|
|
1:8. I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he
|
|
stood among the myrtle trees, that were in the bottom: and behind him
|
|
were horses, red, speckled, and white.
|
|
|
|
A man. . .An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably Michael, the
|
|
guardian angel of the church of God.
|
|
|
|
1:9. And I said: What are these, my Lord? and the angel that spoke in
|
|
me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are:
|
|
|
|
1:10. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered, and said:
|
|
These are they, whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth.
|
|
|
|
These are they, etc. . .The guardian angels of provinces and nations.
|
|
|
|
1:11. And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood among the
|
|
myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the earth, and behold
|
|
all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest.
|
|
|
|
1:12. And the angel of the Lord answered, and said: O Lord of hosts,
|
|
how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of
|
|
Juda, with which thou hast been angry? this is now the seventieth year.
|
|
|
|
The seventieth year. . .Viz., from the beginning of the seige of
|
|
Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of
|
|
king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the
|
|
cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity
|
|
foretold by Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and
|
|
ended in the first year of king Cyrus.
|
|
|
|
1:13. And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me, good words,
|
|
comfortable words.
|
|
|
|
1:14. And the angel that spoke in me, said to me: Cry thou, saying:
|
|
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem, and Sion with
|
|
a great zeal.
|
|
|
|
1:15. And I am angry with a great anger with the wealthy nations: for I
|
|
was angry a little, but they helped forward the evil.
|
|
|
|
1:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem in
|
|
mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts: and
|
|
the building line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
1:17. Cry yet, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My cities shall
|
|
yet flow with good things: and the Lord will yet comfort Sion, and he
|
|
will yet choose Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
1:18. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four horns.
|
|
|
|
Four horns. . .The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that
|
|
persecute and oppress the kingdom of God.
|
|
|
|
1:19. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: What are these? And he
|
|
said to me: These are the horns that have scattered Juda, and Israel,
|
|
and Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
1:20. And the Lord shewed me four smiths.
|
|
|
|
Four smiths. . .The four smiths, or carpenters ( for faber may signify
|
|
either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to
|
|
nothing the power of persecutors.
|
|
|
|
1:21. And I said: What come these to do? and he spoke, saying: These
|
|
are the horns which have scattered Juda every man apart, and none of
|
|
them lifted up his head: and these are come to fray them, to cast down
|
|
the horns of the nations, that have lifted up the horn upon the land of
|
|
Juda to scatter it.
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|
Zacharias Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
Under the name of Jerusalem, he prophesieth the progress of the church
|
|
of Christ, by the conversion of some Jews and many Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
2:1. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold a man, with a
|
|
measuring line in his hand.
|
|
|
|
2:2. And I said: Whither goest thou? and he said to me: To measure
|
|
Jerusalem, and to see how great is the breadth thereof, and how great
|
|
the length thereof.
|
|
|
|
2:3. And behold the angel that spoke in me went forth, and another
|
|
angel went out to meet him.
|
|
|
|
2:4. And he said to him: Run, speak to this young man, saying:
|
|
Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by reason of the multitude
|
|
of men, and of the beasts in the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls. . .This must be understood
|
|
of the spiritual Jerusalem, the church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
2:5. And I will be to it, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round about:
|
|
and I will be in glory in the midst thereof.
|
|
|
|
2:6. O, O flee ye out of the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I
|
|
have scattered you into the four winds of heaven, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:7. O Sion, flee, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon:
|
|
|
|
2:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: After the glory he hath sent me
|
|
to the nations that have robbed you: for he that toucheth you, toucheth
|
|
the apple of my eye:
|
|
|
|
2:9. For behold, I lift up my hand upon them, and they shall be a prey
|
|
to those that served them: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts
|
|
sent me.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Sing praise, and rejoice, O daughter of Sion: for behold I come,
|
|
and I will dwell in the midst of thee: saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
2:11. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and
|
|
they shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: and
|
|
thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to thee.
|
|
|
|
2:12. And the Lord shall possess Juda his portion in the sanctified
|
|
land: and he shall yet choose Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
2:13. Let all flesh be silent at the presence of the Lord: for he is
|
|
risen up out of his holy habitation.
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|
Zacharias Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
In a vision Satan appeareth accusing the high priest. He is cleansed
|
|
from his sins. Christ is promised, and great fruit from his passion.
|
|
|
|
3:1. And the Lord shewed me Jesus the high priest standing before the
|
|
angel of the Lord: and Satan stood on his right hand to be his
|
|
adversary.
|
|
|
|
Jesus. . .Alias, Josue, the son of Josedec, the high priest of that
|
|
time.
|
|
|
|
3:2. And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan: and the
|
|
Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a brand plucked out
|
|
of the fire?
|
|
|
|
3:3. And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments: and he stood before
|
|
the face of the angel.
|
|
|
|
With filthy garments. . .Negligences and sins.
|
|
|
|
3:4. Who answered, and said to them that stood before him, saying: Take
|
|
away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him: Behold I have
|
|
taken away thy iniquity, and have clothed thee with change of garments.
|
|
|
|
3:5. And he said: Put a clean mitre upon his head: and they put a clean
|
|
mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments, and the angel of
|
|
the Lord stood.
|
|
|
|
3:6. And the angel of the Lord protested to Jesus, saying:
|
|
|
|
3:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and
|
|
keep my charge, thou also shalt judge my house, and shalt keep my
|
|
courts, and I will give thee some of them that are now present here to
|
|
walk with thee.
|
|
|
|
I will give thee, etc. . .Angels to attend and assist thee.
|
|
|
|
3:8. Hear, O Jesus thou high priest, thou and thy friends that dwell
|
|
before thee, for they are portending men: for behold, I WILL BRING MY
|
|
SERVANT THE ORIENT.
|
|
|
|
Portending men. . .That is, men, who by words and actions are to
|
|
foreshew wonders that are to come.--Ibid. My servant the
|
|
Orient. . .Christ, who according to his humanity is the servant of God,
|
|
is called the Orient from his rising like the sun in the east to
|
|
enlighten the world.
|
|
|
|
3:9. For behold the stone that I have laid before Jesus: upon one stone
|
|
there are seven eyes: behold I will grave the graving thereof, saith
|
|
the Lord of hosts: and I will take away the iniquity of that land in
|
|
one day.
|
|
|
|
The stone. . .Another emblem of Christ, the rock, foundation, and corner
|
|
stone of his church.--Ibid. Seven eyes. . .The manifold providence of
|
|
Christ over his church, or the seven gifts of the spirit of God.--Ibid.
|
|
One day. . .Viz., the day of the passion of Christ, the source of all
|
|
our good: when this precious stone shall be graved, that is, cut and
|
|
pierced, with whips, thorns, nails, and spear.
|
|
|
|
3:10. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, every man shall call his
|
|
friend under the vine and under the fig tree.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
The vision of the golden candlestick and seven lamps, and of the two
|
|
olive trees.
|
|
|
|
4:1. And the angel that spoke in me came again: and he waked me, as a
|
|
man that is wakened out of his sleep.
|
|
|
|
4:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I have looked,
|
|
and behold a candlestick all of gold, and its lamp upon the top of it:
|
|
and the seven lights thereof upon it: and seven funnels for the lights
|
|
that were upon the top thereof.
|
|
|
|
A candlestick, etc. . .The temple of God that was then in building; and
|
|
in a more sublime sense, the church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
4:3. And two olive trees over it: one upon the right side of the lamp,
|
|
and the other upon the left side thereof.
|
|
|
|
4:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in me, saying:
|
|
What are these things, my lord?
|
|
|
|
4:5. And the angel that spoke in me answered, and said to me: Knowest
|
|
thou not what these things are? And I said: No, my lord.
|
|
|
|
4:6. And he answered, and spoke to me, saying: This is the word of the
|
|
Lord to Zorobabel, saying: Not with an army, nor by might, but by my
|
|
spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
To Zorobabel. . .This vision was in favour of Zorobabel: to assure him
|
|
of success in the building of the temple, which he had begun, signified
|
|
by the candlestick; the lamp of which, without any other industry, was
|
|
supplied with oil, dropping from the two olive trees, and distributed
|
|
by the seven funnels or pipes, to maintain the seven lights.
|
|
|
|
4:7. Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zorobabel? thou shalt
|
|
become a plain: and he shall bring out the chief stone, and shall give
|
|
equal grace to the grace thereof.
|
|
|
|
Great mountain. . .So he calls the opposition made by the enemies of
|
|
God's people; which nevertheless, without an army or might on their
|
|
side, was quashed by divine providence.--Ibid. Shall give equal grace,
|
|
etc. . .Shall add grace to grace, or beauty to beauty.
|
|
|
|
4:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
4:9. The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundations of this house,
|
|
and his hands shall finish it: and you shall know that the Lord of
|
|
hosts hath sent me to you.
|
|
|
|
4:10. For who hath despised little days? and they shall rejoice, and
|
|
shall see the tin plummet in the hand of Zorobabel. These are the seven
|
|
eyes of the Lord, that run to and fro through the whole earth.
|
|
|
|
Little days. . .That is, these small and feeble beginnings of the temple
|
|
of God.--Ibid. The tin plummet. . .Literally, the stone of tin. He
|
|
means the builder's plummet, which Zorobabel shall hold in his hand for
|
|
the finishing the building.--Ibid. The seven eyes. . .The providence of
|
|
God, that oversees and orders all things.
|
|
|
|
4:11. And I answered, and said to him: What are these two olive trees
|
|
upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof
|
|
?
|
|
|
|
4:12. And I answered again, and said to him: What are the two olive
|
|
branches, that are by the two golden beaks, in which are the funnels of
|
|
gold?
|
|
|
|
4:13. And he spoke to me, saying: Knowest thou not what these are? And
|
|
I said: No, my lord.
|
|
|
|
4:14. And he said: These are two sons of oil who stand before the Lord
|
|
of the whole earth.
|
|
|
|
Two sons of oil. . .That is, the two anointed ones of the Lord; viz.,
|
|
Jesus the high priest, and Zorobabel the prince.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
The vision of the flying volume, and of the woman in the vessel.
|
|
|
|
5:1. And I turned and lifted up my eyes: and I saw, and behold a volume
|
|
flying.
|
|
|
|
A volume. . .That is, a parchment, according to the form of the ancient
|
|
books, which, from being rolled up, were called volumes.
|
|
|
|
5:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I see a volume
|
|
flying: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof
|
|
ten cubits.
|
|
|
|
5:3. And he said to me: This is the curse that goeth forth over the
|
|
face of the earth: for every thief shall be judged as is there written:
|
|
and every one that sweareth in like manner shall be judged by it.
|
|
|
|
5:4. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts: and it shall come
|
|
to the house of the thief, and to the house of him that sweareth
|
|
falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and
|
|
shall consume it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof.
|
|
|
|
5:5. And the angel went forth that spoke in me, and he said to me: Lift
|
|
up thy eyes, and see what this is, that goeth forth.
|
|
|
|
5:6. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a vessel going
|
|
forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the earth.
|
|
|
|
This is their eye. . .This is what they fix their eye upon: or this is a
|
|
resemblance and figure of them, viz., of sinners.
|
|
|
|
5:7. And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a woman
|
|
sitting in the midst of the vessel.
|
|
|
|
5:8. And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of
|
|
the vessel, and cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
|
|
|
|
5:9. And I lifted up my eyes and looked: and behold there came out two
|
|
women, and wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings
|
|
of a kite: and they lifted up the vessel between the earth and the
|
|
heaven.
|
|
|
|
5:10. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do these carry
|
|
the vessel?
|
|
|
|
5:11. And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land
|
|
of Sennaar, and that it may be established, and set there upon its own
|
|
basis.
|
|
|
|
The land of Sennaar. . .Where Babel or Babylon was built, Gen. 11.,
|
|
where note, that Babylon in holy writ is often taken for the city of
|
|
the devil: that is, for the whole congregation of the wicked: as
|
|
Jerusalem is taken for the city and people of God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
The vision of the four chariots. Crowns are ordered for Jesus the high
|
|
priest, as a type of Christ.
|
|
|
|
6:1. And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four
|
|
chariots came out from the midst of two mountains: and the mountains
|
|
were mountains of brass.
|
|
|
|
Four chariots. . .The four great empires of the Chaldeans, Persians,
|
|
Grecians, and Romans. Or perhaps by the fourth chariot are represented
|
|
the kings of Egypt and of Asia, the descendants of Ptolemeus and
|
|
Seleucus.
|
|
|
|
6:2. In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot
|
|
black horses.
|
|
|
|
6:3. And in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot
|
|
grisled horses, and strong ones.
|
|
|
|
6:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in me: What are
|
|
these, my lord?
|
|
|
|
6:5. And the angel answered, and said to me: These are the four winds
|
|
of the heaven, which go forth to stand before the Lord of all the
|
|
earth.
|
|
|
|
6:6. That in which were the black horses went forth into the land of
|
|
the north, and the white went forth after them: and the grisled went
|
|
forth to the land the south.
|
|
|
|
The land of the north. . .So Babylon is called; because it lay to the
|
|
north in respect of Jerusalem. The black horses, that is, the Medes and
|
|
Persians: and after them Alexander and his Greeks, signified by the
|
|
white horses, went thither because they conquered Babylon, executed
|
|
upon it the judgments of God, which is signified, ver. 8, by the
|
|
expression of quieting his spirit.--Ibid. The land of the
|
|
south. . .Egypt, which lay to the south of Jerusalem, and was occupied
|
|
first by Ptolemeus, and then by the Romans.
|
|
|
|
6:7. And they that were most strong, went out, and sought to go, and to
|
|
run to and fro through all the earth. And he said: Go, walk throughout
|
|
the earth: and they walked throughout the earth.
|
|
|
|
6:8. And he called me, and spoke to me, saying: Behold they that go
|
|
forth into the land of the north, have quieted my spirit in the land of
|
|
the north.
|
|
|
|
6:9. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
6:10. Take of them of the captivity, of Holdai, and of Tobias, and of
|
|
Idaias; thou shalt come in that day, a shalt go into the house of
|
|
Josias, the son of Sophonias, who came out of Babylon.
|
|
|
|
6:11. And thou shalt take gold and silver: and shalt make crowns, and
|
|
thou shalt set them on the head of Jesus the son of Josedec, the high
|
|
priest.
|
|
|
|
6:12. And thou shalt speak to him, saying: Thus saith the Lord of
|
|
hosts, saying: BEHOLD A MAN, THE ORIENT IS HIS NAME: and under him
|
|
shall he spring up, a shall build a temple to the Lord.
|
|
|
|
6:13. Yea, he shall build a temple to the Lord: and he shall bear the
|
|
glory, and shall sit, and rule upon his throne: and he shall be a
|
|
priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them
|
|
both.
|
|
|
|
Between them both. . .That is, he shall unite in himself the two offices
|
|
or dignities of king and priest.
|
|
|
|
6:14. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and Tobias, and Idaias, and to
|
|
Hem, the son of Sophonias, a memorial in the temple of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
6:15. And they that are far off, shall come and shall build in the
|
|
temple of the Lord: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me
|
|
to you. But this shall come to pass, if hearing you will hear the voice
|
|
of the Lord your God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
The people inquire concerning fasting: they are admonished to fast from
|
|
sin.
|
|
|
|
7:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the
|
|
word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth day of the ninth
|
|
month, which is Casleu.
|
|
|
|
7:2. When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were with him,
|
|
sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of the Lord:
|
|
|
|
7:3. To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to
|
|
the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the fifth month, or must I
|
|
sanctify myself as I have now done for many years?
|
|
|
|
The fifth month. . .They fasted on the tenth day of the fifth month;
|
|
because on that day the temple was burnt. Therefore they inquire
|
|
whether they are to continue the fast, after the temple is rebuilt. See
|
|
this query answered in the 19th verse of the following chapter.
|
|
|
|
7:4. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
7:5. Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying:
|
|
When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth and the seventh month for
|
|
these seventy years: did you keep a fast unto me?
|
|
|
|
7:6. And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for yourselves,
|
|
and drink for yourselves?
|
|
|
|
7:7. Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the
|
|
former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was inhabited, and was wealthy,
|
|
both itself and the cities round about it, and there were inhabitants
|
|
towards the south, and in the plain?
|
|
|
|
7:8. And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:
|
|
|
|
7:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true judgment, and
|
|
shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his brother.
|
|
|
|
7:10. And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and the stranger,
|
|
and the poor: and let not a man devise evil in his heart against his
|
|
brother.
|
|
|
|
7:11. But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to
|
|
depart: and they stopped their ears, not to hear.
|
|
|
|
7:12. And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest they should
|
|
hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit
|
|
by the hand of the former prophets: so a great indignation came from
|
|
Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
7:13. And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard not: so
|
|
shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
7:14. And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which they know
|
|
not: and the land was left desolate behind them, so that no man passed
|
|
through or returned: and they changed the delightful land into a
|
|
wilderness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joyful promises to Jerusalem: fully verified in the church of Christ.
|
|
|
|
8:1. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
8:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have been jealous for Sion with a
|
|
great jealousy, and with a great indignation have I been jealous for
|
|
her.
|
|
|
|
8:3. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am returned to Sion, and I will
|
|
dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called The city
|
|
of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, The sanctified
|
|
mountain.
|
|
|
|
8:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men and old
|
|
women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem: and every man with his staff
|
|
in his hand through multitude of days.
|
|
|
|
8:5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls,
|
|
playing in the streets thereof.
|
|
|
|
8:6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If it seem hard in the eyes of the
|
|
remnant of this people in those days: shall it be hard in my eyes,
|
|
saith the Lord of hosts?
|
|
|
|
8:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will save my people from
|
|
the land of the east, and from the land of the going down of the sun.
|
|
|
|
8:8. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of
|
|
Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in
|
|
truth and in justice.
|
|
|
|
8:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strengthened, you
|
|
that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, in
|
|
the day that the house of the Lord of hosts was founded, that the
|
|
temple might be built.
|
|
|
|
8:10. For before those days there was no hire for men, neither was
|
|
there hire for beasts, neither was there peace to him that came in, nor
|
|
to him that went out, because of the tribulation: and I let all men go
|
|
every one against his neighbour.
|
|
|
|
8:11. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people according
|
|
to the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
8:12. But there shall be the seed of peace: the vine shall yield her
|
|
fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and the heavens shall
|
|
give their dew: and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess
|
|
all these things.
|
|
|
|
8:13. And it shall come to pass, that as you were a curse among the
|
|
Gentiles, O house of Juda, and house of Israel: so will I save you, and
|
|
you shall be a blessing: fear not, let your hands be strengthened.
|
|
|
|
8:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: As I purposed io afflict you,
|
|
when your fathers had provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord,
|
|
|
|
8:15. And I had no mercy: so turning again I have thought in these days
|
|
to do good to the house of Juda, and Jerusalem: fear not.
|
|
|
|
8:16. These then are the things, which you shall do: Speak ye truth
|
|
every one to his neighbour; judge ye truth and judgment of peace in
|
|
your gates.
|
|
|
|
8:17. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his
|
|
friend: and love not a false oath: for all these are the things that I
|
|
hate, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
8:18. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
|
|
|
|
8:19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and
|
|
the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the
|
|
tenth shall be to the house of Juda, joy, and gladness, and great
|
|
solemnities: only love ye truth and peace.
|
|
|
|
The fast of the fourth month, etc. . .They fasted, on the ninth day of
|
|
the fourth month, because on that day Nabuchodonosor took Jerusalem,
|
|
Jer. 52.6. On the tenth day of the fifth month, because on that day the
|
|
temple was burnt, Jer. 52.12. On the third day of the seventh month,
|
|
for the murder of Godolias, Jer. 41.2. And on the tenth day of the
|
|
tenth month, because on that day the Chaldeans began to besiege
|
|
Jerusalem, 4 Kings 25.1. All these fasts, if they will be obedient for
|
|
the future, shall be changed, as is here promised, into joyful
|
|
solemnities.
|
|
|
|
8:20. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, until people come and dwell in many
|
|
cities,
|
|
|
|
8:21. And the inhabitants go one to another, saying: Let us go, and
|
|
entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Lord of hosts: I also
|
|
will go.
|
|
|
|
8:22. And many peoples, and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord
|
|
of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the face of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
8:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days, wherein ten men of
|
|
all languages of the Gentiles shall take hold, and shall hold fast the
|
|
skirt of one that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you: for we have
|
|
heard that God is with you.
|
|
|
|
Ten men, etc. . .Many of the Gentiles became proselytes to the Jewish
|
|
religion before Christ: but many more were converted to Christ by the
|
|
apostles and other preachers of the Jewish nation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
God will defend his church, and bring over even her enemies to the
|
|
faith. The meek coming of Christ, to bring peace, to deliver the
|
|
captives by his blood, and to give us all good things.
|
|
|
|
9:1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and of
|
|
Damascus the rest thereof: for the eye of man, and of all the tribes of
|
|
Israel is the Lord's.
|
|
|
|
Hadrach. . .Syria.
|
|
|
|
9:2. Emath also in the borders thereof, and Tyre, and Sidon: for they
|
|
have taken to themselves to be exceeding wise.
|
|
|
|
9:3. And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped together
|
|
silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the streets.
|
|
|
|
9:4. Behold the Lord shall possess her, and shall strike her strength
|
|
in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire.
|
|
|
|
9:5. Ascalon shall see, and shall fear, and Gaza, and shall be very
|
|
sorrowful: and Accaron, because her hope is confounded: and the king
|
|
shall perish from Gaza, and Ascalon shall not be inhabited.
|
|
|
|
9:6. And the divider shall sit in Azotus, and I will destroy the pride
|
|
of the Philistines.
|
|
|
|
9:7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his
|
|
abominations from between his teeth: and even he shall be left to our
|
|
God, and he shall be as a governor in Juda, and Accaron as a Jebusite.
|
|
|
|
His blood. . .It is spoken of the Philistines, and particularly of
|
|
Azotus, (where the temple of Dagon was,) and contains a prophecy of the
|
|
conversion of that people from their bloody sacrifices and abominations
|
|
to the worship of the true God.
|
|
|
|
9:8. And I will encompass my house with them that serve me in war,
|
|
going and returning, and the oppressor shall no more pass through them:
|
|
for now I have seen with my eyes.
|
|
|
|
That serve me in war. . .Viz., the Machabees.
|
|
|
|
9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of
|
|
Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee, the just and saviour: he
|
|
is poor, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.
|
|
|
|
9:10. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out
|
|
of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak
|
|
peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from
|
|
the rivers even to the end of the earth.
|
|
|
|
9:11. Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent forth thy
|
|
prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.
|
|
|
|
9:12. Return to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, I will render
|
|
thee double as I declare today.
|
|
|
|
9:13. Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have filled Ephraim:
|
|
and I will raise up thy sons, O Sion, above thy sons, O Greece, and I
|
|
will make thee as the sword of the mighty.
|
|
|
|
Thy sons, O Sion, etc. . .Viz., the apostles, who, in the spiritual way,
|
|
conquered the Greeks, and subdued them to Christ.
|
|
|
|
9:14. And the Lord God shall be seen over them, and his dart shall go
|
|
forth as lightning: and the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and go in
|
|
the whirlwind of the south.
|
|
|
|
9:15. The Lord of hosts will protect them: and they shall devour, and
|
|
subdue with the stones of the sling: and drinking they shall be
|
|
inebriated as it were with wine, and they shall be filled as bowls, and
|
|
as the horns of the altar.
|
|
|
|
9:16. And the Lord their God will save them in that day, as the flock
|
|
of his people: for holy stones shall be lifted up over his land.
|
|
|
|
Holy stones. . .The apostles, who shall be as pillars and monuments in
|
|
the church.
|
|
|
|
9:17. For what is the good thing of him, and what is his beautiful
|
|
thing, but the corn of the elect, and wine springing forth virgins?
|
|
|
|
The corn, etc. . .His most excellent gift is the blessed Eucharist,
|
|
called here The corn, that is, the bread of the elect, and the wine
|
|
springing forth virgins; that is, maketh virgins to bud, or spring
|
|
forth, as it were, like flowers among thorns; because it has a
|
|
wonderful efficacy to give and preserve purity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
God is to be sought to, and not idols. The victories of his church,
|
|
which shall arise originally from the Jewish nation.
|
|
|
|
10:1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter season, and the Lord will
|
|
make snows, and will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in
|
|
the field.
|
|
|
|
10:2. For the idols have spoken what was unprofitable, and the diviners
|
|
have seen a lie, and the dreamers have spoken vanity: they comforted in
|
|
vain: therefore they were led away as a flock: they shall be afflicted,
|
|
because they have no shepherd.
|
|
|
|
10:3. My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit upon
|
|
the buck goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house
|
|
of Juda, and hath made them as the horse of his glory in the battle.
|
|
|
|
10:4. Out of him shall come forth the corner, out of him the pin, out
|
|
of him the bow of battle, out of him ever exacter together.
|
|
|
|
10:5. And they shall be as mighty men, treading under foot the mire of
|
|
the ways in battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with
|
|
them, and the riders of horses shall be confounded.
|
|
|
|
10:6. And I will strengthen the house of Juda, and save the house of
|
|
Joseph: and I will bring them back again, because I will have mercy on
|
|
them: and they shall be as they were when I had not cast them off, for
|
|
I am the Lord their God, and will hear them.
|
|
|
|
10:7. And they shall be as the valiant men of Ephraim, and their heart
|
|
shall rejoice as through wine: and their children shall see, and shall
|
|
rejoice, and their heart shall be joyful in the Lord.
|
|
|
|
10:8. I will whistle for them, and I will gather them together, because
|
|
I have redeemed them: and I will multiply them as they were multiplied
|
|
before.
|
|
|
|
10:9. And I will sow them among peoples: and from afar they shall
|
|
remember me: and they shall live with their children, and shall return.
|
|
|
|
10:10. And I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt, and I will
|
|
gather them from among the Assyrians: and will bring them to the land
|
|
of Galaad, and Libanus, and place shall not be found for them.
|
|
|
|
10:11. And he shall pass over the strait of the sea, and shall strike
|
|
the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the river shall be
|
|
confounded, and the pride of Assyria shall be humbled, and the sceptre
|
|
of Egypt shall depart.
|
|
|
|
10:12. I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk in his
|
|
name, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. God's dealings with the
|
|
Jews, and their reprobation.
|
|
|
|
11:1. Open thy gates, O Libanus, and let fire devour thy cedars.
|
|
|
|
O Libanus. . .So Jerusalem, and more particularly the temple, is called
|
|
by the prophets, from its height, and from its being built of the
|
|
cedars of Libanus.--Ibid. Thy cedars. . .Thy princes and chief men.
|
|
|
|
11:2. Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the mighty are
|
|
laid waste: howl, ye oaks of Basan, because the fenced forest is cut
|
|
down.
|
|
|
|
11:3. The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because their glory is
|
|
laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the lions, because the pride of
|
|
the Jordan is spoiled.
|
|
|
|
11:4. Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter,
|
|
|
|
11:5. Which they that possessed, slew, and repented not, and they sold
|
|
them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we are become rich: and their
|
|
shepherds spared them not.
|
|
|
|
11:6. And I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land, saith the
|
|
Lord: behold I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbour's
|
|
hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall destroy the land,
|
|
and I will not deliver it out of their hand.
|
|
|
|
Every one into his neighbour's hand, etc. . .This alludes to the last
|
|
siege of Jerusalem, in which the different factions of the Jews
|
|
destroyed one another; and they that remained fell into the hands of
|
|
their king, that is, of the Roman emperor, of whom they had said, John
|
|
19.15, we have no king but Caesar.
|
|
|
|
11:7. And I will feed the flock of slaughter for this, O ye poor of the
|
|
flock. And I took unto me two rods, one I called Beauty, and the other
|
|
I called a Cord, and I fed the flock.
|
|
|
|
Two rods. . .Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different ways of God's
|
|
dealing with his people; the one, by sweet means, called the rod of
|
|
Beauty: the other, by bands and punishments, called the Cord. And where
|
|
both these rods are made of no use or effect by the obstinacy of
|
|
sinners, the rods are broken, and such sinners are given up to a
|
|
reprobate sense, as the Jews were.
|
|
|
|
11:8. And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my soul was
|
|
straitened in their regard: for their soul also varied in my regard.
|
|
|
|
Three shepherds in one month. . .That is, in a very short time. By these
|
|
three shepherds probably are meant the latter princes and high priests
|
|
of the Jews, whose reign was short.
|
|
|
|
11:9. And I said: I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die:
|
|
and that which is cut off, let it be cut off: and let the rest devour
|
|
every one the flesh of his neighbour.
|
|
|
|
11:10. And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut it asunder
|
|
to make void my covenant, which I had made with all people.
|
|
|
|
11:11. And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of the flock
|
|
that keep for me, understood that it is the word of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
11:12. And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my
|
|
wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty
|
|
pieces of silver.
|
|
|
|
11:13. And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a handsome
|
|
price, that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of
|
|
silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord to the statuary.
|
|
|
|
The statuary. . .The Hebrew word signifies also a potter.
|
|
|
|
11:14. And I cut off my second rod that was called a Cord, that I might
|
|
break the brotherhood between Juda and Israel.
|
|
|
|
11:15. And the Lord said to me: Take to thee yet the instruments of a
|
|
foolish shepherd.
|
|
|
|
A foolish shepherd. . .This was to represent the foolish, that is, the
|
|
wicked princes and priests that should rule the people, before their
|
|
utter desolation.
|
|
|
|
11:16. For behold I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not
|
|
visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is
|
|
broken, nor nourish that which standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of
|
|
the fat ones, and break their hoofs.
|
|
|
|
11:17. O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the sword upon
|
|
his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall quite wither away, and
|
|
his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
God shall protect his church against her persecutors. The mourning of
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
12:1. The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel. Thus saith the
|
|
Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundations of
|
|
the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in him:
|
|
|
|
12:2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a lintel of surfeiting to all the
|
|
people round about: and Juda also shall be in the siege against
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
A lintel of surfeiting. . .That is, a door into which they shall seek to
|
|
enter, to glut themselves with blood; but they shall stumble, and fall
|
|
like men stupefied with wine. It seems to allude to the times of
|
|
Antiochus, and to the victories of the Machabees.
|
|
|
|
12:3. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem
|
|
a burdensome stone to all people: all that shall lift it up shall be
|
|
rent and torn, and all the kingdoms of the earth shall be gathered
|
|
together against her.
|
|
|
|
12:4. In that day, saith the Lord, I will strike every horse with
|
|
astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open my eyes upon
|
|
the house of Juda, and will strike every horse of the nations with
|
|
blindness.
|
|
|
|
12:5. And the governors of Juda shall say in their heart: Let the
|
|
inhabitants of Jerusalem be strengthened for me in the Lord of hosts,
|
|
their God.
|
|
|
|
12:6. In that day I will make the governors of Juda like a furnace of
|
|
fire amongst wood, and as a firebrand amongst hay: and they shall
|
|
devour all the people round about, to the right hand, and to the left:
|
|
and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place in Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
12:7. And the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Jada, as in the
|
|
beginning: that the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of
|
|
Jerusalem, may not boast and magnify themselves against Juda.
|
|
|
|
12:8. In that day shall the Lord protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
|
|
and he that hath offended among them in that day shall be as David: and
|
|
the house of David, as that of God, as an angel of the Lord in their
|
|
sight.
|
|
|
|
12:9. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to
|
|
destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
12:10. And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the
|
|
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers: and they
|
|
shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for
|
|
him as one mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as
|
|
the manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn.
|
|
|
|
12:11. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem like
|
|
the lamentation of Adadremmon in the plain of Mageddon.
|
|
|
|
Adadremmon. . .A place near Mageddon, where the good king Josias was
|
|
slain, and much lamented by his people.
|
|
|
|
12:12. And the land shall mourn: families and families apart: the
|
|
families of the house of David apart, and their women apart:
|
|
|
|
12:13. The families of the house of Nathan apart, and their women
|
|
apart: the families of the house of Levi apart, and their women apart:
|
|
the families of Semei apart, and their women apart.
|
|
|
|
12:14. All the rest of the families, families and families apart, and
|
|
their women apart.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
The fountain of Christ. Idols and false prophets shall be extirpated:
|
|
Christ shall suffer: his people shall be tried by fire.
|
|
|
|
13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David,
|
|
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner, and
|
|
of the unclean woman.
|
|
|
|
13:2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
|
|
that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall
|
|
be remembered no more: and I will take away the false prophets, and the
|
|
unclean spirit out of the earth.
|
|
|
|
13:3. And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall prophesy any
|
|
more, his father and his mother that brought him into the world, shall
|
|
say to him: Thou shalt not live: because thou hast spoken a lie in the
|
|
name of the Lord. And his father, and his mother, his parents, shall
|
|
thrust him through, when he shall prophesy.
|
|
|
|
13:4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be
|
|
confounded, every one by his own vision, when he shall prophesy,
|
|
neither shall they be clad with a garment of sackcloth, to deceive:
|
|
|
|
13:5. But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman: for Adam is
|
|
my example from my youth.
|
|
|
|
13:6. And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of
|
|
thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of
|
|
them that loved me.
|
|
|
|
13:7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that
|
|
cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the
|
|
sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones.
|
|
|
|
13:8. And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in
|
|
it shall be scattered, and shall perish: but the third part shall be
|
|
left therein.
|
|
|
|
13:9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine
|
|
them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. They
|
|
shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my
|
|
people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zacharias Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
After the persecutions of the church shall follow great prosperity.
|
|
Persecutors shall be punished: so shall all that will not serve God in
|
|
his church.
|
|
|
|
14:1. Behold the days of the Lord shall come, and thy spoils shall be
|
|
divided in the midst of thee.
|
|
|
|
14:2. And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle, and the
|
|
city shall be taken, and the houses shall be rifled, and the women
|
|
shall be defiled: and half of the city shall go forth into captivity,
|
|
and the rest of the people shall not be taken away out of the city.
|
|
|
|
I will gather, etc. . .This seems to be a prophecy of what was done by
|
|
Antiochus.
|
|
|
|
14:3. Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against those
|
|
nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
|
|
|
|
14:4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
|
|
which is over against Jerusalem towards the east: and the mount of
|
|
Olives shall be divided in the midst thereof to the east, and to the
|
|
west with a very great opening, and half of the mountain shall be
|
|
separated to the north, and half thereof to the south.
|
|
|
|
14:5. And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains, for the
|
|
valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the next, and you shall
|
|
flee as you fled from the face of the earthquake in the days of Ozias
|
|
king of Juda: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
14:6. And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall be no
|
|
light, but cold and frost.
|
|
|
|
No light. . .Viz., in that dismal time of persecution of Antiochus, when
|
|
it was neither day nor night: (ver. 7) because they neither had the
|
|
comfortable light of the day, nor the repose of the night.
|
|
|
|
14:7. And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day
|
|
nor night: and in the time of the evening there shall be light:
|
|
|
|
In the time of the evening there shall be light. . .An unexpected light
|
|
shall arise by the means of the Machabees, when things shall seem to be
|
|
at the worst.
|
|
|
|
14:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall
|
|
go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the east sea, and half of them
|
|
to the last sea: they shall be in summer and in winter.
|
|
|
|
Living waters. . .Viz., the gospel of Christ.
|
|
|
|
14:9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there
|
|
shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one.
|
|
|
|
14:10. And all the land shall return even to the desert, from the hill
|
|
to Remmon to the south of Jerusalem: and she shall be exalted, and
|
|
shall dwell in her own place, from the gate of Benjamin even to the
|
|
place of the former gate, and even to the gate of the corners: and from
|
|
the tower of Hananeel even to the king's winepresses.
|
|
|
|
All the land shall return, etc. . .This, in some measure, was verified
|
|
by the means of the Machabees: but is rather to be taken in a spiritual
|
|
sense, as relating to the propagation of the church, and kingdom of
|
|
Christ, the true Jerusalem, which alone shall never fall under the
|
|
anathema of destruction, or God's curse.
|
|
|
|
14:11. And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more an
|
|
anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure.
|
|
|
|
14:12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall strike all
|
|
nations that have fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of every one
|
|
shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes
|
|
shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away
|
|
in their mouth.
|
|
|
|
The flesh of every one shall consume, etc. . .Such judgments as these
|
|
have often fallen upon the persecutors of God's church, as appears by
|
|
many instances in history.
|
|
|
|
14:13. In that day there shall be a great tumult from the Lord among
|
|
them: and a man shall take the hand of his neighbour, and his hand
|
|
shall be clasped upon his neighbour's hand.
|
|
|
|
14:14. And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the riches of
|
|
all nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver,
|
|
and garments in great abundance.
|
|
|
|
Even Juda, etc. . .The carnal Jews, and other false brothers, shall join
|
|
in persecuting the church.
|
|
|
|
14:15. And the destruction of the horse, and of the mule, and of the
|
|
camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts, that shall be in those
|
|
tents, shall be like this destruction.
|
|
|
|
Shall be like this destruction. . .That is, the beasts shall be
|
|
destroyed as well as the men: the common soldiers as well as their
|
|
leaders.
|
|
|
|
14:16. And all they that shall be left of all nations that came against
|
|
Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, to adore the King, the Lord
|
|
of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
|
|
|
|
They that shall be left, etc. . .That is, many of them that persecuted
|
|
the church shall be converted to its faith and communion.--Ibid. To keep
|
|
the feast of tabernacles. . .This feast was kept by the Jews in memory
|
|
of their sojourning forty years in the desert, in their way to the land
|
|
of promise. And in the spiritual sense is duly kept by all such
|
|
Christians as in their earthly pilgrimage are continually advancing
|
|
toward their true home, the heavenly Jerusalem; by the help of the
|
|
sacraments and sacrifice of the church. And they that neglect this must
|
|
not look for the kind showers of divine grace, to give fruitfulness to
|
|
their souls.
|
|
|
|
14:17. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall not go up of the
|
|
families of the land to Jerusalem, to adore the King, the Lord of
|
|
hosts, there shall be no rain upon them.
|
|
|
|
14:18. And if the family of Egypt go not up nor come: neither shall it
|
|
be upon them, but there shall be destruction wherewith the Lord will
|
|
strike all nations that will not go up to keep the feast of
|
|
tabernacles.
|
|
|
|
14:19. This shall be the sin of Egypt, and this the sin of all nations,
|
|
that will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
|
|
|
|
14:20. In that day that which is upon the bridle of the horse shall be
|
|
holy to the Lord: and the caldrons in the house of the Lord shall be as
|
|
the phials before the altar.
|
|
|
|
That which is upon the bridle, etc. . .The golden ornaments of the
|
|
bridles, etc., shall be turned into offerings in the house of God. And
|
|
there shall be an abundance of caldrons and phials for the sacrifices
|
|
of the temple; by which is meant, under a figure, the great resort
|
|
there shall be to the temple, that is, to the church of Christ, and her
|
|
sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
14:21. And every caldron in Jerusalem and Juda shall be sanctified to
|
|
the Lord of hosts: and all that sacrifice shall come, and take of them,
|
|
and shall seethe in them: and the merchant shall be no more in the
|
|
house of the Lord of hosts in that day.
|
|
|
|
The merchant shall be no more, etc. . .Or, as some render it, The
|
|
Chanaanite shall be no more, etc., that is, the profane and unbelievers
|
|
shall have no title to be in the house of the Lord. Or there shall be
|
|
no occasion for buyers or sellers of oxen, or sheep, or doves, in the
|
|
house of God, such as Jesus Christ cast out of the temple.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PROPHECY OF MALACHIAS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MALACHIAS, whose name signifies The Angel of the Lord, was contemporary
|
|
with NEHEMIAS, and by some is believed to have been the same person as
|
|
ESDRAS. He was the last of the prophets, in the order of time, and
|
|
flourished about four hundred years before Christ. He foretells the
|
|
coming of Christ; the reprobation of the Jews and their sacrifices; and
|
|
the calling of the Gentiles, who shall offer up to God in every place
|
|
an acceptable sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Malachias Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
God reproaches the Jews with their ingratitude: and the priests for not
|
|
offering pure sacrifices. He will accept of the sacrifice that shall be
|
|
offered in every place among the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
1:1. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of
|
|
Malachias.
|
|
|
|
1:2. I have loved you, saith the Lord: and you have said: Wherein hast
|
|
thou loved us? Was not Esau brother to Jacob, saith the Lord, and I
|
|
have loved Jacob,
|
|
|
|
I have loved Jacob, etc. . .I have preferred his posterity, to make them
|
|
my chosen people, and to lead them with my blessings, without any merit
|
|
on their part, and though they have been always ungrateful; whilst I
|
|
have rejected Esau, and executed severe judgments upon his posterity.
|
|
Not that God punished Esau, or his posterity, beyond their desert: but
|
|
that by his free election and grace he loved Jacob, and favoured his
|
|
posterity above their deserts. See the annotations upon Rom. 9.
|
|
|
|
1:3. But have hated Esau? and I have made his mountains a wilderness,
|
|
and given his inheritance to the dragons of the desert.
|
|
|
|
1:4. But if Edom shall say: We are destroyed, but we will return and
|
|
build up what hath been destroyed: thus saith the Lord of hosts: They
|
|
shall build up, and I will throw down: and they shall be called the
|
|
borders of wickedness, and the people with whom the Lord is angry for
|
|
ever.
|
|
|
|
1:5. And your eyes shall see: and you shall say: The Lord be magnified
|
|
upon the border of Israel.
|
|
|
|
1:6. The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then
|
|
I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my
|
|
fear: saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
1:7. To you, O priests, that despise my name, and have said: Wherein
|
|
have we despised thy name? You offer polluted bread upon my altar, and
|
|
you say: Wherein have we polluted thee? In that you say: The table of
|
|
the Lord is contemptible.
|
|
|
|
1:8. If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if you
|
|
offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? offer it to thy prince, if
|
|
he will be pleased with it, or if he will regard thy face, saith the
|
|
Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
1:9. And now beseech ye the face of God, that he may have mercy on you,
|
|
(for by your hand hath this been done,) if by any means he will receive
|
|
your faces, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
1:10. Who is there among you, that will shut the doors, and will kindle
|
|
the fire on my altar gratis? I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord
|
|
of hosts: and I will not receive a gift of your hand.
|
|
|
|
1:11. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is
|
|
great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and
|
|
there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great
|
|
among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
A clean oblation. . .Viz., the precious body and blood of Christ in the
|
|
eucharistic sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
1:12. And you have profaned it in that you say: The table of the Lord
|
|
is defiled: and that which is laid thereupon is contemptible with the
|
|
fire that devoureth it.
|
|
|
|
1:13. And you have said: Behold of our labour, and you puffed it away,
|
|
saith the Lord of hosts, and you brought in of rapine the lame, and the
|
|
sick, and brought in an offering: shall I accept it at your hands,
|
|
saith the Lord?
|
|
|
|
Behold of our labour, etc. . .You pretended labour and weariness, when
|
|
you brought your offering; and so made it of no value, by offering it
|
|
with an evil mind. Moreover, what you offered was both defective in
|
|
itself, and gotten by rapine and extortion.
|
|
|
|
1:14. Cursed is the deceitful man that hath in his flock a male, and
|
|
making a vow offereth in sacrifice that which is feeble to the Lord:
|
|
for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful
|
|
among the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Malachias Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
The priests are sharply reproved for neglecting their covenant. The
|
|
evil of marrying with idolaters: and too easily putting away their
|
|
wives.
|
|
|
|
2:1. And now, O ye priests, this commandment is to you.
|
|
|
|
2:2. If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give
|
|
glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts: I will send poverty upon
|
|
you, and will curse your blessings, yea I will curse them, because you
|
|
have not laid it to heart.
|
|
|
|
2:3. Behold, I will cast the shoulder to you, and will scatter upon
|
|
your face the dung of your solemnities, and it shall take you away with
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
I will cast the shoulder to you. . .I will cast away the shoulder, which
|
|
in the law was appointed to be your portion, and fling it at you in my
|
|
anger: and will reject both you and your festivals like dung.
|
|
|
|
2:4. And you shall know that I sent you this commandment, that my
|
|
covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
2:5. My covenant was with him of life and peace: and I gave him fear:
|
|
and he feared me, and he was afraid before my name.
|
|
|
|
2:6. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in
|
|
his lips: he walked with me in peace, and in equity, and turned many
|
|
away from iniquity.
|
|
|
|
2:7. For the lips of the priests shall keep knowledge, and they shall
|
|
seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of
|
|
hosts.
|
|
|
|
The angel. . .Viz., the minister and messenger.
|
|
|
|
2:8. But you have departed out of the way, and have caused many to
|
|
stumble at the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the
|
|
Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
2:9. Therefore have I also made you contemptible, and base before all
|
|
people, as you have not kept my ways, and have accepted persons in the
|
|
law.
|
|
|
|
2:10. Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why then
|
|
doth every one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our
|
|
fathers?
|
|
|
|
2:11. Juda hath transgressed, and abomination hath been committed in
|
|
Israel, and in Jerusalem: for Juda hath profaned the holiness of the
|
|
Lord, which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.
|
|
|
|
2:12. The Lord will cut off the man that hath done this, both the
|
|
master, and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that
|
|
offereth an offering to the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
2:13. And this again have you done, you have covered the altar of the
|
|
Lord with tears, with weeping, and bellowing, so that I have no more a
|
|
regard to sacrifice, neither do I accept any atonement at your hands.
|
|
|
|
With tears. . .Viz., by occasion of your wives, whom you have put away:
|
|
and who came to weep and lament before the altar.
|
|
|
|
2:14. And you have said: For what cause? Because the Lord hath been
|
|
witness between thee, and the wife of thy youth, whom thou hast
|
|
despised: yet she was thy partner, and the wife of thy covenant.
|
|
|
|
2:15. Did not one make her, and she is the residue of his spirit? And
|
|
what doth one seek, but the seed of God? Keep then your spirit, and
|
|
despise not the wife of thy youth.
|
|
|
|
2:16. When thou shalt hate her put her away, saith the Lord, the God of
|
|
Israel: but iniquity shalt cover his garment, saith the Lord of hosts,
|
|
keep your spirit, and despise not.
|
|
|
|
Iniquity shall cover his garment. . .Viz., of every man that putteth
|
|
away his wife without just cause; notwithstanding that God permitted it
|
|
in the law, to prevent the evil of murder.
|
|
|
|
2:17. You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you said: Wherein
|
|
have we wearied him? In that you say: Every one that doth evil, is good
|
|
in the sight of the Lord, and such please him: or surely where is the
|
|
God of judgment?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Malachias Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christ shall come to his temple, and purify the priesthood. They that
|
|
continue in their evil ways shall be punished: but true penitents shall
|
|
receive a blessing.
|
|
|
|
3:1. Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my
|
|
face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the
|
|
testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold, he
|
|
cometh, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
My angel. . .Viz., John the Baptist, the messenger of God, and
|
|
forerunner of Christ.
|
|
|
|
3:2. And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who
|
|
shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the
|
|
fuller's herb:
|
|
|
|
3:3. And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall
|
|
purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver,
|
|
and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice.
|
|
|
|
3:4. And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord,
|
|
as in the days of old, and in the ancient years.
|
|
|
|
3:5. And I will come to you in judgment, and will be a speedy witness
|
|
against sorcerers, and adulterers, and false swearers, and them that
|
|
oppress the hireling in his wages, the widows, and the fatherless: and
|
|
oppress the stranger, and have not feared me, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
3:6. For I am the Lord, and I change not: and you the sons of Jacob are
|
|
not consumed.
|
|
|
|
3:7. For from the days of your fathers you have departed from my
|
|
ordinances, and have not kept them: Return to me, and I will return to
|
|
you, saith the Lord of hosts. And you have said: Wherein shall we
|
|
return?
|
|
|
|
3:8. Shall a man afflict God, for you afflict me. And you have said:
|
|
Wherein do we afflict thee? in tithes and in firstfruits.
|
|
|
|
3:9. And you are cursed with want, and you afflict me, even the whole
|
|
nation of you.
|
|
|
|
3:10. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat
|
|
in my house, and try me in this, saith the Lord: if I open not unto you
|
|
the flood-gates of heaven, and pour you out a blessing even to
|
|
abundance.
|
|
|
|
3:11. And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he shall not
|
|
spoil the fruit of your land: neither shall the vine in the field be
|
|
barren, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
3:12. And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a
|
|
delightful land, saith the Lord of hosts.
|
|
|
|
3:13. Your words have been unsufferable to me, saith the Lord.
|
|
|
|
3:14. And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have
|
|
said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that
|
|
we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before
|
|
the Lord of hosts?
|
|
|
|
3:15. Wherefore now we call the proud people happy, for they that work
|
|
wickedness are built up, and they have tempted God and are preserved.
|
|
|
|
3:16. Then they that feared the Lord, spoke every one with his
|
|
neighbour: and the Lord gave ear, and heard it: and a book of
|
|
remembrance was written before him for them that fear the Lord, and
|
|
think on his name.
|
|
|
|
3:17. And they shall be my special possession, saith the Lord of hosts,
|
|
in the day that I do judgment: and I will spare them, as a man spareth
|
|
his son that serveth him.
|
|
|
|
3:18. And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the
|
|
just and the wicked: and between him that serveth God, and him that
|
|
serveth him not.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Malachias Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
The judgment of the wicked, and reward of the just. An exhortation to
|
|
observe the law. Elias shall come for the conversion of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
4:1. For behold the day shall come kindled as a furnace: and all the
|
|
proud, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that
|
|
cometh shall set them on fire, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall not
|
|
leave them root, nor branch.
|
|
|
|
4:2. But unto you that fear my name, the Sun of justice shall arise,
|
|
and health in his wings: and you shall go forth, and shall leap like
|
|
calves of the herd.
|
|
|
|
4:3. And you shall tread down the wicked when they shall be ashes under
|
|
the sole of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of
|
|
hosts.
|
|
|
|
4:4. Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded him in
|
|
Horeb for all Israel, the precepts, and judgments.
|
|
|
|
4:5. Behold, I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of
|
|
the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
4:6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and
|
|
the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the
|
|
earth with anathema.
|
|
|
|
He shall turn the heart, etc. . .By bringing over the Jews to the faith
|
|
of Christ, he shall reconcile them to their fathers, viz., the
|
|
partiarchs and prophets; whose hearts for many ages have been turned
|
|
away from them, because of their refusing to believe in Christ.--Ibid.
|
|
With anathema. . .In the Hebrew, Cherem, that is, with utter
|
|
destruction.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE FIRST BOOK OF MACHABEES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
These books are so called, because they contain the history of the
|
|
people of God under the command of Judas Machabeus and his brethren:
|
|
and he, as some will have it, was surnamed Machabeus, from carrying in
|
|
his ensigns, or standards, those words of Exodus 15.11, Who is like to
|
|
thee among the strong, O Lord: in which the initial letters, in the
|
|
Hebrew, are M. C. B. E. I. It is not known who is the author of these
|
|
books. But as to their authority, though they are not received by the
|
|
Jews, saith St. Augustine, (lib. 18, De Civ. Dei, c. 36,) they are
|
|
received by the church: who, in settling her canon of the scriptures,
|
|
chose rather to be directed by the tradition she had received from the
|
|
apostles of Christ, than by that of the scribes and Pharisees. And as
|
|
the church has declared these two Books canonical, even in two general
|
|
councils, viz., Florence and Trent, there can be no doubt of their
|
|
authenticity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
The reign of Alexander and his successors: Antiochus rifles and
|
|
profanes the temple of God: and persecutes unto death all that will not
|
|
forsake the law of God, and the religion of their fathers.
|
|
|
|
1:1. Now it came to pass, after that Alexander the son of Philip the
|
|
Macedonian, who first reigned in Greece, coming out of the land of
|
|
Cethim, had overthrown Darius, king of the Persians and Medes:
|
|
|
|
1:2. He fought many battles, and took the strong holds of all, and slew
|
|
the kings of the earth:
|
|
|
|
1:3. And he went through even to the ends of the earth: and took the
|
|
spoils of many nations: and the earth was quiet before him.
|
|
|
|
1:4. And he gathered a power, and a very strong army: and his heart was
|
|
exalted and lifted up:
|
|
|
|
1:5. And he subdued countries of nations, and princes; and they became
|
|
tributaries to him.
|
|
|
|
1:6. And after these things, he fell down upon his bed, and knew that
|
|
he should die.
|
|
|
|
1:7. And he called his servants, the nobles that were brought up with
|
|
him from his youth: and he divided his kingdom among them, while he was
|
|
yet alive.
|
|
|
|
Divided his kingdom, etc. . .This is otherwise related by Q. Curtius;
|
|
though he acknowledges that divers were of that opinion, and that it
|
|
had been delivered by some authors, lib. 10. But here we find from the
|
|
sacred text, that he was in error.
|
|
|
|
1:8. And Alexander reigned twelve years, and he died.
|
|
|
|
1:9. And his servants made themselves kings, every one in his place:
|
|
|
|
1:10. And they all put crowns upon themselves after his death, and
|
|
their sons after them, many years; and evils were multiplied in the
|
|
earth.
|
|
|
|
1:11. And there came out of them a wicked root, Antiochus the
|
|
Illustrious, the son of king Antiochus, who had been a hostage at Rome:
|
|
and he reigned in the hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of
|
|
the Greeks.
|
|
|
|
Antiochus the Illustrius. . .Epiphanes, the younger son of Antiochus the
|
|
Great, who usurped the kingdom, to the prejudice of his nephew
|
|
Demetrius, son of his elder brother Seleucus Philopater.--Ibid. Of the
|
|
kingdom of the Greeks. . .Counting, not from the beginning of the reign
|
|
of Alexander, but from the first year of Seleucus Nicator.
|
|
|
|
1:12. In those days there went out of Israel wicked men, and they
|
|
persuaded many, saying: Let us go and make a covenant with the heathens
|
|
that are round about us: for since we departed from them, many evils
|
|
have befallen us.
|
|
|
|
1:13. And the word seemed good in their eyes.
|
|
|
|
1:14. And some of the people determined to do this, and went to the
|
|
king: and he gave them license to do after the ordinances of the
|
|
heathens.
|
|
|
|
1:15. And they built a place of exercise in Jerusalem, according to the
|
|
laws of the nations:
|
|
|
|
1:16. And they made themselves prepuces, and departed from the holy
|
|
covenant, and joined themselves to the heathens, and were sold to do
|
|
evil:
|
|
|
|
1:17. And the kingdom was established before Antiochus, and he had a
|
|
mind to reign over the land of Egypt, that he might reign over two
|
|
kingdoms.
|
|
|
|
1:18. And he entered into Egypt with a great multitude, with chariots,
|
|
and elephants, and horsemen, and a great number of ships:
|
|
|
|
1:19. And he made war against Ptolemee king of Egypt; but Ptolemee was
|
|
afraid at his presence and fled, and many were wounded unto death.
|
|
|
|
1:20. And he took the strong cities in the land of Egypt: and he took
|
|
the spoils of the land of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
1:21. And after Antiochus had ravaged Egypt, in the hundred and
|
|
forty-third year, he returned and went up against Israel.
|
|
|
|
1:22. And he went up to Jerusalem, with a great multitude.
|
|
|
|
1:23. And he proudly entered into the sanctuary, and took away the
|
|
golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels
|
|
thereof, and the table of proposition, and the pouring vessels, and the
|
|
vials, and the little mortars of gold, and the veil, and the crowns,
|
|
and the golden ornament that was before the temple: and he broke them
|
|
all in pieces.
|
|
|
|
1:24. And he took the silver and gold, and the precious vessels: and he
|
|
took the hidden treasures, which he found: and when he had taken all
|
|
away, he departed into his own country.
|
|
|
|
1:25. And he made a great slaughter of men, and spoke very proudly.
|
|
|
|
1:26. And there was great mourning in Israel, and in every place where
|
|
they were:
|
|
|
|
1:27. And the princes, and the ancients mourned, and the virgins and
|
|
the young men were made feeble, and the beauty of the women was
|
|
changed.
|
|
|
|
1:28. Every bridegroom took up lamentation: and the bride that sat in
|
|
the marriage bed, mourned:
|
|
|
|
1:29. And the land was moved for the inhabitants thereof, and all the
|
|
house of Jacob was covered with confusion.
|
|
|
|
1:30. And after two full years, the king sent the chief collector of
|
|
his tributes to the cities of Juda, and he came to Jerusalem with a
|
|
great multitude.
|
|
|
|
The chief collector, etc. . .Apollonius.
|
|
|
|
1:31. And he spoke to them peaceable words in deceit; and they believed
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
1:32. And he fell upon the city suddenly, and struck it with a great
|
|
slaughter, and destroyed much people in Israel.
|
|
|
|
1:33. And he took the spoils of the city, and burnt it with fire, and
|
|
threw down the houses thereof, and the walls thereof round about:
|
|
|
|
1:34. And they took the women captive, and the children, and the cattle
|
|
they possessed.
|
|
|
|
1:35. And they built the city of David with a great and strong wall,
|
|
and with strong towers, and made it a fortress for them:
|
|
|
|
The city of David. . .That is, the castle of Sion.
|
|
|
|
1:36. And they placed there a sinful nation, wicked men, and they
|
|
fortified themselves therein: and they stored up armour; and victuals,
|
|
and gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem;
|
|
|
|
1:37. And laid them up there: and they became a great snare.
|
|
|
|
1:38. And this was a place to lie in wait against the sanctuary, and an
|
|
evil devil in Israel.
|
|
|
|
An evil devil. . .That is, an adversary watching constantly to do harm,
|
|
as the evil spirit is always watching and seeking whom he may devour.
|
|
|
|
1:39. And they shed innocent blood round about the sanctuary, and
|
|
defiled the holy place.
|
|
|
|
1:40. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away by reason of them and
|
|
the city was made the habitation of strangers, and she became a
|
|
stranger to her own seed, and her children forsook her.
|
|
|
|
1:41. Her sanctuary was desolate like a wilderness, her festival days
|
|
were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into reproach, her honours were
|
|
brought to nothing.
|
|
|
|
1:42. Her dishonour was increased according to her glory, and her
|
|
excellency was turned into mourning.
|
|
|
|
1:43. And king Antiochus wrote to all his kingdom, that all the people
|
|
should be one: and every one should leave his own law.
|
|
|
|
1:44. And all nations consented, according to the word of king
|
|
Antiochus.
|
|
|
|
1:45. And many of Israel consented to his service, and they sacrificed
|
|
to idols, and profaned the sabbath.
|
|
|
|
1:46. And the king sent letters by the hands of messengers to
|
|
Jerusalem, and to all the cities of Juda; that they should follow the
|
|
law of the nations of the earth.
|
|
|
|
1:47. And should forbid holocausts and sacrifices, and atonements to be
|
|
made in the temple of God.
|
|
|
|
1:48. And should prohibit the sabbath, and the festival days to be
|
|
celebrated.
|
|
|
|
1:49. And he commanded the holy places to be profaned, and the holy
|
|
people of Israel.
|
|
|
|
1:50. And he commanded altars to be built, and temples, and idols, and
|
|
swine's flesh to be immolated, and unclean beasts,
|
|
|
|
1:51. And that they should leave their children uncircumcised, and let
|
|
their souls be defiled with all uncleannesses, and abominations, to the
|
|
end that they should forget the law, and should change all the
|
|
justifications of God.
|
|
|
|
1:52. And that whosoever would not do according to the word of king
|
|
Antiochus, should be put to death.
|
|
|
|
1:53. According to all these words he wrote to his whole kingdom: and
|
|
he appointed rulers over the people that should force them to do these
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
1:54. And they commanded the cities of Juda to sacrifice.
|
|
|
|
1:55. Then many of the people were gathered to them that had forsaken
|
|
the law of the Lord: and they committed evils in the land:
|
|
|
|
1:56. And they drove away the people of Israel into lurking holes, and
|
|
into the secret places of fugitives.
|
|
|
|
1:57. On the fifteenth day of the month, Casleu, in the hundred and
|
|
forty-fifth year, king Antiochus set up the abominable idol of
|
|
desolation upon the altar of God, and they built altars throughout all
|
|
the cities of Juda round about:
|
|
|
|
The abominable idol, etc. . .Viz., the statue of Jupiter Olympius.
|
|
|
|
1:58. And they burnt incense, and sacrificed at the doors of the houses
|
|
and in the streets.
|
|
|
|
1:59. And they cut in pieces, and burnt with fire the books of the law
|
|
of God:
|
|
|
|
1:60. And every one with whom the books of the testament of the Lord
|
|
were found, and whosoever observed the law of the Lord, they put to
|
|
death, according to the edict of the king.
|
|
|
|
1:61. Thus by their power did they deal with the people of Israel, that
|
|
were found in the cities month after month.
|
|
|
|
1:62. And on the five and twentieth day of the month they sacrificed
|
|
upon the altar of the idol that was over against the altar of God.
|
|
|
|
1:63. Now the women that circumcised their children were slain
|
|
according to the commandment of king Antiochus,
|
|
|
|
1:64. And they hanged the children about their neck in all their
|
|
houses: and those that had circumcised them, they put to death.
|
|
|
|
1:65. And many of the people of Israel determined with themselves, that
|
|
they would not eat unclean things: and they chose rather to die, than
|
|
to be defiled with unclean meats:
|
|
|
|
1:66. And they would not break the holy law of God and they were put to
|
|
death:
|
|
|
|
1:67. And there was very great wrath upon the people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
The zeal and success of Mathathias. His exhortation to his sons at his
|
|
death.
|
|
|
|
2:1. In those days arose Mathathias, the son of John, the son of
|
|
Simeon, a priest of the sons of Joarib, from Jerusalem, and he abode in
|
|
the mountain of Modin:
|
|
|
|
2:2. And he had five sons: John, who was surnamed Gaddis:
|
|
|
|
2:3. And Simon, who was surnamed Thasi;
|
|
|
|
2:4. And Judas, who was called Machabeus;
|
|
|
|
2:5. And Eleazar, who was surnamed Abaron; and Jonathan, who was
|
|
surnamed Apphus.
|
|
|
|
2:6. These saw the evils that were done in the people of Juda, and in
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
2:7. And Mathathias said: Woe is me, wherefore was I born to see the
|
|
ruin of my people, and the ruin of the holy city, and to dwell there,
|
|
when it is given into the hands of the enemies?
|
|
|
|
2:8. The holy places are come into the hands of strangers her temple is
|
|
become as a man without honour.
|
|
|
|
2:9. The vessels of her glory are carried away captive; her old men are
|
|
murdered in the streets, and her young men are fallen by the sword of
|
|
the enemies.
|
|
|
|
2:10. What nation hath not inherited her kingdom, and gotten of her
|
|
spoils?
|
|
|
|
2:11. All her ornaments are taken away. She that was free is made a
|
|
slave.
|
|
|
|
2:12. And behold our sanctuary, and our beauty, and our glory is laid
|
|
waste, and the Gentiles have defiled them.
|
|
|
|
2:13. To what end then should we live any longer?
|
|
|
|
2:14. And Mathathias and his sons rent their garments, and they covered
|
|
themselves with haircloth, and made great lamentation.
|
|
|
|
2:15. And they that were sent from king Antiochus, came thither, to
|
|
compel them that were fled into the city of Modin, to sacrifice, and to
|
|
burn incense, and to depart from the law of God.
|
|
|
|
2:16. And many of the people of Israel consented and came to them: but
|
|
Mathathias and his sons stood firm.
|
|
|
|
2:17. And they that were sent from Antiochus, answering, said to
|
|
Mathathias: Thou art a ruler, and an honourable, and great man in this
|
|
city, and adorned with sons, and brethren.
|
|
|
|
2:18. Therefore, come thou first, and obey the king's commandment, as
|
|
all nations have done, and the men of Juda, and they that remain in
|
|
Jerusalem: and thou, and thy sons shall be in the number of the king's
|
|
friends, and enriched with gold, and silver, and many presents.
|
|
|
|
2:19. Then Mathathias answered, and said with a loud voice: Although all
|
|
nations obey king Antiochus, so as to depart every man from the service
|
|
of the law of his fathers, and consent to his commandments:
|
|
|
|
2:20. I and my sons, and my brethren will obey the law of our fathers.
|
|
|
|
2:21. God be merciful unto us: it is not profitable for us to forsake
|
|
the law, and the justices of God:
|
|
|
|
2:22. We will not hearken to the words of king Antiochus, neither will
|
|
we sacrifice and transgress the commandments of our law, to go another
|
|
way.
|
|
|
|
2:23. Now as he left off speaking these words, there came a certain Jew
|
|
in the sight of all to sacrifice to the idols upon the altar in the
|
|
city of Modin, according to the king's commandment.
|
|
|
|
2:24. And Mathathias saw, and was grieved, and his reins trembled, and
|
|
his wrath was kindled according to the judgment of the law, and running
|
|
upon him he slew him upon the altar:
|
|
|
|
2:25. Moreover the man whom king Antiochus had sent, who compelled them
|
|
to sacrifice, he slew at the same time, and pulled down the altar,
|
|
|
|
2:26. And shewed zeal for the law, as Phinees did by Zamri, the son of
|
|
Salomi.
|
|
|
|
2:27. And Mathathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying:
|
|
Every one that hath zeal for the law, and maintaineth the testament,
|
|
let him follow me.
|
|
|
|
2:28. So he and his sons fled into the mountains, and left all that
|
|
they had in the city.
|
|
|
|
2:29. Then many that sought after judgment, and justice, went down into
|
|
the desert
|
|
|
|
2:30. And they abode there, they and their children, and their wives,
|
|
and their cattle: because afflictions increased upon them.
|
|
|
|
2:31. And it was told to the king's men, and to the army that was in
|
|
Jerusalem, in the city of David, that certain men, who had broken the
|
|
king's commandment, were gone away into the secret places in the
|
|
wilderness, and that many were gone after them.
|
|
|
|
2:32. And forthwith they went out towards them, and made war against
|
|
them on the sabbath day.
|
|
|
|
2:33. And they said to them: Do you still resist? come forth, and do
|
|
according to the edict of king Antiochus, and you shall live.
|
|
|
|
2:34. And they said: We will not come forth, neither will we obey the
|
|
king's edict, to profane the sabbath day.
|
|
|
|
2:35. And they made haste to give them battle.
|
|
|
|
2:36. But they answered them not, neither did they cast a stone at
|
|
them, nor stopped up the secret places,
|
|
|
|
2:37. Saying: Let us all die in our innocency: and heaven and earth
|
|
shall be witnesses for us, that you put us to death wrongfully.
|
|
|
|
2:38. So they gave them battle on the sabbath: and they were slain,
|
|
with their wives, and their children, and their cattle, to the number
|
|
of a thousand persons.
|
|
|
|
2:39. And Mathathias and his friends heard of it, and they mourned for
|
|
them exceedingly.
|
|
|
|
2:40. And every man said to his neighbour: If we shall all do as our
|
|
brethren have done, and not fight against the heathens for our lives,
|
|
and our justifications, they will now quickly root us out of the earth.
|
|
|
|
2:41. And they determined in that day, saying: Whosoever shall come up
|
|
against us to fight on the sabbath day, we will fight against him: and
|
|
we will not all die, as our brethren that were slain in the secret
|
|
places.
|
|
|
|
2:42. Then was assembled to them the congregation of the Assideans, the
|
|
stoutest of Israel, every one that had a good will for the law.
|
|
|
|
The Assideans. . .A set of men that led a religious life; and were
|
|
zealous for the law and worship of God.
|
|
|
|
2:43. And all they that fled from the evils, joined themselves to them,
|
|
and were a support to them.
|
|
|
|
2:44. And they gathered an army, and slew the sinners in their wrath,
|
|
and the wicked men in their indignation: and the rest fled to the
|
|
nations for safety.
|
|
|
|
2:45. And Mathathias and his friends went round about, and they threw
|
|
down the altars:
|
|
|
|
2:46. And they circumcised all the children whom they found in the
|
|
confines of Israel that were uncircumcised: and they did valiantly.
|
|
|
|
2:47. And they pursued after the children of pride, and the work
|
|
prospered in their hands:
|
|
|
|
2:48. And they recovered the law out of the hands of the nations, and
|
|
out of the hands of the kings: and they yielded not the horn to the
|
|
sinner.
|
|
|
|
They yielded not the horn, etc. . .That is, they suffered not the power
|
|
of Antiochus, that man of sin, to abolish the law and religion of God.
|
|
|
|
2:49. Now the days drew near that Mathathias should die, and he said to
|
|
his sons: Now hath pride and chastisement gotten strength, and the time
|
|
of destruction, and the wrath of indignation:
|
|
|
|
2:50. Now, therefore, O my sons, be ye zealous for the law, and give
|
|
your lives for the covenant of your fathers.
|
|
|
|
2:51. And call to remembrance the works of the fathers, which they have
|
|
done in their generations: and you shall receive great glory, and an
|
|
everlasting name.
|
|
|
|
2:52. Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reputed
|
|
to him unto justice?
|
|
|
|
2:53. Joseph, in the time of his distress, kept the commandment, and he
|
|
was made lord of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
2:54. Phinees, our father, by being fervent in the zeal of God,
|
|
received the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.
|
|
|
|
2:55. Jesus, whilst he fulfilled the word, was made ruler in Israel.
|
|
|
|
Jesus. . .That is, Josue.
|
|
|
|
2:56. Caleb, for bearing witness before the congregation, received an
|
|
inheritance.
|
|
|
|
2:57. David, by his mercy, obtained the throne of an everlasting
|
|
kingdom.
|
|
|
|
2:58. Elias, while he is full of zeal for the law, was taken up into
|
|
heaven.
|
|
|
|
2:59. Ananias and Azarias and Misael, by believing, were delivered out
|
|
of the flame.
|
|
|
|
2:60. Daniel, in his innocency, was delivered out of the mouth of the
|
|
lions.
|
|
|
|
2:61. And thus consider, through all generations: that none that trust
|
|
in him, fail in strength.
|
|
|
|
2:62. And fear not the words of a sinful man, for his glory is dung and
|
|
worms:
|
|
|
|
2:63. Today he is lifted up, and tomorrow he shall not be found,
|
|
because he is returned into his earth and his thought is come to
|
|
nothing.
|
|
|
|
2:64. You, therefore, my sons, take courage, and behave manfully in the
|
|
law: for by it you shall be glorious.
|
|
|
|
2:65. And behold, I know that your brother Simon is a man of counsel:
|
|
give ear to him always, and he shall be a father to you.
|
|
|
|
2:66. And Judas Machabeus, who is valiant and strong from his youth up,
|
|
let him be the leader of your army, and he shall manage the war of the
|
|
people.
|
|
|
|
2:67. And you shall take to you all that observe the law: and revenge
|
|
ye the wrong of your people.
|
|
|
|
2:68. Render to the Gentiles their reward, and take heed to the
|
|
precepts of the law.
|
|
|
|
2:69. And he blessed them, and was joined to his fathers.
|
|
|
|
2:70. And he died in the hundred and forty-sixth year: and he was
|
|
buried by his sons in the sepulchres of his fathers, in Modin, and all
|
|
Israel mourned for him with great mourning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judas Machabeus succeeds his father, and overthrows Apollonius and
|
|
Seron. A great army is sent against him out of Syria. He prepares his
|
|
people for battle by fasting and prayer.
|
|
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3:1. Then his son Judas, called Machabeus, rose up in his stead.
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3:2. And all his brethren helped him, and all they that had joined
|
|
themselves to his father, and they fought with cheerfulness the battle
|
|
of Israel.
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|
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|
3:3. And he got his people great honour, and put on a breastplate as a
|
|
giant, and girt his warlike armour about him in battles, and protected
|
|
the camp with his sword.
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|
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3:4. In his acts he was like a lion, and like a lion's whelp roaring
|
|
for his prey.
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|
3:5. And he pursued the wicked and sought them out, and them that
|
|
troubled his people he burnt with fire:
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|
3:6. And his enemies were driven away for fear of him, and all the
|
|
workers of iniquity were troubled: and salvation prospered in his hand.
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3:7. And he grieved many kings, and made Jacob glad with his works, and
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|
his memory is blessed for ever.
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|
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3:8. And he went through the cities of Juda, and destroyed the wicked
|
|
out of them, and turned away wrath from Israel.
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3:9. And he was renowned even to the utmost part of the earth, and he
|
|
gathered them that were perishing.
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|
3:10. And Apollonius gathered together the Gentiles, and a numerous and
|
|
great army from Samaria, to make war against Israel.
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|
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3:11. And Judas understood it, and went forth to meet him: and he
|
|
overthrew him, and killed him: and many fell down slain, and the rest
|
|
fled away.
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3:12. And he took their spoils, and Judas took the sword of Apollonius,
|
|
and fought with it all his lifetime.
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3:13. And Seron, captain of the army of Syria, heard that Judas had
|
|
assembled a company of the faithful, and a congregation with him,
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3:14. And he said I will get me a name, and will be glorified in the
|
|
kingdom, and will overthrow Judas, and those that are with him, that
|
|
have despised the edict of the king.
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3:15. And he made himself ready; and the host of the wicked went up
|
|
with him, strong succours, to be revenged of the children of Israel.
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3:16. And they approached even as far as Bethoron: and Judas went forth
|
|
to meet him, with a small company.
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|
3:17. But when they saw the army coming to meet them, they said to
|
|
Judas: How shall we, being few, be able to fight against so great a
|
|
multitude, and so strong, and we are ready to faint with fasting today?
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3:18. And Judas said: It is an easy matter for many to be shut up in
|
|
the hands of a few: and there is no difference in the sight of the God
|
|
of heaven to deliver with a great multitude, or with a small company:
|
|
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|
3:19. For the success of war is not in the multitude of the army, but
|
|
strength cometh from heaven.
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|
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|
3:20. They come against us with an insolent multitude, and with pride,
|
|
to destroy us, and our wives, and our children, and to take our spoils.
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3:21. But we will fight for our lives, and our laws:
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3:22. And the Lord himself will overthrow them before our face, but as
|
|
for you, fear them not
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3:23. And as soon as he had made an end of speaking, he rushed suddenly
|
|
upon them: and Seron, and his host were overthrown before him:
|
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|
3:24. And he pursued him by the descent of Bethoron, even to the plain,
|
|
and there fell of them eight hundred men, and the rest fled into the
|
|
land of the Philistines.
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|
3:25. And the fear of Judas, and of his brethren, and the dread of
|
|
them, fell upon all the nations round about them.
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|
3:26. And his fame came to the king, and all nations told of the
|
|
battles of Judas.
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|
3:27. Now when king Antiochus heard these words, he was angry in his
|
|
mind: and he sent, and gathered the forces of all his kingdom, an
|
|
exceeding strong army.
|
|
|
|
3:28. And he opened his treasury, and gave out pay to the army for a
|
|
year: and he commanded them, that they should be ready for all things.
|
|
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|
3:29. And he perceived that the money of his treasures failed, and that
|
|
the tributes of the country were small, because of the dissension, and
|
|
the evil that he had brought upon the land, that he might take away the
|
|
laws of old times:
|
|
|
|
3:30. And he feared that he should not have as formerly enough for
|
|
charges and gifts, which he had given before with a liberal hand: for
|
|
he had abounded more than the kings that had been before him.
|
|
|
|
3:31. And he was greatly perplexed in mind, and purposed to go into
|
|
Persia, and to take tributes of the countries, and to gather much
|
|
money.
|
|
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|
3:32. And he left Lysias, a nobleman of the blood royal to oversee the
|
|
affairs of the kingdom from the river Euphrates even to the river of
|
|
Egypt:
|
|
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|
3:33. And to bring up his son, Antiochus, till he came again.
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|
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|
3:34. And he delivered to him half the army, and the elephants: and he
|
|
gave him charge concerning all that he would have done, and concerning
|
|
the inhabitants of Judea, and Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
3:35. And that he should send an army against them to destroy and root
|
|
out the strength of Israel, and the remnant of Jerusalem, and to take
|
|
away the memory of them from that place.
|
|
|
|
3:36. And that he should settle strangers, to dwell in all their
|
|
coasts, and divide their land by lot.
|
|
|
|
3:37. So the king took the half of the army that remained, and went
|
|
forth from Antioch, the chief city of his kingdom, in the hundred and
|
|
forty-seventh year: and he passed over the river Euphrates, and went
|
|
through the higher countries.
|
|
|
|
3:38. Then Lysias chose Ptolemee, the son of Dorymenus, and Nicanor,
|
|
and Gorgias, mighty men of the king's friends.
|
|
|
|
3:39. And he sent with them forty thousand men, and seven thousand
|
|
horsemen: to go into the land of Juda, and to destroy it, according to
|
|
the king's orders.
|
|
|
|
3:40. So they went forth with all their power, and came, and pitched
|
|
near Emmaus, in the plain country.
|
|
|
|
3:41. And the merchants of the countries heard the fame of them: and
|
|
they took silver and gold in abundance, and servants: and they came
|
|
into the camp, to buy the children of Israel for slaves: and there were
|
|
joined to them the forces of Syria, and of the land of the strangers.
|
|
|
|
3:42. And Judas, and his brethren, saw that evils were multiplied, and
|
|
that the armies approached to their borders: and they knew the orders
|
|
the king had given to destroy the people, and utterly abolish them.
|
|
|
|
3:43. And they said, every man to his neighbour: Let us raise up the
|
|
low condition of our people, and let us fight for our people, and our
|
|
sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
3:44. And the assembly was gathered, that they might be ready for
|
|
battle, and that they might pray, and ask mercy and compassion.
|
|
|
|
3:45. Now Jerusalem was not inhabited, but was like a desert: there was
|
|
none of her children that went in or out: and the sanctuary was trodden
|
|
down: and the children of strangers were in the castle, there was the
|
|
habitation of the Gentiles: and joy was taken away from Jacob, and the
|
|
pipe and harp ceased there.
|
|
|
|
3:46. And they assembled together, and came to Maspha, over against
|
|
Jerusalem: for in Maspha was a place of prayer heretofore in Israel.
|
|
|
|
3:47. And they fasted that day, and put on haircloth, and put ashes
|
|
upon their heads: and they rent their garments:
|
|
|
|
3:48. And they laid open the books of the law, in which the Gentiles
|
|
searched for the likeness of their idols:
|
|
|
|
3:49. And they brought the priestly ornaments, and the first fruits and
|
|
tithes, and stirred up the Nazarites that had fulfilled their days:
|
|
|
|
3:50. And they cried with a loud voice toward heaven, saying: What
|
|
shall we do with these, and whither shall we carry them?
|
|
|
|
3:51. For thy holies are trodden down, and are profaned, and thy
|
|
priests are in mourning, and are brought low.
|
|
|
|
3:52. And behold the nations are come together against us, to destroy
|
|
us: thou knowest what they intend against us.
|
|
|
|
3:53. How shall we be able to stand before their face, unless thou, O
|
|
God, help us?
|
|
|
|
3:64. Then they sounded with trumpets, and cried out with a loud voice.
|
|
|
|
3:66. And after this, Judas appointed captains over the people, over
|
|
thousands, and over hundreds, and over fifties, and over tens.
|
|
|
|
3:66. And he said to them that were building houses, or had betrothed
|
|
wives, or were planting vineyards, or were fearful, that they should
|
|
return every man to his house, according to the law.
|
|
|
|
3:67. So they removed the camp, and pitched on the south side of
|
|
Emmaus.
|
|
|
|
3:68. And Judas said: Gird yourselves, and be valiant men, and be ready
|
|
against the morning, that you may fight with these nations that are
|
|
assembled against us to destroy us and our sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
3:59. For it is better for us to die in battle, than to see the evils
|
|
of our nation, and of the holies:
|
|
|
|
3:60. Nevertheless, as it shall be the will of God in heaven, so be it
|
|
done.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judas routs the king's army. Gorgias flies before him. Lysias comes
|
|
against him with a great army, but is defeated. Judas cleanses the
|
|
temple, sets up a new altar, and fortifies the sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
4:1. Then Gorgias took five thousand men, and a thousand of the best
|
|
horsemen; and they removed out of the camp by night.
|
|
|
|
4:2. That they might come upon the camp of the Jews and strike them
|
|
suddenly: and the men that were of the castle were their guides.
|
|
|
|
4:3. And Judas heard of it, and rose up, he and the valiant men, to
|
|
attack the king's forces that were in Emmaus.
|
|
|
|
4:4. For as yet the army was dispersed from the camp
|
|
|
|
The army was dispersed. . .That is, in different divisions, not
|
|
altogether encamped.
|
|
|
|
4:5. And Gorgias came by night into the camp of Judas, and found no
|
|
man; and he sought them in the mountains: for he said: These men flee
|
|
from us.
|
|
|
|
4:6. And when it was day, Judas shewed himself in the plain with three
|
|
thousand men only, who neither had armour nor swords:
|
|
|
|
Who neither had armour nor swords. . .Such as they wished for.
|
|
|
|
4:7. And they saw the camp of the Gentiles that it was strong, and the
|
|
men in breastplates, and the horsemen round about them, and these were
|
|
trained up to war.
|
|
|
|
4:8. And Judas said to the men that were with him: Fear ye not their
|
|
multitude, neither be ye afraid of their assault.
|
|
|
|
4:9. Remember in what manner our fathers were saved in the Red Sea,
|
|
when Pharaoh pursued them with a great army.
|
|
|
|
4:10. And now let us cry to heaven, and the Lord will have mercy on us,
|
|
and will remember the covenant of our fathers, and will destroy this
|
|
army before our face this day:
|
|
|
|
4:11. And all nations shall know that there is one that redeemeth and
|
|
delivereth Israel.
|
|
|
|
4:12. And the strangers lifted up their eyes, and saw them coming
|
|
against them.
|
|
|
|
4:13. And they went out of the camp to battle, and they that were with
|
|
Judas sounded the trumpet.
|
|
|
|
4:14. And they joined battle: and the Gentiles were routed, and fled
|
|
into the plain.
|
|
|
|
4:15. But all the hindmost of them fell by the sword and they pursued
|
|
them as far as Gezeron, and even to the plains of Idumea, and of
|
|
Azotus, and of Jamnia: and there fell of them to the number of three
|
|
thousand men.
|
|
|
|
4:16. And Judas returned again with his army that followed him.
|
|
|
|
4:17. And he said to the people: Be not greedy of the spoils; for there
|
|
is war before us:
|
|
|
|
4:18. And Gorgias and his army are near us in the mountain: but stand
|
|
ye now against our enemies, and overthrow them, and you shall take the
|
|
spoils afterwards with safety.
|
|
|
|
4:19. And as Judas was speaking these words, behold part of them
|
|
appeared, looking forth from the mountain.
|
|
|
|
4:20. And Gorgias saw that his men were put to flight, and that they
|
|
had set fire to the camp: for the smoke that was seen declared what was
|
|
done.
|
|
|
|
4:21. And when they had seen this, they were seized with great fear,
|
|
seeing at the same time Judas and his army in the plain ready to fight.
|
|
|
|
4:22. So they all fled away into the land of the strangers.
|
|
|
|
4:23. And Judas returned to take the spoils of the camp, and they got
|
|
much gold, and silver, and blue silk, and purple of the sea, and great
|
|
riches.
|
|
|
|
4:24. And returning home, they sung a hymn, and blessed God in heaven,
|
|
because he is good, because his mercy endureth for ever.
|
|
|
|
4:25. So Israel had a great deliverance that day.
|
|
|
|
4:26. And such of the strangers as escaped, went and told Lysias all
|
|
that had happened.
|
|
|
|
4:27. And when he heard these things, he was amazed and discouraged:
|
|
because things had not succeeded in Israel according to his mind, and
|
|
as the king had commanded.
|
|
|
|
4:28. So the year following, Lysias gathered together threescore
|
|
thousand chosen men, and five thousand horsemen, that he might subdue
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
4:29. And they came into Judea, and pitched their tents in Bethoron,
|
|
and Judas met them with ten thousand men.
|
|
|
|
4:30. And they saw that the army was strong, and he prayed and said:
|
|
Blessed art thou, O Saviour of Israel, who didst break the violence of
|
|
the mighty by the hand of thy servant David, and didst deliver up the
|
|
camp of the strangers into the hands of Jonathan the son of Saul, and
|
|
of his armour bearer.
|
|
|
|
4:31. Shut up this army in the hands of thy people Israel, and let them
|
|
be confounded in their host and their horsemen.
|
|
|
|
4:32. Strike them with fear, and cause the boldness of their strength to
|
|
languish, and let them quake at their own destruction.
|
|
|
|
4:33. Cast them down with the sword of them that love thee: and let all
|
|
that know thy name praise thee with hymns.
|
|
|
|
4:34. And they joined battle: and there fell of the army of Lysias five
|
|
thousand men.
|
|
|
|
4:35. And when Lysias saw that his men were put to flight, and how bold
|
|
the Jews were, and that they were ready either to live, or to die
|
|
manfully, he went to Antioch, and chose soldiers, that they might come
|
|
again into Judea with greater numbers.
|
|
|
|
4:36. Then Judas, and his brethren said: Behold our enemies are
|
|
discomfited: let us go up now to cleanse the holy places, and to repair
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
4:37. And all the army assembled together, and they went up into Mount
|
|
Sion.
|
|
|
|
4:38. And they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and
|
|
the gates burnt, and shrubs growing up in the courts as in a forest, or
|
|
on the mountains, and the chambers joining to the temple thrown down.
|
|
|
|
4:39. And they rent their garments, and made great lamentation, and put
|
|
ashes on their heads:
|
|
|
|
4:40. And they fell down to the ground on their faces, and they sounded
|
|
with the trumpets of alarm, and they cried towards heaven.
|
|
|
|
4:41. Then Judas appointed men to fight against them that were in the
|
|
castle, till they had cleansed the holy places,
|
|
|
|
4:42. And he chose priests without blemish, whose will was set upon the
|
|
law of God.
|
|
|
|
4:43. And they cleansed the holy places, and took away the stones that
|
|
had been defiled into an unclean place.
|
|
|
|
4:44. And he considered about the altar of holocausts that had been
|
|
profaned, what he should do with it.
|
|
|
|
4:45. And a good counsel came into their minds, to pull it down: lest
|
|
it should be a reproach to them, because the Gentiles had defiled it;
|
|
so they threw it down.
|
|
|
|
4:46. And they laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple, in a
|
|
convenient place, till there should come a prophet, and give answer
|
|
concerning them.
|
|
|
|
4:47. Then they took whole stones, according to the law and built a new
|
|
altar, according to the former:
|
|
|
|
4:48. And they built up the holy places, and the things that were
|
|
within the temple: and they sanctified the temple and the courts.
|
|
|
|
4:49. And they made new holy vessels, and brought in the candlestick,
|
|
and the altar of incense, and the table, into the temple.
|
|
|
|
4:50. And they put incense upon the altar, and lighted up the lamps
|
|
that were upon the candlestick, and they gave light in the temple.
|
|
|
|
4:51. And they set the loaves upon the table, and hung up the veils,
|
|
and finished all the works that they had begun to make.
|
|
|
|
4:52. And they arose before the morning on the five and twentieth day
|
|
of the ninth month, (which is the month of Casleu) in the hundred and
|
|
forty-eighth year.
|
|
|
|
4:53. And they offered sacrifice, according to the law, upon the new
|
|
altar of holocausts which they had made.
|
|
|
|
4:54. According to the time, and according to the day wherein the
|
|
heathens had defiled it, in the same was it dedicated anew with
|
|
canticles, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals.
|
|
|
|
4:55. And all the people fell upon their faces, and adored, and blessed
|
|
up to heaven, him that had prospered them.
|
|
|
|
4:56. And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and they
|
|
offered holocausts with joy, and sacrifices of salvation, and of
|
|
praise.
|
|
|
|
4:57. And they adorned the front of the temple with crowns of gold, and
|
|
escutcheons, and they renewed the gates, and the chambers, and hanged
|
|
doors upon them.
|
|
|
|
4:58. And there was exceeding great joy among the people, and the
|
|
reproach of the Gentiles was turned away.
|
|
|
|
4:59. And Judas, and his brethren, and all the church of Israel
|
|
decreed, that the day of the dedication of the altar should be kept in
|
|
its season from year to year for eight days, from the five and
|
|
twentieth day of the month of Casleu, with joy and gladness.
|
|
|
|
4:60. They built up also at that time Mount Sion, with high walls, and
|
|
strong towers round about, lest the Gentiles should at any time come,
|
|
and tread it down, as they did before.
|
|
|
|
4:61. And he placed a garrison there, to keep it, and he fortified it,
|
|
to secure Bethsura, that the people might have a defence against
|
|
Idumea.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judas and his brethren attack the enemies of their country, and deliver
|
|
them that were distressed. Josephus and Azarius, attempting contrary to
|
|
order to fight against their enemies, are defeated.
|
|
|
|
5:1. Now it came to pass, when the nations round about heard that the
|
|
altar and the sanctuary were built up, as before, that they were
|
|
exceeding angry.
|
|
|
|
5:2. And they thought to destroy the generation of Jacob that were
|
|
among them, and they began to kill some of the people, and to persecute
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
5:3. Then Judas fought against the children of Esau in Idumea, and them
|
|
that were in Acrabathane: because they beset the Israelites round
|
|
about, and he made a great slaughter of them.
|
|
|
|
5:4. And he remembered the malice of the children of Bean: who were a
|
|
snare and a stumblingblock to the people, by lying in wait for them in
|
|
the way.
|
|
|
|
5:5. And they were shut up by him in towers, and he set upon them, and
|
|
devoted them to utter destruction, and burnt their towers with fire,
|
|
and all that were in them.
|
|
|
|
5:6. Then he passed over to the children of Ammon, where he found a
|
|
mighty power, and much people, and Timotheus was their captain:
|
|
|
|
5:7. And he fought many battles with them, and they were discomfited in
|
|
their sight, and he smote them:
|
|
|
|
5:8. And he took the city of Gazer and her towns, and returned into
|
|
Judea.
|
|
|
|
5:9. And the Gentiles that were in Galaad, assembled themselves
|
|
together against the Israelites that were in their quarters, to destroy
|
|
them: and they fled into the fortress of Datheman.
|
|
|
|
5:10. And they sent letters to Judas, and his brethren, saying: The
|
|
heathens that are round about are gathered together against us to
|
|
destroy us:
|
|
|
|
5:11. And they are preparing to come, and to take the fortress into
|
|
which we are fled: and Timotheus is the captain of their host.
|
|
|
|
5:12. Now therefore come, and deliver us out of their hands, for many
|
|
of us are slain.
|
|
|
|
5:13. And all our brethren that were in the places of Tubin, are
|
|
killed: and they have carried away their wives, and their children,
|
|
captives, and taken their spoils, and they have slain there almost a
|
|
thousand men.
|
|
|
|
5:14. And while they were yet reading these letters, behold there came
|
|
other messengers out of Galilee with their garments rent, who related
|
|
according to these words:
|
|
|
|
5:15. Saying, that they of Ptolemais, and of Tyre, and of Sidon, were
|
|
assembled against them, and all Galilee is filled with strangers, in
|
|
order to consume us.
|
|
|
|
5:16. Now when Judas and the people heard these words, a great assembly
|
|
met together to consider what they should do for their brethren that
|
|
were in trouble, and were assaulted by them.
|
|
|
|
5:17. And Judas said to Simon, his brother: Choose thee men, and go,
|
|
and deliver thy brethren in Galilee: and I, and my brother Jonathan,
|
|
will go into the country of Galaad:
|
|
|
|
5:18. And he left Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, captains
|
|
of the people, with the remnant of the army in Judea, to keep it:
|
|
|
|
5:19. And he commanded them, saying: Take ye the charge of this people;
|
|
but make no war against the heathens, till we return.
|
|
|
|
5:20. Now three thousand men were allotted to Simon, to go into
|
|
Galilee: and eight thousand to Judas, to go into the land of Galaad.
|
|
|
|
5:21. And Simon went into Galilee, and fought many battles with the
|
|
heathens: and the heathens were discomfited before his face, and he
|
|
pursued them even to the gate of Ptolemais.
|
|
|
|
5:22. And there fell of the heathens almost three thousand men, and he
|
|
took the spoils of them.
|
|
|
|
5:23. And he took with him those that were in Galilee and in Arbatis,
|
|
with their wives, and children, and all that they had, and he brought
|
|
them into Judea with great joy.
|
|
|
|
5:24. And Judas Machabeus, and Jonathan, his brother, passed over the
|
|
Jordan, and went three days' journey through the desert.
|
|
|
|
5:25. And the Nabutheans met them, and received them in a peaceable
|
|
manner, and told them all that happened to their brethren in the land
|
|
of Galaad,
|
|
|
|
5:26. And that many of them were shut up in Barasa, and in Bosor, and
|
|
in Alima, and in Casphor, and in Mageth, and in Carnaim; all these
|
|
strong and great cities.
|
|
|
|
5:27. Yea, and that they were kept shut up in the rest of the cities of
|
|
Galaad, and that they had appointed to bring their army on the morrow
|
|
near to these cities, and to take them, and to destroy them all in one
|
|
day.
|
|
|
|
5:28. Then Judas and his army suddenly turned their march into the
|
|
desert, to Bosor, and took the city: and he slew every male by the edge
|
|
of the sword, and took all their spoils, and burnt it with fire.
|
|
|
|
5:29. And they removed from thence by night, and went till they came to
|
|
the fortress.
|
|
|
|
5:30. And it came to pass that early in the morning, when they lifted
|
|
up their eyes, behold there were people without number, carrying
|
|
ladders and engines to take the fortress, and assault them.
|
|
|
|
5:31. And Judas saw that the fight was begun, and the cry of the battle
|
|
went up to heaven like a trumpet, and a great cry out of the city:
|
|
|
|
5:32. And he said to his host: Fight ye today for your brethren.
|
|
|
|
5:33. And he came with three companies behind them, and they sounded
|
|
their trumpets, and cried out in prayer.
|
|
|
|
5:34. And the host of Timotheus understood that it was Machabeus, and
|
|
they fled away before his face and they made a great slaughter of them,
|
|
and there fell of them in that day almost eight thousand men.
|
|
|
|
5:35. And Judas turned aside to Maspha, and assaulted, and took it, and
|
|
he slew every male thereof, and took the spoils thereof, and burnt it
|
|
with fire.
|
|
|
|
5:36. From thence he marched, and took Casbon, and Mageth, and Bosor,
|
|
and the rest of the cities of Galaad.
|
|
|
|
5:37. But after this Timotheus gathered another army, and camped over
|
|
against Raphon, beyond the torrent.
|
|
|
|
5:38. And Judas sent men to view the army: and they brought him word,
|
|
saying: All the nations, that are round about us, are assembled unto
|
|
him an army exceeding great:
|
|
|
|
5:39. And they have hired the Arabians to help them, and they have
|
|
pitched their tents beyond the torrent, ready to come to fight against
|
|
thee. And Judas went to meet them.
|
|
|
|
5:40. And Timotheus said to the captains of his army: When Judas and
|
|
his army come near the torrent of water, if he pass over unto us first,
|
|
we shall not be able to withstand him: for he will certainly prevail
|
|
over us.
|
|
|
|
5:41. But if he be afraid to pass over, and camp on the other side of
|
|
the river, we will pass over to them, and shall prevail against him.
|
|
|
|
5:42. Now when Judas came near the torrent of water, he set the scribes
|
|
of the people by the torrent, and commanded them, saying: Suffer no man
|
|
to stay behind: but let all come to the battle.
|
|
|
|
5:43. And he passed over to them first, and all the people after him,
|
|
and all the heathens were discomfited before them, and they threw away
|
|
their weapons, and fled to the temple that was in Carnaim.
|
|
|
|
5:44. And he took that city, and the temple he burnt with fire, with
|
|
all things that were therein: and Carnaim was subdued, and could not
|
|
stand against the face of Judas.
|
|
|
|
5:45. And Judas gathered together all the Israelites that were in the
|
|
land of Galaad, from the least even to the greatest, and their wives
|
|
and children, and an army exceeding great, to come into the land of
|
|
Juda.
|
|
|
|
5:46. And they came as far as Ephron: now this was a great city,
|
|
situate in the way, strongly fortified, and there was no means to turn
|
|
from it on the right hand or on the left, but the way was through the
|
|
midst of it.
|
|
|
|
5:47. And they that were in the city shut themselves in, and stopped up
|
|
the gates with stones: and Judas sent to them with peaceable words,
|
|
|
|
5:48. Saying: Let us pass through your land, to go into our own
|
|
country, and no man shall hurt you; we will only pass through on foot.
|
|
But they would not open to them.
|
|
|
|
5:49. Then Judas commanded proclamation to be made in the camp, that
|
|
they should make an assault, every man in the place where he was.
|
|
|
|
5:50. And the men of the army drew near, and he assaulted that city all
|
|
the day, and all the night; and the city was delivered into his hands:
|
|
|
|
5:51. And they slew every male with the edge of the sword, and he razed
|
|
the city, and took the spoils thereof, and passed through all the city
|
|
over them that were slain.
|
|
|
|
5:52. Then they passed over the Jordan to the great plain that is over
|
|
against Bethsan.
|
|
|
|
5:53. And Judas gathered together the hindmost, and he exhorted the
|
|
people, all the way through, till they came into the land of Juda.
|
|
|
|
5:54. And they went up to mount Sion with joy and gladness, and offered
|
|
holocausts, because not one of them was slain, till they had returned
|
|
in peace.
|
|
|
|
5:55. Now in the days that Judas and Jonathan were in the land of
|
|
Galaad, and Simon his brother in Galilee, before Ptolemais,
|
|
|
|
5:56. Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, captain of the
|
|
soldiers, heard of the good success, and the battles that were fought,
|
|
|
|
5:57. And he said: Let us also get us a name, and let us go fight
|
|
against the Gentiles that are round about us.
|
|
|
|
5:58. And he gave charge to them that were in his army, and they went
|
|
towards Jamnia.
|
|
|
|
5:59. And Gorgias and his men went out of the city, to give them
|
|
battle.
|
|
|
|
5:60. And Joseph and Azarias were put to flight, and were pursued unto
|
|
the borders of Judea: and there fell on that day, of the people of
|
|
Israel, about two thousand men, and there was a great overthrow of the
|
|
people:
|
|
|
|
5:61. Because they did not hearken to Judas and his brethren, thinking
|
|
that they should do manfully.
|
|
|
|
5:62. But they were not of the seed of those men by whom salvation was
|
|
brought to Israel.
|
|
|
|
5:63. And the men of Juda were magnified exceedingly in the sight of
|
|
all Israel, and of all the nations where their name was heard.
|
|
|
|
5:64. And the people assembled to them with joyful acclamations.
|
|
|
|
5:65. Then Judas and his brethren went forth and attacked the children
|
|
of Esau, in the land towards the south, and he took Chebron and her
|
|
towns: and he burnt the walls thereof, and the towers all round it.
|
|
|
|
5:66. And he removed his camp to go into the land of the aliens, and he
|
|
went through Samaria.
|
|
|
|
5:67. In that day some priests fell in battle, while desiring to do
|
|
manfully they went out unadvisedly to fight.
|
|
|
|
5:68. And Judas turned to Azotus, into the land of the strangers, and
|
|
he threw down their altars, and he burnt the statues of their gods with
|
|
fire: and he took the spoils of the cities, and returned into the land
|
|
of Juda.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
The fruitless repentance and death of Antiochus. His son comes against
|
|
Judas with a formidable army. He besieges Sion: but at last makes peace
|
|
with the Jews.
|
|
|
|
6:1. Now king Antiochus was going through the higher countries, and he
|
|
heard that the city of Elymais in Persia, was greatly renowned, and
|
|
abounding in silver and gold,
|
|
|
|
6:2. And that there was in it a temple exceeding rich; and coverings of
|
|
gold, and breastplates, and shields, which king Alexander, son of
|
|
Philip, the Macedonian, that reigned first in Greece, had left there.
|
|
|
|
6:3. So he came, and sought to take the city and to pillage it; but he
|
|
was not able, because the design was known to them that were in the
|
|
city.
|
|
|
|
6:4. And they rose up against him in battle, and he fled away from
|
|
thence, and departed with great sadness, and returned towards
|
|
Babylonia.
|
|
|
|
6:5. And whilst he was in Persia there came one that told him how the
|
|
armies that were in the land of Juda were put to flight:
|
|
|
|
6:6. And that Lysias went with a very great power, and was put to
|
|
flight before the face of the Jews, and that they were grown strong by
|
|
the armour, and power, and store of spoils which they had gotten out of
|
|
the camps which they had destroyed:
|
|
|
|
6:7. And that they had thrown down the abomination which he had set up
|
|
upon the altar in Jerusalem, and that they had compassed about the
|
|
sanctuary with high walls as before, and Bethsura also, his city.
|
|
|
|
6:8. And it came to pass, when the king heard these words, that he was
|
|
struck with fear, and exceedingly moved: and he laid himself down upon
|
|
his bed, and fell sick for grief, because it had not fallen out to him
|
|
as he imagined.
|
|
|
|
6:9. And he remained there many days: for great grief came more and
|
|
more upon him, and he made account that he should die.
|
|
|
|
6:10. And he called for all his friends, and said to them: Sleep is
|
|
gone from my eyes, and I am fallen away, and my heart is cast down for
|
|
anxiety:
|
|
|
|
6:11. And I said in my heart: Into how much tribulation am I come, and
|
|
into what floods of sorrow wherein now I am: I that was pleasant and
|
|
beloved in my power!
|
|
|
|
6:12. But now I remember the evils that I did in Jerusalem, from whence
|
|
also I took away all the spoils of gold, and of silver, that were in
|
|
it, and I sent to destroy the inhabitants of Juda without cause.
|
|
|
|
6:13. I know, therefore, that for this cause these evils have found me:
|
|
and behold I perish with great grief in a strange land.
|
|
|
|
6:14. Then he called Philip, one of his friends, and he made him regent
|
|
over all his kingdom.
|
|
|
|
6:15. And he gave him the crown, and his robe, and his ring, that he
|
|
should go to Antiochus, his son, and should bring him up for the
|
|
kingdom.
|
|
|
|
6:16. So king Antiochus died there in the year one hundred and
|
|
forty-nine.
|
|
|
|
6:17. And Lysias understood that the king was dead, and he set up
|
|
Antiochus, his son, to reign, whom he had brought up young: and he
|
|
called his name Eupator.
|
|
|
|
6:18. Now they that were in the castle, had shut up the Israelites
|
|
round about the holy places: and they were continually seeking their
|
|
hurt, and to strengthen the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
6:19. And Judas purposed to destroy them: and he called together all
|
|
the people, to besiege them.
|
|
|
|
6:20. And they came together, and besieged them in the year one hundred
|
|
and fifty, and they made battering slings and engines.
|
|
|
|
6:21. And some of the besieged got out: and some wicked men of Israel
|
|
joined themselves unto them.
|
|
|
|
6:22. And they went to the king, and said: How long dost thou delay to
|
|
execute judgment, and to revenge our brethren?
|
|
|
|
6:23. We determined to serve thy father, and to do according to his
|
|
orders, and obey his edicts:
|
|
|
|
6:24. And for this they of our nation are alienated from us, and have
|
|
slain as many of us as they could find, and have spoiled our
|
|
inheritances.
|
|
|
|
6:25. Neither have they put forth their hand against us only, but also
|
|
against all our borders.
|
|
|
|
6:26. And behold they have approached this day to the castle of
|
|
Jerusalem to take it, and they have fortified the strong hold of
|
|
Bethsura:
|
|
|
|
6:27. And unless thou speedily prevent them, they will do greater
|
|
things than these, and thou shalt not be able to subdue them.
|
|
|
|
6:28. Now when the king heard this, he was angry: and he called
|
|
together all his friends, and the captains of his army, and them that
|
|
were over the horsemen.
|
|
|
|
6:29. There came also to him from other realms, and from the islands of
|
|
the sea, hired troops.
|
|
|
|
6:30. And the number of his army was an hundred thousand footmen, and
|
|
twenty thousand horsemen, and thirty-two elephants trained to battle.
|
|
|
|
6:31. And they went through Idumea, and approached to Bethsura, and
|
|
fought many days, and they made engines: but they sallied forth, and
|
|
burnt them with fire, and fought manfully.
|
|
|
|
But they sallied forth. . .That is, the citizens of Bethsura sallied
|
|
forth and burnt them, that is, burnt the engines of the besiegers.
|
|
|
|
6:32. And Judas departed from the castle, and removed the camp to
|
|
Bethzacharam, over against the king's camp.
|
|
|
|
6:33. And the king rose before it was light, and made his troops march
|
|
on fiercely towards the way of Bethzacharam: and the armies made
|
|
themselves ready for the battle, and they sounded the trumpets:
|
|
|
|
6:34. And they shewed the elephants the blood of grapes, and
|
|
mulberries, to provoke them to fight.
|
|
|
|
6:35. And they distributed the beasts by the legions: and there stood
|
|
by every elephant a thousand men in coats of mail, and with helmets of
|
|
brass on their heads: and five hundred horsemen set in order were
|
|
chosen for every beast.
|
|
|
|
6:36. These before the time wheresoever the beast was they were there:
|
|
and whithersoever it went, they went, and they departed not from it.
|
|
|
|
These before the time. . .That is, these were ready for every occasion.
|
|
|
|
6:37. And upon the beast, there were strong wooden towers which covered
|
|
every one of them: and engines upon them, and upon every one thirty-two
|
|
valiant men, who fought from above: and an Indian to rule the beast.
|
|
|
|
6:38. And the rest of the horsemen he placed on this side and on that
|
|
side, at the two wings, with trumpets to stir up the army, and to
|
|
hasten them forward that stood thick together in the legions thereof.
|
|
|
|
6:39. Now when the sun shone upon the shields of gold, and of brass,
|
|
the mountains glittered therewith, and they shone like lamps of fire.
|
|
|
|
6:40. And part of the king's army was distinguished by the high
|
|
mountains, and the other part by the low places: and they marched on
|
|
warily and orderly.
|
|
|
|
6:41. And all the inhabitants of the land were moved at the noise of
|
|
their multitude, and the marching of the company, and the rattling of
|
|
the armour, for the army was exceeding great and strong.
|
|
|
|
6:42. And Judas and his army drew near for battle: and there fell of
|
|
the king's army six hundred men.
|
|
|
|
6:43. And Eleazar, the son of Saura, saw one of the beasts harnessed
|
|
with the king's harness: and it was higher than the other beasts; and
|
|
it seemed to him that the king was on it:
|
|
|
|
6:44. And he exposed himself to deliver his people, and to get himself
|
|
an everlasting name.
|
|
|
|
6:45. And he ran up to it boldly in the midst of the legion, killing on
|
|
the right hand, and on the left, and they fell by him on this side and
|
|
that side.
|
|
|
|
6:46. And he went between the feet of the elephant, and put himself
|
|
under it: and slew it, and it fell to the ground upon him, and he died
|
|
there.
|
|
|
|
6:47. Then they seeing the strength of the king and the fierceness of
|
|
his army, turned away from them.
|
|
|
|
6:48. But the king's army went up against them to Jerusalem: and the
|
|
king's army pitched their tents against Judea and Mount Sion.
|
|
|
|
6:49. And he made peace with them that were in Bethsura: and they came
|
|
forth out of the city, because they had no victuals, being shut up
|
|
there, for it was the year of rest to the land.
|
|
|
|
6:50. And the king took Bethsura: and he placed there a garrison to
|
|
keep it.
|
|
|
|
6:51. And he turned his army against the sanctuary for many days: and
|
|
he set up there battering slings, and engines, and instruments to cast
|
|
fire, and engines to cast stones and javelins, and pieces to shoot
|
|
arrows, and slings.
|
|
|
|
6:52. And they also made engines against their engines, and they fought
|
|
for many days.
|
|
|
|
6:53. But there were no victuals in the city, because it was the
|
|
seventh year: and such as had stayed in Judea of them that came from
|
|
among the nations, had eaten the residue of all that which had been
|
|
stored up.
|
|
|
|
6:54. And there remained in the holy places but a few, for the famine
|
|
had prevailed over them: and they were dispersed every man to his own
|
|
place.
|
|
|
|
6:55. Now Lysias heard that Philip; whom king Antiochus while he lived
|
|
had appointed to bring up his son, Antiochus, and to reign,
|
|
|
|
6:56. Was returned from Persia, and Media, with the army that went with
|
|
him and that he sought to take upon him the affairs of the kingdom:
|
|
|
|
6:57. Wherefore he made haste to go, and say to the king and to the
|
|
captains of the army: We decay daily, and our provision of victuals is
|
|
small, and the place that we lay siege to is strong, and it lieth upon
|
|
us to take order for the affairs of the kingdom.
|
|
|
|
6:58. Now, therefore, let us come to an agreement with these men, and
|
|
make peace with them and with all their nation.
|
|
|
|
6:59. And let us covenant with them, that they may live according to
|
|
their own laws, as before. For because of our despising their laws,
|
|
they have been provoked, and have done all these things.
|
|
|
|
6:60. And the proposal was acceptable in the sight of the king, and of
|
|
the princes: and he sent to them to make peace: and they accepted of
|
|
it.
|
|
|
|
6:61. And the king and the princes swore to them: and they came out of
|
|
the strong hold.
|
|
|
|
6:62. Then the king entered into Mount Sion, and saw the strength of
|
|
the place: and he quickly broke the oath that he had taken, and gave
|
|
commandment to throw down the wall round about.
|
|
|
|
6:63. And he departed in haste and returned to Antioch, where he found
|
|
Philip master of the city: and he fought against him, and took the
|
|
city.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
Demetrius is made king, and sends Bacchides and Alcimus the priest into
|
|
Judea, and after them Nicanor, who is slain by Judas with all his army.
|
|
|
|
7:1. In the hundred and fifty-first year, Demetrius, the son of
|
|
Seleucus, departed from the city of Rome, and came up with few men into
|
|
a city of the sea coast, and reigned there.
|
|
|
|
7:2. And it came to pass as he entered into the house of the kingdom of
|
|
his fathers, that the army seized upon Antiochus, and Lysias, to bring
|
|
them unto him.
|
|
|
|
7:3. And when he knew it, he said: Let me not see their face.
|
|
|
|
7:4. So the army slew them. And Demetrius sat upon the throne of his
|
|
kingdom:
|
|
|
|
7:5. And there came to him the wicked and ungodly men of Israel: and
|
|
Alcimus was at the head of them, who desired to be made high priest.
|
|
|
|
7:6. And they accused the people to the king, saying: Judas and his
|
|
brethren have destroyed all thy friends, and he hath driven us out of
|
|
our land.
|
|
|
|
7:7. Now, therefore, send some men whom thou trustest, and let him go,
|
|
and see all the havoc he hath made amongst us, and in the king's lands:
|
|
and let him punish all his friends and their helpers.
|
|
|
|
7:8. Then the king chose Bacchides, one of his friends, that ruled
|
|
beyond the great river in the kingdom, and was faithful to the king:
|
|
and he sent him,
|
|
|
|
7:9. To see the havoc that Judas had made: and the wicked Alcimus he
|
|
made high priest, and commanded him to take revenge upon the children
|
|
of Israel.
|
|
|
|
7:10. And they arose, and came with a great army into the land of Juda:
|
|
and they sent messengers, and spoke to Judas and his brethren with
|
|
peaceable words, deceitfully.
|
|
|
|
7:11. But they gave no heed to their words: for they saw that they were
|
|
come with a great army.
|
|
|
|
7:12. Then there assembled to Alcimus and Bacchides a company of the
|
|
scribes, to require things that are just:
|
|
|
|
7:13. And first the Assideans, that were among the children of Israel,
|
|
and they sought peace of them.
|
|
|
|
7:14. For they said: One that is a priest of the seed of Aaron is come,
|
|
he will not deceive us.
|
|
|
|
7:15. And he spoke to them peaceably: and he swore to them, saying: We
|
|
will do you no harm, nor your friends.
|
|
|
|
7:16. And they believed him. And he took threescore of them, and slew
|
|
them in one day, according to the word that is written:
|
|
|
|
7:17. The flesh of thy saints, and the blood of them they have shed round
|
|
about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them.
|
|
|
|
7:18. Then fear and trembling fell upon all the people: for they said:
|
|
There is no truth, nor justice among them: for they have broken the
|
|
covenant, and the oath which they made.
|
|
|
|
7:19. And Bacchides removed the camp from Jerusalem, and pitched in
|
|
Bethzecha: and he sent, and took many of them that were fled away from
|
|
him, and some of the people he killed, and threw them into a great pit.
|
|
|
|
7:20. Then he committed the country to Alcimus, and left with him
|
|
troops to help him. So Bacchides went away to the king.
|
|
|
|
7:21. But Alcimus did what he could to maintain his chief priesthood.
|
|
|
|
7:22. And they that disturbed the people resorted to him, and they got
|
|
the land of Juda into their power, and did much hurt in Israel.
|
|
|
|
7:23. And Judas saw all the evils that Alcimus, and they that were with
|
|
him, did to the children of Israel, much more than the Gentiles.
|
|
|
|
7:24. And he went out into all the coasts of Judea round about, and
|
|
took vengeance upon the men that had revolted, and they ceased to go
|
|
forth any more into the country.
|
|
|
|
7:25. And Alcimus saw that Judas and they that were with him,
|
|
prevailed: and he knew that he could not stand against them, and he
|
|
went back to the king, and accused them of many crimes.
|
|
|
|
7:26. And the king sent Nicanor, one of his principal lords, who was a
|
|
great enemy to Israel: and he commanded him to destroy the people.
|
|
|
|
7:27. And Nicanor came to Jerusalem with a great army, and he sent to
|
|
Judas and to his brethren deceitfully, with friendly words,
|
|
|
|
7:28. Saying: Let there be no fighting between me and you: I will come
|
|
with a few men, to see your faces with peace.
|
|
|
|
7:29. And he came to Judas, and they saluted one another peaceably: and
|
|
the enemies were prepared to take away Judas by force.
|
|
|
|
7:30. And the thing was known to Judas that he was come to him with
|
|
deceit: and he was much afraid of him, and would not see his face any
|
|
more.
|
|
|
|
7:31. And Nicanor knew that his counsel was discovered: and he went out
|
|
to fight against Judas, near Capharsalama.
|
|
|
|
7:32. And there fell of Nicanor's army almost five thousand men, and
|
|
they fled into the city of David.
|
|
|
|
7:33. And after this Nicanor went up into mount Sion: and some of the
|
|
priests and the people came out to salute him peaceably, and to shew
|
|
him the holocausts that were offered for the king.
|
|
|
|
7:34. But he mocked and despised them, and abused them: and he spoke
|
|
proudly,
|
|
|
|
7:35. And swore in anger, saying: Unless Judas and his army be
|
|
delivered into my hands, as soon as ever I return in peace, I will burn
|
|
this house. And he went out in a great rage.
|
|
|
|
7:36. And the priests went in, and stood before the face of the altar
|
|
and the temple: and weeping, they said:
|
|
|
|
7:37. Thou, O Lord, hast chosen this house for thy name to be called
|
|
upon therein, that it might be a house of prayer and supplication for
|
|
thy people.
|
|
|
|
7:38. Be avenged of this man, and his army, and let them fall by the
|
|
sword: remember their blasphemies, and suffer them not to continue any
|
|
longer.
|
|
|
|
7:39. Then Nicanor went out from Jerusalem, and encamped near to
|
|
Bethoron: and an army of Syria joined him.
|
|
|
|
7:40. But Judas pitched in Adarsa with three thousand men: and Judas
|
|
prayed, and said:
|
|
|
|
7:41. O Lord, when they that were sent by king Sennacherib blasphemed
|
|
thee, an angel went out, and slew of them a hundred and eighty-five
|
|
thousand:
|
|
|
|
7:42. Even so destroy this army in our sight today and let the rest
|
|
know that he hath spoken ill against thy sanctuary: and judge thou him
|
|
according to his wickedness.
|
|
|
|
7:43. And the armies joined battle on the thirteenth day of the month,
|
|
Adar: and the army of Nicanor was defeated, and he himself was first
|
|
slain in the battle.
|
|
|
|
7:44. And when his army saw that Nicanor was slain they threw away
|
|
their weapons, and fled:
|
|
|
|
7:45. And they pursued after them one day's journey from Adazer, even
|
|
till ye come to Gazara, and they sounded the trumpets after them with
|
|
signals.
|
|
|
|
7:46. And they went forth out of all the towns of Judea round about,
|
|
and they pushed them with the horns, and they turned again to them, and
|
|
they were all slain with the sword, and there was not left of them so
|
|
much as one.
|
|
|
|
7:47. And they took the spoils of them for a booty, and they cut off
|
|
Nicanor's head, and his right hand, which he had proudly stretched out,
|
|
and they brought it, and hung it up over against Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
7:48. And the people rejoiced exceedingly, and they spent that day with
|
|
great joy.
|
|
|
|
7:49. And he ordained that this day should be kept every year, being
|
|
the thirteenth of the month of Adar
|
|
|
|
7:50. And the land of Juda was quiet for a short time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judas hears of the great character of the Romans: he makes a league
|
|
with them.
|
|
|
|
8:1. Now Judas heard of the fame of the Romans, that they are powerful
|
|
and strong, and willingly agree to all things that are requested of
|
|
them: and that whosoever have come to them, they have made amity with
|
|
them, and that they are mighty in power.
|
|
|
|
8:2. And they heard of their battles, and their noble acts which they
|
|
had done in Galatia, how they had conquered them, and brought them
|
|
under tribute:
|
|
|
|
They heard, etc. . .What is here set down of the history and character
|
|
of the ancient Romans, is not an assertion, or affirmation of the
|
|
sacred writer: but only a relation of what Judas had heard of them.
|
|
|
|
8:3. And how great things they had done in the land of Spain, and that
|
|
they had brought under their power the mines of silver and of gold that
|
|
are there, and had gotten possession of all the place by their counsel
|
|
and patience:
|
|
|
|
8:4. And had conquered places that were very far off from them, and
|
|
kings that came against them from the ends of the earth, and had
|
|
overthrown them with great slaughter: and the rest pay them tribute
|
|
every year.
|
|
|
|
8:5. And that they had defeated in battle Philip and Perses the king of
|
|
the Ceteans, and the rest that had borne arms against them, and had
|
|
conquered them:
|
|
|
|
Ceteans. . .That is, the Macedonians.
|
|
|
|
8:6. And how Antiochus, the great king of Asia, who went to fight
|
|
against them, having a hundred and twenty elephants, with horsemen, and
|
|
chariots, and a very great army, was routed by them.
|
|
|
|
8:7. And how they took him alive, and appointed to him, that both he
|
|
and they that should reign after him, should pay a great tribute, and
|
|
that he should give hostages, and that which was agreed upon,
|
|
|
|
8:8. And the country of the Indians, and of the Medes, and of the
|
|
Lydians, some of their best provinces: and those which they had taken
|
|
from them, they gave to king Eumenes.
|
|
|
|
Eumenes. . .King of Pergamus.
|
|
|
|
8:9. And that they who were in Greece, had a mind to go and to destroy
|
|
them: and they had knowledge thereof,
|
|
|
|
8:10. And they sent a general against them, and fought with them, and
|
|
many of them were slain, and they carried away their wives, and their
|
|
children captives, and spoiled them, and took possession of their land,
|
|
and threw down their walls, and brought them to be their servants unto
|
|
this day.
|
|
|
|
8:11. And the other kingdoms, and islands, that at any time had
|
|
resisted them, they had destroyed and brought under their power.
|
|
|
|
8:12. But with their friends, and such as relied upon them, they kept
|
|
amity, and had conquered kingdoms that were near, and that were far
|
|
off: for all that heard their name, were afraid of them.
|
|
|
|
8:13. That whom they had a mind to help to a kingdom, those reigned:
|
|
and whom they would, they deposed from the kingdom: and they were
|
|
greatly exalted.
|
|
|
|
8:14. And none of all these wore a crown, or was clothed in purple, to
|
|
be magnified thereby.
|
|
|
|
8:15. And that they had made themselves a senate house, and consulted
|
|
daily three hundred and twenty men, that sat in counsel always for the
|
|
people, that they might do the things that were right:
|
|
|
|
8:16. And that they committed their government to one man every year,
|
|
to rule over all their country, and they all obey one, and there is no
|
|
envy nor jealousy amongst them.
|
|
|
|
To one man. . .There were two consuls: but one only ruled at one time,
|
|
each in his day.--Ibid. No envy, etc. . .So Judas had heard: and it was
|
|
so far true, with regard to the ancient Romans, that as yet no envy or
|
|
jealousy had divided them into such open factions and civil wars, as
|
|
they afterwards experienced in the time of Marius and Sylla, etc.
|
|
|
|
8:17. So Judas chose Eupolemus, the son of John, the son of Jacob, and
|
|
Jason, the son of Eleazar, and he sent them to Rome to make a league of
|
|
amity and confederacy with them:
|
|
|
|
8:18. And that they might take off from them the yoke of the Grecians,
|
|
for they saw that they oppressed the kingdom of Israel with servitude.
|
|
|
|
8:19. And they went to Rome, a very long journey, and they entered into
|
|
the senate house, and said:
|
|
|
|
8:20. Judas Machabeus, and his brethren, and the people of the Jews,
|
|
have sent us to you to make alliance and peace with you, and that we
|
|
may be registered your confederates and friends.
|
|
|
|
8:21. And the proposal was pleasing in their sight.
|
|
|
|
8:22. And this is the copy of the writing that they wrote back again,
|
|
graven in tables of brass, and sent to Jerusalem, that it might be with
|
|
them there for a memorial of the peace, and alliance.
|
|
|
|
8:23. GOOD SUCCESS BE TO THE ROMANS, and to the people of the Jews by
|
|
sea, and by land, for ever: and far be the sword and enemy from them.
|
|
|
|
8:24. But if there come first any war upon the Romans, or any of their
|
|
confederates, in all their dominions:
|
|
|
|
8:25. The nation of the Jews shall help them according as the time
|
|
shall direct, with all their heart:
|
|
|
|
8:26. Neither shall they give them, whilst they are fighting, or
|
|
furnish them with wheat, or arms, or money, or ships, as it hath seemed
|
|
good to the Romans: and they shall obey their orders, without taking
|
|
any thing of them.
|
|
|
|
8:27. In like manner also if war shall come first upon the nation of
|
|
the Jews, the Romans shall help them with all their heart, according as
|
|
the time shall permit them:
|
|
|
|
8:28. And there shall not be given to them that come to their aid,
|
|
either wheat, or arms, or money, or ships, as it hath seemed good to
|
|
the Romans: and they shall observe their orders without deceit.
|
|
|
|
8:29. According to these articles did the Romans covenant with the
|
|
people of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
8:30. And, if after this, one party or the other shall have a mind to
|
|
add to these articles, or take away any thing, they may do it at their
|
|
pleasure: and whatsoever they shall add, or take away, shall be
|
|
ratified.
|
|
|
|
8:31. Moreover, concerning the evils that Demetrius, the king, hath
|
|
done against them, we have written to him, saying: Why hast thou made
|
|
thy yoke heavy upon our friends and allies, the Jews.
|
|
|
|
8:32. If, therefore, they come again to us complaining of thee, we will
|
|
do them justice, and will make war against thee by sea and land.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bacchides is sent again into Judea: Judas fights against him with eight
|
|
hundred men and is slain. Jonathan succeeds him and revenges the murder
|
|
of his brother John. He fights against Bacchides. Alcimus dies
|
|
miserably. Bacchides besieges Bethbessen. He is forced to raise the
|
|
siege and leave the country.
|
|
|
|
9:1. In the mean time, when Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his army
|
|
were fallen in battle, he sent again Bacchides and Alcimus into Judea;
|
|
and the right wing of his army with them.
|
|
|
|
9:2. And they took the road that leadeth to Galgal, and they camped in
|
|
Masaloth, which is in Arabella: and they made themselves masters of it,
|
|
and slew many people.
|
|
|
|
9:3. In the first month of the hundred and fifty-second year they
|
|
brought the army to Jerusalem:
|
|
|
|
9:4. And they arose and went to Berea, with twenty thousand men, and
|
|
two thousand horsemen.
|
|
|
|
9:5. Now Judas had pitched his tents in Laisa, and three thousand
|
|
chosen men with him:
|
|
|
|
9:6. And they saw the multitude of the army that they were many, and
|
|
they were seized with great fear: and many withdrew themselves out of
|
|
the camp, and there remained of them no more than eight hundred men.
|
|
|
|
9:7. And Judas saw that his army slipped away, and the battle pressed
|
|
upon him, and his heart was cast down: because he had not time to
|
|
gather them together, and he was discouraged.
|
|
|
|
9:8. Then he said to them that remained: Let us arise, and go against
|
|
our enemies, if we may be able to fight against them.
|
|
|
|
9:9. But they dissuaded him, saying: We shall not be able, but let us
|
|
save our lives now, and return to our brethren, and then we will fight
|
|
against them: for we are but few.
|
|
|
|
9:10. Then Judas said: God forbid we should do this thing, and flee
|
|
away from them: but if our time be come, let us die manfully for our
|
|
brethren, and let us not stain our glory.
|
|
|
|
9:11. And the army removed out of the camp, and they stood over against
|
|
them: and the horsemen were divided into two troops, and the slingers,
|
|
and the archers, went before the army, and they that were in the front
|
|
were all men of valour.
|
|
|
|
9:12. And Bacchides was in the right wing, and the legion drew near on
|
|
two sides, and they sounded the trumpets:
|
|
|
|
9:13. And they also that were on Judas's side, even they also cried
|
|
out, and the earth shook at the noise of the armies: and the battle was
|
|
fought from morning even unto the evening.
|
|
|
|
9:14. And Judas perceived that the stronger part of the army of
|
|
Bacchides was on the right side, and all the stout of heart came
|
|
together with him:
|
|
|
|
9:15. And the right wing was discomfited by them, and he pursued them
|
|
even to the mount Azotus.
|
|
|
|
9:16. And they that were in the left wing saw that the right wing was
|
|
discomfited, and they followed after Judas, and them that were with
|
|
him, at their back:
|
|
|
|
9:17. And the battle was hard fought, and there fell many wounded of
|
|
the one side and of the other.
|
|
|
|
9:18. And Judas was slain, and the rest fled away.
|
|
|
|
9:19. And Jonathan and Simon took Judas, their brother, and buried him
|
|
in the sepulchre of their fathers, in the city of Modin.
|
|
|
|
9:20. And all the people of Israel bewailed him with great lamentation,
|
|
and they mourned for him many days.
|
|
|
|
9:21. And said: How is the mighty man fallen, that saved the people of
|
|
Israel!
|
|
|
|
9:22. But the rest of the words of the wars of Judas, and of the noble
|
|
acts that he did, and of his greatness, are not written: for they were
|
|
very many.
|
|
|
|
9:23. And it came to pass, after the death of Judas, that the wicked
|
|
began to put forth their heads in all the confines of Israel, and all
|
|
the workers of iniquity rose up.
|
|
|
|
9:24. In those days there was a very great famine, and they and all
|
|
their country yielded to Bacchides.
|
|
|
|
9:25. And Bacchides chose the wicked men, and made them lords of the
|
|
country:
|
|
|
|
9:26. And they sought out, and made diligent search after the friends
|
|
of Judas, and brought them to Bacchides, and he took vengeance of them,
|
|
and abused them.
|
|
|
|
9:27. And there was a great tribulation in Israel, such as was not
|
|
since the day, that there was no prophet seen in Israel.
|
|
|
|
9:28. And all the friends of Judas came together, and said to Jonathan:
|
|
|
|
9:29. Since thy brother Judas died there is not a man like him to go
|
|
forth against our enemies, Bacchides, and them that are the enemies of
|
|
our nation.
|
|
|
|
9:30. Now, therefore, we have chosen thee this day to be our prince,
|
|
and captain, in his stead, to fight our battles.
|
|
|
|
9:31. So Jonathan took upon him the government at that time, and rose
|
|
up in the place of Judas, his brother
|
|
|
|
9:32. And Bacchides had knowledge of it, and sought to kill him.
|
|
|
|
9:33. And Jonathan, and Simon, his brother, knew it, and all that were
|
|
with them: and they fled into the desert of Thecua, and they pitched by
|
|
the water of the lake Asphar,
|
|
|
|
9:34. And Bacchides understood it, and he came himself, with all his
|
|
army, over the Jordan, on the sabbath day.
|
|
|
|
9:35. And Jonathan sent his brother, a captain of the people, to desire
|
|
the Nabutheans his friends, that they would lend them their equipage,
|
|
which was copious.
|
|
|
|
9:36. And the children of Jambri came forth out of Madaba, and took
|
|
John, and all that he had, and went away with them.
|
|
|
|
9:37. After this it was told Jonathan, and Simon, his brother, that the
|
|
children of Jambri made a great marriage, and were bringing the bride
|
|
out of Madaba, the daughter of one of the great princes of Chanaan,
|
|
with great pomp.
|
|
|
|
9:38. And they remembered the blood of John, their brother: and they
|
|
went up, and hid themselves under the covert of the mountain.
|
|
|
|
9:39. And they lifted up their eyes, and saw: and behold a tumult, and
|
|
great preparation: and the bridegroom came forth, and his friends, and
|
|
his brethren to meet them with timbrels, and musical instruments and
|
|
many weapons.
|
|
|
|
9:40. And they rose up against them from the place where they lay in
|
|
ambush, and slew them, and there fell many wounded, and the rest fled
|
|
into the mountains, and they took all their spoils:
|
|
|
|
9:41. And the marriage was turned into mourning, and the noise of their
|
|
musical instruments into lamentation.
|
|
|
|
9:42. And they took revenge for the blood of their brother: and they
|
|
returned to the bank of the Jordan.
|
|
|
|
9:43. And Bacchides heard it, and he came on the sabbath day even to
|
|
the bank of the Jordan, with a great power.
|
|
|
|
9:44. And Jonathan said to his company: Let us arise, and fight against
|
|
our enemies: for it is not now as yesterday, and the day before.
|
|
|
|
9:45. For behold the battle is before us, and the water of the Jordan
|
|
on this side and on that side, and banks, and marshes, and woods: and
|
|
there is no place for us to turn aside.
|
|
|
|
9:46. Now, therefore, cry ye to heaven, that ye may be delivered from
|
|
the hand of your enemies. And they joined battle.
|
|
|
|
9:47. And Jonathan stretched forth his hand to strike Bacchides, but he
|
|
turned away from him backwards.
|
|
|
|
9:48. And Jonathan, and they that were with him, leapt into the Jordan,
|
|
and swam over the Jordan to them.
|
|
|
|
9:49. And there fell of Bacchides' side that day a thousand men: and
|
|
they returned to Jerusalem,
|
|
|
|
9:50. And they built strong cities in Judea, the fortress that was in
|
|
Jericho, and in Ammaus, and in Bethoron, and in Bethel, and Thamnata,
|
|
and Phara, and Thopo, with high walls, and gates, and bars.
|
|
|
|
9:51. And he placed garrisons in them, that they might wage war against
|
|
Israel:
|
|
|
|
9:52. And he fortified the city of Bethsura, and Gazara, and the
|
|
castle, and set garrisons in them, and provisions of victuals:
|
|
|
|
9:53. And he took the sons of the chief men of the country for
|
|
hostages, and put them in the castle in Jerusalem in custody.
|
|
|
|
9:54. Now in the year one hundred and fifty-three, the second month,
|
|
Alcimus commanded the walls of the inner court of the sanctuary to be
|
|
thrown down, and the works of the prophets to be destroyed: and he
|
|
began to destroy.
|
|
|
|
9:55. At that time Alcimus was struck: and his works were hindered, and
|
|
his mouth was stopped, and he was taken with a palsy, so that he could no
|
|
more speak a word, nor give order concerning his house.
|
|
|
|
9:56. And Alcimus died at that time in great torment.
|
|
|
|
9:57. And Bacchides saw that Alcimus was dead: and he returned to the
|
|
king, and the land was quiet for two years.
|
|
|
|
9:58. And all the wicked held a council, saying: Behold Jonathan, and
|
|
they that are with him, dwell at ease and without fear: now, therefore,
|
|
let us bring Bacchides hither, and he shall take them all in one night.
|
|
|
|
9:59. So they went, and gave him counsel.
|
|
|
|
9:60. And he arose to come with a great army: and he sent secretly
|
|
letters to his adherents that were in Judea to seize upon Jonathan, and
|
|
them that were with him: but they could not, for their design was known
|
|
to them.
|
|
|
|
9:61. And he apprehended of the men of the country, that were the
|
|
principal authors of the mischief, fifty men, and he slew them.
|
|
|
|
9:62. And Jonathan, and Simon, and they that were with him, retired
|
|
into Bethbessen, which is in the desert: and he repaired the breaches
|
|
thereof, and they fortified it.
|
|
|
|
9:63. And when Bacchides knew it, he gathered together all his
|
|
multitude: and sent word to them that were of Judea.
|
|
|
|
9:64. And he came, and camped above Bethbessen, and fought against it
|
|
many days, and made engines.
|
|
|
|
9:65. But Jonathan left his brother, Simon, in the city and went forth
|
|
into the country, and came with a number of men,
|
|
|
|
9:66. And struck Odares, and his brethren, and the children of
|
|
Phaseron, in their tents, and he began to slay, and to increase in
|
|
forces.
|
|
|
|
9:67. But Simon, and they that were with him, sallied out of the city,
|
|
and burnt the engines,
|
|
|
|
9:68. And they fought against Bacchides, and he was discomfited by
|
|
them: and they afflicted him exceedingly, for his counsel, and his
|
|
enterprise was in vain.
|
|
|
|
9:69. And he was angry with the wicked men that had given him counsel
|
|
to come into their country, and he slew many of them: and he purposed
|
|
to return with the rest into their country.
|
|
|
|
9:70. And Jonathan had knowledge of it, and he sent ambassadors to him
|
|
to make peace with him, and to restore to him the prisoners.
|
|
|
|
9:71. And he accepted it willingly, and did according to his words, and
|
|
swore that he would do him no harm all the days of his life.
|
|
|
|
9:72. And he restored to him the prisoners which he before had taken
|
|
out of the land of Juda: and he returned, and went away into his own
|
|
country, and he came no more into their borders.
|
|
|
|
9:73. So the sword ceased from Israel: and Jonathan dwelt in Machmas,
|
|
and Jonathan began there to judge the people, and he destroyed the
|
|
wicked out of Israel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alexander Bales sets himself up for king: both he and Demetrius seek to
|
|
make Jonathan their friend. Alexander kills Demetrius in battle, and
|
|
honours Jonathan. His victory over Apollonius.
|
|
|
|
10:1. Now in the hundred and sixtieth year, Alexander, the son of
|
|
Antiochus, surnamed the Illustrious, came up and took Ptolemais, and
|
|
they received him, and he reigned there.
|
|
|
|
10:2. And king Demetrius heard of it, and gathered together an
|
|
exceeding great army, and went forth against him to fight.
|
|
|
|
10:3. And Demetrius sent a letter to Jonathan, with peaceable words, to
|
|
magnify him.
|
|
|
|
10:4. For he said: Let us first make a peace with him, before he make
|
|
one with Alexander against us.
|
|
|
|
10:5. For he will remember all the evils that we have done against him,
|
|
and against his brother, and against his nation.
|
|
|
|
10:6. And he gave him authority to gather together a army, and to make
|
|
arms, and that he should be his confederate: and the hostages that were
|
|
in the castle, he commanded to be delivered to him.
|
|
|
|
10:7. And Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read the letters in the
|
|
hearing of all the people, and of them that were in the castle.
|
|
|
|
10:8. And they were struck with great fear, because they heard that the
|
|
king had given him authority to gather together an army.
|
|
|
|
10:9. And the hostages were delivered to Jonathan, and he restored them
|
|
to their parents.
|
|
|
|
10:10. And Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem, and began to build, and to
|
|
repair the city.
|
|
|
|
10:11. And he ordered workmen to build the walls, and mount Sion round
|
|
about with square stones for fortification: and so they did.
|
|
|
|
10:12. Then the strangers that were in the strong holds, which
|
|
Bacchides had built, fled away.
|
|
|
|
10:13. And every man left his place, and departed into his own country:
|
|
|
|
10:14. Only in Bethsura there remained some of them, that had forsaken
|
|
the law, and the commandments of God: for this was a place of refuge
|
|
for them.
|
|
|
|
10:15. And king Alexander heard of the promises that Demetrius had made
|
|
Jonathan: and they told him of the battles, and the worthy acts that he
|
|
and his brethren had done, and the labours that they had endured.
|
|
|
|
10:16. And he said: Shall we find such another man? now, therefore, we
|
|
will make him our friend and our confederate.
|
|
|
|
10:17. So he wrote a letter, and sent it to him according to these
|
|
words, saying:
|
|
|
|
10:18. King Alexander to his brother, Jonathan, greetings.
|
|
|
|
10:19. We have heard of thee, that thou art a man of great power, and
|
|
fit to be our friend:
|
|
|
|
10:20. Now therefore, we make thee this day high priest of thy nation,
|
|
and that thou be called the king's friend, (and he sent him a purple
|
|
robe, and a crown of gold) and that thou be of one mind with us in our
|
|
affairs, and keep friendship with us.
|
|
|
|
10:21. Then Jonathan put on the holy vestment in the seventh month, in
|
|
the year one hundred and threescore, at the feast day of the
|
|
tabernacles: and he gathered together an army, and made a great number
|
|
of arms.
|
|
|
|
10:22. And Demetrius heard these words, and was exceeding sorry, and
|
|
said:
|
|
|
|
10:23. What is this that we have done, that Alexander hath prevented us
|
|
to gain the friendship of the Jews to strengthen himself?
|
|
|
|
10:24. I also will write to them words of request, and offer dignities,
|
|
and gifts: that they may be with me to aid me.
|
|
|
|
10:25. And he wrote to them in these words: King Demetrius to the
|
|
nation of the Jews, greeting.
|
|
|
|
10:26. Whereas you have kept covenant with us, and have continued in
|
|
our friendship, and have not joined with our enemies, we have heard of
|
|
it, and are glad.
|
|
|
|
10:27. Wherefore now continue still to keep fidelity towards us, and we
|
|
will reward you with good things, for what you have done in our behalf.
|
|
|
|
10:28. And we will remit to you many charges, and will give you gifts.
|
|
|
|
10:29. And now I free you, and all the Jews, from tributes, and I
|
|
release you from the customs of salt, and remit the crowns, and the
|
|
thirds of the seed:
|
|
|
|
10:30. And the half of the fruit of trees, which is my share, I leave
|
|
to you from this day forward, so that it shall not be taken of the land
|
|
of Juda, and of the three cities that are added thereto out of Samaria
|
|
and Galilee, from this day forth, and for ever:
|
|
|
|
10:31. And let Jerusalem be holy and free, with the borders thereof:
|
|
and let the tenths, and tributes be for itself.
|
|
|
|
10:32. I yield up also the power of the castle that is in Jerusalem,
|
|
and I give it to the high priest, to place therein such men as he shall
|
|
choose, to keep it.
|
|
|
|
10:33. And every soul of the Jews that hath been carried captive from
|
|
the land of Juda in all my kingdom, I set at liberty freely, that all
|
|
be discharged from tributes, even of their cattle.
|
|
|
|
10:34. And I will that all the feasts, and the sabbaths, and the new
|
|
moons, and the days appointed, and three days before the solemn day,
|
|
and three days after the solemn day, be all days of immunity and
|
|
freedom, for all the Jews that are in my kingdom:
|
|
|
|
10:35. And no man shall have power to do any thing against them, or to
|
|
molest any of them, in any cause.
|
|
|
|
10:36. And let there be enrolled in the king's army to the number of
|
|
thirty thousand of the Jews: and allowance shall be made them, as is
|
|
due to all the king's forces and certain of them shall be appointed to
|
|
be in the fortresses of the great king:
|
|
|
|
10:37. And some of them shall be set over the affairs of the kingdom,
|
|
that are of trust, and let the governors be taken from among
|
|
themselves, and let them walk in their own laws, as the king hath
|
|
commanded in the land of Juda.
|
|
|
|
10:38. And the three cities that are added to Judea, out of the country
|
|
of Samaria, let them be accounted with Judea: that they may be under
|
|
one, and obey no other authority but that of the high priest:
|
|
|
|
10:39. Ptolemais and the confines thereof, I give as a free gift to the
|
|
holy places that are in Jerusalem, for the necessary charges of the
|
|
holy things.
|
|
|
|
10:40. And I give every year fifteen thousand sickles of silver out of
|
|
the king's accounts, of what belongs to me:
|
|
|
|
10:41. And all that is above, which they that were over the affairs the
|
|
years before, had not paid, from this time they shall give it to the
|
|
works of the house.
|
|
|
|
10:42. Moreover, the five thousand sickles of silver, which they
|
|
received from the account of the holy places, every year, shall also
|
|
belong to the priests that execute the ministry.
|
|
|
|
10:43. And whosoever shall flee into the temple that is in Jerusalem,
|
|
and in all the borders thereof, being indebted to the king for any
|
|
matter, let them be set at liberty, and all that they have in my
|
|
kingdom, let them have it free.
|
|
|
|
10:44. For the building also, or repairing the works of the holy
|
|
places, the charges shall be given out of the king's revenues:
|
|
|
|
10:45. For the building also of the walls of Jerusalem, and the
|
|
fortifying thereof round about, the charges shall be given out of the
|
|
king's account, as also for the building of the walls in Judea.
|
|
|
|
10:46. Now when Jonathan and the people heard these words, they gave no
|
|
credit to them, nor received them because they remembered the great
|
|
evil that he had done in Israel, for he had afflicted them exceedingly.
|
|
|
|
10:47. And their inclinations were towards Alexander, because he had
|
|
been the chief promoter of peace in their regard, and him they always
|
|
helped.
|
|
|
|
10:48. And king Alexander gathered together a great army, and moved his
|
|
camp near to Demetrius.
|
|
|
|
10:49. And the two kings joined battle, and the army of Demetrius fled
|
|
away, and Alexander pursued after him, and pressed them close.
|
|
|
|
10:50. And the battle was hard fought, till the sun went down: and
|
|
Demetrius was slain that day.
|
|
|
|
10:51. And Alexander sent ambassadors to Ptolemee king of Egypt, with
|
|
words to this effect, saying:
|
|
|
|
Ptolemee. . .Surnamed Philometer.
|
|
|
|
10:52. Forasmuch as I am returned into my kingdom and am set in the
|
|
throne of my ancestors, and have gotten the dominion, and have
|
|
overthrown Demetrius and possessed our country,
|
|
|
|
10:53. And have joined battle with him, and both he and his army have
|
|
been destroyed by us, and we are placed in the throne of his kingdom:
|
|
|
|
10:54. Now, therefore, let us make friendship one with another: and
|
|
give me now thy daughter to wife, and I will be thy son in law, and I
|
|
will give both thee and her gifts worthy of thee.
|
|
|
|
10:55. And king Ptolomee answered, saying: Happy is the day wherein
|
|
thou didst return to the land of thy fathers, and sattest in the throne
|
|
of their kingdom.
|
|
|
|
10:56. And now I will do to thee as thou hast written but meet me at
|
|
Ptolemais, that we may see one another, and I may give her to thee as
|
|
thou hast said.
|
|
|
|
10:57. So Ptolemee went out of Egypt, with Cleopatra his daughter, and
|
|
he came to Ptolemais, in the hundred and sixty-second year.
|
|
|
|
10:58. And king Alexander met him, and he gave him his daughter,
|
|
Cleopatra: and he celebrated her marriage at Ptolemais with great
|
|
glory, after the manner of kings.
|
|
|
|
10:59. And king Alexander wrote to Jonathan, that he should come and
|
|
meet him.
|
|
|
|
10:60. And he went honourably to Ptolemais, and he met there the two
|
|
kings, and he gave them much silver, and gold, and presents: and he
|
|
found favour in their sight.
|
|
|
|
10:61. And some pestilent men of Israel, men of a wicked life,
|
|
assembled themselves against him, to accuse him: and the king gave no
|
|
heed to them.
|
|
|
|
10:62. And he commanded that Jonathan's garments should be taken off,
|
|
and that he should be clothed with purple: and they did so. And the
|
|
king made him sit by himself.
|
|
|
|
10:63. And he said to his princes: Go out with him into the midst of
|
|
the city, and make proclamation, that no man complain against him of
|
|
any matter, and that no man trouble him for any manner of cause.
|
|
|
|
10:64. So when his accusers saw his glory proclaimed, and him clothed
|
|
with purple, they all fled away.
|
|
|
|
10:65. And the king magnified him, and enrolled him amongst his chief
|
|
friends, and made him governor, and partaker of his dominion.
|
|
|
|
10:66. And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with peace and joy.
|
|
|
|
10:67. In the year one hundred and sixty-five, Demetrius, the son of
|
|
Demetrius, came from Crete into the land of his fathers.
|
|
|
|
10:68. And king Alexander heard of it, and was much troubled, and
|
|
returned to Antioch.
|
|
|
|
10:69. And king Demetrius made Apollonius his general, who was governor
|
|
of Celesyria: and he gathered together a great army, and came to
|
|
Jamnia: and he sent to Jonathan, the high priest,
|
|
|
|
10:70. Saying: Thou alone standest against us, and I am laughed at and
|
|
reproached, because thou shewest thy power against us in the mountains.
|
|
|
|
10:71. Now, therefore, if thou trustest in thy forces, come down to us
|
|
into the plain, and there let us try one another: for with me is the
|
|
strength of war.
|
|
|
|
10:72. Ask, and learn who I am, and the rest that help me, who also say
|
|
that your foot cannot stand before our face, for thy fathers have twice
|
|
been put to flight in their own land:
|
|
|
|
10:73. And now how wilt thou be able to abide the horsemen, and so
|
|
great an army in the plain, where there is no stone, nor rock, nor
|
|
place to flee to?
|
|
|
|
10:74. Now when Jonathan heard the words of Apollonius, he was moved in
|
|
his mind: and he chose ten thousand men, and went out of Jerusalem, and
|
|
Simon, his brother, met him to help him.
|
|
|
|
10:75. And they pitched their tents near Joppe, but they shut him out
|
|
of the city: because a garrison of Apollonius was in Joppe, and he laid
|
|
siege to it.
|
|
|
|
10:76. And they that were in the city being affrighted, opened the
|
|
gates to him: so Jonathan took Joppe.
|
|
|
|
10:77. And Apollonius heard of it, and he took three thousand horsemen,
|
|
and a great army.
|
|
|
|
10:78. And he went to Azotus, as one that was making a journey, and
|
|
immediately he went forth into the plain: because he had a great number
|
|
of horsemen, and he trusted in them. And Jonathan followed after him to
|
|
Azotus, and they joined battle.
|
|
|
|
10:79. And Apollonius left privately in the camp a thousand horsemen
|
|
behind them.
|
|
|
|
10:80. And Jonathan knew that there was an ambush behind him, and they
|
|
surrounded his army, and cast darts at the people from morning till
|
|
evening.
|
|
|
|
10:81. But the people stood still, as Jonathan had commanded them: and
|
|
so their horses were fatigued.
|
|
|
|
10:82. Then Simon drew forth his army, and attacked the legion: for the
|
|
horsemen were wearied: and they were discomfited by him, and fled.
|
|
|
|
10:83. And they that were scattered about the plain fled into Azotus,
|
|
and went into Bethdagon, their idol's temple, there to save themselves.
|
|
|
|
10:84. But Jonathan set fire to Azotus, and the cities that were round
|
|
about it, and took the spoils of them and the temple of Dagon: and all
|
|
them that were fled into it, he burnt with fire.
|
|
|
|
10:85. So they that were slain by the sword, with them that were burnt,
|
|
were almost eight thousand men.
|
|
|
|
10:86. And Jonathan, removed his army from thence and camped against
|
|
Ascalon: and they went out of the city to meet him with great honour.
|
|
|
|
10:87. And Jonathan returned into Jerusalem with his people, having
|
|
many spoils.
|
|
|
|
10:88. And it came to pass, when Alexander, the king heard these words,
|
|
that he honoured Jonathan yet more.
|
|
|
|
10:89. And he sent him a buckle of gold, as the custom is, to be given
|
|
to such as are of the royal blood. And he gave him Accaron, and all the
|
|
borders thereof, in possession.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ptolemee invades the kingdom of Alexander: the latter is slain: and the
|
|
former dies soon after. Demetrius honours Jonathan, and is rescued by
|
|
the Jews from his own subjects in Antioch. Antiochus the younger
|
|
favours Jonathan. His exploits in divers places.
|
|
|
|
11:1. And the king of Egypt gathered together an army, like the sand
|
|
that lieth upon the sea shore, and many ships: and he sought to get the
|
|
kingdom of Alexander by deceit, and join it to his own kingdom.
|
|
|
|
11:2. And he went out into Syria with peaceable words and they opened
|
|
to him the cities, and met him: for king Alexander had ordered them to
|
|
go forth to meet him, because he was his father in law.
|
|
|
|
11:3. Now when Ptolemee entered into the cities, he put garrisons of
|
|
soldiers in every city.
|
|
|
|
11:4. And when he came near to Azotns, they shewed him the temple of
|
|
Dagon that was burnt with fire, and Azotus, and the suburbs thereof,
|
|
that were destroyed, and the bodies that were cast abroad, and the
|
|
graves of them that were slain in the battle, which they had made near
|
|
the way.
|
|
|
|
11:5. And they told the king that Jonathan had done these things, to
|
|
make him odious: but the king held his peace.
|
|
|
|
11:6. And Jonathan came to meet the king at Joppe with glory, and they
|
|
saluted one another, and they lodged there.
|
|
|
|
11:7. And Jonathan went with the king as far as the river, called
|
|
Eleutherus: and he returned into Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
11:8. And king Ptolemee got the dominion of the cities by the sea side,
|
|
even to Seleucia, and he devised evil designs against Alexander.
|
|
|
|
11:9. And he sent ambassadors to Demetrius, saying: Come, let us make a
|
|
league between us, and I will give thee my daughter whom Alexander
|
|
hath, and thou shalt reign in the kingdom of thy father.
|
|
|
|
11:10. For I repent that I have given him my daughter: for he hath
|
|
sought to kill me.
|
|
|
|
11:11. And he slandered him, because he coveted his kingdom,
|
|
|
|
11:12. And he took away his daughter, and gave her to Demetrius, and
|
|
alienated himself from Alexander, and his enmities were made manifest.
|
|
|
|
11:13. And Ptolemee entered into Antioch, and set two crowns upon his
|
|
head, that of Egypt, and that of Asia.
|
|
|
|
11:14. Now king Alexander was in Cilicia at that time: because they
|
|
that were in those places had rebelled.
|
|
|
|
11:15. And when Alexander heard of it, he came to give him battle: and
|
|
king Ptolemee brought forth his army, and met him with a strong power,
|
|
and put him to flight.
|
|
|
|
11:16. And Alexander fled into Arabia, there to be protected: and king
|
|
Ptolemee was exalted.
|
|
|
|
11:17. And Zabdiel the Arabian took off Alexander's head, and sent it
|
|
to Ptolemee.
|
|
|
|
11:18. And king Ptolemee died the third day after: and they that were
|
|
in the strong holds were destroyed by them that were within the camp.
|
|
|
|
11:19. And Demetrius reigned in the hundred and sixty-seventh year.
|
|
|
|
11:20. In those days Jonathan gathered together them that were in
|
|
Judea, to take the castle that was in Jerusalem: and they made many
|
|
engines of war against it.
|
|
|
|
11:21. Then some wicked men that hated their own nation, went away to
|
|
king Demetrius, and told him that Jonathan was besieging the castle.
|
|
|
|
11:22. And when he heard it, he was angry: and forthwith he came to
|
|
Ptolemais, and wrote to Jonathan that he should not besiege the castle,
|
|
but should come to him in haste, and speak to him.
|
|
|
|
11:23. But when Jonathan heard this, he bade them besiege it still: and
|
|
he chose some of the ancients of Israel, and of the priests, and put
|
|
himself in danger
|
|
|
|
11:24. And he took gold, and silver, and raiment, and many other
|
|
presents, and went to the king to Ptolemais and he found favour in his
|
|
sight.
|
|
|
|
11:25. And certain wicked men of his nation made complaints against
|
|
him.
|
|
|
|
11:26. And the king treated him as his predecessors had done before:
|
|
and he exalted him in the sight of all his friends.
|
|
|
|
11:27. And he confirmed him in the high priesthood and all the honours
|
|
he had before, and he made him the chief of his friends.
|
|
|
|
11:28. And Jonathan requested of the king that he would make Judea free
|
|
from tribute, and the three governments, and Samaria, and the confines
|
|
thereof: and he promised him three hundred talents.
|
|
|
|
11:29. And the king consented: and he wrote letters to Jonathan of all
|
|
these things, to this effect.
|
|
|
|
11:30. King Demetrius to his brother, Jonathan, and to the nation of
|
|
the Jews, greeting.
|
|
|
|
11:31. We send you here a copy of the letter which we have written to
|
|
Lasthenes, our parent, concerning you, that you might know it.
|
|
|
|
11:32. King Demetrius to Lasthenes, his parent, greetings.
|
|
|
|
11:33. We have determined to do good to the nation of the Jews, who are
|
|
our friends, and keep the things that are just with us, for their good
|
|
will which they bear towards us.
|
|
|
|
11:34. We have ratified, therefore, unto them all the borders of Judea,
|
|
and the three cities, Apherema, Lydda, and Ramatha, which are added to
|
|
Judea, out of Samaria, and all their confines, to be set apart to all
|
|
them that sacrifice in Jerusalem, instead of the payments which the
|
|
king received of them every year, and for the fruits of the land, and
|
|
of the trees.
|
|
|
|
Apherema. . .is found only in the Greek version.
|
|
|
|
11:35. And as for other things that belonged to us of the tithes, and
|
|
of the tributes, from this time we discharge them of them: the saltpans
|
|
also, and the crowns that were presented to us.
|
|
|
|
11:36. We give all to them, and nothing hereof shall be revoked from
|
|
this time forth and for ever.
|
|
|
|
11:37. Now, therefore, see that thou make a copy of these things, and
|
|
let it be given to Jonathan, and set upon the holy mountain, in a
|
|
conspicuous place.
|
|
|
|
11:38. And king Demetrius, seeing that the land was quiet before him,
|
|
and nothing resisted him, sent away all his forces, every man to his
|
|
own place, except the foreign army, which he had drawn together from
|
|
the islands of the nations: so all the troops of his fathers hated him.
|
|
|
|
11:39. Now there was one Tryphon who had been of Alexander's party
|
|
before: who seeing that all the army murmured against Demetrius, went
|
|
to Emalchuel, the Arabian, who brought up Antiochus, the son of
|
|
Alexander:
|
|
|
|
11:40. And he pressed him much to deliver him to him, that he might be
|
|
king in his father's place: and he told him all that Demetrius had
|
|
done, and how his soldiers hated him. And he remained there many days.
|
|
|
|
11:41. And Jonathan sent to king Demetrius, desiring that he would cast
|
|
out them that were in the castle in Jerusalem, and those that were in
|
|
the strong holds: because they fought against Israel.
|
|
|
|
11:42. And Demetrius sent to Jonathan, saying: I will not only do this
|
|
for thee, and for thy people, but I will greatly honour thee, and thy
|
|
nation, when opportunity shall serve.
|
|
|
|
11:43. Now, therefore, thou shalt do well if thou send me men to help
|
|
me: for all my army is gone from me.
|
|
|
|
11:44. And Jonathan sent him three thousand valiant men to Antioch: and
|
|
they came to the king, and the king was very glad of their coming.
|
|
|
|
11:45. And they that were of the city assembled themselves together, to
|
|
the number of a hundred and twenty thousand men, and would have killed
|
|
the king.
|
|
|
|
11:46. And the king fled into the palace: and they of the city kept the
|
|
passages of the city, and began to fight.
|
|
|
|
11:47. And the king called the Jews to his assistance: and they came to
|
|
him all at once, and they all dispersed themselves through the city.
|
|
|
|
11:48. And they slew in that day a hundred thousand men, and they set
|
|
fire to the city, and got many spoils that day, and delivered the king.
|
|
|
|
11:49. And they that were of the city saw that the Jews had got the
|
|
city as they would: and they were discouraged in their mind, and cried
|
|
to the king, making supplication, and saying
|
|
|
|
1:50. Grant us peace, and let the Jews cease from assaulting us, and
|
|
the city.
|
|
|
|
11:51. And they threw down their arms, and made peace, and the Jews
|
|
were glorified in the sight of the king, and in the sight of all that
|
|
were in his realm, and were renowned throughout the kingdom, and
|
|
returned to Jerusalem with many spoils.
|
|
|
|
11:52. So king Demetrius sat in the throne of his kingdom: and the land
|
|
was quiet before him.
|
|
|
|
11:53. And he falsified all whatsoever he had said, and alienated
|
|
himself from Jonathan, and did not reward him according to the benefits
|
|
he had received from him, but gave him great trouble.
|
|
|
|
11:54. And after this Tryphon returned, and with him Antiochus, the
|
|
young boy, who was made king, and put on the diadem.
|
|
|
|
11:55. And there assembled unto him all the hands which Demetrius had
|
|
sent away, and they fought against Demetrius who turned his back and
|
|
fled.
|
|
|
|
11:56. And Tryphon took the elephants, and made himself master of
|
|
Antioch.
|
|
|
|
11:57. And young Antiochus wrote to Jonathan, saying: I confirm thee in
|
|
the high priesthood, and I appoint thee ruler over the four cities, and
|
|
to be one of the king's friends.
|
|
|
|
11:58. And he sent him vessels of gold for his service, and he gave him
|
|
leave to drink in gold, and to be clothed in purple, and to wear a
|
|
golden buckle:
|
|
|
|
11:59. And he made his brother, Simon, governor, from the borders of
|
|
Tyre even to the confines of Egypt.
|
|
|
|
11:60. Then Jonathan went forth, and passed through the cities beyond
|
|
the river, and all the forces of Syria gathered themselves to him to
|
|
help him, and he came to Ascalon, and they met him honourably out of
|
|
the city.
|
|
|
|
11:61. And he went from thence to Gaza: and they that were in Gaza shut
|
|
him out: and he besieged it, and burnt all the suburbs round about, and
|
|
took the spoils.
|
|
|
|
11:62. And the men of Gaza made supplication to Jonathan, and he gave
|
|
them the right hand: and he took their sons for hostages, and sent them
|
|
to Jerusalem: and he went through the country, as far as Damascus.
|
|
|
|
11:63. And Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius were come
|
|
treacherously to Cades, which is in Galilee, with a great army,
|
|
purposing to remove him from the affairs of the kingdom.
|
|
|
|
11:64. And he went against them: but left his brother, Simon, in the
|
|
country.
|
|
|
|
11:65. And Simon encamped against Bethsura, and assaulted it many days,
|
|
and shut them up.
|
|
|
|
11:66. And they desired him to make peace, and he granted it them: and
|
|
he cast them out from thence, and took the city, and placed a garrison
|
|
in it.
|
|
|
|
11:67. And Jonathan and his army encamped by the water of Genesar, and
|
|
before it was light they were ready in the plain of Asor.
|
|
|
|
11:68. And behold the army of the strangers met him in the plain, and
|
|
they laid an ambush for him in the mountains: but he went out against
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
11:69. And they that lay in ambush rose out of their places, and joined
|
|
battle.
|
|
|
|
11:70. And all that were on Jonathan's side fled, and none was left of
|
|
them, but Mathathias, the son of Absalom, and Judas, the son of Calphi,
|
|
chief captain of the army.
|
|
|
|
11:71. And Jonathan rent his garments, and cast earth upon his head,
|
|
and prayed.
|
|
|
|
11:72. And Jonathan turned again to them to battle, and he put them to
|
|
flight, and they fought.
|
|
|
|
11:73. And they of his part that fled saw this, and they turned again
|
|
to him, and they all with him pursued the enemies, even to Cades, to
|
|
their own camp, and they came even thither.
|
|
|
|
11:74. And there fell of the aliens in that day three thousand men: and
|
|
Jonathan returned to Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jonathan renews his league with the Romans and Lacedemonians. The
|
|
forces of Demetrius flee away from him. He is deceived and made
|
|
prisoner by Tryphon.
|
|
|
|
12:1. And Jonathan saw that the time served him, and he chose certain
|
|
men, and sent them to Rome, to confirm and to renew the amity with
|
|
them:
|
|
|
|
12:2. And he sent letters to the Spartans, and to other places,
|
|
according to the same form.
|
|
|
|
12:3. And they went to Rome, and entered into the senate house, and
|
|
said: Jonathan, the high priest, and the nation of the Jews, have sent
|
|
us to renew the amity, and alliance, as it was before.
|
|
|
|
12:4. And they gave them letters to their governors in every place, to
|
|
conduct them into the land of Juda with peace.
|
|
|
|
12:5. And this is a copy of the letters which Jonathan wrote to the
|
|
Spartans:
|
|
|
|
12:6. Jonathan, the high priest, and the ancients of the nation, and
|
|
the priests, and the rest of the people of the Jews, to the Spartans,
|
|
their brethren, greeting.
|
|
|
|
12:7. There were letters sent long ago to Onias the high priest, from
|
|
Arius, who reigned then among you to signify that you are our brethren,
|
|
as the copy here underwritten doth specify.
|
|
|
|
12:8. And Onias received the ambassador with honour and received the
|
|
letters, wherein there was mention made of the alliance, and amity.
|
|
|
|
12:9. We, though we needed none of these things having for our comfort
|
|
the holy books that are in our hands,
|
|
|
|
12:10. Chose rather to send to you to renew the brotherhood and
|
|
friendship, lest we should become stranger to you altogether: for there
|
|
is a long time passed since you sent to us.
|
|
|
|
12:11. We, therefore, at all times without ceasing, both in our
|
|
festivals, and other days wherein it is convenient, remember you in the
|
|
sacrifices that we offer, and in our observances, as it is meet and
|
|
becoming to remember brethren.
|
|
|
|
12:12. And we rejoice at your glory.
|
|
|
|
12:13. But we have had many troubles and wars on every side; and the
|
|
kings that are round about us have fought against us.
|
|
|
|
12:14. But we would not be troublesome to you, nor to the rest of our
|
|
allies and friends, in these wars.
|
|
|
|
12:15. For we have had help from heaven, and we have been delivered,
|
|
and our enemies are humbled.
|
|
|
|
12:16. We have chosen, therefore, Numenius the son of Antiochus, and
|
|
Antipater, the son of Jason, and have sent them to the Romans, to renew
|
|
with them the former amity and alliance.
|
|
|
|
12:17. And we have commanded them to go also to you, and salute you,
|
|
and to deliver you our letters, concerning the renewing of our
|
|
brotherhood.
|
|
|
|
12:18. And now you shall do well to give us an answer hereto.
|
|
|
|
12:19. And this is the copy of the letter which he had sent to Onias:
|
|
|
|
12:20. Arius, king of the Spartans, to Onias, the high priest,
|
|
greeting.
|
|
|
|
12:21. It is found in writing concerning the Spartans, and the Jews,
|
|
that they are brethren, and that they are of the stock of Abraham.
|
|
|
|
12:22. And now since this is come to our knowledge, you do well to
|
|
write to us of your prosperity.
|
|
|
|
12:23. And we also have written back to you, That our cattle, and our
|
|
possessions, are yours: and yours, ours. We, therefore, have commanded
|
|
that these things should be told you.
|
|
|
|
12:24. Now Jonathan heard that the generals of Demetrius were come
|
|
again with a greater army than before to fight against him.
|
|
|
|
12:25. So he went out from Jerusalem, and met them in the land of
|
|
Amath: for he gave them no time to enter into his country.
|
|
|
|
12:26. And he sent spies into their camp, and they came back, and
|
|
brought him word that they designed to come upon them in the night.
|
|
|
|
12:27. And when the sun was set, Jonathan commanded his men to watch,
|
|
and to be in arms all night long ready to fight, and he set sentinels
|
|
round about the camp.
|
|
|
|
12:28. And the enemies heard that Jonathan and his men were ready for
|
|
battle: and they were struck with fear and dread in their heart: and
|
|
they kindled fires in their camp.
|
|
|
|
12:29. But Jonathan, and they that were with him, knew it not till the
|
|
morning: for they saw the lights burning.
|
|
|
|
12:30. And Jonathan pursued after them, but overtook them not: for they
|
|
had passed the river Eleutherus.
|
|
|
|
12:31. And Jonathan turned upon the Arabians, that are called
|
|
Zabadeans: and he defeated them, and took the spoils of them.
|
|
|
|
12:32. And he went forward, and came to Damascus, and passed through
|
|
all that country.
|
|
|
|
12:33. Simon also went forth, and came as far as Ascalon, and the
|
|
neighbouring fortresses, and he turned aside to Joppe, and took
|
|
possession of it,
|
|
|
|
12:34. (For he heard that they designed to deliver the hold to them
|
|
that took part with Demetrius) and he put a garrison there to keep it.
|
|
|
|
12:35. And Jonathan came back, and called together the ancients of the
|
|
people; and he took a resolution with them to build fortresses in
|
|
Judea,
|
|
|
|
12:36. And to build up walls in Jerusalem, and raise a mount between
|
|
the castle and the city, to separate it from the city, that so it might
|
|
have no communication, and that they might neither buy nor sell.
|
|
|
|
12:37. And they came together to build up the city: for the wall that
|
|
was upon the brook, towards the east, was broken down, and he repaired
|
|
that which is called Caphetetha:
|
|
|
|
12:38. And Simon built Adiada in Sephela, and fortified it, and set up
|
|
gates and bars.
|
|
|
|
12:39. Now when Tryphon had conceived a design to make himself king of
|
|
Asia and to take the crown, and to stretch out his hand against king
|
|
Antiochus:
|
|
|
|
12:40. Fearing lest Jonathan would not suffer him, but would fight
|
|
against him: he sought to seize upon him, and to kill him. So he rose
|
|
up and came to Bethsan.
|
|
|
|
12:41. And Jonathan went out to meet him with forty thousand men chosen
|
|
for battle, and came to Bethsan.
|
|
|
|
12:42. Now when Tryphon saw that Jonathan came with a great army, he
|
|
durst not stretch forth his hand against him.
|
|
|
|
12:43. But received him with honour, and commended him to all his
|
|
friends, and gave him presents: and he commanded his troops to obey
|
|
him, as himself.
|
|
|
|
12:44. And he said to Jonathan: Why hast thou troubled all the people,
|
|
whereas we have no war?
|
|
|
|
12:45. Now, therefore, send them back to their own houses: and choose
|
|
thee a few men that may be with thee, and come with me to Ptolemais,
|
|
and I will deliver it to thee, and the rest of the strong holds, and
|
|
the army, and all that have any charge, and I will return and go away:
|
|
for this is the cause of my coming.
|
|
|
|
12:46. And Jonathan believed him, and did as he said: and sent away his
|
|
army, and they departed into the land of Juda:
|
|
|
|
12:47. But he kept with him three thousand men: of whom he sent two
|
|
thousand into Galilee, and one thousand went with him.
|
|
|
|
12:48. Now as soon as Jonathan entered into Ptolemais, they of
|
|
Ptolemais shut the gates of the city, and took him: and all them that
|
|
came in with him they slew with the sword.
|
|
|
|
12:49. Then Tryphon sent an army and horsemen into Galilee, and into
|
|
the great plain, to destroy all Jonathan's company.
|
|
|
|
12:50. But they, when they understood that Jonathan, and all that were
|
|
with him, were taken and slain, encouraged one another, and went out
|
|
ready for battle.
|
|
|
|
12:51. Then they that had come after them, seeing that they stood for
|
|
their lives, returned back.
|
|
|
|
12:52. Whereupon they all came peaceably into the land of Juda and they
|
|
bewailed Jonathan, and them that had been with him, exceedingly: and
|
|
Israel mourned with great lamentation.
|
|
|
|
12:53. Then all the heathens that were round about them, sought to
|
|
destroy them. For they said:
|
|
|
|
12:54. They have no prince, nor any to help them: now therefore, let us
|
|
make war upon them, and take away the memory of them from amongst men.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
Simon is made captain general in the room of his brother. Jonathan is
|
|
slain by Tryphon. Simon is favoured by Demetrius: he taketh Gaza, and
|
|
the castle of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
13:1. Now Simon heard that Tryphon was gathering together a very great
|
|
army to invade the land of Juda, and to destroy it.
|
|
|
|
13:2. And seeing that the people was in dread and in fear, he went up
|
|
to Jerusalem, and assembled the people,
|
|
|
|
13:3. And exhorted them, saying: You know what great battles I and my
|
|
brethren, and the house of my father, have fought for the laws, and the
|
|
sanctuary, and the distresses that we have seen:
|
|
|
|
13:4. By reason whereof all my brethren have lost their lives for
|
|
Israel's sake, and I am left alone.
|
|
|
|
13:5. And now far be it from me to spare my life in any time of
|
|
trouble: for I am not better than my brethren.
|
|
|
|
13:6. I will avenge then my nation and the sanctuary, and our children,
|
|
and wives: for all the heathens are gathered together to destroy us out
|
|
of mere malice.
|
|
|
|
13:7. And the spirit of the people was enkindled as soon as they heard
|
|
these words:
|
|
|
|
13:8. And they answered with a loud voice, saying: Thou art our leader
|
|
in the place of Judas, and Jonathan, thy brother:
|
|
|
|
13:9. Fight thou our battles, and we will do whatsoever thou shalt say
|
|
to us.
|
|
|
|
13:10. So gathering together all the men of war, he made haste to
|
|
finish all the walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it round about.
|
|
|
|
13:11. And he sent Jonathan, the son of Absalom, and with him a new
|
|
army, into Joppe, and he cast out them that were in it, and himself
|
|
remained there.
|
|
|
|
13:12. And Tryphon removed from Ptolemais with a great army, to invade
|
|
the land of Juda, and Jonathan was with him in custody.
|
|
|
|
13:13. But Simon pitched in Addus, over against the plain.
|
|
|
|
13:14. And when Tryphon understood that Simon was risen up in the place
|
|
of his brother, Jonathan, and that he meant to join battle with him, he
|
|
sent messengers to him,
|
|
|
|
13:15. Saying: We have detained thy brother, Jonathan, for the money
|
|
that he owed in the king's account, by reason of the affairs which he
|
|
had the management of.
|
|
|
|
13:16. But now send a hundred talents of silver, and his two sons for
|
|
hostages, that when he is set at liberty he may not revolt from us, and
|
|
we will release him.
|
|
|
|
13:17. Now Simon knew that he spoke deceitfully to him; nevertheless,
|
|
he ordered the money and the children to be sent, lest he should bring
|
|
upon himself a great hatred of the people of Israel, who might have
|
|
said:
|
|
|
|
13:18. Because he sent not the money and the children therefore is he
|
|
lost.
|
|
|
|
13:19. So he sent the children and the hundred talents and he lied, and
|
|
did not let Jonathan go.
|
|
|
|
13:20. And after this, Tryphon entered within the country, to destroy
|
|
it: and they went about by the way that leadeth to Ador: and Simon and
|
|
his army marched to every place whithersoever they went.
|
|
|
|
Simon and his army marched to every place whithersoever they
|
|
went. . .That is, whithersoever Tryphon and his horsemen went in order
|
|
to oppose them.
|
|
|
|
13:21. And they that were in the castle, sent messengers to Tryphon,
|
|
that he should make haste to come through the desert, and send them
|
|
victuals.
|
|
|
|
13:22. And Tryphon made ready all his horsemen to come that night; but
|
|
there fell a very great snow, and he came not into the country of
|
|
Galaad.
|
|
|
|
13:23. And when he approached to Bascama, he slew Jonathan and his sons
|
|
there.
|
|
|
|
13:24. And Tryphon returned, and went into his own country.
|
|
|
|
13:25. And Simon sent, and took the bones of Jonathan, his brother, and
|
|
buried them in Modin, the city of his fathers.
|
|
|
|
13:26. And all Israel bewailed him with great lamentation: and they
|
|
mourned for him many days.
|
|
|
|
13:27. And Simon built over the sepulchre of his father and of his
|
|
brethren, a building lofty to the sight, of polished stone, behind and
|
|
before:
|
|
|
|
13:28. And he set up seven pyramids, one against another, for his
|
|
father, and his mother, and his four brethren:
|
|
|
|
13:29. And round about these he set great pillars; and upon the
|
|
pillars, arms, for a perpetual memory; and by the arms, ships carved,
|
|
which might be seen by all that sailed on the sea.
|
|
|
|
13:30. This is the sepulchre that he made in Modin, even unto this day.
|
|
|
|
13:31. But Tryphon, when he was upon a journey with the young king,
|
|
Antiochus, treacherously slew him.
|
|
|
|
13:32. And he reigned in his place, and put on the crown of Asia: and
|
|
brought great evils upon the land.
|
|
|
|
13:33. And Simon built up the strong holds of Judea, fortifying them
|
|
with high towers, and great walls, and gates and bars: and he stored up
|
|
victuals in the fortresses.
|
|
|
|
13:34. And Simon chose men, and sent to king Demetrius, to the end that
|
|
he should grant an immunity to the land; for all that Tryphon did, was
|
|
to spoil.
|
|
|
|
13:35. And king Demetrius, in answer to this request, wrote a letter in
|
|
this manner:
|
|
|
|
13:36. King Demetrius to Simon, the high priest, and friend of kings,
|
|
and to the ancients, and to the nation of the Jews, greeting:
|
|
|
|
13:37. The golden crown, and the palm, which you sent, we have
|
|
received: and we are ready to make a firm peace with you, and to write
|
|
to the king's chief officers to release you the things that we have
|
|
released.
|
|
|
|
13:38. For all that we have decreed in your favour shall stand in
|
|
force. The strong holds that you have built, shall be your own.
|
|
|
|
13:39. And as for any oversight or fault committed unto this day, we
|
|
forgive it: and the crown which you owed: and if any other thing were
|
|
taxed in Jerusalem, now let it not be taxed.
|
|
|
|
13:40. And if any of you be fit to be enrolled among ours, let them be
|
|
enrolled, and let there be peace between us.
|
|
|
|
13:41. In the year one hundred and seventy, the yoke of the Gentiles
|
|
was taken off from Israel.
|
|
|
|
13:42. And the people of Israel began to write in the instruments, and
|
|
public records, The first year under Simon, the high priest, the great
|
|
captain, and prince of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
13:43. In those days Simon besieged Gaza, and camped round about it,
|
|
and he made engines, and set them to the city, and he struck one tower,
|
|
and took it.
|
|
|
|
13:44. And they that were within the engine leapt into the city: and
|
|
there was a great uproar in the city.
|
|
|
|
13:45. And they that were in the city went up, with their wives and
|
|
children, upon the wall, with their garments rent, and they cried with
|
|
a loud voice, beseeching Simon to grant them peace.
|
|
|
|
13:46. And they said: Deal not with us according to our evil deeds, but
|
|
according to thy mercy.
|
|
|
|
13:47. And Simon being moved, did not destroy them but yet he cast them
|
|
out of the city, and cleansed the houses wherein there had been idols,
|
|
and then he entered into it with hymns, blessing the Lord:
|
|
|
|
13:48. And having cast out of it all uncleanness, he placed in it men
|
|
that should observe the law: and he fortified it, and made it his
|
|
habitation.
|
|
|
|
13:49. But they that were in the castle of Jerusalem were hindered from
|
|
going out and coming into the country, and from buying and selling: and
|
|
they were straitened with hunger, and many of them perished through
|
|
famine.
|
|
|
|
13:50. And they cried to Simon for peace, and he granted it to them:
|
|
and he cast them out from thence and cleansed the castle from
|
|
uncleannesses.
|
|
|
|
13:51. And they entered into it the three and twentieth day of the
|
|
second month, in the year one hundred and seventy-one, with
|
|
thanksgiving, and branches of palm trees, and harps, and cymbals, and
|
|
psalteries, and hymns, and canticles, because the great enemy was
|
|
destroyed out of Israel.
|
|
|
|
13:52. And he ordained that these days should be kept every year with
|
|
gladness.
|
|
|
|
13:53. And he fortified the mountain of the temple that was near the
|
|
castle, and he dwelt there himself, and they that were with him.
|
|
|
|
13:54. And Simon saw that John, his son, was a valiant man for war: and
|
|
he made him captain of all the forces: and he dwelt in Gazara.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
Demetrius is taken by the king of Persia. Judea flourishes under the
|
|
government of Simon.
|
|
|
|
14:1. In the year one hundred and seventy-two king Demetrius assembled
|
|
his army, and went into Media to get him succours to fight against
|
|
Tryphon.
|
|
|
|
14:2. And Arsaces, the king of Persia and Media, heard that Demetrius
|
|
was entered within his borders, and he sent one of his princes to take
|
|
him alive, and bring him to him.
|
|
|
|
14:3. And he went, and defeated the army of Demetrius: and took him,
|
|
and brought him to Arsaces, and he put him into custody.
|
|
|
|
14:4. And all the land of Juda was at rest all the days of Simon, and
|
|
he sought the good of his nation: and his power, and his glory pleased
|
|
them well all his days.
|
|
|
|
14:5. And with all his glory he took Joppe for a haven, and made an
|
|
entrance to the isles of the sea.
|
|
|
|
14:6. And he enlarged the bounds of his nation, and made himself master
|
|
of the country.
|
|
|
|
14:7. And he gathered together a great number of captives, and had the
|
|
dominion of Gazara, and of Bethsura, and of the castle: and took away
|
|
all uncleanness out of it, and there was none that resisted him.
|
|
|
|
14:8. And every man tilled his land with peace, and the land of Juda
|
|
yielded her increase, and the trees of the fields their fruit.
|
|
|
|
14:9. The ancient men sat all in the streets, and treated together of
|
|
the good things of the land, and the young men put on them glory, and
|
|
the robes of war.
|
|
|
|
14:10. And he provided victuals for the cities, and he appointed that
|
|
they should be furnished with ammunition, so that the fame of his glory
|
|
was renowned even to the end of the earth.
|
|
|
|
14:11. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy.
|
|
|
|
14:12. And every man sat under his vine, and under his fig tree: and
|
|
there was none to make them afraid.
|
|
|
|
14:13. There was none left in the land to fight against them: kings
|
|
were discomfited in those days.
|
|
|
|
14:14. And he strengthened all those of his people that were brought
|
|
low, and he sought the law, and took away every unjust and wicked man.
|
|
|
|
14:15. He glorified the sanctuary, and multiplied the vessels of the
|
|
holy places.
|
|
|
|
14:16. And it was heard at Rome, and as far as Sparta, that Jonathan
|
|
was dead: and they were very sorry.
|
|
|
|
14:17. But when they heard that Simon, his brother, was made high
|
|
priest in his place, and was possessed of all the country, and the
|
|
cities therein:
|
|
|
|
14:18. They wrote to him in tables of brass, to renew the friendship
|
|
and alliance which they had made with Judas and with Jonathan, his
|
|
brethren.
|
|
|
|
14:19. And they were read before the assembly in Jerusalem. And this is
|
|
the copy of the letters that the Spartans sent.
|
|
|
|
14:20. The princes and the cities of the Spartans, to Simon, the high
|
|
priest, and to the ancients, and the priests, and the rest of the
|
|
people of the Jews, their brethren, greeting.
|
|
|
|
14:21. The ambassadors that were sent to our people, have told us of
|
|
your glory, and honour, and joy: and we rejoiced at their coming.
|
|
|
|
14:22. And we registered what was said by them in the councils of the
|
|
people, in this manner: Numenius, the son of Antiochus, and Antipater,
|
|
the son of Jason, ambassadors of the Jews, came to us to renew the
|
|
former friendship with us.
|
|
|
|
14:23. And it pleased the people to receive the men honourably, and to
|
|
put a copy of their words in the public records, to be a memorial to
|
|
the people of the Spartans. And we have written a copy of them to
|
|
Simon, the high priest.
|
|
|
|
14:24. And after this Simon sent Numenius to Rome, with a great shield
|
|
of gold, of the weight of a thousand pounds, to confirm the league with
|
|
them. And when the people of Rome had heard
|
|
|
|
14:25. These words, they said: What thanks shall we give to Simon, and
|
|
his sons:
|
|
|
|
14:26. For he hath restored his brethren, and hath driven away in fight
|
|
the enemies of Israel from them: and they decreed him liberty, and
|
|
registered it in tables of brass, and set it upon pillars in mount
|
|
Sion.
|
|
|
|
14:27. And this is a copy of the writing. The eighteenth day of the
|
|
month Elul, in the year one hundred and seventy-two, being the third
|
|
year under Simon, the high priest, at Asaramel,
|
|
|
|
14:28. In a great assembly of the priests, and of the people, and the
|
|
princes of the nation, and the ancients of the country, these things
|
|
were notified: Forasmuch as there have often been wars in our country,
|
|
|
|
14:29. And Simon, the son of Mathathias, of the children of Jarib, and
|
|
his brethren, have put themselves in danger, and resisted the enemies
|
|
of their nation, for the maintenance of their holy places, and the law:
|
|
and have raised their nation to great glory.
|
|
|
|
14:30. And Jonathan gathered together his nation, and was made their
|
|
high priest, and he was laid to his people.
|
|
|
|
14:31. And their enemies desired to tread down and destroy their
|
|
country, and to stretch forth their hands against their holy places.
|
|
|
|
14:32. Then Simon resisted and fought for his nation, and laid out much
|
|
of his money, and armed the valiant men of his nation, and gave them
|
|
wages.
|
|
|
|
14:33. And he fortified the cities of Judea and Bethsura that lieth in
|
|
the borders of Judea, where the armour of the enemies was before: and
|
|
he placed there a garrison of Jews.
|
|
|
|
14:34. And he fortified Joppe, which lieth by the sea: and Gazara,
|
|
which bordereth upon Azotus, wherein the enemies dwelt before, and he
|
|
placed Jews here: and furnished them with all things convenient for
|
|
their reparation.
|
|
|
|
14:35. And the people seeing the acts of Simon, and to what glory he
|
|
meant to bring his nation, made him their prince and high priest,
|
|
because he had done all these things, and for the justice and faith
|
|
which he kept to his nation, and for that he sought by all means to
|
|
advance his people.
|
|
|
|
14:36. And in his days things prospered in his hands, so that the
|
|
heathens were taken away out of their country, and they also that were
|
|
in the city of David, in Jerusalem, in the castle, out of which they
|
|
issued forth, and profaned all places round about the sanctuary, and
|
|
did much evil to purity.
|
|
|
|
14:37. And he placed therein Jews for the defence of the country, and
|
|
of the city, and he raised up the walls of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
14:38. And king Demetrius confirmed him in the high priesthood.
|
|
|
|
14:39. According to these things he made him his friend, and glorified
|
|
him with great glory.
|
|
|
|
14:40. For he had heard that the Romans had called the Jews their
|
|
friends, and confederates, and brethren, and that they had received
|
|
Simon's ambassadors with honour:
|
|
|
|
14:41. And that the Jews, and their priests, had consented that he
|
|
should be their prince and high priest for ever, till there should
|
|
arise a faithful prophet:
|
|
|
|
14:42. And that he should be chief over them, and that he should have
|
|
the charge of the sanctuary, and that he should appoint rulers over
|
|
their works, and over the country, and over the armour, and over the
|
|
strong holds;
|
|
|
|
14:43. And that he should have care of the holy places; and that he
|
|
should be obeyed by all, and that all the writings in the country
|
|
should be made in his name; and that he should be clothed with purple
|
|
and gold:
|
|
|
|
14:44. And that it should not be lawful for any of the people, or of
|
|
the priests, to disannul any of these things, or to gainsay his words,
|
|
or to call together an assembly in the country without him: or to be
|
|
clothed with purple, or to wear a buckle of gold.
|
|
|
|
14:45. And whosoever shall do otherwise, or shall make void any of
|
|
these things, shall be punished.
|
|
|
|
14:46. And it pleased all the people to establish Simon, and to do
|
|
according to these words.
|
|
|
|
14:47. And Simon accepted thereof, and was well pleased to execute the
|
|
office of the high priesthood, and to be captain, and prince of the
|
|
nation of the Jews, and of the priests, and to be chief over all.
|
|
|
|
14:48. And they commanded that this writing should be put in tables of
|
|
brass, and that they should be set up within the compass of the
|
|
sanctuary, in a conspicuous place:
|
|
|
|
14:49. And that a copy thereof should be put in the treasury, that
|
|
Simon, and his sons, may have it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 15
|
|
|
|
|
|
Antiochus son of Demetrius honours Simon. The Romans write to divers
|
|
nations in favour of the Jews. Antiochus quarrels with Simon, and sends
|
|
troops to annoy him.
|
|
|
|
15:1. And king Antiochus, the son of Demetrius, sent letters from the
|
|
isles of the sea to Simon, the priest, and prince of the nation of the
|
|
Jews, and to all the people:
|
|
|
|
15:2. And the contents were these: King Antiochus to Simon, the high
|
|
priest, and to the nation of the Jews, greeting.
|
|
|
|
15:3. Forasmuch as certain pestilent men have usurped the kingdom of
|
|
our fathers, and my purpose is to challenge the kingdom, and to restore
|
|
it to its former estate; and I have chosen a great army, and have built
|
|
ships of war.
|
|
|
|
15:4. And I design to go through the country, that I may take revenge
|
|
of them that have destroyed our country, and that have made many cities
|
|
desolate in my realm.
|
|
|
|
15:5. Now, therefore, I confirm unto thee all the oblations which all
|
|
the kings before me remitted to thee, and what other gifts soever they
|
|
remitted to thee:
|
|
|
|
15:6. And I give thee leave to coin thy own money in thy country:
|
|
|
|
15:7. And let Jerusalem be holy and free, and all the armour that hath
|
|
been made, and the fortresses which thou hast built, and which thou
|
|
keepest in thy hands, let them remain to thee.
|
|
|
|
15:8. And all that is due to the king, and what should be the king's
|
|
hereafter, from this present and for ever, is forgiven thee.
|
|
|
|
15:9. And when we shall have recovered our kingdom, we will glorify
|
|
thee, and thy nation, and the temple, with great glory, so that your
|
|
glory shall be made manifest in all the earth.
|
|
|
|
15:10. In the year one hundred and seventy-four, Antiochus entered into
|
|
the land of his fathers, and all the forces assembled to him, so that
|
|
few were left with Tryphon.
|
|
|
|
15:11. And king Antiochus pursued after him, and he fled along by the
|
|
sea coast and came to Dora.
|
|
|
|
15:12. For he perceived that evils were gathered together upon him, and
|
|
his troops had forsaken him.
|
|
|
|
15:13. And Antiochus camped above Dora with a hundred and twenty
|
|
thousand men of war, and eight thousand horsemen:
|
|
|
|
15:14. And he invested the city, and the ships drew near by sea: and
|
|
they annoyed the city by land, and by sea, and suffered none to come
|
|
in, or to go out.
|
|
|
|
15:15. And Numenius, and they that had been with him, came from the
|
|
city of Rome, having letters written to the kings, and countries, the
|
|
contents whereof were these:
|
|
|
|
15:16. Lucius, the consul of the Romans, to king Ptolemee, greeting.
|
|
|
|
Ptolemee. . .Surnamed Physeon, brother and successor to Philometer.
|
|
|
|
15:17. The ambassadors of the Jews, our friends, came to us, to renew
|
|
the former friendship and alliance, being sent from Simon, the high
|
|
priest, and the people of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
15:18. And they brought also a shield of gold of a thousand pounds.
|
|
|
|
15:19. It hath seemed good therefore to us, to write to the kings and
|
|
countries, that they should do them no harm, nor fight against them,
|
|
their cities, or countries: and that they should give no aid to them
|
|
that fight against them.
|
|
|
|
15:20. And it hath seemed good to us to receive the shield of them.
|
|
|
|
15:21. If, therefore, any pestilent men are fled out of their country
|
|
to you, deliver them to Simon, the high priest, that he may punish them
|
|
according to their law.
|
|
|
|
15:22. These same things were written to king Demetrius, and to
|
|
Attalus, and to Ariarathes, and to Arsaces,
|
|
|
|
Attalus, etc. . .Attalus was king of Pergamus; Ariarathes was king of
|
|
Cappadocia; and Arsaces was king of the Parthians.
|
|
|
|
15:23. And to all the countries: and to Lampsacus and to the Spartans,
|
|
and to Delus, and Myndus, and Sicyon, and Caria, and Samus, and
|
|
Pamphylia, and Lycia, and Alicarnassus, and Cos, and Side, and Aradus,
|
|
and Rhodes, and Phaselis, and Gortyna, and Gnidus, and Cyprus, and
|
|
Cyrene.
|
|
|
|
15:24. And they wrote a copy thereof to Simon, the high priest, and to
|
|
the people of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
15:25. But king Antiochus moved his camp to Dora the second time,
|
|
assaulting it continually, and making engines: and he shut up Tryphon,
|
|
that he could not go out.
|
|
|
|
15:26. And Simon sent to him two thousand chosen men to aid him, silver
|
|
also, and gold, and abundance of furniture.
|
|
|
|
15:27. And he would not receive them, but broke all the covenant that
|
|
he had made with him before, and alienated himself from him.
|
|
|
|
15:28. And he sent to him Athenobius, one of his friends, to treat with
|
|
him, saying: You hold Joppe and Gazara, and the castle that is in
|
|
Jerusalem, which are cities of my kingdom:
|
|
|
|
15:29. Their borders you have wasted, and you have made great havoc in
|
|
the land, and have got the dominion of many places in my kingdom.
|
|
|
|
15:30. Now, therefore, deliver up the cities that you have taken, and
|
|
the tributes of the places whereof you have gotten the dominion without
|
|
the borders of Judea.
|
|
|
|
15:31. But if not, give me for them five hundred talents of silver, and
|
|
for the havoc that you have made, and the tributes of the cities, other
|
|
five hundred talents: or else we will come and fight against you.
|
|
|
|
15:32. So Athenobius, the king's friend came to Jerusalem, and saw the
|
|
glory of Simon and his magnificence in gold, and silver, and his great
|
|
equipage, and he was astonished, and told him the king's words.
|
|
|
|
15:33. And Simon answered him, and said to him: We have neither taken
|
|
other men's land, neither do we hold that which is other men's, but the
|
|
inheritance of our fathers, which was for some time unjustly possessed
|
|
by our enemies.
|
|
|
|
15:34. But we having opportunity, claim the inheritance of our fathers.
|
|
|
|
15:35. And as to thy complaints concerning Joppe and Gazara, they did
|
|
great harm to the people, and to our country: yet for these we will
|
|
give a hundred talents. And Athenobius answered him not a word.
|
|
|
|
15:36. But returning in a rage to the king, made report to him of these
|
|
words, and of the glory of Simon, and of all that he had seen, and the
|
|
king was exceeding angry.
|
|
|
|
15:37. And Tryphon fled away by ship to Orthosias.
|
|
|
|
15:38. And the king appointed Cendebeus captain of the sea coast, and
|
|
gave him an army of footmen and horsemen.
|
|
|
|
15:39. And he commanded him to march with his army towards Judea: and
|
|
he commanded him to build up Gedor, and to fortify the gates of the
|
|
city, and to war against the people. But the king himself pursued after
|
|
Tryphon.
|
|
|
|
15:40. And Cendebeus came to Jamnia, and began to provoke the people,
|
|
and to ravage Judea, and to take the people prisoners, and to kill, and
|
|
to build Gedor.
|
|
|
|
15:41. And he placed there horsemen, and an army: that they might issue
|
|
forth, and make incursions upon the ways of Judea, as the king had
|
|
commanded him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Machabees Chapter 16
|
|
|
|
|
|
The sons of Simon defeat the troops of Antiochus. Simon with two of his
|
|
sons are treacherously murdered by Ptolemee his son in law.
|
|
|
|
16:1. Then John came up from Gazara, and told Simon, his father, what
|
|
Cendebeus had done against their people.
|
|
|
|
John. . .He was afterwards surnamed Hircanus, and succeeded his father
|
|
in both his dignities of high priest and prince. He conquered the
|
|
Edomites, and obliged them to a conformity with the Jews in religion;
|
|
and destroyed the schismatical temple of the Samaritans.
|
|
|
|
16:2. And Simon called his two eldest sons, Judas and John, and said to
|
|
them: I and my brethren, and my father's house, have fought against the
|
|
enemies of Israel from our youth even to this day: and things have
|
|
prospered so well in our hands, that we have delivered Israel
|
|
oftentimes.
|
|
|
|
16:3. And now I am old, but be you instead of me, and my brethren, and
|
|
go out, and fight for our nation: and the help from heaven be with you.
|
|
|
|
16:4. Then he chose out of the country twenty thousand fighting men,
|
|
and horsemen, and they went forth against Cendebeus: and they rested in
|
|
Modin.
|
|
|
|
16:5. And they arose in the morning, and went into the plain: and
|
|
behold a very great army of footmen and horsemen came against them, and
|
|
there was a running river between them.
|
|
|
|
16:6. And he and his people pitched their camp over against them, and
|
|
he saw that the people were afraid to go over the river, so he went
|
|
over first: then the men seeing him, passed over after him.
|
|
|
|
He. . .Viz., John.
|
|
|
|
16:7. And he divided the people, and set the horsemen in the midst of
|
|
the footmen: but the horsemen of the enemies were very numerous.
|
|
|
|
16:8. And they sounded the holy trumpets: and Cendebeus and his army
|
|
were put to flight: and there fell many of them wounded, and the rest
|
|
fled into the strong hold.
|
|
|
|
16:9. At that time, Judas, John's brother, was wounded: but John
|
|
pursued after them, till he came to Cedron, which he had built:
|
|
|
|
Cedron. . .Otherwise called Gedon, the city that Cendebeus was
|
|
fortifying.
|
|
|
|
16:10. And they fled even to the towers that were in the fields of
|
|
Azotus, and he burnt them with fire. And there fell of them two
|
|
thousand men, and he returned into Judea in peace.
|
|
|
|
16:11. Now Ptolemee, the son of Abobus, was appointed captain in the
|
|
plain of Jericho, and he had abundance of silver and gold.
|
|
|
|
16:12. For he was son in law of the high priest.
|
|
|
|
16:13. And his heart was lifted up, and he designed to make himself
|
|
master of the country, and he purposed treachery against Simon and his
|
|
sons, to destroy them.
|
|
|
|
16:14. Now Simon, as he was going through the cities that were in the
|
|
country of Judea, and taking care for the good ordering of them, went
|
|
down to Jericho, he and Mathathias and Judas, his sons, in the year one
|
|
hundred and seventy-seven, the eleventh month: the same is the month
|
|
Sabath.
|
|
|
|
16:15. And the son of Abobus received them deceitfully into a little
|
|
fortress, that is called Doch, which he had built: and he made them a
|
|
great feast, and hid men there.
|
|
|
|
16:16. And when Simon and his sons had drunk plentifully, Ptolemee and
|
|
his men rose up, and took their weapons, and entered into the
|
|
banqueting place, and slew him, and his two sons, and some of his
|
|
servants.
|
|
|
|
16:17. And he committed a great treachery in Israel, and rendered evil
|
|
for good.
|
|
|
|
16:18. And Ptolemee wrote these things, and sent to the king that he
|
|
should send him an army to aid him, and he would deliver him the
|
|
country, and their cities, and tributes.
|
|
|
|
16:19. And he sent others to Gazara to kill John: and to the tribunes
|
|
he sent letters to come to him, and that he would give them silver, and
|
|
gold, and gifts.
|
|
|
|
16:20. And he sent others to take Jerusalem, and the mountain of the
|
|
temple.
|
|
|
|
16:21. Now one running before, told John in Gazara, that his father and
|
|
his brethren were slain, and that he hath sent men to kill thee also.
|
|
|
|
16:22. But when he heard it, he was exceedingly afraid: and he
|
|
apprehended the men that came to kill him, and he put them to death:
|
|
for he knew that they sought to make him away.
|
|
|
|
16:23. And as concerning the rest of the acts of John, and his wars,
|
|
and the worthy deeds, which he bravely achieved, and the building of
|
|
the walls, which he made, and the things that he did:
|
|
|
|
16:24. Behold, these are written in the book of the days of his
|
|
priesthood, from the time that he was made high priest after his
|
|
father.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE SECOND BOOK OF MACHABEES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This second book of MACHABEES is not a continuation of the history
|
|
contained in the first: nor does is come down so low as the first does:
|
|
but relates many of the same facts more at large, and adds other
|
|
remarkable particulars, omitted in the first book, relating to the
|
|
state of the Jews, as well before as under the persecution of
|
|
ANTIOCHUS. The author, who is not the same with that of the first book,
|
|
has given (as we learn from chap. 2.20, etc.) a short abstract of what
|
|
JASON of Cyrene had written in the five volumes, concerning JUDAS and
|
|
his brethren. He wrote in Greek, and begins with two letters, sent by
|
|
the Jews of Jerusalem to their brethren in Egypt.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Letters of the Jews of Jerusalem to them that were in Egypt. They give
|
|
thanks for their delivery from Antiochus: and exhort their brethren to
|
|
keep the feast of the dedication of the altar, and of the miraculous
|
|
fire.
|
|
|
|
1:1. To the brethren, the Jews that are throughout Egypt; the brethren,
|
|
the Jews that are in Jerusalem, and in the land of Judea, send health
|
|
and good peace.
|
|
|
|
1:2. May God be gracious to you, and remember his covenant that he made
|
|
with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, his faithful servants:
|
|
|
|
1:3. And give you all a heart to worship him, and to do his will with a
|
|
great heart, and a willing mind.
|
|
|
|
1:4. May he open your heart in his law, and in his commandments, and
|
|
send you peace.
|
|
|
|
1:5. May he hear your prayers, and be reconciled unto you, and never
|
|
forsake you in the evil time.
|
|
|
|
1:6. And now here we are praying for you.
|
|
|
|
1:7. When Demetrius reigned, in the year one hundred and sixty-nine, we
|
|
Jews wrote to you in the trouble and violence that came upon us in
|
|
those years, after Jason withdrew himself from the holy land, and from
|
|
the kingdom.
|
|
|
|
1:8. They burnt the gate, and shed innocent blood: then we prayed to
|
|
the Lord, and were heard, and we offered sacrifices, and fine flour,
|
|
and lighted the lamps, and set forth the loaves.
|
|
|
|
1:9. And now celebrate ye the days of Scenopegia in the month of
|
|
Casleu.
|
|
|
|
Scenopegia. . .Viz., the Encenia, or feast of the dedication of the
|
|
altar, called here Scenopegia, or feast of tabernacles, from being
|
|
celebrated with the like solemnity.
|
|
|
|
1:10. In the year one hundred and eighty-eight, the people that is at
|
|
Jerusalem, and in Judea, and the senate, and Judas, to Aristobolus, the
|
|
preceptor of king Ptolemee, who is of the stock of the anointed
|
|
priests, and to the Jews that are in Egypt, health and welfare.
|
|
|
|
1:11. Having been delivered by God out of great dangers, we give him
|
|
great thanks, forasmuch as we have been in war with such a king.
|
|
|
|
Such a king. . .Viz., Antiochus Sidetes, who began to make war upon the
|
|
Jews, whilst Simon was yet alive. 1 Mac. 15.39. And afterwards besieged
|
|
Jerusalem under John Hircanus. So that the Judas here mentioned, ver.
|
|
10, is not Judas Machabeus, who was dead long before the year 188 of
|
|
the kingdom of the Greeks, for he died in the year 146 of that epoch,
|
|
(see above 1 Mac. chap. 2., ver. 70, also the note on chap. 1, ver. 2,)
|
|
but either Judas the eldest son of John Hircanus, or Judas the Essene,
|
|
renowned for the gift of prophecy, who flourished about that time.
|
|
|
|
1:12. For he made numbers of men swarm out of Persia, that have fought
|
|
against us, and the holy city.
|
|
|
|
1:13. For when the leader himself was in Persia, and with him a very
|
|
great army, he fell in the temple of Nanea, being deceived by the
|
|
counsel of the priests of Nanea.
|
|
|
|
Nanea. . .A Persian goddess, which some have taken for Diana, others for
|
|
Venus.
|
|
|
|
1:14. For Antiochus, with his friends, came to the place as though he
|
|
would marry her, and that he might receive great sums of money under
|
|
the title of a dowry.
|
|
|
|
1:15. And when the priests of Nanea had set it forth, and he with a
|
|
small company had entered into the compass of the temple, they shut the
|
|
temple,
|
|
|
|
1:16. When Antiochus was come in: and opening a secret entrance of the
|
|
temple, they cast stones and slew the leader, and them that were with
|
|
him, and hewed them in pieces; and cutting off their heads, they threw
|
|
them forth.
|
|
|
|
1:17. Blessed be God in all things, who hath delivered up the wicked.
|
|
|
|
1:18. Therefore, whereas we purpose to keep the purification of the
|
|
temple on the five and twentieth day of the month of Casleu, we thought
|
|
it necessary to signify it to you: that you also may keep the day of
|
|
Scenopegia, and the day of the fire, that was given when Nehemias
|
|
offered sacrifice, after the temple and the altar was built.
|
|
|
|
1:19. For when our fathers were led into Persia, the priests that then
|
|
were worshippers of God, took privately the fire from the altar, and
|
|
hid it in a valley where there was a deep pit without water, and there
|
|
they kept it safe, so that the place was unknown to all men.
|
|
|
|
Persia. . .Babylonia, called here Persia, from being afterwards a part
|
|
of the Persian empire.
|
|
|
|
1:20. But when many years had passed, and it pleased God that Nehemias
|
|
should be sent by the king of Persia, he sent some of the posterity of
|
|
those priests that had hid it, to seek for the fire: and as they told
|
|
us, they found no fire, but thick water.
|
|
|
|
1:21. Then he bade them draw it up, and bring it to him: and the
|
|
priest, Nehemias, commanded the sacrifices that were laid on, to be
|
|
sprinkled with the same water, both the wood, and the things that were
|
|
laid upon it.
|
|
|
|
1:22. And when this was done, and the time came that the sun shone out,
|
|
which before was in a cloud, there was a great fire kindled, so that
|
|
all wondered.
|
|
|
|
1:23. And all the priests made prayer, while the sacrifice was
|
|
consuming, Jonathan beginning, and the rest answering.
|
|
|
|
1:24. And the prayer of Nehemias was after this manner: O Lord God,
|
|
Creator of all things, dreadful and strong, just and merciful, who
|
|
alone art the good king,
|
|
|
|
1:25. Who alone art gracious, who alone art just, and almighty, and
|
|
eternal, who deliverest Israel from all evil, who didst choose the
|
|
fathers, and didst sanctify them:
|
|
|
|
1:26. Receive the sacrifice for all thy people Israel, and preserve thy
|
|
own portion, and sanctify it.
|
|
|
|
1:27. Gather together our scattered people, deliver them that are
|
|
slaves to the Gentiles, and look upon them that are despised and
|
|
abhorred: that the Gentiles may know that thou art our God
|
|
|
|
1:28. Punish them that oppress us, and that treat us injuriously with
|
|
pride.
|
|
|
|
1:29. Establish thy people in thy holy place, as Moses hath spoken.
|
|
|
|
1:30. And the priests sung hymns till the sacrifice was consumed.
|
|
|
|
1:31. And when the sacrifice was consumed, Nehemias commanded the water
|
|
that was left to be poured out upon the great stones.
|
|
|
|
1:32. Which being done, there was kindled a flame from them: but it was
|
|
consumed by the light that shined from the altar.
|
|
|
|
1:33. And when this matter became public, it was told to the king of
|
|
Persia, that in the place where the priests that were led away, had hid
|
|
the fire, there appeared water, with which Nehemias and they that were
|
|
with him had purified the sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
1:34. And the king considering, and diligently examining the matter,
|
|
made a temple for it, that he might prove what had happened.
|
|
|
|
A temple. . .That is, an enclosure, or a wall round about the place
|
|
where the fire was hid, to separate it from profane uses, to the end
|
|
that it might be respected as a holy place.
|
|
|
|
1:35. And when he had proved it, he gave the priests many goods, and
|
|
divers presents, and he took and distributed them to them with his own
|
|
hand.
|
|
|
|
1:36. And Nehemias called this place Nephthar, which is interpreted
|
|
purification. But many call it Nephi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
A continuation of the second letter. Of Jeremias' hiding the ark at the
|
|
time of the captivity. The author's preface.
|
|
|
|
2:1.Now it is found in the descriptions of Jeremias, the prophet, that
|
|
he commanded them that went into captivity, to take the fire, as it
|
|
hath been signified, and how he gave charge to them that were carried
|
|
away into captivity.
|
|
|
|
The descriptions. . .That is, the records or memoirs of Jeremias, a work
|
|
that is now lost.
|
|
|
|
2:2. And how he gave them the law, that they should not forget the
|
|
commandments of the Lord, and that they should not err in their minds,
|
|
seeing the idols of gold, and silver, and the ornaments of them.
|
|
|
|
2:3. And with other such like speeches, he exhorted them that they
|
|
would not remove the law from their heart.
|
|
|
|
2:4. It was also contained in the same writing, how the prophet, being
|
|
warned by God, commanded that the tabernacle and the ark should
|
|
accompany him, till he came forth to the mountain where Moses went up,
|
|
and saw the inheritance of God.
|
|
|
|
2:5. And when Jeremias came thither he found a hollow cave: and he
|
|
carried in thither the tabernacle, and the ark, and the altar of
|
|
incense, and so stopped the door.
|
|
|
|
2:6. Then some of them that followed him, came up to mark the place:
|
|
but they could not find it.
|
|
|
|
2:7. And when Jeremias perceived it, he blamed them, saying: The place
|
|
shall be unknown, till God gather together the congregation of the
|
|
people, and receive them to mercy.
|
|
|
|
2:8. And then the Lord will shew these things, and the majesty of the
|
|
Lord shall appear, and there shall be a cloud as it was also shewed to
|
|
Moses, and he shewed it when Solomon prayed that the place might be
|
|
sanctified to the great God.
|
|
|
|
2:9. For he treated wisdom in a magnificent manner: and like a wise
|
|
man, he offered the sacrifice of the dedication, and of the finishing
|
|
of the temple.
|
|
|
|
2:10. And as Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from heaven,
|
|
and consumed the holocaust: so Solomon also prayed, and fire came down
|
|
from heaven and consumed the holocaust.
|
|
|
|
2:11. And Moses said: Because the sin offering was not eaten, it was
|
|
consumed.
|
|
|
|
2:12. So Solomon also celebrated the dedication eight days.
|
|
|
|
2:13. And these same things were set down in the memoirs, and
|
|
commentaries of Nehemias: and how he made a library, and gathered
|
|
together out of the countries, the books both of the prophets, and of
|
|
David, and the epistles of the kings, and concerning the holy gifts.
|
|
|
|
2:14. And in like manner Judas also gathered together all such things
|
|
as were lost by the war we had, and they are in our possession.
|
|
|
|
2:15. Wherefore, if you want these things, send some that may fetch
|
|
them to you.
|
|
|
|
2:16. As we are then about to celebrate the purification, we have
|
|
written unto you: and you shall do well, if you keep the same days.
|
|
|
|
The purification. . .That is, the feast of the purifying or cleansing of
|
|
the temple.
|
|
|
|
2:17. And we hope that God, who hath delivered his people, and hath
|
|
rendered to all the inheritance, and the kingdom, and the priesthood,
|
|
and the sanctuary,
|
|
|
|
2:18. As he promised in the law, will shortly have mercy upon us, and
|
|
will gather us together from every land under heaven into the holy
|
|
place.
|
|
|
|
2:19. For he hath delivered us out of great perils, and hath cleansed
|
|
the place.
|
|
|
|
2:20. Now as concerning Judas Machabeus, and his brethren, and the
|
|
purification of the great temple, and the dedication of the altar:
|
|
|
|
2:21. As also the wars against Antiochus, the Illustrious, and his son,
|
|
Eupator:
|
|
|
|
2:22. And the manifestations that came from heaven to them, that
|
|
behaved themselves manfully on the behalf of the Jews, so that, being
|
|
but a few they made themselves masters of the whole country, and put to
|
|
flight the barbarous multitude:
|
|
|
|
2:23. And recovered again the most renowned temple in all the world,
|
|
and delivered the city, and restored the laws that were abolished, the
|
|
Lord with all clemency shewing mercy to them.
|
|
|
|
2:24. And all such things as have been comprised in five books by
|
|
Jason, of Cyrene, we have attempted to abridge in one book.
|
|
|
|
2:25. For considering the multitude of books, and the difficulty that
|
|
they find that desire to undertake the narrations of histories, because
|
|
of the multitude of the matter,
|
|
|
|
2:26. We have taken care for those indeed that are willing to read,
|
|
that it might be a pleasure of mind: and for the studious, that they
|
|
may more easily commit to memory: and that all that read might receive
|
|
profit.
|
|
|
|
2:27. And as to ourselves indeed, in undertaking this work of
|
|
abridging, we have taken in hand no easy task; yea, rather a business
|
|
full of watching and sweat.
|
|
|
|
No easy task, etc. . .The spirit of God, that assists the sacred penmen,
|
|
does not exempt them from labour in seeking out the matter which they
|
|
are to treat of, and the order and manner in which they are to deliver
|
|
it. So St. Luke writ the gospel having diligently attained to all
|
|
things. Luke 1. ver. 3.
|
|
|
|
2:28. But as they that prepare a feast, and seek to satisfy the will of
|
|
others: for the sake of many, we willingly undergo the labour.
|
|
|
|
2:29. Leaving to the authors the exact handling of every particular,
|
|
and as for ourselves, according to the plan proposed, studying to be
|
|
brief.
|
|
|
|
2:30. For as the master builder of a new house must have care of the
|
|
whole building: but he that taketh care to paint it, must seek out fit
|
|
things for the adorning of it: so must it be judged of us.
|
|
|
|
2:31. For to collect all that is to be known, to put the discourse in
|
|
order, and curiously to discuss every particular point, is the duty of
|
|
the author of a history:
|
|
|
|
2:32. But to pursue brevity of speech, and to avoid nice declarations
|
|
of things, is to be granted to him that maketh an abridgment.
|
|
|
|
2:33. Here then we will begin the narration: let this be enough by way
|
|
of a preface: for it is a foolish thing to make a long prologue, and to
|
|
be short in the story itself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Heliodorus is sent by king Seleucus to take away the treasures
|
|
deposited in the temple. He is struck by God, and healed by the prayers
|
|
of the high priest.
|
|
|
|
3:1. Therefore, when the holy city was inhabited with all peace, and
|
|
the laws as yet were very well kept, because of the godliness of Onias,
|
|
the high priest and the hatred his soul had of evil,
|
|
|
|
3:2. It came to pass that even the kings themselves and the princes
|
|
esteemed the place worthy of the highest honour, and glorified the
|
|
temple with very great gifts:
|
|
|
|
3:3. So that Seleucus, king of Asia, allowed out of his revenues all
|
|
the charges belonging to the ministry of the sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
Seleucus. . .Son of Antiochus the Great, and elder brother of Antiochus
|
|
Epiphanes.
|
|
|
|
3:4. But one Simon, of the tribe of Benjamin, who was appointed
|
|
overseer of the temple, strove in opposition to the high priest, to
|
|
bring about some unjust thing in the city.
|
|
|
|
3:5. And when he could not overcome Onias, he went to Apollonius, the
|
|
son of Tharseas, who at that time was governor of Celesyria, and
|
|
Phenicia:
|
|
|
|
3:6. And told him, that the treasury in Jerusalem was full of immense
|
|
sums of money, and the common store was infinite, which did not belong
|
|
to the account of the sacrifices: and that it was possible to bring all
|
|
into the king's hands.
|
|
|
|
3:7. Now when Apollonius had given the king notice concerning the money
|
|
that he was told of, he called for Heliodorus, who had the charge over
|
|
his affairs, and sent him with commission to bring him the foresaid
|
|
money.
|
|
|
|
3:8. So Heliodorus forthwith began his journey, under a colour of
|
|
visiting the cities of Celesyria and Phenicia, but indeed to fulfil the
|
|
king's purpose.
|
|
|
|
3:9. And when he was come to Jerusalem, and had been courteously
|
|
received in the city by the high priest, he told him what information
|
|
had been given concerning the money: and declared the cause for which
|
|
he was come: and asked if these things were so indeed.
|
|
|
|
3:10. Then the high priest told him that these were sums deposited, and
|
|
provisions for the subsistence of the widows and the fatherless:
|
|
|
|
3:11. And that some part of that which wicked Simon had given
|
|
intelligence of belonged to Hircanus, son of Tobias, a man of great
|
|
dignity; and that the whole was four hundred talents of silver, and two
|
|
hundred of gold.
|
|
|
|
3:12. But that to deceive them who had trusted to the place and temple
|
|
which is honoured throughout the whole world, for the reverence and
|
|
holiness of it, was a thing which could not by any means be done.
|
|
|
|
3:13. But he, by reason of the orders he had received from the king,
|
|
said, that by all means the money must be carried to the king.
|
|
|
|
3:14. So on the day he had appointed, Heliodorus entered in to order
|
|
this matter. But there was no small terror throughout the whole city.
|
|
|
|
3:15. And the priests prostrated themselves before the altar in their
|
|
priests' vestments, and called upon him from heaven, who made the law
|
|
concerning things given to be kept, that he would preserve them safe,
|
|
for them that had deposited them.
|
|
|
|
3:16. Now whosoever saw the countenance of the high priest, was wounded
|
|
in heart: for his face, and the changing of his colour, declared the
|
|
inward sorrow of his mind.
|
|
|
|
3:17. For the man was so compassed with sadness and horror of the body,
|
|
that it was manifest to them that beheld him, what sorrow he had in his
|
|
heart.
|
|
|
|
3:18. Others also came flocking together out of their houses, praying
|
|
and making public supplication, because the place was like to come into
|
|
contempt.
|
|
|
|
3:19. And the women, girded with haircloth about their breasts, came
|
|
together in the streets. And the virgins also that were shut up, came
|
|
forth, some to Onias, and some to the walls, and others looked out of
|
|
the windows.
|
|
|
|
3:20. And all holding up their hands towards heaven made supplication.
|
|
|
|
3:21. For the expectation of the mixed multitude, and of the high
|
|
priest, who was in an agony, would have moved any one to pity.
|
|
|
|
3:22. And these indeed called upon almighty God, to preserve the things
|
|
that had been committed to them safe and sure for those that had
|
|
committed them.
|
|
|
|
3:23. But Heliodorus executed that which he had resolved on, himself
|
|
being present in the same place with his guard about the treasury.
|
|
|
|
3:24. But the spirit of the Almighty God gave a great evidence of his
|
|
presence, so that all that had presumed to obey him, falling down by
|
|
the power of God, were struck with fainting and dread.
|
|
|
|
3:25. For there appeared to them a horse, with a terrible rider upon
|
|
him, adorned with a very rich covering: and he ran fiercely and struck
|
|
Heliodorus with his fore feet, and he that sat upon him seemed to have
|
|
armour of gold.
|
|
|
|
3:26. Moreover there appeared two other young men, beautiful and
|
|
strong, bright and glorious, and in comely apparel: who stood by him,
|
|
on either side, and scourged him without ceasing with many stripes.
|
|
|
|
3:27. And Heliodorus suddenly fell to the ground, and they took him up,
|
|
covered with great darkness, and having put him into a litter, they
|
|
carried him out.
|
|
|
|
3:28. So he that came with many servants, and all his guard, into the
|
|
aforesaid treasury, was carried out, no one being able to help him, the
|
|
manifest power of God being known.
|
|
|
|
3:29. And he indeed, by the power of God, lay speechless, and without
|
|
all hope of recovery.
|
|
|
|
3:30. But they praised the Lord, because he had glorified his place:
|
|
and the temple, that a little before was full of fear and trouble, when
|
|
the Almighty Lord appeared, was filled with joy and gladness.
|
|
|
|
3:31. Then some of the friends of Heliodorus forthwith begged of Onias,
|
|
that he would call upon the Most High to grant him his life, who was
|
|
ready to give up the ghost.
|
|
|
|
3:32. So the high priest, considering that the king might perhaps
|
|
suspect that some mischief had been done to Heliodorus by the Jews,
|
|
offered a sacrifice of health for the recovery of the man.
|
|
|
|
3:33. And when the high priest was praying, the same young men in the
|
|
same clothing stood by Heliodorus, and said to him: Give thanks to
|
|
Onias the priest: because for his sake the Lord hath granted thee life.
|
|
|
|
3:34. And thou having been scourged by God, declare unto all men the
|
|
great works and the power of God. And having spoken thus, they appeared
|
|
no more.
|
|
|
|
3:35. So Heliodorus, after he had offered a sacrifice to God, and made
|
|
great vows to him, that had granted him life, and given thanks to
|
|
Onias, taking his troops with him, returned to the king.
|
|
|
|
3:36. And he testified to all men the works of the great God, which he
|
|
had seen with his own eyes.
|
|
|
|
3:37. And when the king asked Heliodorus, who might be a fit man to be
|
|
sent yet once more to Jerusalem, he said:
|
|
|
|
3:38. If thou hast any enemy, or traitor to thy king dom, send him
|
|
thither, and thou shalt receive him again scourged, if so be he escape:
|
|
for there is undoubtedly in that place a certain power of God.
|
|
|
|
3:39. For he that hath his dwelling in the heavens, is the visitor and
|
|
protector of that place, and he striketh and destroyeth them that come
|
|
to do evil to it.
|
|
|
|
3:40. And the things concerning Heliodorus, and the keeping of the
|
|
treasury, fell out in this manner.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 4
|
|
|
|
|
|
Onias has recourse to the king. The ambition and wickedness of Jason
|
|
and Menelaus. Onias is treacherously murdered.
|
|
|
|
4:1. But Simon, of whom we spoke before, who was the betrayer of the
|
|
money, and of his country, spoke ill of Onias, as though he had incited
|
|
Heliodorus to do these things, and had been the promoter of evils:
|
|
|
|
4:2. And he presumed to call him a traitor to the kingdom, who provided
|
|
for the city, and defended his nation, and was zealous for the law of
|
|
God.
|
|
|
|
4:3. But when the enmities proceeded so far, that murders also were
|
|
committed by some of Simon's friends:
|
|
|
|
4:4. Onias, considering the danger of this contention, and that
|
|
Apollonius, who was the governor of Celesyia, and Phenicia, was
|
|
outrageous, which increased the malice of Simon, went to the king,
|
|
|
|
4:5. Not to be an accuser of his countrymen, but with view to the
|
|
common good of all the people.
|
|
|
|
4:6. For he saw that, except the king took care, it was impossible that
|
|
matters should be settled in peace, or that Simon would cease from his
|
|
folly.
|
|
|
|
4:7. But after the death of Seleucus, when Antiochus, who was called
|
|
the Illustrious, had taken possession of the kingdom, Jason, the
|
|
brother of Onias, ambitiously sought the high priesthood:
|
|
|
|
4:8. And went to the king, promising him three hundred and sixty
|
|
talents of silver, and out of other revenues fourscore talents.
|
|
|
|
4:9. Besides this he promised also a hundred and fifty more, if he
|
|
might have license to set him up a place for exercise, and a place for
|
|
youth, and to entitle them that were at Jerusalem, Antiochians.
|
|
|
|
4:10. Which when the king had granted, and he had gotten the rule into
|
|
his hands, forthwith he began to bring over his countrymen to the
|
|
fashion of the heathens.
|
|
|
|
4:11. And abolishing those things, which had been decreed of special
|
|
favour by the kings in behalf of the Jews, by the means of John, the
|
|
father of that Eupolemus, who went ambassador to Rome to make amity and
|
|
alliance, he disannulled the lawful ordinances of the citizens, and
|
|
brought in fashions that were perverse.
|
|
|
|
4:12. For he had the boldness to set up, under the very castle, a place
|
|
of exercise, and to put all the choicest youths in brothel houses.
|
|
|
|
4:13. Now this was not the beginning, but an increase, and progress of
|
|
heathenish and foreign manners, through the abominable and unheard of
|
|
wickedness of Jason, that impious wretch, and no priest.
|
|
|
|
4:14. Insomuch that the priests were not now occupied about the offices
|
|
of the altar, but despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices,
|
|
hastened to be partakers of the games, and of the unlawful allowance
|
|
thereof, and of the exercise of the discus.
|
|
|
|
4:15. And setting nought by the honours of their fathers, they esteemed
|
|
the Grecian glories for the best:
|
|
|
|
4:16. For the sake of which they incurred a dangerous contention, and
|
|
followed earnestly their ordinances, and in all things they coveted to
|
|
be like them, who were their enemies and murderers.
|
|
|
|
4:17. For acting wickedly against the laws of God doth not pass
|
|
unpunished: but this the time following will declare.
|
|
|
|
4:18. Now when the game that was used every fifth year was kept at
|
|
Tyre, the king being present,
|
|
|
|
4:19. The wicked Jason sent from Jerusalem sinful men, to carry three
|
|
hundred didrachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules; but the
|
|
bearers thereof desired it might not be bestowed on the sacrifices,
|
|
because it was not necessary, but might be deputed for other charges.
|
|
|
|
4:20. So the money was appointed by him that sent it to the sacrifice
|
|
of Hercules: but because of them that carried it was employed for the
|
|
making of galleys.
|
|
|
|
4:21. Now when Apollonius, the son of Mnestheus was sent into Egypt to
|
|
treat with the nobles of king Philometor, and Antiochus understood that
|
|
he was wholly excluded from the affairs of the kingdom, consulting his
|
|
own interest, he departed thence and came to Joppe, and from thence to
|
|
Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
4:22. Where he was received in a magnificent manner by Jason, and the
|
|
city, and came in with torch lights, and with praises, and from thence
|
|
he returned with his army into Phenicia.
|
|
|
|
4:23. Three years afterwards Jason sent Menelaus, brother of the
|
|
aforesaid Simon, to carry money to the king, and to bring answers from
|
|
him concerning certain necessary affairs.
|
|
|
|
4:24. But he being recommended to the king, when he had magnified the
|
|
appearance of his power, got the high priesthood for himself, by
|
|
offering more than Jason by three hundred talents of silver.
|
|
|
|
4:25. So having received the king's mandate, he returned, bringing
|
|
nothing worthy of the high priesthood: but having the mind of a cruel
|
|
tyrant, and the rage of a savage beast.
|
|
|
|
4:26. Then Jason, who had undermined his own brother, being himself
|
|
undermined, was driven out a fugitive into the country of the
|
|
Ammonites.
|
|
|
|
4:27. So Menelaus got the principality: but as for the money he had
|
|
promised to the king, he took no care, when Sostratus, the governor of
|
|
the castle, called for it.
|
|
|
|
4:28. For to him appertained the gathering of the taxes: wherefore they
|
|
were both called before the king.
|
|
|
|
4:29. And Menelaus was removed from the priesthood, Lysimachus, his
|
|
brother, succeeding: and Sostratus alas made governor of the Cyprians.
|
|
|
|
4:30. When these things were in doing, it fell out that they of
|
|
Tharsus, and Mallos, raised a sedition, because they were given for a
|
|
gift to Antiochus, the king's concubine.
|
|
|
|
4:31. The king, therefore, went in all haste to appease them, leaving
|
|
Andronicus, one of his nobles, for his deputy.
|
|
|
|
4:32. Then Menelaus supposing that he had found a convenient time,
|
|
having stolen certain vessels of gold out of the temple, gave them to
|
|
Andronicus, and others he had sold at Tyre, and in the neighbouring
|
|
cities:
|
|
|
|
4:33. Which when Onias understood most certainly, he reproved him,
|
|
keeping himself in a safe place at Antioch, beside Daphne.
|
|
|
|
4:34. Whereupon Menelaus coming to Andronicus, desired him to kill
|
|
Onias. And he went to Onias, and gave him his right hand with an oath,
|
|
and (though he were suspected by him) persuaded him to come forth out
|
|
of the sanctuary, and immediately slew him, without any regard to
|
|
justice.
|
|
|
|
4:35. For which cause not only the Jews, but also the other nations,
|
|
conceived indignation, and were much grieved for the unjust murder of
|
|
so great a man.
|
|
|
|
4:36. And when the king was come back from the places of Cilicia, the
|
|
Jews that were at Antioch, and also the Greeks, went to him:
|
|
complaining of the unjust murder of Onias.
|
|
|
|
4:37. Antiochus, therefore, was grieved in his mind for Onias, and
|
|
being moved to pity, shed tears, remembering the sobriety and modesty
|
|
of the deceased.
|
|
|
|
4:38. And being inflamed to anger, he commanded Andronicus to be
|
|
stripped of his purple, and to be led about through all the city: and
|
|
that in the same place wherein he had committed the impiety against
|
|
Onias, the sacrilegious wretch should be put to death, the Lord
|
|
repaying him his deserved punishment.
|
|
|
|
4:39. Now when many sacrileges had been committed by Lysimachus in the
|
|
temple, by the counsel of Menelaus, and the rumour of it was spread
|
|
abroad, the multitude gathered themselves together against Lysimachus,
|
|
a great quantity of gold being already carried away.
|
|
|
|
4:40. Wherefore the multitude making an insurrection, and their minds
|
|
being filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men, and
|
|
began to use violence, one Tyrannus being captain, a man far gone both
|
|
in age and in madness.
|
|
|
|
4:41. But when they perceived the attempt of Lysimachus, some caught up
|
|
stones, some strong clubs, and some threw ashes upon Lysimachus.
|
|
|
|
4:42. And many of them were wounded, and some struck down to the
|
|
ground, but all were put to flight: and as for the sacrilegious fellow
|
|
himself, they slew him beside the treasury.
|
|
|
|
4:43. Now concerning these matters, an accusation was laid against
|
|
Menelaus.
|
|
|
|
4:44. And when the king was come to Tyre, three men were sent from the
|
|
ancients to plead the cause before him.
|
|
|
|
4:45. But Menelaus being convicted, promised Ptolemee to give him much
|
|
money to persuade the king to favour him.
|
|
|
|
Ptolemee. . .The son of Dorymenus, a favourite of the king.
|
|
|
|
4:46. So Ptolemee went to the king in a certain court where he was, as
|
|
it were to cool himself, and brought him to be of another mind:
|
|
|
|
4:47. So Menelaus, who was guilty of all the evil, was acquitted by him
|
|
of the accusations: and those poor men, who, if they had pleaded their
|
|
cause even before Scythians, should have been judged innocent, were
|
|
condemned to death.
|
|
|
|
4:48. Thus they that persecuted the cause for the city, and for the
|
|
people, and the sacred vessels, did soon suffer unjust punishment.
|
|
|
|
4:49. Wherefore even the Tyrians, being moved with indignation, were
|
|
very liberal towards their burial.
|
|
|
|
4:50. And so through the covetousness of them that were in power,
|
|
Menelaus continued in authority, increasing in malice to the betraying
|
|
of the citizens.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wonderful signs are seen in the air. Jason's wickedness and end.
|
|
Antiochus takes Jerusalem, and plunders the temple.
|
|
|
|
5:1. At the same time Antiochus prepared for a second journey into
|
|
Egypt.
|
|
|
|
5:2. And it came to pass, that through the whole city of Jerusalem, for
|
|
the space of forty days, there were seen horsemen running in the air,
|
|
in gilded raiment, and armed with spears, like bands of soldiers.
|
|
|
|
5:3. And horses set in order by ranks, running one against another,
|
|
with the shakings of shields, and a multitude of men in helmets, with
|
|
drawn swords, and casting of darts, and glittering of golden armour,
|
|
and of harnesses of all sorts.
|
|
|
|
5:4. Wherefore all men prayed that these prodigies might turn to good.
|
|
|
|
5:5. Now when there was gone forth a false rumour as though Antiochus
|
|
had been dead, Jason taking with him no fewer than a thousand men,
|
|
suddenly assaulted the city: and though the citizens ran together to
|
|
the wall, the city at length was taken, and Menelaus fled into the
|
|
castle.
|
|
|
|
5:6. But Jason slew his countrymen without mercy, not considering that
|
|
prosperity against one's own kindred is a very great evil, thinking
|
|
they had been enemies, and not citizens, whom he conquered.
|
|
|
|
5:7. Yet he did not get the principality, but received confusion at the
|
|
end, for the reward of his treachery, and fled again into the country
|
|
of the Ammonites.
|
|
|
|
5:8. At the last, having been shut up by Aretas, the king of the
|
|
Arabians, in order for his destruction, flying from city to city, hated
|
|
by all men, as a forsaker of the laws and execrable, as an enemy of his
|
|
country and countrymen, he was thrust out into Egypt:
|
|
|
|
5:9. And he that had driven many out of their country perished in a
|
|
strange land, going to Lacedemon, as if for kindred sake he should have
|
|
refuge there:
|
|
|
|
5:10. But he that had cast out many unburied, was himself cast forth
|
|
both unlamented and unburied, neither having foreign burial, nor being
|
|
partaker of the sepulchre of his fathers.
|
|
|
|
5:11. Now when these things were done, the king suspected that the Jews
|
|
would forsake the alliance: whereupon departing out of Egypt with a
|
|
furious mind, he took the city by force of arms,
|
|
|
|
5:12. And commanded the soldiers to kill, and not to spare any that
|
|
came in their way, and to go up into the houses to slay.
|
|
|
|
5:13. Thus there was a slaughter of young and old, destruction of women
|
|
and children, and killing of virgins and infants.
|
|
|
|
5:14. And there were slain in the space of three whole days fourscore
|
|
thousand, forty thousand were made prisoners, and as many sold.
|
|
|
|
5:15. But this was not enough, he presumed also to enter into the
|
|
temple, the most holy in all the world Menelaus, that traitor to the
|
|
laws, and to his country, being his guide.
|
|
|
|
5:16. And taking in his wicked hands the holy vessels, which were given
|
|
by other kings and cities, for the ornament and the glory of the place,
|
|
he unworthily handled and profaned them.
|
|
|
|
5:17. Thus Antiochus going astray in mind, did not consider that God
|
|
was angry for a while, because of the sins of the inhabitants of the
|
|
city: and therefore this contempt had happened to the place:
|
|
|
|
5:18. Otherwise had they not been involved in many sins, as Heliodorus,
|
|
who was sent by king Seleucus to rob the treasury, so this man also, as
|
|
soon as he had come, had been forthwith scourged, and put back from his
|
|
presumption.
|
|
|
|
5:19. But God did not choose the people for the place's sake, but the
|
|
place for the people's sake.
|
|
|
|
5:20. And, therefore, the place also itself was made partaker of the
|
|
evils of the people: but afterwards shall communicate in the good
|
|
things thereof, and as it was forsaken in the wrath of Almighty God,
|
|
shall be exalted again with great glory, when the great Lord shall be
|
|
reconciled.
|
|
|
|
5:21. So when Antiochus had taken away out of the temple a thousand and
|
|
eight hundred talents, he went back in all haste to Antioch, thinking
|
|
through pride that he might now make the land navigable, and the sea
|
|
passable on foot: such was the haughtiness of his mind.
|
|
|
|
5:22. He left also governors to afflict the people: at Jerusalem,
|
|
Philip, a Phrygian by birth, but in manners more barbarous than he that
|
|
set him there:
|
|
|
|
5:23. And in Gazarim, Andronicus and Menelaus, who bore a more heavy
|
|
hand upon the citizens than the rest.
|
|
|
|
5:24. And whereas he was set against the Jews, he sent that hateful
|
|
prince, Apollonius, with an army of two and twenty thousand men,
|
|
commanding him to kill all that were of perfect age, and to sell the
|
|
women and the younger sort.
|
|
|
|
5:25. Who, when he was come to Jerusalem, pretending peace, rested till
|
|
the holy day of the sabbath: and then the Jews keeping holiday, he
|
|
commanded his men to take arms.
|
|
|
|
5:26. And he slew all that were come forth to flee: and running through
|
|
the city with armed men, he destroyed a very great multitude.
|
|
|
|
5:27. But Judas Machabeus, who was the tenth, had withdrawn himself
|
|
into a desert place, and there lived amongst wild beasts in the
|
|
mountains with his company: and they continued feeding on herbs, that
|
|
they might not be partakers of the pollution.
|
|
|
|
Was the tenth. . .That is, he had nine others in his company.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
Antiochus commands the law to be abolished, sets up an idol in the
|
|
temple, and persecutes the faithful. The martyrdom of Eleazar.
|
|
|
|
6:1. But not long after the king sent a certain old man of Antioch, to
|
|
compel the Jews to depart from the laws of their fathers and of God:
|
|
|
|
6:2. And to defile the temple that was in Jerusalem, and to call it the
|
|
temple of Jupiter Olympius: and that in Garazim of Jupiter Hospitalis,
|
|
according as they were that inhabited the place.
|
|
|
|
That in Gazarim. . .Viz., the temple of the Samaritans. And as they were
|
|
originally strangers, the name of Hospitalis (which signifies of or
|
|
belonging to strangers) was applicable to the idol set up in their
|
|
temple.
|
|
|
|
6:3. And very bad was this invasion of evils, and grievous to all.
|
|
|
|
6:4. For the temple was full of the riot and revellings of the
|
|
Gentiles: and of men lying with lewd women. And women thrust themselves
|
|
of their accord into the holy places, and brought in things that were
|
|
not lawful.
|
|
|
|
6:5. The altar also was filled with unlawful things, which were
|
|
forbidden by the laws.
|
|
|
|
6:6. And neither were the sabbaths kept, nor the solemn days of the
|
|
fathers observed, neither did any man plainly profess himself to be a
|
|
Jew.
|
|
|
|
6:7. But they were led by bitter constraint on the king's birthday to
|
|
the sacrifices: and when the feast of Bacchus was kept, they were
|
|
compelled to go about crowned with ivy in honour of Bacchus.
|
|
|
|
6:8. And there went out a decree into the neighbouring cities of the
|
|
Gentiles, by the suggestion of the Ptolemeans, that they also should
|
|
act in like manner against the Jews, to oblige them to sacrifice:
|
|
|
|
6:9. And whosoever would not conform themselves to the ways of the
|
|
Gentiles, should be put to death: then was misery to be seen.
|
|
|
|
6:10. For two women were accused to have circumcised their children:
|
|
whom, when they had openly led about through the city, with the infants
|
|
hanging at their breasts, they threw down headlong from the walls.
|
|
|
|
6:11. And others that had met together in caves that were near, and
|
|
were keeping the sabbath day privately, being discovered by Philip,
|
|
were burnt with fire, because they made a conscience to help themselves
|
|
with their hands, by reason of the religious observance of the day.
|
|
|
|
Philip. . .The governor of Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
6:12. Now I beseech those that shall read this book, that they be not
|
|
shocked at these calamities, but that they consider the things that
|
|
happened, not as being for the destruction, but for the correction of
|
|
our nation.
|
|
|
|
6:13. For it is a token of great goodness, when sinners are not
|
|
suffered to go on in their ways for a long time, but are presently
|
|
punished.
|
|
|
|
6:14. For, not as with other nations, (whom the Lord patiently
|
|
expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall come, he may punish them
|
|
in the fulness of their sins:)
|
|
|
|
6:15. Doth he also deal with us, so as to suffer our sins to come to
|
|
their height, and then take vengeance on us.
|
|
|
|
6:16. And therefore he never withdraweth his mercy from us: but though
|
|
he chastise his people with adversity he forsaketh them not.
|
|
|
|
6:17. But let this suffice in a few words for a warning to the readers.
|
|
And now we must come to the narration.
|
|
|
|
6:18. Eleazar one of the chief of the scribes, a man advanced in years,
|
|
and of a comely countenance, was pressed to open his mouth to eat
|
|
swine's flesh.
|
|
|
|
6:19. But he, choosing rather a most glorious death than a hateful
|
|
life, went forward voluntarily to the torment.
|
|
|
|
6:20. And considering in what manner he was to come to it, patiently
|
|
bearing, he determined not to do any unlawful things for the love of
|
|
life.
|
|
|
|
6:21. But they that stood by, being moved with wicked pity, for the old
|
|
friendship they had with the man, taking him aside, desired that flesh
|
|
might be brought which it was lawful for him to eat, that he might make
|
|
as if he had eaten, as the king had commanded, of the flesh of the
|
|
sacrifice:
|
|
|
|
Wicked pity. . .Their pity was wicked, inasmuch as it suggested that
|
|
wicked proposal of saving his life by dissimulation.
|
|
|
|
6:22. That by so doing he might be delivered from death; and for the
|
|
sake of their old friendship with the man, they did him this courtesy.
|
|
|
|
6:23. But he began to consider the dignity of his age, and his ancient
|
|
years, and the inbred honour of his grey head, and his good life and
|
|
conversation from a child; and he answered without delay, according to
|
|
the ordinances of the holy law made by God, saying, that he would
|
|
rather be sent into the other world.
|
|
|
|
6:24. For it doth not become our age, said he, to dissemble: whereby
|
|
many young persons might think that Eleazar, at the age of fourscore
|
|
and ten years, was gone over to the life of the heathens:
|
|
|
|
6:25. And so they, through my dissimulation, and for a little time of a
|
|
corruptible life, should be deceived, and hereby I should bring a stain
|
|
and a curse upon my old age.
|
|
|
|
6:26. For though, for the present time, I should be delivered from the
|
|
punishments of men, yet should I not escape the hand of the Almighty
|
|
neither alive nor dead.
|
|
|
|
6:27. Wherefore, by departing manfully out of this life, I shall shew
|
|
myself worthy of my old age:
|
|
|
|
6:28. And I shall leave an example of fortitude to young men, if with a
|
|
ready mind and constancy I suffer an honourable death, for the most
|
|
venerable and most holy laws. And having spoken thus, he was forthwith
|
|
carried to execution.
|
|
|
|
6:29. And they that led him, and had been a little before more mild,
|
|
were changed to wrath for the words he had spoken, which they thought
|
|
were uttered out of arrogancy.
|
|
|
|
6:30. But when be was now ready to die with the stripes, he groaned:
|
|
and said: O Lord, who hast the holy knowledge, thou knowest manifestly
|
|
that whereas I might be delivered from death, I suffer grievous pains
|
|
in body: but in soul am well content to suffer these things, because I
|
|
fear thee.
|
|
|
|
6:31. Thus did this man die, leaving not only to young men, but also to
|
|
the whole nation, the memory of his death, for an example of virtue and
|
|
fortitude.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
The glorious martyrdom of the seven brethren and their mother.
|
|
|
|
7:1. It came to pass also, that seven brethren, together with their
|
|
mother, were apprehended, and compelled by the king to eat swine's
|
|
flesh against the law, for which end they were tormented with whips and
|
|
scourges.
|
|
|
|
7:2. But one of them, who was the eldest, said thus: What wouldst thou
|
|
ask, or learn of us? we are ready to die, rather than to transgress the
|
|
laws of God, received from our fathers.
|
|
|
|
7:3. Then the king being angry, commanded fryingpans and brazen
|
|
caldrons to be made hot: which forthwith being heated,
|
|
|
|
7:4. He commanded to cut out the tongue of him that had spoken first:
|
|
and the skin of his head being drawn off, to chop off also the
|
|
extremities of his hands and feet, the rest of his brethren and his
|
|
mother looking on.
|
|
|
|
7:6. And when he was now maimed in all parts, he commanded him, being
|
|
yet alive, to be brought to the fire, and to be fried in the fryingpan:
|
|
and while he was suffering therein long torments, the rest, together
|
|
with the mother, exhorted one another to die manfully,
|
|
|
|
7:6. Saying: The Lord God will look upon the truth, and will take
|
|
pleasure in us, as Moses declared in the profession of the canticle;
|
|
And in his servants he will take pleasure.
|
|
|
|
7:7. So when the first was dead after this manner, they brought the
|
|
next to make him a mocking stock: and when they had pulled off the skin
|
|
of his head with the hair, they asked him if he would eat, before he
|
|
were punished throughout the whole body in every limb.
|
|
|
|
7:8. But he answered in his own language, and said: I will not do it.
|
|
Wherefore he also, in the next place, received the torments of the first:
|
|
|
|
7:9. And when he was at the last gasp, he said thus: Thou indeed, O
|
|
most wicked man, destroyest us out of this present life: but the King
|
|
of the world will raise us up, who die for his laws, in the
|
|
resurrection of eternal life.
|
|
|
|
7:10. After him the third was made a mocking-stock, and when he was
|
|
required, he quickly put forth his tongue, and courageously stretched
|
|
out his hands:
|
|
|
|
7:11. And said with confidence: These I have from heaven, but for the
|
|
laws of God I now despise them, because I hope to receive them again
|
|
from him.
|
|
|
|
7:12. So that the king, and they that were with him, wondered at the
|
|
young man's courage, because he esteemed the torments as nothing.
|
|
|
|
7:13. And after he was thus dead, they tormented the fourth in the like
|
|
manner.
|
|
|
|
7:14. And when he was now ready to die, he spoke thus: It is better,
|
|
being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up
|
|
again by him; for, as to thee, thou shalt have no resurrection unto
|
|
life.
|
|
|
|
7:15. And when they had brought the fifth, they tormented him. But he,
|
|
looking upon the king,
|
|
|
|
7:16. Said: Whereas thou hast power among men though thou art
|
|
corruptible, thou dost what thou wilt but think not that our nation is
|
|
forsaken by God.
|
|
|
|
7:17. But stay patiently a while, and thou shalt see his great power,
|
|
in what manner he will torment thee and thy seed.
|
|
|
|
7:18. After him they brought the sixth, and he being ready to die,
|
|
spoke thus: Be not deceived without cause: for we suffer these things
|
|
for ourselves, having sinned against our God, and things worthy of
|
|
admiration are done to us:
|
|
|
|
7:19. But do not think that thou shalt escape unpunished, for that thou
|
|
hast attempted to fight against God.
|
|
|
|
7:20. Now the mother was to be admired above measure, and worthy to be
|
|
remembered by good men, who beheld her seven sons slain in the space of
|
|
one day, and bore it with a good courage, for the hope that she had in
|
|
God:
|
|
|
|
7:21. And she bravely exhorted every one of them in her own language,
|
|
being filled with wisdom; and joining a man's heart to a woman's
|
|
thought,
|
|
|
|
7:22. She said to them: I know not how you were formed in my womb; for
|
|
I neither gave you breath, nor soul, nor life, neither did I frame the
|
|
limbs of every one of you.
|
|
|
|
7:23. But the Creator of the world, that formed the nativity of man,
|
|
and that found out the origin of all, he will restore to you again, in
|
|
his mercy, both breath and life, as now you despise yourselves for the
|
|
sake of his laws.
|
|
|
|
7:24. Now Antiochus, thinking himself despised, and withal despising
|
|
the voice of the upbraider, when the youngest was yet alive, did not
|
|
only exhort him by words, but also assured him with an oath, that he
|
|
would make him a rich and a happy man, and, if he would turn from the
|
|
laws of his fathers, would take him for a friend, and furnish him with
|
|
things necessary.
|
|
|
|
7:25. But when the young man was not moved with these things, the king
|
|
called the mother, and counselled her to deal with the young man to
|
|
save his life.
|
|
|
|
7:26. And when he had exhorted her with many words she promised that
|
|
she would counsel her son.
|
|
|
|
7:27. So bending herself towards him, mocking the cruel tyrant, she
|
|
said in her own language: My son have pity upon me, that bore thee nine
|
|
months in my womb, and gave thee suck three years, and nourished thee,
|
|
and brought thee up unto this age.
|
|
|
|
7:28. I beseech thee, my son, look upon heaven and earth, and all that
|
|
is in them, and consider that God made them out of nothing, and mankind
|
|
also:
|
|
|
|
7:29. So thou shalt not fear this tormentor, but being made a worthy
|
|
partner with thy brethren, receive death, that in that mercy I may
|
|
receive thee again with thy brethren.
|
|
|
|
7:30. While she was yet speaking these words, the young man said: For
|
|
whom do you stay? I will not obey the commandment of the king, but the
|
|
commandment of the law which was given us by Moses.
|
|
|
|
7:31. But thou that hast been the author of all mischief against the
|
|
Hebrews, shalt not escape the hand of God.
|
|
|
|
7:32. For we suffer thus for our sins.
|
|
|
|
7:33. And though the Lord, our God, is angry with us a little while,
|
|
for our chastisement and correction, yet he will be reconciled again to
|
|
his servants.
|
|
|
|
7:34. But thou, O wicked, and of all men most flagitious, be not lifted
|
|
up without cause with vain hopes, whilst thou art raging against his
|
|
servants.
|
|
|
|
7:35. For thou hast not yet escaped the judgment of the Almighty God,
|
|
who beholdeth all things.
|
|
|
|
7:36. For my brethren having now undergone a short pain, are under the
|
|
covenant of eternal life: but thou, by the judgment of God, shalt
|
|
receive just punishment for thy pride.
|
|
|
|
7:37. But I, like my brethren, offer up my life and my body for the
|
|
laws of our fathers: calling upon God to be speedily merciful to our
|
|
nation, and that thou by torments and stripes mayst confess that he
|
|
alone is God.
|
|
|
|
7:38. But in me, and in my brethren, the wrath of the Almighty, which
|
|
hath justly been brought upon all our nation, shall cease.
|
|
|
|
7:39. Then the king being incensed with anger, raged against him more
|
|
cruelly than all the rest, taking it grievously that he was mocked.
|
|
|
|
7:40. So this man also died undefiled, wholly trusting in the Lord.
|
|
|
|
7:41. And last of all, after the sons, the mother also was consumed.
|
|
|
|
7:42. But now there is enough said of the sacrifices and of the
|
|
excessive cruelties.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judas Machabeus gathering an army gains divers victories.
|
|
|
|
8:1. But Judas Machabeus, and they that were with him, went privately
|
|
into the towns: and calling together their kinsmen and friends, and
|
|
taking unto them such as continued in the Jews' religion, they
|
|
assembled six thousand men.
|
|
|
|
8:2. And they called upon the Lord, that he would look upon his people
|
|
that was trodden down by all and would have pity on the temple, that
|
|
was defiled by the wicked:
|
|
|
|
8:3. That he would have pity also upon the city that was destroyed,
|
|
that was ready to be made even with the ground, and would hear the
|
|
voice of the blood that cried to him:
|
|
|
|
8:4. That he would remember also the most unjust deaths of innocent
|
|
children, and the blasphemies offered to his name, and would shew his
|
|
indignation on this occasion.
|
|
|
|
8:5. Now when Machabeus had gathered a multitude, he could not be
|
|
withstood by the heathens: for the wrath of the Lord was turned into
|
|
mercy.
|
|
|
|
8:6. So coming unawares upon the towns and cities, he set them on fire,
|
|
and taking possession of the most commodious places, he made no small
|
|
slaughter of the enemies:
|
|
|
|
8:7. And especially in the nights he went upon these expeditions, and
|
|
the fame of his valour was spread abroad every where.
|
|
|
|
8:8. Then Philip seeing that the man gained ground by little and
|
|
little, and that things for the most part succeeded prosperously with
|
|
him, wrote to Ptolemee, the governor of Celesyria and Phenicia, to send
|
|
aid to the king's affairs.
|
|
|
|
Philip seeing, etc. . .The governor of Jerusalem found himself unable to
|
|
contend with Judas, especially after the victories he had obtained over
|
|
Apollonius and Seron. 1 Mac. 3.
|
|
|
|
8:9. And he with all speed sent Nicanor, the son of Patroclus, one of
|
|
his special friends, giving him no fewer than twenty thousand armed men
|
|
of different nations, to root out the whole race of the Jews, joining
|
|
also with him Gorgias, a good soldier, and of great experience in
|
|
matters of war.
|
|
|
|
Twenty thousand. . .The whole number of the forces sent at that time
|
|
into Judea, was 40,000 footmen, and 7000 horsemen, 1 Mac. 3.30. But
|
|
only 20,000 are here taken notice of, because there were no more with
|
|
Nicanor at the time of the battle.
|
|
|
|
8:10. And Nicanor purposed to raise for the king the tribute of two
|
|
thousand talents, that was to be given to the Romans, by making so much
|
|
money of the captive Jews:
|
|
|
|
8:11. Wherefore he sent immediately to the cities upon the sea coast,
|
|
to invite men together to buy up the Jewish slaves, promising that they
|
|
should have ninety slaves for one talent, not reflecting on the
|
|
vengeance which was to follow him from the Almighty.
|
|
|
|
8:12. Now when Judas found that Nicanor was coming, he imparted to the
|
|
Jews that were with him, that the enemy was at hand.
|
|
|
|
8:13. And some of them being afraid, and distrusting the justice of
|
|
God, fled away.
|
|
|
|
8:14. Others sold all that they had left, and withal besought the Lord,
|
|
that he would deliver them from the wicked Nicanor, who had sold them
|
|
before he came near them:
|
|
|
|
8:15. And if not for their sakes, yet for the covenant that he had made
|
|
with their fathers, and for the sake of his holy and glorious name that
|
|
was invoked upon them.
|
|
|
|
8:16. But Machabeus calling together seven thousand that were with him,
|
|
exhorted them not to be reconciled to the enemies, nor to fear the
|
|
multitude of the enemies who came wrongfully against them, but to fight
|
|
manfully:
|
|
|
|
Seven thousand. . .In the Greek it is six thousand. But then three
|
|
thousand of them had no arms. 1 Mac. 4.6.
|
|
|
|
8:17. Setting before their eyes the injury they had unjustly done the
|
|
holy place, and also the injury they had done to the city, which had
|
|
been shamefully abused, besides their destroying the ordinances of the
|
|
fathers.
|
|
|
|
8:18. For, said he, they trust in their weapons, and in their boldness:
|
|
but we trust in the Almighty Lord, who at a beck can utterly destroy
|
|
both them that come against us, and the whole world.
|
|
|
|
8:19. Moreover, he put them in mind also of the helps their fathers had
|
|
received from God: and how, under Sennacherib, a hundred and
|
|
eighty-five thousand had been destroyed.
|
|
|
|
8:20. And of the battle that they had fought against the Galatians, in
|
|
Babylonia; how they, being in all but six thousand, when it came to the
|
|
point, and the Macedonians, their companions, were at a stand, slew a
|
|
hundred and twenty thousand, because of the help they had from heaven,
|
|
and for this they received many favours.
|
|
|
|
Galatians. . .That is, the Gauls, who having ravaged Italy and Greece,
|
|
poured themselves in upon Asia, in immense multitudes, where also they
|
|
founded the kingdom of Galatia or Gallo Graecia.
|
|
|
|
8:21. With these words they were greatly encouraged and disposed even
|
|
to die for the laws and their country.
|
|
|
|
8:22. So he appointed his brethren captains over each division of his
|
|
army; Simon, and Joseph, and Jonathan, giving to each one fifteen
|
|
hundred men.
|
|
|
|
8:23. And after the holy book had been read to them by Esdras, and he
|
|
had given them for a watchword, The help of God: himself leading the
|
|
first band, he joined battle with Nicanor:
|
|
|
|
8:24. And the Almighty being their helper, they slew above nine
|
|
thousand men: and having wounded and disabled the greater part of
|
|
Nicanor's army, they obliged them to fly.
|
|
|
|
Above nine thousand. . .Viz., including the three thousand slain in the
|
|
pursuit.
|
|
|
|
8:25. And they took the money of them that came to buy them, and they
|
|
pursued them on every side.
|
|
|
|
8:26. But they came back for want of time: for it was the day before
|
|
the sabbath: and therefore they did not continue the pursuit.
|
|
|
|
8:27. But when they had gathered together their arms and their spoils,
|
|
they kept the sabbath: blessing the Lord who had delivered them that
|
|
day, distilling the beginning of mercy upon them.
|
|
|
|
8:28. Then after the sabbath they divided the spoils to the feeble and
|
|
the orphans, and the widows, and the rest they took for themselves and
|
|
their servants.
|
|
|
|
8:29. When this was done, and they had all made a common supplication,
|
|
they besought the merciful Lord, to be reconciled to his servants unto
|
|
the end.
|
|
|
|
8:30. Moreover, they slew above twenty thousand of them that were with
|
|
Timotheus and Bacchides, who fought against them, and they made
|
|
themselves masters of the high strong holds: and they divided amongst
|
|
them many spoils, giving equal portions to the feeble, the fatherless,
|
|
and the widows; yea, and the aged also
|
|
|
|
8:31. And when they had carefully gathered together their arms, they
|
|
laid them all up in convenient places, and the residue of their spoils
|
|
they carried to Jerusalem:
|
|
|
|
8:32. They slew also Philarches, who was with Timotheus, a wicked man,
|
|
who had many ways afflicted the Jews.
|
|
|
|
8:33. And when they kept the feast of the victory at Jerusalem, they
|
|
burnt Callisthenes, that had set fire to the holy gates, who had taken
|
|
refuge in a certain house, rendering to him a worthy reward for his
|
|
impieties:
|
|
|
|
8:34. But as for that most wicked man, Nicanor, who had brought a
|
|
thousand merchants to the sale of the Jews,
|
|
|
|
8:35. Being, through the help of the Lord, brought down by them, of
|
|
whom he had made no account, laying aside his garment of glory, fleeing
|
|
through the midland country, he came alone to Antioch, being rendered
|
|
very unhappy by the destruction of his army.
|
|
|
|
Laying aside his garment of glory. . .That is, his splendid apparel,
|
|
which he wore through ostentation; he now throws it off, lest he should
|
|
be known on his flight.
|
|
|
|
8:36. And he that had promised to levy the tribute for the Romans, by
|
|
the means of the captives of Jerusalem, now professed that the Jews had
|
|
God for their protector, and therefore they could not be hurt, because
|
|
they followed the laws appointed by him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 9
|
|
|
|
|
|
The wretched end, and fruitless repentance of king Antiochus.
|
|
|
|
9:1. At that time Antiochus returned with dishonour out of Persia.
|
|
|
|
9:2. For he had entered into the city called Persepolis, and attempted
|
|
to rob the temple, and to oppress the city, but the multitude running
|
|
together to arms, put them to flight: and so it fell out that Antiochus
|
|
being put to flight, returned with disgrace.
|
|
|
|
Persepolis. . .Otherwise called Elymais.
|
|
|
|
9:3. Now when he was come about Ecbatana, he received the news of what
|
|
had happened to Nicanor and Timotheus.
|
|
|
|
9:4. And swelling with anger, he thought to revenge upon the Jews the
|
|
injury done by them that had put him to flight. And therefore he
|
|
commanded his chariot to be driven, without stopping in his journey,
|
|
the judgment of heaven urging him forward, because he had spoken so
|
|
proudly, that he would come to Jerusalem, and make it a common burying
|
|
place of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
9:5. But the Lord, the God of Israel, that seeth all things, struck him
|
|
with an incurable and an invisible plague. For as soon as he had ended
|
|
these words, a dreadful pain in his bowels came upon him, and bitter
|
|
torments of the inner parts.
|
|
|
|
9:6. And indeed very justly, seeing he had tormented the bowels of
|
|
others with many and new torments, albeit he by no means ceased from
|
|
his malice.
|
|
|
|
9:7. Moreover, being filled with pride, breathing out fire in his rage
|
|
against the Jews, and commanding the matter to be hastened, it happened
|
|
as he was going with violence, that he fell from the chariot, so that
|
|
his limbs were much pained by a grievous bruising of the body.
|
|
|
|
9:8. Thus he that seemed to himself to command even the waves of the
|
|
sea, being proud above the condition of man, and to weigh the heights
|
|
of the mountains in a balance, now being cast down to the ground, was
|
|
carried in a litter, bearing witness to the manifest power of God in
|
|
himself:
|
|
|
|
9:9. So that worms swarmed out of the body of this man, and whilst he
|
|
lived in sorrow and pain, his flesh fell off, and the filthiness of his
|
|
smell was noisome to the army.
|
|
|
|
9:10. And the man that thought a little before he could reach to the
|
|
stars of heaven, no man could endure to carry, for the intolerable
|
|
stench.
|
|
|
|
9:11. And by this means, being brought from his great pride, he began
|
|
to come to the knowledge of himself, being admonished by the scourge of
|
|
God, his pains increasing every moment.
|
|
|
|
9:12. And when he himself could not now abide his own stench, he spoke
|
|
thus: It is just to be subject to God, and that a mortal man should not
|
|
equal himself to God.
|
|
|
|
9:13. Then this wicked man prayed to the Lord, of whom he was not like
|
|
to obtain mercy.
|
|
|
|
Of whom he was not like to obtain mercy. . .Because his repentance was
|
|
not for the offence committed against God: but barely on account of his
|
|
present sufferings.
|
|
|
|
9:14. And the city, to which he was going in haste to lay it even with
|
|
the ground, and to make it a common burying place, he now desireth to
|
|
make free:
|
|
|
|
9:15. And the Jews, whom he said he would not account worthy to be so
|
|
much as buried, but would give them up to be devoured by the birds and
|
|
wild beasts, and would utterly destroy them with their children, he now
|
|
promiseth to make equal with the Athenians.
|
|
|
|
9:16. The holy temple also, which before he had spoiled, he promised to
|
|
adorn with goodly gifts, and to multiply the holy vessels, and to allow
|
|
out of his revenues the charges pertaining to the sacrifices.
|
|
|
|
9:17. Yea also, that he would become a Jew himself, and would go
|
|
through every place of the earth, and declare the power of God.
|
|
|
|
9:18. But his pains not ceasing, (for the just judgment of God was come
|
|
upon him) despairing of life, he wrote to the Jews, in the manner of a
|
|
supplication, a letter in these words:
|
|
|
|
9:19. To his very good subjects the Jews, Antiochus, king and ruler,
|
|
wisheth much health, and welfare, and happiness.
|
|
|
|
9:20. If you and your children are well, and if all matters go with you
|
|
to your mind, we give very great thanks.
|
|
|
|
9:21. As for me, being infirm, but yet kindly remembering you,
|
|
returning out of the places of Persia, and being taken with a grievous
|
|
disease, I thought it necessary to take care for the common good:
|
|
|
|
9:22. Not distrusting my life, but having great hope to escape the
|
|
sickness.
|
|
|
|
9:23. But considering that my father also, at what time he led an army
|
|
into the higher countries, appointed who should reign after him:
|
|
|
|
9:24. To the end that if any thing contrary to expectation should fall
|
|
out, or any bad tidings should be brought, they that were in the
|
|
countries, knowing to whom the whole government was left, might not be
|
|
troubled.
|
|
|
|
9:25. Moreover, considering that neighbouring princes, and borderers,
|
|
wait for opportunities, and expect what shall be the event, I have
|
|
appointed my son, Antiochus, king, whom I often recommended to many of
|
|
you, when I went into the higher provinces: and I have written to him
|
|
what I have joined here below.
|
|
|
|
9:26. I pray you, therefore, and request of you, that, remembering
|
|
favours both public and private, you will every man of you continue to
|
|
be faithful to me and to my son.
|
|
|
|
9:27. For I trust that he will behave with moderation and humanity, and
|
|
following my intentions, will be gracious unto you.
|
|
|
|
9:28. Thus the murderer and blasphemer being grievously struck, as
|
|
himself had treated others, died a miserable death in a strange
|
|
country, among the mountains.
|
|
|
|
9:29. But Philip, that was brought up with him, carried away his body:
|
|
and out of fear of the son of Antiochus, went into Egypt to Ptolemee
|
|
Philometor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
The purification of the temple and city. Other exploits of Judas. His
|
|
victory over Timotheus.
|
|
|
|
10:1. But Machabeus, and they that were with him, by the protection of
|
|
the Lord, recovered the temple and the city again.
|
|
|
|
10:2. But he threw down the altars which the heathens had set up in the
|
|
streets, as also the temples of the idols.
|
|
|
|
10:3. And having purified the temple, they made another altar: and
|
|
taking fire out of the fiery stones, they offered sacrifices after two
|
|
years, and set forth incense, and lamps, and the loaves of proposition.
|
|
|
|
10:4. And when they had done these things, they besought the Lord,
|
|
lying prostrate on the ground, that they might no more fall into such
|
|
evils; but if they should at any time sin, that they might be chastised
|
|
by him more gently, and not be delivered up to barbarians and
|
|
blasphemous men.
|
|
|
|
10:5. Now upon the same day that the temple had been polluted by the
|
|
strangers on the very same day it was cleansed again; to wit, on the
|
|
five and twentieth day of the month of Casleu.
|
|
|
|
10:6. And they kept eight days with joy, after the manner of the feast
|
|
of the tabernacles, remembering that not long before they had kept the
|
|
feast of the tabernacles when they were in the mountains, and in dens
|
|
like wild beasts.
|
|
|
|
10:7. Therefore they now carried boughs and green branches and palms,
|
|
for him that had given them good success in cleansing his place.
|
|
|
|
10:8. And they ordained by a common statute, and decree, that all the
|
|
nation of the Jews should keep those days every year.
|
|
|
|
10:9. And this was the end of Antiochus, that was called the
|
|
Illustrious.
|
|
|
|
10:10. But now we will repeat the acts of Eupator, the son of that
|
|
wicked Antiochus, abridging the account of the evils that happened in
|
|
the wars.
|
|
|
|
10:11. For when he was come to the crown, he appointed over the affairs
|
|
of his realm one Lysias, general of the army of Phenicia and Syria.
|
|
|
|
10:12. For Ptolemee, that was called Macer, was determined to be
|
|
strictly just to the Jews and especially by reason of the wrong that
|
|
had been done them, and to deal peaceably with them.
|
|
|
|
10:13. But being accused for this to Eupator by his friends, and being
|
|
oftentimes called traitor, because he had left Cyprus, which Philometor
|
|
had committed to him, and coming over to Antiochus the Illustrious, had
|
|
revolted also from him, he put an end to his life by poison.
|
|
|
|
10:14. But Gorgias, who was governor of the holds, taking with him the
|
|
strangers, often fought against the Jews.
|
|
|
|
10:15. And the Jews that occupied the most commodious holds, received
|
|
those that were driven out of Jerusalem, and attempted to make war.
|
|
|
|
The Jews, etc. . .He speaks of them that had fallen from their religion,
|
|
and were enemies of their country, who joining with the Idumeans or
|
|
Edomites, kept possession of the strong holds, and from thence annoyed
|
|
their countrymen.
|
|
|
|
10:16. Then they that were with Machabeus, beseeching the Lord by
|
|
prayers to be their helper, made a strong attack upon the strong holds
|
|
of the Idumeans:
|
|
|
|
10:17. And assaulting them with great force, won the holds, killed them
|
|
that came in the way, and slew altogether no fewer than twenty
|
|
thousand.
|
|
|
|
10:18. And whereas some were fled into very strong towers, having all
|
|
manner of provision to sustain a siege,
|
|
|
|
10:19. Machabeus left Simon and Joseph, and Zacheus, and them that were
|
|
with them, in sufficient number to besiege them, and departed to those
|
|
expeditions which urged more.
|
|
|
|
10:20. Now they that were with Simon, being led with covetousness, were
|
|
persuaded for the sake of money by some that were in the towers: and
|
|
taking seventy thousand didrachmas, let some of them escape.
|
|
|
|
10:21. But when it was told Machabeus what was done, he assembled the
|
|
rulers of the people, and accused those men that they had sold their
|
|
brethren for money, having let their adversaries escape.
|
|
|
|
10:22. So he put these traitors to death, and forthwith took the two
|
|
towers.
|
|
|
|
10:23. And having good success in arms, and all things he took in hand,
|
|
he slew more than twenty thousand in the two holds.
|
|
|
|
10:24. But Timotheus, who before had been overcome by the Jews, having
|
|
called together a multitude of foreign troops, and assembled horsemen
|
|
out of Asia, came as though he would take Judea by force of arms.
|
|
|
|
10:26. But Machabeus, and they that were with him, when he drew near,
|
|
prayed to the Lord, sprinkling earth upon their heads, and girding
|
|
their loins with haircloth,
|
|
|
|
10:26. And lying prostrate at the foot of the altar, besought him to be
|
|
merciful to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and an adversary
|
|
to their adversaries, as the law saith.
|
|
|
|
10:27. And so after prayer taking their arms, they went forth further
|
|
from the city, and when they were come very near the enemies they
|
|
rested.
|
|
|
|
10:28. But as soon as the sun was risen both sides joined battle: the
|
|
one part having, with their valour, the Lord for a surety of victory,
|
|
and success: but the other side making their rage their leader in
|
|
battle.
|
|
|
|
10:29. But when they were in the heat of the engagement, there appeared
|
|
to the enemies from heaven five men upon horses, comely, with golden
|
|
bridles, conducting the Jews:
|
|
|
|
10:30. Two of them took Machabeus between them, and covered him on
|
|
every side with their arms, and kept him safe; but cast darts and
|
|
fireballs against the enemy, so that they fell down, being both
|
|
confounded with blindness, and filled with trouble.
|
|
|
|
10:31. And there were slain twenty thousand five hundred, and six
|
|
hundred horsemen.
|
|
|
|
10:32. But Timotheus fled into Gazara, a strong hold where Chereas was
|
|
governor.
|
|
|
|
10:33. Then Machabeus, and they that were with him cheerfully laid
|
|
siege to the fortress four days.
|
|
|
|
10:34. But they that were within, trusting to the strength of the
|
|
place, blasphemed exceedingly, and cast forth abominable words.
|
|
|
|
10:35. But when the fifth day appeared, twenty young men of them that
|
|
were with Machabeus, inflamed in their minds, because of the blasphemy,
|
|
approached manfully to the wall, and pushing forward with fierce
|
|
courage, got up upon it:
|
|
|
|
10:36. Moreover, others also getting up after them, went to set fire to
|
|
the towers and the gates, and to burn the blasphemers alive.
|
|
|
|
10:37. And having for two days together pillaged and sacked the
|
|
fortress, they killed Timotheus, who was found hid in a certain place:
|
|
they slew also his brother Chereas, and Apollophanes.
|
|
|
|
Timotheus. . .This man, who was killed at the taking of Gazara, is
|
|
different from that Timotheus who is mentioned in the fifth chapter of
|
|
the first book of Machabees, and of whom there is mention in the
|
|
following chapter.
|
|
|
|
10:38. And when this was done, they blessed the Lord with hymns and
|
|
thanksgiving, who had done great things in Israel, and given them the
|
|
victory.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 11
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lysias is overthrown by Judas. He sues for peace.
|
|
|
|
11:1. A short time after this Lysias, the king's lieutenant, and
|
|
cousin, and who had chief charge over all the affairs, being greatly
|
|
displeased with what had happened,
|
|
|
|
11:2. Gathered together fourscore thousand men, and all the horsemen,
|
|
and came against the Jews, thinking to take the city, and make it a
|
|
habitation of the Gentiles:
|
|
|
|
11:3. And to make a gain of the temple, as of the other temples of the
|
|
Gentiles and to set the high priesthood to sale every year:
|
|
|
|
11:4. Never considering the power of God, but puffed up in mind, and
|
|
trusting in the multitude of his foot soldiers, and the thousands of
|
|
his horsemen, and his fourscore elephants.
|
|
|
|
11:5. So he came into Judea, and approaching to Bethsura, which was in
|
|
a narrow place, the space of five furlongs from Jerusalem, he laid
|
|
siege to that fortress.
|
|
|
|
11:6. But when Machabeus, and they that were with him, understood that
|
|
the strong holds were besieged, they and all the people besought the
|
|
Lord with lamentations and tears, that he would send a good angel to
|
|
save Israel.
|
|
|
|
11:7. Then Machabeus himself first taking his arms, exhorted the rest
|
|
to expose themselves together with him, to the danger, and to succour
|
|
their brethren.
|
|
|
|
11:8. And when they were going forth together with a willing mind,
|
|
there appeared at Jerusalem a horseman going before them in white
|
|
clothing, with golden armour, shaking a spear.
|
|
|
|
11:9. Then they all together blessed the merciful Lord, and took great
|
|
courage: being ready to break through not only men, but also the
|
|
fiercest beasts, and walls of iron.
|
|
|
|
11:10. So they went on courageously, having a helper from heaven, and
|
|
the Lord, who shewed mercy to them.
|
|
|
|
11:11. And rushing violently upon the enemy, like lions, they slew of
|
|
them eleven thousand footmen, and one thousand six hundred horsemen:
|
|
|
|
11:12. And put all the rest to flight; and many of them being wounded,
|
|
escaped naked: Yea, and Lysias himself fled away shamefully, and
|
|
escaped.
|
|
|
|
11:13. And as he was a man of understanding, considering with himself
|
|
the loss he had suffered, and perceiving that the Hebrews could not be
|
|
overcome, because they relied upon the help of the Almighty God, he
|
|
sent to them:
|
|
|
|
11:14. And promised that he would agree to all things that are just,
|
|
and that he would persuade the king to be their friend.
|
|
|
|
11:15. Then Machabeus consented to the request of Lysias, providing for
|
|
the common good in all things; and whatsoever Machabeus wrote to
|
|
Lysias, concerning the Jews, the king allowed of.
|
|
|
|
11:16. For there were letters written to the Jews from Lysias, to this
|
|
effect: Lysias, to the people of the Jews, greeting.
|
|
|
|
11:17. John, and Abesalom, who were sent from you, delivering your
|
|
writings, requested that I would accomplish those things which were
|
|
signified by them.
|
|
|
|
11:18. Therefore whatsoever things could be reported to the king,
|
|
I have represented to him: and he hath granted as much as the matter
|
|
permitted.
|
|
|
|
11:19. If, therefore, you will keep yourselves loyal in affairs,
|
|
hereafter also I will endeavour to be a means of your good.
|
|
|
|
11:20. But as concerning other particulars, I have given orders by word
|
|
both to these, and to them that are sent by me, to commune with you.
|
|
|
|
11:21. Fare ye well. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the four
|
|
and twentieth day of the month of Dioscorus.
|
|
|
|
In the year 148. . .Viz., according to the computation followed by the
|
|
Greeks; which was different from that of the Hebrews, followed by the
|
|
writer of the first book of Machabees. However, by this date, as well
|
|
as by other circumstances, it appears that the expedition of Lysias,
|
|
mentioned in this chapter, is different from that which is recorded,
|
|
1 Mac. 6.
|
|
|
|
11:22. But the king's letter contained these words King Antiochus to
|
|
Lysias, his brother, greeting.
|
|
|
|
11:23. Our father being translated amongst the gods we are desirous
|
|
that they that are in our realm should live quietly, and apply
|
|
themselves diligently to their own concerns.
|
|
|
|
11:24. And we have heard that the Jews would not consent to my father
|
|
to turn to the rites of the Greeks but that they would keep to their
|
|
own manner of living and therefore that they request us to allow them
|
|
to live after their own laws.
|
|
|
|
11:25. Wherefore being desirous that this nation also should be at
|
|
rest, we have ordained and decreed, that the temple should be restored
|
|
to them, and that they may live according to the custom of their
|
|
ancestors.
|
|
|
|
11:26. Thou shalt do well, therefore, to send to them, and grant them
|
|
peace, that our pleasure being known, they may be of good comfort, and
|
|
look to their own affairs.
|
|
|
|
11:27. But the king's letter to the Jews was in this manner: King
|
|
Antiochus to the senate of the Jews, and to the rest of the Jews,
|
|
greeting.
|
|
|
|
11:28. If you are well, you are as we desire: we ourselves also are
|
|
well.
|
|
|
|
11:29. Menelaus came to us, saying that you desired to come down to
|
|
your countrymen, that are with us.
|
|
|
|
11:30. We grant, therefore, a safe conduct to all that come and go,
|
|
until the thirtieth day of the month of Xanthicus,
|
|
|
|
11:31. That the Jews may use their own kind of meats, and their own
|
|
laws, as before: and that none of them any manner of ways be molested
|
|
for things which have been done by ignorance.
|
|
|
|
11:32. And we have sent also Menelaus to speak to you.
|
|
|
|
11:33. Fare ye well. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the
|
|
fifteenth day of the month of Xanthicus.
|
|
|
|
11:34. The Romans also sent them a letter, to this effect: Quintus
|
|
Memmius, and Titus Manilius, ambassadors of the Romans, to the people
|
|
of the Jews, greeting.
|
|
|
|
11:35. Whatsoever Lysias, the king's cousin, hath granted to you, we
|
|
also have granted.
|
|
|
|
11:36. But touching such things as he thought should be referred to the
|
|
king, after you have diligently conferred among yourselves, send some
|
|
one forthwith, that we may decree as it is convenient for you: for we
|
|
are going to Antioch.
|
|
|
|
11:37. And therefore make haste to write back, that we may know of what
|
|
mind you are.
|
|
|
|
11:38. Fare ye well. In the year one hundred and forty-eight, the
|
|
fifteenth day of the month of Xanthicus.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Jews are still molested by their neighbours. Judas gains divers
|
|
victories over them. He orders sacrifice and prayers for the dead.
|
|
|
|
12:1. When these covenants were made, Lysias went to the king, and the
|
|
Jews gave themselves to husbandry.
|
|
|
|
12:2. But they that were behind, viz. Timotheus, and Apollonius, the
|
|
son of Genneus, also Hieronymus, and Demophon, and besides them
|
|
Nicanor, the governor of Cyprus, would not suffer them to live in
|
|
peace, and to be quiet.
|
|
|
|
12:3. The men of Joppe also were guilty of this kind of wickedness:
|
|
they desired the Jews, who dwelt among them, to go with their wives and
|
|
children into the boats, which they had prepared, as though they had no
|
|
enmity to them.
|
|
|
|
12:4. Which when they had consented to, according to the common decree
|
|
of the city, suspecting nothing, because of the peace: when they were
|
|
gone forth into the deep, they drowned no fewer than two hundred of
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
12:5. But as soon as Judas heard of this cruelty done to his
|
|
countrymen, he commanded the men that were with him: and after having
|
|
called upon God, the just judge,
|
|
|
|
12:6. He came against those murderers of his brethren, and set the
|
|
haven on fire in the night, burnt the boats, and slew with the sword
|
|
them that escaped from the fire.
|
|
|
|
12:7. And when he had done these things in this manner, he departed as
|
|
if he would return again, and root out all the Joppites.
|
|
|
|
12:8. But when he understood that the men of Jamnia also designed to do
|
|
in like manner to the Jews that dwelt among them,
|
|
|
|
12:9. He came upon the Jamnites also by night, and set the haven on
|
|
fire, with the ships, so that the light of the fire was seen at
|
|
Jerusalem, two hundred and forty furlongs off.
|
|
|
|
12:10. And when they were now gone from thence nine furlongs, and were
|
|
marching towards Timotheus, five thousand footmen, and five hundred
|
|
horsemen of the Arabians, set upon them.
|
|
|
|
12:11. And after a hard fight, in which, by the help of God, they got
|
|
the victory, the rest of the Arabians being overcome, besought Judas
|
|
for peace, promising to give him pastures, and to assist him in other
|
|
things.
|
|
|
|
12:12. And Judas thinking that they might be profitable indeed in many
|
|
things, promised them peace, and after having joined hands, they
|
|
departed to their tents.
|
|
|
|
12:13. He also laid siege to a certain strong city, encompassed with
|
|
bridges and walls, and inhabited by multitudes of different nations,
|
|
the name of which is Casphin.
|
|
|
|
12:14. But they that were within it, trusting in the strength of the
|
|
walls, and the provision of victuals, behaved in a more negligent
|
|
manner, and provoked Judas with railing and blaspheming, and uttering
|
|
such words as were not to be spoken.
|
|
|
|
12:15. But Machabeus calling upon the great Lord of the world, who
|
|
without any rams or engines of war threw down the walls of Jericho, in
|
|
the time of Josue, fiercely assaulted the walls.
|
|
|
|
Rams. . .That is, engines for battering walls, etc., which were used in
|
|
sieges in those times.
|
|
|
|
12:16. And having taken the city by the will of the Lord, he made an
|
|
unspeakable slaughter, so that a pool adjoining, of two furlongs broad,
|
|
seemed to run with the blood of the slain.
|
|
|
|
12:17. From thence they departed seven hundred and fifty furlongs, and
|
|
came to Characa, to the Jews that are called Tubianites.
|
|
|
|
12:18. But as for Timotheus, they found him not in those places, for
|
|
before he had dispatched any thing he went back, having left a very
|
|
strong garrison in a certain hold:
|
|
|
|
12:19. But Dositheus, and Sosipater, who were captains with Machabeus,
|
|
slew them that were left by Timotheus in the hold, to the number of ten
|
|
thousand men.
|
|
|
|
12:20. And Machabeus having set in order about him six thousand men,
|
|
and divided them by bands, went forth against Timotheus, who had with
|
|
him a hundred and twenty thousand footmen, and two thousand five
|
|
hundred horsemen.
|
|
|
|
12:21. Now when Timotheus had knowledge of the coming of Judas, he sent
|
|
the women and children, and the other baggage, before him into a
|
|
fortress, called Carnion: for it was impregnable, and hard to come at,
|
|
by reason of the straitness of the places.
|
|
|
|
12:22. But when the first band of Judas came in sight, the enemies were
|
|
struck with fear, by the presence of God, who seeth all things, and
|
|
they were put to flight one from another, so that they were often
|
|
thrown down by their own companions, and wounded with the strokes of
|
|
their own swords.
|
|
|
|
12:23. But Judas pursued them close, punishing the profane, of whom he
|
|
slew thirty thousand men.
|
|
|
|
12:24. And Timotheus himself fell into the hands of the band of
|
|
Dositheus and Sosipater, and with many prayers he besought them to let
|
|
him go with his life, because he had the parents and brethren of many
|
|
of the Jews, who, by his death, might happen to be deceived.
|
|
|
|
12:25. And when he had given his faith that he would restore them
|
|
according to the agreement, they let him go without hurt, for the
|
|
saving of their brethren.
|
|
|
|
12:26. Then Judas went away to Carnion, where he slew five and twenty
|
|
thousand persons.
|
|
|
|
12:27. And after he had put to flight and destroyed these, he removed
|
|
his army to Ephron, a strong city, wherein there dwelt a multitude of
|
|
divers nations: and stout young men standing upon the walls, made a
|
|
vigorous resistance: and in this place there were many engines of war,
|
|
and a provision of darts.
|
|
|
|
12:28. But when they had invocated the Almighty, who with his power
|
|
breaketh the strength of the enemies, they took the city: and slew five
|
|
and twenty thousand of them that were within.
|
|
|
|
12:29. From thence they departed to Scythopolis, which lieth six
|
|
hundred furlongs from Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
Scythopolis. . .Formerly called Bethsan.
|
|
|
|
12:30. But the Jews that were among the Scythopolitans testifying that
|
|
they were used kindly by them, and that even in the times of their
|
|
adversity they had treated them with humanity:
|
|
|
|
12:31. They gave them thanks, exhorting them to be still friendly to
|
|
their nation, and so they came to Jerusalem, the feast of the weeks
|
|
being at hand.
|
|
|
|
12:32. And after Pentecost they marched against Gorgias, the governor
|
|
of Idumea.
|
|
|
|
12:33. And he came out with three thousand footmen and four hundred
|
|
horsemen.
|
|
|
|
12:34. And when they had joined battle, it happened that a few of the
|
|
Jews were slain.
|
|
|
|
12:35. But Dositheus, a horseman, one of Bacenor's band, a valiant man,
|
|
took hold of Gorgias: and when he would have taken him alive, a certain
|
|
horseman of the Thracians came upon him, and cut off his shoulder: and
|
|
so Gorgias escaped to Maresa.
|
|
|
|
12:36. But when they that were with Esdrin had fought long, and were
|
|
weary, Judas called upon the Lord to be their helper, and leader of the
|
|
battle:
|
|
|
|
12:37. Then beginning in his own language, and singing hymns with a
|
|
loud voice, he put Gorgias's soldiers to flight.
|
|
|
|
12:38. So Judas having gathered together his army, came into the city
|
|
Odollam: and when the seventh day came, they purified themselves
|
|
according to the custom, and kept the sabbath in the same place.
|
|
|
|
12:39. And the day following Judas came with his company, to take away
|
|
the bodies of them that were slain, and to bury them with their
|
|
kinsmen, in the sepulchres of their fathers.
|
|
|
|
12:40. And they found under the coats of the slain, some of the
|
|
donaries of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbiddeth to the Jews:
|
|
so that all plainly saw, that for this cause they were slain.
|
|
|
|
Of the donaries, etc. . .That is, of the votive offerings, which had
|
|
been hung up in the temples of the idols, which they had taken away
|
|
when they burnt the port of Jamnia, ver. 9., contrary to the
|
|
prohibition of the law, Deut. 7.25.
|
|
|
|
12:41. Then they all blessed the just judgment of the Lord, who had
|
|
discovered the things that were hidden.
|
|
|
|
12:42. And so betaking themselves to prayers, they besought him, that
|
|
the sin which had been committed might be forgotten. But the most
|
|
valiant Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin,
|
|
forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of
|
|
the sins of those that were slain.
|
|
|
|
12:43. And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of
|
|
silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the
|
|
dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection.
|
|
|
|
12:44. (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise
|
|
again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,)
|
|
|
|
12:45. And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with
|
|
godliness, had great grace laid up for them.
|
|
|
|
With godliness. . .Judas hoped that these men who died fighting for the
|
|
cause of God and religion, might find mercy: either because they might
|
|
be excused from mortal sin by ignorance; or might have repented of
|
|
their sin, at least at their death.
|
|
|
|
12:46. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the
|
|
dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
|
|
|
|
It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the
|
|
dead. . .Here is an evident and undeniable proof of the practice of
|
|
praying for the dead under the old law, which was then strictly observed
|
|
by the Jews, and consequently could not be introduced at that time by
|
|
Judas, their chief and high priest, if it had not been always their
|
|
custom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 13
|
|
|
|
|
|
Antiochus and Lysias again invade Judea. Menelaus is put to death. The
|
|
king's great army is worsted twice. The peace is renewed.
|
|
|
|
13:1. In the year one hundred and forty-nine, Judas understood that
|
|
Antiochus Eupator was coming with a multitude against Judea,
|
|
|
|
13:2. And with him Lysias, the regent, who had charge over the affairs
|
|
of the realm, having with him a hundred and ten thousand footmen, five
|
|
thousand horsemen, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots.
|
|
|
|
A hundred and ten thousand, etc. . .The difference between the numbers
|
|
here set down, and those recorded, 1 Mac. 4, is easily accounted for;
|
|
if we consider that such armies as these are liable to be at one time
|
|
more numerous than at another; either by sending away large
|
|
detachments, or being diminished by sickness; or increased by receiving
|
|
fresh supplies of troops, according to different exigencies or
|
|
occurrences.
|
|
|
|
13:3. Menelaus also joined himself with them: and with great
|
|
deceitfulness besought Antiochus, not for the welfare of his country,
|
|
but in hopes that he should be appointed chief ruler.
|
|
|
|
13:4. But the King of kings stirred up the mind of Antiochus against
|
|
the sinner, and upon Lysias suggesting that he was the cause of all the
|
|
evils, he commanded (as the custom is with them) that he should be
|
|
apprehended and put to death in the same place.
|
|
|
|
13:5. Now there was in that place a tower fifty cubits high, having a
|
|
heap of ashes on every side: this had a prospect steep down.
|
|
|
|
13:6. From thence he commanded the sacrilegious wretch to be thrown
|
|
down into the ashes, all men thrusting him forward unto death.
|
|
|
|
13:7. And by such a law it happened that Menelaus the transgressor of
|
|
the law, was put to death: not having so much as burial in the earth.
|
|
|
|
13:8. And indeed very justly, for insomuch as he had committed many
|
|
sins against the altar of God, the fire and ashes of which were holy:
|
|
he was condemned to die in ashes.
|
|
|
|
13:9. But the king, with his mind full of rage, came on to shew himself
|
|
worse to the Jews than his father was.
|
|
|
|
13:10. Which when Judas understood, he commanded the people to call
|
|
upon the Lord day and night, that as he had always done, so now also he
|
|
would help them:
|
|
|
|
13:11. Because they were afraid to be deprived of the law, and of their
|
|
country, and of the holy temple: and that he would not suffer the
|
|
people, that had of late taken breath for a little while, to be again
|
|
in subjection to blasphemous nations.
|
|
|
|
13:12. So when they had all done this together, and had craved mercy of
|
|
the Lord with weeping and fasting, lying prostrate on the ground for
|
|
three days continually, Judas exhorted them to make themselves ready.
|
|
|
|
13:13. But he, with the ancients, determined before the king should
|
|
bring his army into Judea, and make himself master of the city, to go
|
|
out, and to commit the event of the thing to the judgment of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
13:14. So committing all to God, the Creator of the world, and having
|
|
exhorted his people to fight manfully, and to stand up even to death
|
|
for the laws, the temple, the city, their country, and citizens: he
|
|
placed his army about Modin.
|
|
|
|
13:15. And having given his company for a watchword, The victory of
|
|
God, with most valiant chosen young men, he set upon the king's quarter
|
|
by night, and slew four thousand men in the camp, and the greatest of
|
|
the elephants, with them that had been upon him,
|
|
|
|
13:16. And having filled the camp of the enemies with exceeding great
|
|
fear and tumult, they went off with good success.
|
|
|
|
13:17. Now this was done at the break of day, by the protection and
|
|
help of the Lord.
|
|
|
|
13:18. But the king having taken a taste of the hardiness of the Jews,
|
|
attempted to take the strong places by policy:
|
|
|
|
13:19. And he marched with his army to Bethsura, which was a strong
|
|
hold of the Jews: but he was repulsed, he failed, he lost his men.
|
|
|
|
13:20. Now Judas sent necessaries to them that were within
|
|
|
|
13:21. But Rhodocus, one of the Jews' army, disclosed the secrets to
|
|
the enemies, so he was sought out, and taken up, and put in prison.
|
|
|
|
13:22. Again the king treated with them that were in Bethsura: gave his
|
|
right hand: took theirs: and went away.
|
|
|
|
13:23. He fought with Judas: and was overcome. And when he understood
|
|
that Philip, who had been left over the affairs, had rebelled at
|
|
Antioch, he was in a consternation of mind, and entreating the Jews,
|
|
and yielding to them, he swore to all things that seemed reasonable,
|
|
and, being reconciled, offered sacrifice, honoured the temple, and left
|
|
gifts.
|
|
|
|
13:24. He embraced Machabeus, and made him governor and prince from
|
|
Ptolemais unto the Gerrenians.
|
|
|
|
13:25. But when he was come to Ptolemais, the men of that city were
|
|
much displeased with the conditions of the peace, being angry for fear
|
|
they should break the covenant.
|
|
|
|
13:26. Then Lysias went up to the judgment seat, and set forth the
|
|
reason, and appeased the people, and returned to Antioch: and thus
|
|
matters went with regard to the king's coming and his return.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 14
|
|
|
|
|
|
Demetrius challenges the kingdom. Alcimus applies to him to be made
|
|
high priest: Nicanor is sent into Judea: his dealings with Judas: his
|
|
threats. The history of Razias.
|
|
|
|
14:1. But after the space of three years Judas, and they that were with
|
|
him, understood that Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, was come up with a
|
|
great power, and a navy by the haven of Tripolis, to places proper for
|
|
his purpose,
|
|
|
|
14:2. And had made himself master of the countries against Antiochus,
|
|
and his general, Lysias.
|
|
|
|
14:3. Now one Alcimus, who had been chief priest, but had wilfully
|
|
defiled himself in the time of mingling with the heathens, seeing that
|
|
there was no safety for him, nor access to the altar,
|
|
|
|
Now Alcimus, who had been chief priest. . .This Alcimus was of the stock
|
|
of Aaron, but for his apostasy here mentioned was incapable of the high
|
|
priesthood, but king Antiochus Eupator appointed him in place of the
|
|
high priest, (see above, 1 Mac. chap. 7., ver. 9,) as Menelaus had been
|
|
before him, set up by Antiochus (above chap. 4.), yet neither of them
|
|
were truly high priests; for the true high priesthood was amongst the
|
|
Machabees, who were also of the stock of Aaron, and had strictly held
|
|
their religion, and were ordained according to the rites commanded in
|
|
the law of Moses.--Ibid. Mingling. . .with the heathens; that is, in
|
|
their idolatrous worship.
|
|
|
|
14:4. Came to king Demetrius in the year one hundred and fifty,
|
|
presenting unto him a crown of gold, and a palm, and besides these,
|
|
some boughs that seemed to belong to the temple. And that day indeed he
|
|
held his peace.
|
|
|
|
14:5. But having gotten a convenient time to further his madness, being
|
|
called to counsel by Demetrius, and asked what the Jews relied upon,
|
|
and what were their counsels,
|
|
|
|
14:6. He answered thereunto: They among the Jews that are called
|
|
Assideans, of whom Judas Machabeus is captain, nourish wars, and raise
|
|
seditions, and will not suffer the realm to be in peace.
|
|
|
|
14:7. For I also being deprived of my ancestor's glory (I mean of the
|
|
high priesthood) am now come hither:
|
|
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|
14:8. Principally indeed out of fidelity to the king's interests, but
|
|
in the next place also to provide for the good of my countrymen: for
|
|
all our nation suffereth much from the evil proceedings of these men.
|
|
|
|
14:9. Wherefore, O king, seeing thou knowest all these things, take
|
|
care, I beseech thee, both of the country, and of our nation, according
|
|
to thy humanity which is known to all men.
|
|
|
|
14:10. For as long as Judas liveth it is not possible that the state
|
|
should be quiet.
|
|
|
|
14:11. Now when this man had spoken to this effect the rest also of the
|
|
king's friends, who were enemies of Judas, incensed Demetrius against
|
|
him.
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|
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|
14:12. And forthwith he sent Nicanor, the commander over the elephants,
|
|
governor into Judea:
|
|
|
|
14:13. Giving him in charge, to take Judas himself: and disperse all
|
|
them that were with him, and to make Alcimus the high priest of the
|
|
great temple.
|
|
|
|
14:14. Then the Gentiles who had fled out of Judea, from Judas, came to
|
|
Nicanor by flocks, thinking the miseries and calamities of the Jews to
|
|
be the welfare of their affairs.
|
|
|
|
14:15. Now when the Jews heard of Nicanor's coming, and that the
|
|
nations were assembled against them, they cast earth upon their heads,
|
|
and made supplication to him who chose his people to keep them for
|
|
ever, and who protected his portion by evident signs.
|
|
|
|
14:16. Then at the commandment of their captain, they forthwith removed
|
|
from the place where they were, and went to the town of Dessau, to meet
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
14:17. Now Simon, the brother of Judas, had joined battle with Nicanor:
|
|
but was frightened with the sudden coming of the adversaries.
|
|
|
|
14:18. Nevertheless Nicanor hearing of the valour of Judas's
|
|
companions, and the greatness of courage, with which they fought for
|
|
their country, was afraid to try the matter by the sword.
|
|
|
|
14:19. Wherefore he sent Posidonius, and Theodotius and Matthias before
|
|
to present and receive the right hands.
|
|
|
|
14:20. And when there had been a consultation thereupon, and the
|
|
captain had acquainted the multitude with it, they were all of one mind
|
|
to consent to covenants.
|
|
|
|
14:21. So they appointed a day upon which they might come together by
|
|
themselves: and seats were brought out, and set for each one.
|
|
|
|
14:22. But Judas ordered armed men to be ready in convenient places,
|
|
lest some mischief might be suddenly practised by the enemies: so they
|
|
made an agreeable conference.
|
|
|
|
14:23. And Nicanor abode in Jerusalem, and did no wrong, but sent away
|
|
the flocks of the multitudes that had been gathered together.
|
|
|
|
14:24. And Judas was always dear to him from the heart, and he was well
|
|
affected to the man.
|
|
|
|
14:25. And he desired him to marry a wife, and to have children. So he
|
|
married: he lived quietly, and they lived in common.
|
|
|
|
14:26. But Alcimus seeing the love they had one to another, and the
|
|
covenants, came to Demetrius, and told him that Nicanor had assented to
|
|
the foreign interest, for that he meant to make Judas, who was a
|
|
traitor to the kingdom, his successor.
|
|
|
|
14:27. Then the king, being in a rage, and provoked with this man's
|
|
wicked accusation, wrote to Nicanor, signifying that he was greatly
|
|
displeased with the covenant of friendship: and that he commanded him
|
|
nevertheless to send Machabeus prisoner in all haste to Antioch.
|
|
|
|
14:28. When this was known, Nicanor was in a consternation, and took it
|
|
grievously that he should make void the articles that were agreed upon,
|
|
having received no injury from the man.
|
|
|
|
14:29. But because he could not oppose the king, he watched an
|
|
opportunity to comply with the orders
|
|
|
|
14:30. But when Machabeus perceived that Nicanor was more stern to him,
|
|
and that when they met together as usual he behaved himself in a rough
|
|
manner; and was sensible that this rough behaviour came not of good, he
|
|
gathered together a few of his men, and hid himself from Nicanor.
|
|
|
|
14:31. But he finding himself notably prevented by the man, came to the
|
|
great and holy temple: and commanded the priests that were offering the
|
|
accustomed sacrifices, to deliver him the man.
|
|
|
|
14:32. And when they swore unto him, that they knew not where the man
|
|
was whom he sought, he stretched out his hand to the temple,
|
|
|
|
14:33. And swore, saying: Unless you deliver Judas prisoner to me, I
|
|
will lay this temple of God even with the ground, and will beat down
|
|
the altar, and I will dedicate this temple to Bacchus.
|
|
|
|
14:34. And when he had spoken thus, he departed. But the priests
|
|
stretching forth their hands to heaven, called upon him that was ever
|
|
the defender of their nation, saying in this manner:
|
|
|
|
14:35. Thou, O Lord of all things, who wantest nothing, wast pleased
|
|
that the temple of thy habitation should be amongst us.
|
|
|
|
14:36. Therefore now, O Lord, the holy of all holies, keep this house
|
|
for ever undefiled, which was lately cleansed.
|
|
|
|
14:37. Now Razias, one of the ancients of Jerusalem, was accused to
|
|
Nicanor, a man that was a lover of the city, and of good report, who
|
|
for his kindness was called the father of the Jews.
|
|
|
|
14:38. This man, for a long time, had held fast his purpose of keeping
|
|
himself pure in the Jews' religion, and was ready to expose his body
|
|
and life, that he might persevere therein.
|
|
|
|
14:39. So Nicanor being willing to declare the hatred that he bore the
|
|
Jews, sent five hundred soldiers to take him.
|
|
|
|
14:40. For he thought by ensnaring him to hurt the Jews very much.
|
|
|
|
14:41. Now as the multitude sought to rush into his house, and to break
|
|
open the door, and to set fire to it, when he was ready to be taken, he
|
|
struck himself with his sword:
|
|
|
|
He struck himself, etc. . .St. Augustine, (Epist. 61, ad Dulcitium, et
|
|
lib. 2, cap. 23, ad Epist. 2, Gaud.) discussing this fact of Razias,
|
|
says, that the holy scripture relates it, but doth not praise it, as to
|
|
be admired or imitated, and that either it was not well done by him, or
|
|
at least not proper in this time of grace.
|
|
|
|
14:42. Choosing to die nobly rather than to fall into the hands of the
|
|
wicked, and to suffer abuses unbecoming his noble birth.
|
|
|
|
14:43. But whereas through haste he missed of giving a sure wound, and
|
|
the crowd was breaking into the doors, he ran boldly to the wall, and
|
|
manfully threw himself down to the crowd:
|
|
|
|
14:44. But they quickly making room for his fall, he came upon the
|
|
midst of the neck.
|
|
|
|
He came upon the midst of the neck. . .Venit per mediam cervicem. In the
|
|
Greek it is keneona, which signifies a void place, where there is no
|
|
building.
|
|
|
|
14:45. And as he had yet breath in him, being inflamed in mind, he
|
|
arose: and while his blood ran down with a great stream, and he was
|
|
grievously wounded, he ran through the crowd:
|
|
|
|
14:46. And standing upon a steep rock, when he was now almost without
|
|
blood, grasping his bowels, with both hands he cast them upon the
|
|
throng, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit, to restore these to
|
|
him again: and so he departed this life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 Machabees Chapter 15
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judas encouraged by a vision gains a glorious victory over Nicanor. The
|
|
conclusion.
|
|
|
|
15:1. But when Nicanor understood that Judas was in the places of
|
|
Samaria, he purposed to set upon him with all violence, on the sabbath
|
|
day.
|
|
|
|
15:2. And when the Jews that were constrained to follow him, said: Do
|
|
not act so fiercely and barbarously, but give honour to the day that is
|
|
sanctified: and reverence him that beholdeth all things:
|
|
|
|
15:3. That unhappy man asked, if there were a mighty One in heaven,
|
|
that had commanded the sabbath day to be kept.
|
|
|
|
15:4. And when they answered: There is the living Lord himself in
|
|
heaven, the mighty One, that commanded the seventh day to be kept.
|
|
|
|
15:5. Then he said: And I am mighty upon the earth, and I command to
|
|
take arms, and to do the king's business. Nevertheless he prevailed not
|
|
to accomplish his design.
|
|
|
|
15:6. So Nicanor being puffed up with exceeding great pride, thought to
|
|
set up a public monument of his victory over Judas.
|
|
|
|
15:7. But Machabeus ever trusted with all hope that God would help
|
|
them.
|
|
|
|
15:8. And he exhorted his people not to fear the coming of the nations,
|
|
but to remember the help they had before received from heaven, and now
|
|
to hope for victory from the Almighty.
|
|
|
|
15:9. And speaking to them out of the law, and the prophets, and withal
|
|
putting them in mind of the battles they had fought before, he made
|
|
them more cheerful:
|
|
|
|
15:10. Then after he had encouraged them, he shewed withal the
|
|
falsehood of the Gentiles, and their breach of oaths.
|
|
|
|
15:11. So he armed every one of them, not with defence of shield and
|
|
spear, but with very good speeches, and exhortations, and told them a
|
|
dream worthy to be believed, whereby he rejoiced them all.
|
|
|
|
15:12. Now the vision was in this manner. Onias, who had been high
|
|
priest, a good and virtuous man, modest in his looks, gentle in his
|
|
manners, and graceful in speech, and who from a child was exercised in
|
|
virtues holding up his hands, prayed for all the people of the Jews:
|
|
|
|
15:13. After this there appeared also another man, admirable for age,
|
|
and glory, and environed with great beauty and majesty:
|
|
|
|
15:14. Then Onias answering, said: This is a lover of his brethren, and
|
|
of the people of Israel: this is he that prayeth much for the people,
|
|
and for all the holy city, Jeremias, the prophet of God.
|
|
|
|
15:15. Whereupon Jeremias stretched forth his right hand, and gave to
|
|
Judas a sword of gold, saying:
|
|
|
|
15:16. Take this holy sword, a gift from God, wherewith thou shalt
|
|
overthrow the adversaries of my people Israel.
|
|
|
|
15:17. Thus being exhorted with the words of Judas, which were very
|
|
good, and proper to stir up the courage, and strengthen the hearts of
|
|
the young men, they resolved to fight, and to set upon them manfully:
|
|
that valour might decide the matter, because the holy city, and the
|
|
temple were in danger.
|
|
|
|
15:18. For their concern was less for their wives, and children, and
|
|
for their brethren, and kinsfolks: but their greatest and principal
|
|
fear was for the holiness of the temple.
|
|
|
|
15:19. And they also that were in the city, had no little concern for
|
|
them that were to be engaged in battle.
|
|
|
|
15:20. And now when all expected what judgment would be given, and the
|
|
enemies were at hand, and the army was set in array, the beasts and the
|
|
horsemen ranged in convenient places,
|
|
|
|
15:21. Machabeus considering the coming of the multitude, and the
|
|
divers preparations of armour, and the fierceness of the beasts,
|
|
stretching out his hands to heaven, called upon the Lord, that worketh
|
|
wonders, who giveth victory to them that are worthy, not according to
|
|
the power of their arms, but according as it seemeth good to him.
|
|
|
|
15:22. And in his prayer he said after this manner: Thou, O Lord, who
|
|
didst send thy angel in the time of Ezechias, king of Juda, and didst
|
|
kill a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the army of Sennacherib:
|
|
|
|
15:23. Send now also, O Lord of heaven, thy good angel before us, for
|
|
the fear and dread of the greatness of thy arm,
|
|
|
|
15:24. That they may be afraid, who come with blasphemy against thy
|
|
holy people. And thus he concluded his prayer.
|
|
|
|
15:25. But Nicanor, and they that were with him came forward, with
|
|
trumpets and songs.
|
|
|
|
15:26. But Judas, and they that were with him, encountered them,
|
|
calling upon God by prayers:
|
|
|
|
15:27. So fighting with their hands, but praying to the Lord with their
|
|
hearts, they slew no less than five and thirty thousand, being greatly
|
|
cheered with the presence of God.
|
|
|
|
15:28. And when the battle was over, and they were returning with joy,
|
|
they understood that Nicanor was slain in his armour.
|
|
|
|
15:29. Then making a shout, and a great noise, they blessed the
|
|
Almighty Lord in their own language.
|
|
|
|
15:30. And Judas, who was altogether ready, in body and mind, to die
|
|
for his countrymen, commanded that Nicanor's head, and his hand, with
|
|
the shoulder, should be cut off, and carried to Jerusalem.
|
|
|
|
15:31. And when he was come thither, having called together his
|
|
countrymen, and the priests to the altar, he sent also for them that
|
|
were in the castle,
|
|
|
|
15:32. And shewing them the head of Nicanor, and the wicked hand, which
|
|
he had stretched out, with proud boasts, against the holy house of the
|
|
Almighty God,
|
|
|
|
15:33. He commanded also, that the tongue of the wicked Nicanor should
|
|
be cut out, and given by pieces to birds, and the hand of the furious
|
|
man to be hanged up over against the temple.
|
|
|
|
15:34. Then all blessed the Lord of heaven, saying: Blessed be he that
|
|
hath kept his own place undefiled.
|
|
|
|
15:35. And he hung up Nicanor's head in the top of the castle, that it
|
|
might be an evident and manifest sign of the help of God.
|
|
|
|
15:36. And they all ordained by a common decree, by no means to let
|
|
this day pass without solemnity:
|
|
|
|
15:37. But to celebrate the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, called
|
|
in the Syrian language, the day before Mardochias' day.
|
|
|
|
15:38. So these things being done with relation to Nicanor, and from
|
|
that time the city being possessed by the Hebrews, I also will here
|
|
make an end of my narration.
|
|
|
|
15:39. Which if I have done well, and as it becometh the history, it is
|
|
what I desired: but if not so perfectly, it must be pardoned me.
|
|
|
|
If not so perfectly, etc. . .This is not said with regard to the truth
|
|
of the narration; but with regard to the style and manner of writing:
|
|
which in the sacred penmen is not always the most accurate. See St.
|
|
Paul, 2 Cor. 11.6.
|
|
|
|
15:40. For as it is hurtful to drink always wine, or always water, but
|
|
pleasant to use sometimes the one, and sometimes the other: so if the
|
|
speech be always nicely framed, it will not be grateful to the readers.
|
|
But here it shall be ended.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
APPENDICES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
These texts come from the 1610 Doway printing of the second tome of the
|
|
Old Testament (see the 'History' section at the top of the e-text). The
|
|
primary sources provide a glimpse both into the history of the Douay-
|
|
Rheims version and the English language itself. The reader will quickly
|
|
notice that the letter 'j' does not appear in the texts, rather 'i'
|
|
functions either as a vowel or a consonant. Likewise 'u' is not a
|
|
distinct letter; it is employed typographically in the lower-case in
|
|
place of 'v' where not starting a word. The letters 'u' and 'v' both
|
|
function either as vowels or consonants. The word 'vniuersity'
|
|
demonstrates this rule. The letter 'w' is often employed, but in some
|
|
cases the earlier form of a double-v (vv) appears instead.
|
|
|
|
The transcriber has done his best to render the text accurately. Note
|
|
the relaxed spelling standards of the time; many variants appear. While
|
|
the errata section from the 1610 edition observed: "We haue also found
|
|
some other faultes of lesse importance; and feare there be more. But we
|
|
trust the reader may easely correct them, as they occurre." only obvious
|
|
errors have been amended. Where the transcriber has doubt between
|
|
whether an irregular spelling is either an error and a variant, the
|
|
printed text stands. 7-bit ASCII cannot fully represent the
|
|
typographical standards of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and
|
|
many special characters have been replaced with modern equivalents.
|
|
Where verse numbers stand in the margins of the printed texts, they have
|
|
been transferred to the body; the verse numbers in the 'Prayer of
|
|
Manasses' have been supplied from other versions. Reference notes have
|
|
been transferred from the margins, and their abbreviations modernized.
|
|
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|
|
ADDITIONAL BOOKS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The prayer of Manasses, vvith the third & fourth Bookes of Esdras, extant
|
|
in most Latin and vulgare Bibles, are here placed after al the Canonical
|
|
bookes, of the old Testament: because they are not receiued into the
|
|
Canon of Diuine Scriptures by the Catholique Church.
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
THE PRAYER OF MANASSES KING OF IVDA, WHEN HE WAS HELD CAPTIVE IN BABYLON.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LORD omnipotent God of our fathers, Abraham, & Isaac, and Iacob, and of
|
|
their iust sede, (2 Par 33:12) [2] which didst make heauen and earth:
|
|
with al the ornamentes of them, [3] which hast bound the sea with the
|
|
word of thy precept, which hast shut vp the depth, and sealed it with
|
|
thy terrible and laudable name: [4] whom al thinges dread, & tremble at
|
|
the countinance of thy powre, [5] because the magnificence of thy glorie
|
|
is importable, & the wrath of thy threatning vpon sinners is
|
|
intollerable: [6] but the mercie of thy promise is infinite and
|
|
vnsearchable: [7] because thou art our Lord, most high, benigne, long
|
|
suffering, and very merciful, and penitent vpon the wickednes of men.
|
|
Thou Lord according to the multitude of thy goodnes hast promised
|
|
penance, and remission to them that haue sinned to thee, and by the
|
|
multitude of thy mercies thou hast decreed penance to sinners, vnto
|
|
saluation. [8] Thou therfore Lord God of the iust, hast not appointed
|
|
penance to the iust, Abraham, & Isaac and Iacob, them that haue not
|
|
sinned to thee, but hast appointed penance for me a sinner: [9] because
|
|
I haue sinned aboue the number of the sand of the sea. Myne iniquities
|
|
Lord be multiplied, mine iniquities be multiplied, and I am not worthie
|
|
to behold, & looke vpon the height of heauen, for the multitude of mine
|
|
iniquities. [10] I am made crooked with manie a band of yron, that I can
|
|
not lift vp my head, and I haue not respiration: because I haue stirred
|
|
vp thy wrath, and haue done euil before thee: I haue not done thy wil,
|
|
and thy commandmentes I haue not kept: I haue set vp abominations, and
|
|
multiplied offenses. [11] And now I bowe the knee of my hart, beseeching
|
|
goodnes of thee. [12] I haue sinned Lord, I haue sinned, & I acknowlege
|
|
myne iniquities. [13] Wherefore I beseech disiring thee, forgeue me
|
|
Lord, forgeue me: and destroy me not together with myne iniquities,
|
|
neither reserue thou for euer, being angrie, euils for me, neither damme
|
|
me into the lowest places of the earth: because thou art Lord, God, I
|
|
say, of the penitent: [14] in me thou shalt shew al thy goodnes because
|
|
thou shalt saue me vnworthie according to thy great mercie, [15] and I
|
|
wil prayse thee alwayes al the dayes of my life: because al the power of
|
|
the heauens prayseth thee, and to thee is glorie for euer and euer.
|
|
Amen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE THIRD BOOKE OF ESDRAS.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For helpe of the readers, especially such as haue not leysure to read al,
|
|
vve haue gathered the contentes of the chapters; but made no Annotations:
|
|
because the text it self is but as a Commentarie to the Canonical bookes;
|
|
and therfore we haue only added the concordance of other Scriptures in
|
|
the margin.
|
|
|
|
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|
CHAP. I.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Iosias king of Iuda maketh a great Pasch, 7. geuing manie hostes to such
|
|
as wanted for sacrifice: 14. the Priestes and Leuites performing their
|
|
functions therin: 22. in the eightenth yeare of his reigne, 25. He is
|
|
slayne in battel by the king of AEgypt, 32. and much lamented by the
|
|
Iewes. 34. His sonne Ieconias succedeth. 37. After him Ioacim, 40. who
|
|
is deposed by the king of Babylon. 43. Ioachim reigneth three monethes,
|
|
and is caried into Babylon. 46. Sedecias reigneth eleuen yeares
|
|
wickedly. 52. and he with his people is caried captiue into Babylon, the
|
|
citie and temple are destroyed. 57. so remayned til the Monarchie of the
|
|
Persians.
|
|
|
|
AND Iosias made a Pasch in Ierusalem to our Lord & immolated the Phase
|
|
the fourtenth moone of the moneth: (4 Kings 23:21 / 2 Par 35:1)
|
|
2 appointing the Priestes by courses of dayes clothed with stoles in the
|
|
temple of our Lord. 3 And he spake to the Leuites the sacred seruantes
|
|
of Isreal, that they should sanctifie them selues to our Lord in the
|
|
placing of the holie arke of our Lord in the house, which king Salomon
|
|
sonne of Dauid built. 4 It shal not be for you to take it vpon your
|
|
shoulders. And now serue your Lord, and take the care of that nation
|
|
Israel, in part according to your villages and tribes, 5 according to the
|
|
writing of Dauid king of Israel, and according to the magnificence of
|
|
Salomon his sonne, al in the temple, and according to your fathers
|
|
portion of principalitie, among them that stand in the sight of your
|
|
brethren the children of Isreal. 6 Immolate the Pasch, and prepare the
|
|
sacrifices for your bretheren, and doe according to the precept of our
|
|
Lord which was geuen to Moyses. (Ex 12 / Lev 23 / Num 28) 7 And Iosias
|
|
gaue vnto the people that was found of sheepe, lambes, and kiddes, and
|
|
goates thirtie thousand, calues there thousand. 8 These thinges were
|
|
geuen to the people of the kinges goodes according to promisse: and to
|
|
the priestes for the Phase, sheepe in number two thousand, and calues an
|
|
hundred. 9 And Iechonias, and Semeias, and Nathanael bretheren, and
|
|
Hasabias, and Oziel, and Coraba for the Phase sheepe fiue thousand,
|
|
calues fiue hundred. 10 And when these thinges were done in good order,
|
|
the Priestes an the Leuites stood hauing azymes by tribes. 11 And
|
|
according to the portions of their fathers principalitie, in the sight of
|
|
the people they did offer, to our Lord according to those thinges, which
|
|
were written in the booke of Moyses: 12 and rosted the Phase with fire
|
|
as it ought: and the hostes they boyled in cauldrons, and in pottes with
|
|
beneuolence: 13 and they brought to al that were of the people: and
|
|
afterward they prepared for them selues and the priestes. 14 For the
|
|
Priestes offered the fatte, vntil the houre was ended: and the Leuites
|
|
prepared for them selues, and their brethren, the children of Aaron.
|
|
15 And the sacred singing men, the children of Asaph were by order
|
|
according to the precept of Dauid and Asaph, and Zacharias, and Ieddimus,
|
|
which was from the king. 16 And the porters at euerie gate, so that none
|
|
transgressed his owne: for their brethren prepared for them. 17 And the
|
|
thinges were consummate that perteyned to the sacrifice of our Lord.
|
|
18 In that day they celebrated the Phase, and offered hostes vpon the
|
|
sacrifice of our Lord, according to the precept of king Iosias. 19 And
|
|
the children of Israel, that were found at that time, celebrated the
|
|
Phase: and the festiual day of Azymes for seuen dayes: 20 and there was
|
|
not celebrated such a Phase in Isreal, from the times of Samuel the
|
|
prophet: 21 and al the kinges of Israel did not celebrate such a Phase
|
|
as Iosias did, and the Priestes, and the Leuites, and the Iewes, and al
|
|
Israel, that were found in their abode at Ierusalem. 22 In the eightenth
|
|
yeare, Iosias reigning was the Phase celebrated. 23 And the workes of
|
|
Iosias were directed in the sight of his Lord in a hart ful of feare:
|
|
24 and the thinges concerning him are writen in the ancient times,
|
|
touching them that sinned, and were irreligous against our Lord aboue al
|
|
nations, and that sought not the wordes of our Lord vpon Israel. 25 And
|
|
after al this fact of Iosias, came vp Pharao the king of AEgypt comming
|
|
in Charcamis from the way vpon Euphrates, and Iosias went forth to meete
|
|
him. (4 Kings 23:29 / 2 Par 35:20) 26 And the king of AEgypt sent to
|
|
Iosias saying: What is there betwen me & thee king of Iuda? 27 I was
|
|
not sent of the Lord to fight against thee: for my battel is vpon
|
|
Euphrates, goe downe in hast. 28 And Iosias did not returne vpon his
|
|
chariote: but endeuoured to ouerthrow him, not attending the word of the
|
|
prophet from the mouth of our Lord: 29 but he made battel against him in
|
|
the field of Mageddo. And princes went downe to king Iosias. 30 And the
|
|
king said to his seruantes: Remoue me from the battel, for I am weakned
|
|
excedingly. And forthwith his seruantes remoued him out of the battel.
|
|
31 And he went vp into his second chariote: & comming to Ierusalem,
|
|
dyed, and was buried in his fathers sepulchre. 32 And in al Iurie they
|
|
mourned for Iosias, & the rulers with their wiues lamented him vntil this
|
|
day. And this was geuen out to be done alwayes vnto al the stocke of
|
|
Israel. 33 But these thinges were writen before in the booke of the
|
|
histories of the kinges of Iuda: and al the actes of the doing of
|
|
Iosias, and his glorie and his vnderstanding in the law of our Lord: and
|
|
the thinges that were done by him, and that are not writen in the booke
|
|
of the kinges of Israel and Iuda. 34 And they that were of the nation,
|
|
taking Iechonias the sonne of Iosias, made him king for Iosias his
|
|
father, when he was three and twentie yeares old. (4 Kings 23:30 /
|
|
2 Par 36:1) 35 And he reigned ouer Israel three monethes. And the king
|
|
of AEgypt remoued him, that he should not reigne in Ierusalem: 36 and he
|
|
put a taxe vpon the nation of siluer an hundred talentes, and of gold one
|
|
talent. 37 And the king of AEgypt made Ioacim his brother king of Iuda
|
|
and Ierusalem: 38 and he bound the magistrates of Ioacim, and Zaracel
|
|
his brother, and taking them brought them backe into AEgypt. 39 Ioacim
|
|
was fiue and twentie yeares old when he began to reigne in the land of
|
|
Iuda and Ierusalem: and he did euil in the sight of our Lord. 40 And
|
|
after this man came vp Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, and binding
|
|
him with a bande of brasse, brought him into Babylon. 41 And
|
|
Nabuchodonosor tooke the sacred vessels of our Lord, and carried away,
|
|
and consecrated them in his temple in Babylon. 42 For his vncleanes, and
|
|
lacke of religion is written in the booke of the times of the kinges.
|
|
43 And Ioachin his sonne reigned for him. And when he was made king, he
|
|
was eightene yeares old. 44 And reigned three monethes and ten dayes in
|
|
Ierusalem, and did euil in the sight of our Lord: 45 and after a yeare
|
|
Nabuchodonosor sending, transported him into Babylon together with the
|
|
sacred vessels of our Lord. (4 Kings 24:13) 46 And he made Sedecias
|
|
king of Iuda and Ierusalem, when he was one and twentie yeares old:
|
|
(4 Kings 24:17) and he reigned eleuen yeares. 47 And he did euil in the
|
|
sight of our Lord, and was not afraid of the wordes which were spoken by
|
|
Ieremie the prophet from the mouth of our Lord: (Jer 37:2) 48 and being
|
|
sworne of king Nabuchodonosor, forsworne he did reuolt: and his necke
|
|
being hardened, & his hart, he transgressed the ordinances of our Lord
|
|
the God of Israel. 49 And the princes of the people of our Lord did
|
|
manie thinges wickedly, and they did impiously aboue al the vncleannes of
|
|
the nations: and they polluted the temple of our Lord that was holie of
|
|
Ierusalem. 50 And the God of their fathers sent by his messenger to
|
|
reclame them, for that he would spare them, and his tabernacle. 51 But
|
|
they scorned at his messengers: and in the day that our Lord spake to
|
|
them, they were mocking his prophetes. 52 Who was moued euen vnto wrath
|
|
vpon his nation for their impietie, and commanded the kinges of the
|
|
Chaldees to come vp. 53 These slewe their yong men with the sword, round
|
|
about their holie temple, and spared not yong man, and old man, and
|
|
virgin, and youth: 54 but al were deliuered into their handes: & taking
|
|
al the sacred vessels of our Lord, and the kinges treasures, they caried
|
|
them into Babylon, 55 and burnt the house of our Lord, and threwe downe
|
|
the walles of Ierusalem: and the towres therof they burnt with fire,
|
|
56 and consumed al their honorable thinges, and brought them to naught,
|
|
and those that were left of the sword, they led into Babylon. 57 And
|
|
they were his seruants vntil the Persians reigned in the fulfilling of
|
|
the word of our Lord by the mouth of Ieremie: (Jer 25:12 / Jer 29:10 /
|
|
Dan 9:2) 58 as long as the land quietly kept her sabbathes, al the time
|
|
of her desolation she sabbathized in the application of seuentie yeares.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. II.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cyrus king of Persia permitteth the Iewes to returne into their countrie:
|
|
10. and deliuereth to them the holie vessels, which Nabuchodonosor had
|
|
taken from the temple. 16. Certaine aduersaries writing to king
|
|
Artaxerxes, hinder those that would repayre the ruines of Ierusalem.
|
|
|
|
CYRVS king of the Persians reigning for the accomplishment of the word of
|
|
our Lord by the mouth of Ieremie, (2 Par 36:22 / 1 Esd 1:1 / 1 Esd 6:3 /
|
|
Jer 25:12 / Jer 29:10 / Dan 9:2) 2 our Lord raysed vp the spirit of Cyrus
|
|
king of the Persians, and he proclaymed in al his kingdomes, and that by
|
|
writing, 3 saying: Thus sayth Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord of
|
|
Israel, the high Lord, hath made me king ouer the whole earth. 4 and
|
|
hath signified to me to build him a house in Ierusalem, which is in
|
|
Iurie. 5 If there be any of your kinred, his Lord goe vp with him into
|
|
Ierusalem. 6 Whosoeuer therefore dwel about the places, let them helpe
|
|
them that are in the same place, in gold and siluer, 7 in giftes, with
|
|
horses, and beastes, and with other thinges which by vowes are added into
|
|
the temple of our Lord, which is in Ierusalem. 8 And the princes of the
|
|
tribes, of the villages and of Iurie, of the tribe of Beniamin, & the
|
|
Priestes, and the Leuites standing vp, whom our Lord moued to goe vp, and
|
|
to build the house of our Lord which is in Ierusalem, and they that were
|
|
round about them, 9 did helpe them with al their gold and siluer, and
|
|
beastes, and manie whose minde was stirred vp, with many vowes. 10 And
|
|
Cyrus the king brought forth the sacred vessel of our Lord, which
|
|
Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon transported out of Ierusalem, and
|
|
consecrated them to his Idol. 11 And Cyrus the king of Persians bringing
|
|
them forth, deliuered them to Mithridatus, who was ouer his treasures.
|
|
12 And by him they were deliuered to Salmanasar president of Iurie.
|
|
13 And of these this was the number: Cuppes for libamentes of siluer two
|
|
thousand foure hundred, basens of siluer thirtie: phials of gold
|
|
thirtie, also of siluer two thousand foure hundred: and other vessels a
|
|
thousand. 14 and al the vessels of gold and siluer, were fiue thousand
|
|
eight hundred sixtie. 15 And they were numbered to Salmanasar together
|
|
with them, that came out of the captiuite of Babylon into Ierusalem.
|
|
16 But in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, there wrote to
|
|
him of them that dwelt in Iurie and Ierusalem, Balsamus, and Mithridatus,
|
|
and Sabellius, and Rathimus, Balthemus, Sabellius scribe, and the rest
|
|
dweling in Samaria, and other places the epistle folowing to king
|
|
Artaxerxes. (1 Esd 4:7) 17 SIR, thy seruantes Rathimus ouer
|
|
occurrentes, and Sabellius the scribe, and the other iudges of thy court
|
|
in Caelesyria, and Phenice. 18 And now be it knowen to our Lord the
|
|
king, that Iewes came vp from you to vs, coming into Ierusalem a
|
|
rebellious, & very naughty citie, do build the fornaces thereof, and set
|
|
vp the walles, and rayse the temple. 19 And if this citie, and the
|
|
walles shal be finished, they wil not onlie not abyde to pay tributes,
|
|
but also wil resist the kinges. 20 And because that is in doing about
|
|
the temple, we thought it should doe wel not to neglect this same thing:
|
|
21 but to make it knowen to our Lord the king, that if it shal seme good,
|
|
o king it may be sought in the bookes of thy fathers, 22 and thou shalt
|
|
find in the recordes, thinges writen of these, and thou shalt know that
|
|
this citie hath bene rebellious, and trubling kinges, and cities, 23 and
|
|
the Iewes rebelles, & making battels in it from time out of mind, for the
|
|
which cause this citie was made desolate. 24 Now therfore we doe thee to
|
|
vnderstand, Lord king, that if this citie shal be built, and the walles
|
|
therof shal be erected, there wil be no comming downe for thee into
|
|
Caelesyria, & Phenice. 25 Then wrote the king to Rathimus, the writer of
|
|
the occurrentes, and to Balthemus, and to Sabellius the scribe, and to
|
|
the rest ioyned with them, and to the dwellers in Syria, and Phenice, as
|
|
foloweth: 26 I haue read the epistle that you sent me. I commanded
|
|
therfore search to be made, & it was found that the same citie is from
|
|
the beginning rebellious to kinges, 27 and the men rebelles, and making
|
|
battels in it, & there were most valient kinges ruling in Ierusalem, and
|
|
exacting tributes in Caelesyria, & Phenice. 28 Now therfore I haue geuen
|
|
commandment to forbid those men to build the citie, and to stay them that
|
|
nothing be done more then is: 29 and that they proceeded not farder,
|
|
wherof are euils, so that there may be truble brougt vpon the kinges.
|
|
30 Then these things being read which were writen of king Artaxerxes,
|
|
Rathimus, and Sabellius the scribe, and they that were apointed with them
|
|
ioyning together in hast came to Ierusalem with a troupe of horsemen, and
|
|
multitude, & companie: 31 and they begane to forbid the builders, and
|
|
they ceased from building of the temple in Ierusalem, til in the second
|
|
yeare of the reigne of Darius king of the Persians.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. III.
|
|
|
|
|
|
After a solemne supper made to al the court, and chief princes, king
|
|
Darius sleeping: 4. three esquires of the bodie keeping watch, proposed
|
|
the question: 10. VVhether wine, or a King, or wemen, or the truth doth
|
|
excel? 17. The first prayseth wine.
|
|
|
|
KING Darius made a great supper to al his domestical seruantes, and to al
|
|
the magistrates of Media and Persia, 2 and to al that were purple, and to
|
|
the praetors, and counsuls, and liuetenantes vnder him from India vnto
|
|
AEthiopia, an hundred twentie seuen prouinces. 3 And when they had eaten
|
|
and drunken, and returned ful, then Darius went vp into his chamber, and
|
|
slept, and awaked. 4 Then those three youngmen kepers of his bodie,
|
|
which garded the kings bodie, sayd one to an other; 5 Let euerie one of
|
|
vs say a word that may excel: & whose word soeuer shal appeare wiser
|
|
then the others, to him wil king Darius geue great giftes, 6 to be
|
|
couered with purple, & to drinke in gold, and to sleepe vpon gold, & a
|
|
chariote with a bridle of gold, & a bonet of silke, and a cheyne about
|
|
his necke: 7 and he shal sit in the second place next Darius for his
|
|
wisdome. And he shal be called the cosin of Darius. 8 Then euerie one
|
|
writing his word signed it, and they put it vnder the pillow of Darius
|
|
the king, 9 and they sayd. When the king shal rise, we wil geue him our
|
|
writinges: and which soeuer of the three the king shal iudge, and the
|
|
magistrates of Persia, that his word is the wiser, to him shal the
|
|
victorie be geuen as is writen. 10 One wrote: Wine is strong. 11 An
|
|
other wrote, a King is stronger. 12 The third wrote, Wemen are more
|
|
strong: but aboue al thinges truth ouercometh. 13 And when the king was
|
|
risen, they tooke their writinges, and gaue him, and he read. 14 And
|
|
sending he called al the Magistrates of Persians, and the Medes, and them
|
|
that weare purple, and the pretors, and the ouerseers; 15 and they sate
|
|
in the councel: and the writinges were read before them. 16 And he
|
|
sayd: Cal the youngmen, and they shal declare their owne wordes. And
|
|
they were called, and went in. 17 And he sayd to them: Declare vnto vs
|
|
concerning these thinges which are writen. And the first began, he that
|
|
had spoken of the strength of wine, 18 and sayd: O ye men, how doth wine
|
|
preuaile ouer al men that drinke! it seduceth the minde. 19 And also
|
|
the mind of king and orphane it maketh vaine. Also of the bondman and
|
|
the free, of the rich man and the poore, 20 and euerie mind it turneth
|
|
into securitie and pleasantnes, and it remembreth not any sorow and
|
|
dewtie, 21 and al hartes it maketh honest, and it remembreth not king,
|
|
nor magistrate, and it maketh a man speake al thinges by talentes.
|
|
22 And when they haue drunke, they remember not frendship, nor
|
|
brotherhood: yea and not long after they take swordes. 23 And when they
|
|
are recouered and risen from the wine, they remember not what they haue
|
|
done. 24 O ye men, doth not wine excel? who thinketh to doe so? And
|
|
hauing sayd this, he held his peace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. IIII.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The second prayseth the excellencie of a king: 13. The third (which is
|
|
Zorobabel) commendeth wemen: 33. but preferreth truth aboue al.
|
|
41. VVhich is so approued, and he is rewarded. 42. The king moreouer at
|
|
his request restoreth the holie vessels of the temple, and granteth
|
|
meanes to build the citie of Ierusalem, and the temple.
|
|
|
|
AND the next began to speake, he that spake of the strength of a king.
|
|
2 O ye men doe not the men excel, which obteyne land and sea, and al
|
|
thinges that are in them? 3 But a king excelleth aboue al thinges, and
|
|
hath dominion ouer them: and euerie thing whatsoeuer he shal say to
|
|
them, they doe. 4 And if he send them to warryers, they goe, and throw
|
|
downe mountaines, and the walles, and towers. 5 They kil, and are
|
|
killed: and the kinges word they transgresse not. For if they shal
|
|
ouercome, they bring to the king al thinges whatsoeuer they haue taken
|
|
for a praye. 6 In like maner also al others, for so many as are not
|
|
souldiars, nor fight, but til the ground: when they shal reape, againe
|
|
they bring tributes to the king. 7 And he being one onlie if he say:
|
|
Kil ye, they kil: say he: forgeue, the forgeue. 8 say he: strike:
|
|
they strike: say he, destroy, they destroy: say he build, they build.
|
|
9 say he, cut downe, they cut downe, say he plant, they plant: 10 and al
|
|
the people, & potestates here him, and beside this he sitteth downe, and
|
|
drinketh, and sleepeth. 11 And others gard him round about, and can not
|
|
goe euerie one, and doe their owne workes, but at a word are obedient to
|
|
him. 12 O ye men, how doth not a king excel that is so renowmed? And he
|
|
held his peace. 13 The third that spake of wemen and truth, this is
|
|
Zorobabel, began to speake. 14 O ye men, not the great king, & many men,
|
|
neither is it wine that dothe excel. Who is it then that hath the
|
|
dominion of them? 15 Haue not wemen brought forth the king, and al the
|
|
people, that ruleth ouer land & sea: 16 and were they not borne of them,
|
|
and did not they bring vp them which planted the vineyardes, whereof wine
|
|
is made? 17 And they make the garmentes of al men, & they doe honor to
|
|
al men, and men can not be separed from wemen. 18 If they haue gathered
|
|
gold and siluer, and euerie beutiful thing, & see a woman comelie and
|
|
fayre, 19 leauing al these thinges they fixe their looke vpon her, & with
|
|
open mouth beholde her, and allure her more then gold and siluer, and
|
|
euerie precious thing. 20 Man forsaketh his father that brought him vp,
|
|
and his countrie, and ioyneth himself to a woman. 21 And with a woman he
|
|
refresheth his soul: and neither doth he remember father, nor mother,
|
|
nor countrie. 22 And hereby you must know that wemen rule ouer you. Are
|
|
you not sorie? 23 And a man taketh his sword, & goeth into the way to
|
|
commit theftes and murders, & to sayle seas & riuers, 24 and seeth a
|
|
lyon, and goeth in darkenes: and when he hath committed theft, and
|
|
fraude, and spoyles, he bringeth it to his beloued. 25 And againe, man
|
|
loueth his wife more then father or mother. 26 And many haue become
|
|
madde for their wiues: and haue been made bondmen for them: 27 and many
|
|
haue perished and bene slayne, and haue sinned for wemen. 28 And now
|
|
beleue me, that the king is great in his powre: because al countries are
|
|
afrayd to touch him. 29 Neuertheles I saw Apemes the daughter of Bezaces
|
|
the concubine of a meruelous king, sitting by the king at his right hand,
|
|
30 and taking of the crowne from his head, and putting it vpon her self,
|
|
and with the palme of her left hand she stroke the king. 31 And beside
|
|
these thinges he with open mouth beheld her: and if she smiled he
|
|
laugheth, and if she be angrie with him, he flattereth, til he be
|
|
reconciled to her fauour. 32 O ye men, why are not wemen stronger?
|
|
Great is the earth, and high is the heauen: who doeth these thinges?
|
|
33 And then the king and they that weare purple looked one vpon an other.
|
|
And he began to speake of truth. 34 O ye men, are not wemen strong? The
|
|
earth is great and heauen is high: & the swift course of the sunne
|
|
turneth the heauen round into his place in one day. 35 Is not he
|
|
magnifical that doth these thinges, and the truth great, and stronger
|
|
aboue al thinges? 36 Al the earth calleth vpon the truth, heauen also
|
|
blesseth it, and al workes are moued, and tremble at it, and there is not
|
|
any thing with it vniust. 37 Wine is vniust, the king is vniust, wemen
|
|
are vniust, al the sonnes of men are vniust, and al their workes are
|
|
vniust, and in them is not truth, and they shal perish in their
|
|
iniquitie: 38 and truth abydeth, and groweth strong for euer, and
|
|
liueth, and preuayleth for euer and euer. 39 Neither is there with it
|
|
acception of persons, nor differences: but the thinges that are iust it
|
|
doth to al men, to the vniust and malignant, and al men are wel pleased
|
|
in the workes thereof. 40 And there is no vniust thing in the iudgement
|
|
therof, but strength, and reigne, and power, and maiestie of worldes.
|
|
Blessed be the God of truth. 41 And he left speaking. And al the people
|
|
cryed, and sayd: Great is truth and it preuaileth. 42 Then the king
|
|
sayd to him: Aske, if thou wilt any more, then the thinges that are
|
|
writen, and I wil geue it thee, according as thou art found wiser then
|
|
thy neighbours, & thou shalt sitte next to me, and shalt be called my
|
|
cosin. 43 Then sayd he to the king: Be midful of thy vow, which thou
|
|
hast vowed, to build Ierusalem in the day that thou didst receiue the
|
|
kingdom: 44 and to send backe al the vessels that were taken out of
|
|
Ierusalem, which Cyrus separated, when he sacked Babylon, and would haue
|
|
sent them backe thither. 45 And thou hast vowed to build the temple,
|
|
which the Idumeians burnt, when Iurie was destroyed of the Chaldees.
|
|
46 And now this is that which I aske Lord, & which I desire, this is the
|
|
maiestie which I desire of thee, that thou performe the vowe which thou
|
|
hast vowed to the king of heauen by thy mouth. 47 Then Darius the king
|
|
rising vp, kissed him: and wrote letters to al the officers, and
|
|
ouerseers, and them that weare purple, that they should conduct him, and
|
|
them that were with him, al going vp to build Ierusalem. 48 And to al
|
|
the ouerseers that were in Syria, and Phoenice, and Libanus he wrote
|
|
letters, that they should draw Ceder trees from Libanus into Ierusalem,
|
|
to build the citie with them. 49 And he wrote to al the Iewes which went
|
|
vp from the kingdome into Iurie for libertie, euerie mightie man, &
|
|
magistrate, & ouerseer not to come vpon them to their gates, 50 and al
|
|
the countrie which they had obtayned to be free vnto them, & that the
|
|
Idumeians leaue the castels which they possesse of the Iewes, 51 and to
|
|
the building of the temple to geue euerie yeare twentie talentes vntil it
|
|
were throughly built: 52 & vpon the altars to burne holocausts dayly, as
|
|
they haue commandment: to offer other ten talentes euery yeare, 53 & to
|
|
al that go forth from Babylon to build the citie, that there should be
|
|
libertie as wel to them as to their children, and to al the priestes that
|
|
goe before. 54 And he wrote a quantitie also, and commanded the sacred
|
|
stole to be geuen, wherein they should serue; 55 and to the Leuites he
|
|
wrote to geue preceptes, vntil the day wherein the house shal be
|
|
finished, and Ierusalem builded. 56 And to al that kepe the citie, he
|
|
wrote portions and wages to be geuen to them. 57 And he sent away al the
|
|
vessels whatsoeuer Cyrus had separated from Babylon, and al thinges
|
|
whatsoeuer Cyrus sayd, he also commanded to be donne, and to be sent to
|
|
Ierusalem. 58 And when that yong man was gone forth, lyfting vp his face
|
|
toward Ierusalem, he blessed the king of heauen, 59 & sayd: Of thee is
|
|
victorie, and of thee is wisdome, and glorie. And I am thy seruant.
|
|
60 Blessed art thou which hast geuen me wisedom, and I wil confesse to
|
|
thee Lord God of our fathers. 61 And he toke the letters, and went into
|
|
Babylon. And he came, and told al his brethren that were in Babylon:
|
|
62 and they blessed the God of their fathers, because he gaue them
|
|
remission and refreshing, 63 that they should goe vp and build Ierusalem,
|
|
and the temple wherein his name was renowmed, and they reioyced with
|
|
musike and ioy seuen dayes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. V.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Those that returned from captiuitie of Bablyon into Ierusalem, and Iurie,
|
|
are recited. 47. They restore Gods seruice: 66. but are hindered from
|
|
building.
|
|
|
|
AFTER these thinges there were chosen, to goe vp the princes of townes by
|
|
their houses, and tribes, and their wiues, and their sonnes and
|
|
daughters, and their men seruantes and wemen seruantes, and their cattel.
|
|
(1 Esd 2:1) 2 And Darius the king sent together with them a thousand
|
|
horsmen, til they conducted them to Ierusalem with peace, & with musicke
|
|
& with tymbrels, and shaulmes: 3 and al the brethren were playing, and
|
|
he made them goe vp together with them. 4 And these are the names of the
|
|
men that went vp by their townes according to tribes, and according to
|
|
the portion of their principalitie. 5 Priestes: The children of
|
|
Phinees, the sonne of Aaron, Iesus the sonne of Iosedec, Ioacim the sonne
|
|
of Zorobabel, the sonne of Salatheil of the house of Dauid, of the
|
|
progenie of Phares, of the tribe of Iuda. 6 Who spake vnder Darius king
|
|
of the Persians the meruelous wordes in the second yeare of his reigne
|
|
the first moneth Nisan. 7 And they are these, that of Iurie came vp from
|
|
the captiuitie of the transmigration, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of
|
|
Babylon transported into Babylon, and returned into Ierusalem.
|
|
(1 Esd 2:2 / 2 Esd 7:6) 8 And euerie one sought a part of Iurie
|
|
according to his owne citie, they that came with Zorobabel, and Iesus,
|
|
Nehemias, Areores, Elimeo, Emmanio, Mardocheo, Beelsuro, Mechpsatochor,
|
|
Olioro, Emonia one of their princes. 9 And the number of them of the
|
|
same nation, of their rulers the children of Phares, two thousand an
|
|
hundred seuentie two: 10 The children of Ares, three thousand an hundred
|
|
fiftie seuen: 11 The children of Phoemo, an hundred fourtie two: in the
|
|
children of Iesus and Ioabes, a thousand three hundred two: 12 the
|
|
children of Demu, two thousand foure hundred seuentie: the children of
|
|
Choraba, two hundred fiue: the children of Banica, an hundred sixtie
|
|
eight, 13 the children of Bebech, foure hundred three: the children of
|
|
Archad, foure hundred twentie seuen: 14 the children of Cham, thirtie
|
|
seuen: the children of Zoroar, two thousand sixtie seuen: the children
|
|
of Adin, foure hundred sixtie one: 15 the children of Aderectes, an
|
|
hundred eight: the children of Ciaso and Zelas an hundred seuen: the
|
|
children of Azoroc, foure hundred thirtie nine: 16 the children of
|
|
Iedarbone, an hundred thirtie two: the children of Ananias, an hundred
|
|
thirtie: the children of Asoni, ninetie: 17 the children of Marsar,
|
|
foure hundred twentie two: the children of Zabarus, nintie fiue: the
|
|
children of Sepolemon, an hundred twentie three: 18 the children of
|
|
Nepopas, fiftie fiue: the children of Hechanatus, an hundred fiftie
|
|
eight: the children of Cebethamus, an hundred thirite two: 19 the
|
|
children of Crearpatros, which are of Enocadie and Modia, foure hundred
|
|
twentie three: they of Gramas and Babea, an hundred twentie one.
|
|
20 They of Besselon, and Ceagge, sixtie fiue: they of Bastraro, an
|
|
hundred twentie two: 21 they of Bechenobes, fiftie fiue: the children
|
|
of Liptis, an hundred fiftie fiue: the children of Labonni, three
|
|
hundred fiftie seuen: 22 the children of Sichem, three hundred seuentie:
|
|
the children of Suadon, & Cliomus, three hundred seuentie eight: 23 the
|
|
children of Ericus, two thousand an hundred fourtie fiue: the children
|
|
of Anaas, three hundred seuentie. The priestes: 24 the children of
|
|
Ieddus, the sonne of Euther, the sonne of Eliasib, three hundred seuenty
|
|
two: the children of Emerus, two hundred fiftie two: 25 the children of
|
|
Phasurius, three hundred fiftie seuen the children of Caree, two hundred
|
|
twentie seuen. 26 The Leuites: The children of Iesus in Caduhel, and
|
|
Bamis, and Serebias, and Edias, seuentie foure, the whole number from the
|
|
twelfth yeare, thiritie thousand foure hundred sixtie two. 27 The
|
|
sonnes, and daughters, and wiues, the whole number, fourtie thousand two
|
|
hundred fourtie two. 28 The children of the Priestes, that sang in the
|
|
temple: the children of Asaph, an hundred twentie eight. 29 And the
|
|
porters: the children of Esmeni, the children of Azer, the children of
|
|
Amon, the children of Accuba, of Topa, the children of Tobi, al an
|
|
hundred thirtie nine. 30 Priestes that serued in the temple: the
|
|
children of Sel, the children of Gaspha, the children of Tobloch, the
|
|
children of Caria, the children of Su, the children of Hellu, the
|
|
children of Lobana, the children of Armacha, the children of Accub, the
|
|
children of Vtha, the children of Cetha, the children of Aggab, the
|
|
children of Obai, the children of Anani, the children of Canna, the
|
|
children of Geddu, 31 the children or An, the children of Radin, the
|
|
children of Desanon, the children of Nachoba, the children of Caseba, the
|
|
children of Gaze, the children of Ozui, the children of Sinone, the
|
|
children of Attre, the children of Hasten, the children of Asiana, the
|
|
children of Manei, the children of Nasissim, the children of Acusu, the
|
|
children of Agista, the children of Azui, the children of Fauon, the
|
|
children of Phasalon, 32 the children of Meedda, the children of Phusa,
|
|
the children of Caree, the children of Burcus, the children of Saree, the
|
|
children of Coesi, the children of Nasith, the children of Agisti, the
|
|
children of Pedon. 33 Salomon his children, the children of Asophot, the
|
|
children of Phasida, the children of Celi, the children of Dedon, the
|
|
children of Gaddehel, the children of Sephegi, 34 the children of Aggia,
|
|
the children of Sachareth, the children of Sabathen, the children of
|
|
Caroneth, the children of Malsith, the children of Ama, the children of
|
|
Sasus, the children of Addus, the children of Suba, the children of Eura,
|
|
the children of Rahotis, the children of Phasphat, the children of
|
|
Malmon. 35 Al that serued the sanctuarie, and the seruantes of Salomon,
|
|
foure hundred eightie two. 36 These are the children that came vp from
|
|
Thelmela, Thelharsa: the princes of them, Carmellam, and Careth: 37 and
|
|
they could not declare their cities, and their progenies, how they are of
|
|
Israel. The children of Dalari, the children of Tubal, the children of
|
|
Nechodaici, 38 of the Priestes, that did the function of priesthood: and
|
|
there were not found the children of Obia, the children of Achisos, the
|
|
children of Addin, who tooke a wife of the daughters of Pargeleu: 39 and
|
|
they were called by his name, and the writing of the kinred of these was
|
|
sought in the register, and it was not found, and they were forbid to doe
|
|
the function of priesthood. 40 And Nehemias and Astharus sayd to them:
|
|
Let not the holie thinges be participated, til there arise a hiegh priest
|
|
lerned for declaration and truth. 41 And al Israel was beside men
|
|
seruantes, and wemen seruantes, fourtie two thousand three hundred
|
|
fourtie. 42 Their men seruantes and wemen seruantes, seuen thousand
|
|
three hundred thirtie seuen. Singing men and singing wemen, two hundred
|
|
three score fiue. 43 Camels, foure hundred thiritie fiue. Horses, seuen
|
|
thousand thirtie six. Mules, two hundred thousand fourtie fiue. Beastes
|
|
vnder yoke, fiue thousand twentie fiue. 44 And of the rulers themselues
|
|
by their villages, when they came into the temple of God, which was in
|
|
Ierusalem, to renew and raise vp the temple in his place, according to
|
|
their power: 45 and to be geuen into the temple to the sacred treasure
|
|
of the workes, of gold twelue thousand mnas, and fiue thousand mnas of
|
|
siluer, and stoles for Priestes an hundred. 46 And the Priestes and
|
|
Leuites, and they that came out of the people, dwelt in Ierusalem, and in
|
|
the countrie, and the sacred singingmen, and porters, and al Israel in
|
|
their countries. 47 And the seuenth moneth being at hand, and when the
|
|
children of Israel were euerie man in his owne affayres, they came
|
|
together with one minde into the court, that was before the east gate.
|
|
(1 Esd 3:1) 48 And Iesus the sonne of Iosedec, and his brethren the
|
|
priestes: Zorobabel the sonne of Salathiel, and his brethren standing
|
|
vp, prepared an altar, 49 that they might offer vpon it holocaustes,
|
|
according to the thinges that are writen in the booke of Moyses the man
|
|
of God. 50 And there assembled there of other nations of the land, and
|
|
al the nations of the land erected the altar in his place, and they
|
|
offered hostes, and morning holocaustes to our Lord. 51 And they
|
|
celebrated the feast of Tabernacles, and the solemne day, as it is
|
|
commanded in the lawe: and sacrifices dayly, as it behoued: 52 and
|
|
after these the appointed oblations, and the hostes of the sabbathes, and
|
|
of the newmoones, and of al the solemne sanctified dayes. 53 And as
|
|
manie as vowed to our Lord from the new moone of the seuenth moneth,
|
|
began to offer the hostes to God, and the temple of our Lord was not yet
|
|
built. 54 And they gaue monie to the masones and workemen, and drinke
|
|
and victuals with ioy. 55 And they gaue cartes to the Sidonians, and
|
|
Tyrianes, that with them they should carie ceder beames from Lybanus, and
|
|
should make boates in the hauen Ioppe, according to the decre that was
|
|
writen for them by Cyrus king of the Persians. 56 And in the second
|
|
yeare coming into the temple of God in Ierusalem, in the second moneth
|
|
began Zorobel the sonne of Salathiel, and Iosue the sonne of Iosedec, and
|
|
their bretheren, and the Priestes and Leuites, and al that were come from
|
|
the captiuitie into Ierusalem. 57 and they founded the temple of God in
|
|
the newmoone of the second moneth of the second yeare, after that they
|
|
came into Iurie and Ierusalem. 58 And they appoynted the Leuites from
|
|
twentie yeares, ouer the workes of our Lord: and Iesus stood and his
|
|
sonne, and the bretheren, al Leuites ioyning together, & executors of the
|
|
lawe, doing the workes in the house of our Lord. 59 And al the Priestes
|
|
stood, hauing stoles with trumpettes: 60 and Leuites the children of
|
|
Asaph, hauing cymbals together praysing our Lord, and blessing him
|
|
according to Dauid king of Israel. 61 And they song a song to our Lord,
|
|
because his sweetenes, and honour is for euer vpon Israel. 62 And al the
|
|
people sounded with trumpet, and cried out with a loud voice, praysing
|
|
our Lord in the raysing vp of the house of our Lord. 63 And there came
|
|
of the Priestes and Leuites, and presidentes by their villages the more
|
|
ancientes, which had sene the old house: 64 and to the building of this
|
|
with crie and great lamentation, and manie with trumpettes and great ioy:
|
|
65 in so much that the people heard not the trumpettes for the
|
|
lamentatinon of the people. For the multitude was sounding with
|
|
trumpettes magnifically, so that it was heard far of. 66 And the enimes
|
|
of the tribe of Iuda, and Beniamin heard it, and they came to knowe what
|
|
the voyce of the trumpettes was: 67 And they knew that they which were
|
|
of the captiuitie doe build a temple to our Lord the God of Israel.
|
|
68 And coming to Zorobabel & Iesus, the ouerseers of the villages, they
|
|
sayd to them: We will build together with you: (1 Esd 4:2) 69 For we
|
|
haue in like maner heard your Lord, & we walke like from the dayes of
|
|
Asbazareth king of the Assyrians, who transported vs hither. 70 And
|
|
Zorobabel, and Iesus, & the princes of the villages of Israel, sayd to
|
|
them: 71 It is not for vs and you to build the house of our God. For we
|
|
alone wil build to our Lord of Israel according as Cyrus the king of the
|
|
Persians hath commanded. 72 And the nations of the land lying vpon them
|
|
that are in Iurie, and lifting vp the worke of the building, and bringing
|
|
ambushmentes, and peoples, prohibited them to build. 73 and practising
|
|
assaultes hindred them, that the building might not be finished al the
|
|
time of the life of king Cyrus, and they differred the building for two
|
|
yeares vntil the reigne of Darius.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. VI.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Iewes by assistance of king Darius build vp the Temple in Ierusalem.
|
|
|
|
AND in the second yeare of the reigne of Darius prophecied Aggeus, and
|
|
Zacharias the sonne of Addo the prophet to Iurie and Ierusalem in the
|
|
name of God of Israel vpon them. (1 Esd 5:1) 2 Then Zorobabel the sonne
|
|
of Salathiel standing vp, and Iesus the sonne of Iosedec begane to build
|
|
the house of our Lord, which is in Ierusalem. 3 When the prophetes of
|
|
our Lord were present with them, and did helpe them. At the same time
|
|
came Sisennes to them, the deputie of Syria, and of Phenice, and
|
|
Satrabuzanes, and his felowes: 4 and they sayd to them: By whose
|
|
commandment, build ye this house, and this roofe, and perfite al other
|
|
thinges? And who are the workmen that build these thinges? 5 And the
|
|
ancientes of the Iewes, which were left of the captiuitie by our Lord,
|
|
had fauoure when the visitation was made vpon them. 6 And they were not
|
|
hindered from building, til it was signified to Darius of al these
|
|
thinges, and answer was receiued. 7 A copie of the letter, which they
|
|
sent to Darius. SISENNES deputie of Syria and Phenice, and Satrabuzanes,
|
|
and his felowes in Syria and Phenice presidents, to king Darius
|
|
greetings: 8 Be al thinges knowen to our Lord the king, that when we
|
|
came into the countrie of Iurie, and had entered into Ierusalem, we found
|
|
them building the great house of God. 9 And the temple of polished
|
|
stones, and of great and precious matter in the walles. 10 And the
|
|
workes to be a doing earnestly, and to succede, and prosper in their
|
|
handes, and in al glorie to be perfited most diligently. 11 Then we
|
|
asked the ancients saying, by whose permission build ye this house, &
|
|
found these workes? 12 And therfore we asked them, that we might doe
|
|
thee to know the men & the ouerseers, and we required of them a rolle of
|
|
the names of the ouerseers. 13 But they answered vs saying: We are the
|
|
seruantes of the Lord, which made heauen and earth. 14 And this house
|
|
was built these manie yeares past by a king of Israel, that was great and
|
|
most valiant, and was finished. 15 And because our fathers were
|
|
prouoking to wrath, and sinned agaynst God of Israel, he deliuered them
|
|
into the handes of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, king of the
|
|
Chaldees. 16 And throwing downe this house they burnt it, and they led
|
|
the people captiue into Babylon. 17 In the first yeare when Cyrus
|
|
reigned the king of Babylon, Cyrus the king wrote to build this house.
|
|
18 And these sacred vessels of gold and siluer which Nabuchodonosor had
|
|
taken out of the house which is in Ierusalem, and had consecrated them in
|
|
his owne temple, Cyrus brought them forth agayne out of the temple which
|
|
was in Babylon, and they were deliuered to Zorobabel, & to Salmanasar the
|
|
deputie. 19 And it was commanded them that they should offer these
|
|
vessels, & lay them vp in the temple, which was in Ierusalem, and build
|
|
the temple of God itself in his place. 20 Then did Salmanasar lay the
|
|
fundations of the house of our Lord, which is in Ierusalem: and from
|
|
that time vntil now it is a building, and is not accomplished. 21 Now
|
|
therfore if thou thincke it good o king, let it be sought in the kings
|
|
liberaries of Cyrus the king, which are in Babylon: 22 and if it shal be
|
|
found, that the building of the house of the Lord, which is in Ierusalem,
|
|
begane by the counsel of Cyrus the king, and it be thought good of our
|
|
Lord the king, let him write to vs of these thinges. 23 Then Darius the
|
|
king commanded search to be made in the libraries: and there was found
|
|
in Ecbatana a towne that is in the countrie of Media, one place wherin
|
|
were writen these wordes: (1 Esd 6:1) 24 IN THE FIRST YEARE of the
|
|
reigne of Cyrus, king Cyrus commanded to build the house of the Lord
|
|
which is in Ierusalem, where they did burne incense with dayly fire,
|
|
25 the height wherof shal be of ten cubits, & the bredth three score
|
|
cubites, foure square with three stones polished, and with a loft galerie
|
|
of wood of the same countrie, & one new galerie, and the expenses to be
|
|
geuen out of the house of Cyrus the king. 26 And the sacred vesseles of
|
|
the house of the Lord, as wel of gold as of siluer, which Nabuchodonosor
|
|
tooke from the house of our Lord, which is in Ierusalem where they were
|
|
layed, that they be put there: 27 And he commanded Sisennes the deputie
|
|
of Syria & Phoenice, and Satrabuzanes, and his felowes & them that were
|
|
ordayned presidentes in Syria & Phoenice, that they should refraine
|
|
themselues from that place. 28 And I also haue geuen commandment to
|
|
build it wholly: and haue prouided, that they helpe them, which are of
|
|
the captiuitie of the Iewes, til the temple of the house of the Lord be
|
|
accomplished. 29 And from the vexation of the tributes of Coelesyria &
|
|
Phoenice, a quantitie to be geuen diligently to these men for the
|
|
sacrifice of the Lord, to Zorobabel the gouernour, for oxen, and rammes,
|
|
and lambes. 30 And in like maner corne also, and salt, and wine, and
|
|
oyle continually yeare by yeare, according as the priestes which are in
|
|
Ierusalem, haue prescribed to be spent dayly: 31 that libamentes may be
|
|
offered to the most high God for the king & his children, & that they may
|
|
pray for their life. 32 And that it be denounced, that whosoeuer shal
|
|
transgresse anie thing of these which are writen, or shal despise it, a
|
|
beame be taken of theyr owne, & they be hanged, & their goodes be
|
|
confiscate to the king. 33 Therfore the Lord also, whose name is
|
|
inuocated there, destroy euery king & nation, that shal extend their hand
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to hinder or to handle il the house of the Lord which is in Ierusalem.
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34 I Darius the king haue decreed that it be most diligently done
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according to these thinges.
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CHAP. VII.
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The house of God is finished, 7. and dedicated, 10. the feast of Pasch is
|
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also celebrated seuen dayes with Azimes.
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THEN Sisennes the deputie of Coelesyria, and Phaenice, and Satrabuzames,
|
|
and their felowes, obeying those thinges which were decreed of Darius the
|
|
king, (1 Esd 6:13) 2 applied the sacred workes most diligently, working
|
|
together with the ancientes of the Iewes, the princes of Syria. 3 And
|
|
the sacred workes prospered, Aggeus & Zacharias the prophetes
|
|
prophecying. 4 And they accomplished al thinges by the precept of our
|
|
Lord the God of Israel, and by the counsel of Cyrus, & Darius, and
|
|
Artaxerxes the king of the Persians. 5 And our house was a finishing
|
|
vntil the three and twentith day of the moneth of Adar, the sixth yeare
|
|
of Darius the king. 6 And the children of Israel, and the Priestes and
|
|
Leuites, and the rest that were of the captiuitie, which were added did
|
|
according to those thinges that are written in the booke of Moyses.
|
|
7 And they offered for the dedication of the temple of our Lord, oxen an
|
|
hundred, rammes two hundred, lambes foure hundred. 8 And kiddes for the
|
|
sinnes of al Israel, twelue, according to the number of the tribes of
|
|
Israel. 9 And the Priestes and Leuites stood clothed with stoles by
|
|
tribes, ouer al the workes of our Lord the God of Israel, according to
|
|
the booke of Moyses, and the porters at euerie gate. 10 And the children
|
|
of Israel, wih them that were of the captiuitie celebrated the phase of
|
|
the fourtenth moone of the first moneth, when the Priestes and Leuites
|
|
were sanctified. 11 Al the children of the captiuitie were not
|
|
sanctified together, because al the Leuites were sanctified together.
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12 And al the children of the captuitie immolated the phase, both for
|
|
their brethren the Priestes, and for them selues. 13 And the children of
|
|
Israel did eate, they that were of the captiuitie al that remayned apart
|
|
from al the abominations of the nations of the land seeking our Lord.
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14 And they celebrated the festiual day of Azymes seuen dayes feasting in
|
|
the sight of our Lord. 15 Because he turned the counsel of the king of
|
|
the Assirians toward them, to strengthen their handes to the workes of
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our Lord the God of Israel.
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CHAP. VIII.
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Esdras going from Babylon to Ierusalem, 9. carieth king Artaxerxes
|
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fauourable letters, 14. with licence to take gold, siluer, and al thinges
|
|
necessarie at their pleasure. 31. The chief men that goe with him are
|
|
recited. 51. He voweth a fast praying for good success in their iorney.
|
|
56. weigheth the gold and siluer, which he deliuereth to the Priestes,
|
|
and Leuites. 69. And seuerely admonisheth the people to repentance, for
|
|
their mariages made with infideles.
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AND after him when Artaxerxes king of the Persians reigned, came Esdras
|
|
the sonne of Azarias, the sonne of Helcias the sonne of Salome,
|
|
(1 Esd 7:1) 2 the sonne of Sadoc, the sonne of Achitob, the sonne of
|
|
Ameri, the sonne of Azahel, the sonne of Bocci, the sonne of Abisue, the
|
|
sonne of Phinees the sonne of Eleazar, the sonne of Aaron the first
|
|
priest. 3 This Esdras came vp from Babylon being scribe & wise in the
|
|
law of Moyses, which was geuen of our Lord the God of Israel to teach and
|
|
to doe. 4 And the king gaue him glorie, because he had found grace in al
|
|
dignitie and desire in his sight. 5 And there went vp with him of the
|
|
children of Israel, and the Priestes, and the Leuites, and the sacred
|
|
singers of the temple, and the porters, and the seuantes of the temple
|
|
into Ierusalem. 6 In the seuenth yeare when Artaxerxes reigned in the
|
|
fifth moneth, this is the seuenth yeare of his reigne, going forth of
|
|
Babylon in the newmoone of the fifth moneth, 7 they came to Ierusalem
|
|
according to his commandment, according to the prosperitie of their
|
|
iourney, which their Lord gaue them. 8 For in these Esdras had great
|
|
knowlege, that he would not pretermitte anie of those thinges, which were
|
|
according to the law, and the preceptes of our Lord, and in teaching al
|
|
Israel al iusticie and iudgement. 9 And they that wrote the writinges of
|
|
Araxerxes the king, coming deliuered the writing which was granted of
|
|
Artaxerxes the king to Esdras the Priest, & the reader of the law of our
|
|
Lord, the copie wherof here foloweth. 10 KING Artaxerxes to Esdras the
|
|
Priest, and reader of the law of the Lord, greeting. 11 I of curtesie
|
|
esteming it among benifites, haue commanded them that of their owne
|
|
accord are desirous of the nation of the Iewes, and of the Priestes and
|
|
Leuites, which are in my kingdom, to goe with thee into Ierusalem. 12 If
|
|
anie therfore desire to goe with thee, let them come together, and set
|
|
forward as it hath pleased me, and my seuen freindes my counselers:
|
|
13 that they may visite those thinges which are done touching Iurie and
|
|
Ierusalem, obseruing as thou hast in the law of the Lord. 14 And let
|
|
them carie the giftes to the Lord the God of Israel, which I haue vowed
|
|
and my freindes to Ierusalem, and al the gold and siluer, that shal be
|
|
found in the countrie of Babylon to the Lord in Ierusalem, with that,
|
|
15 which is geuen for the nation it self vnto the temple of their Lord
|
|
which is in Ierusalem: that this gold and siluer be gathered for oxen,
|
|
and rammes, and lambes, and kiddes, and for the thinges that are agreable
|
|
to these, 16 that they may offer hostes to the Lord vpon the altar of
|
|
their Lord, which is in Ierusalem. 17 And al thinges whatsoeuer thou
|
|
with thy brethren wilt doe with gold and siluer, doe it at thy pleasure
|
|
according to the precept of the Lord thy God. 18 And the sacred vessels,
|
|
which are geuen thee to the workes of the house of the Lord thy God,
|
|
which is in Ierusalem. 19 And other thinges whatsoeuer shal helpe thee
|
|
to the workes of the temple of thy God, thou shalt geue it out of the
|
|
kings treasure. 20 When thou with thy brethren wilt doe ought with gold
|
|
and siluer, doe according to the wil of the Lord. 21 And I king
|
|
Artaxerxes haue geuen commandment to the keepers of the treasure of Syria
|
|
and Phaenice, that what thinges soeuer Esdras the Priest and reader of
|
|
the law of the Lord, shal write for, they geue him vnto an hundred
|
|
talentes of siluer, likewise also of gold. 22 And vnto an hundred
|
|
measures of corne, & an hundred vessels of wine, and other thinges
|
|
whatsoeuer abound without taxing. 23 Let al thinges be done to the most
|
|
high God according to the law of God, lest perhaps there arise wrath in
|
|
the reigne of the king, and of his sonne, and his sonnes. 24 And to you
|
|
it is sayd, that vpon al the Priestes, and Leuites, and sacred singers,
|
|
and seruantes of the temple, & scribes of this temple 25 no tribute, nor
|
|
any other taxe be sette, and that no man haue auctoritie to obiect any
|
|
thing to them. 26 But thou Esdras according to the wisedom of God
|
|
appoynt iudges, and arbitrers in al Syria and Phaenice: and teach al
|
|
them that know no the law of thy God: 27 that whosoeuer shal transgresse
|
|
the law, they be diligently punished either with death, or with torment,
|
|
or els with a forfeite of money, or with banishment. 28 And Esdras the
|
|
scribe sayd: Blessed be the God of our fathers, which hath geuen this
|
|
wil into the kings hart, to glorifie his house, which is in Ierusalem.
|
|
29 And hath honoured me in the sight of the king, and of his counselers,
|
|
and freindes, and them that weare purple. 30 And I was made constant in
|
|
minde according to the ayde of our Lord my God, and gathered together of
|
|
Israel men, that should goe vp together with me. 31 And these are the
|
|
princes according to their kindredes, and seueral principalities of them
|
|
that came vp from Babylon the kingdom of Artaxerxes. (1 Esd 8:1) 32 Of
|
|
the children of Phares, Gerfomus: and of the children of Siemarith,
|
|
Amenus: of the children of Dauid, Acchus the sonne of Scecilia: 33 Of
|
|
the children of Phares, Zacharias, and with him returned an hundred
|
|
fiftie men. 34 Of the children of leader Moabilion, Zaraei, and with him
|
|
two hundred fiftie men: 35 Of the children of Zachues, Iechonias of
|
|
Zechoel, and with him two hundred fiftie men: 36 of the children of
|
|
Sala, Maasias of Gotholia, & with him seuentie men: 37 of the children
|
|
of Saphatia, Zarias of Michel, and with him eightie men: 38 of the
|
|
children of Iob, Abdias of Iehel, and with him two hundred twelue men:
|
|
39 of the children of Bania, Salimoth, the sonne of Iosaphia, and with
|
|
him an hundred sixtie men: 40 of the children of Beer, Zacharias Bebei,
|
|
and with him two hundred eight men: 41 of the children of Ezead, Ioannes
|
|
of Eccetan, and with him an hundred ten men: 42 of the children of
|
|
Adonicam, which were last, and these are their names, Eliphalam the sonne
|
|
of Gebel, and Semeias, and with him seuentie men. 43 And I gathered them
|
|
together to the riuer that is called Thia, and we camped there three
|
|
dayes, and vewed them againe. 44 And of the children of the Priestes and
|
|
Leuites I found not there. 45 And I sent to Eleazarus, and Eccelon, and
|
|
Masman, and Maloban, and Enaathan, and Samea, and Ioribum, Nathan,
|
|
Enuaugam, Zacharias, and Mosolam the leaders them selues, and that were
|
|
skilful. 46 And I sayd to them that they should come to Loddeus, who was
|
|
at the place of the treasurie. 47 And I commanded them to say to
|
|
Loddeus, and his brethren, and to them that were in the treasurie, that
|
|
they should send vs them that might doe the function of priesthood in the
|
|
house of the Lord our God. 48 And they brought vnto vs according to the
|
|
mightie hand of the Lord our God cunning men: of the children of Moholi,
|
|
the sonne of Leui, the sonne of Israel, Sebebia, & his sonnes and
|
|
brethren, which were eightene: 49 Asbia, and Amin of the sonnes of the
|
|
children of Chananeus, and their children twentie men. 50 And of them
|
|
that serued the temple, whom Dauid gaue, and the princes themselues to
|
|
the ministerie of the Leuites of them that serued the temple, two hundred
|
|
twentie. Al their names were signified in writings. 51 And I vowed
|
|
there a fast to the yong men in the sight of God, that I might aske of
|
|
him a good iourney for vs, and them that were with vs, and for the
|
|
children, and the cattel because of ambushementes. 52 For I was ashamed
|
|
to aske of the king footemen and horsemen in my companie, to guard vs,
|
|
against our aduersaries. 53 For we sayd to the king that the power of
|
|
our Lord wil be with them that seeke him with al affection. 54 And
|
|
agayne we besought the Lord our God according to these thinges: whom
|
|
also we had propicious, and we obteyned of our God. 55 And I separated
|
|
of the rulers of the people, and of the Priestes of the temple, twelue
|
|
men, and Sedebia, and Asanna, and with them of their brethren ten men.
|
|
56 And I weyed to them the gold and siluer, and the vessels of the house
|
|
of our God perteyning to the Priestes, which the king had geuen, and his
|
|
counselers, and the princes, and al Israel. 57 And when I had weyed it,
|
|
I deliuered of siluer an hundred fiftie talentes, and siluer vessels of
|
|
an hundred talentes, and of gold an hundred talentes. 58 And of vessels
|
|
of gold seuen score and twelue brasen vessels good of shyning brasse,
|
|
resembling the forme of gold. 59 And I sayd to them: You are also
|
|
sanctified to our Lord, and the vessels be holie, and the gold and siluer
|
|
is vowed to our Lord the God of our fathers. 60 Watch and keepe, til you
|
|
deliuer them to some of the rulers of the people, and to the Priestes,
|
|
and Leuites, and to the princes of the cities of Israel in Ierusalem, in
|
|
the treasurie of the house of our God. 61 And those Priestes and Leuites
|
|
that receiued the gold and siluer and vessels, brought it to Ierusalem
|
|
into the temple of our Lord. 62 And we went forward from the riuer Thia,
|
|
the twelfth day of the first moneth, til we entred into Ierusalem.
|
|
63 And when the third day was come, in the fourth day the gold being
|
|
weyed, and the siluer, was deliuered in the house of the Lord our God, to
|
|
Marimoth Priest the sonne of Iori. 64 And with him was Eleazar the sonne
|
|
of Phinees: and with them were Iosadus the sonne of Iesus, and Medias,
|
|
and Banni the sonne of a Leuite, by number and weight al thinges. 65 And
|
|
the weight of them was writen the same houre. 66 And they that came out
|
|
of the captiuitie, offered sacrifice to our Lord the God of Israel, oxen
|
|
twelue, for al Israel, rammes eightie six, 67 lambes seuentie two, bucke
|
|
goates for sinne twelue, and for health twelue kyne, al for the sacrifice
|
|
of our Lord. 68 And they read againe the preceptes of the king to the
|
|
kinges officers, and to the deputies of Coelesyria, and Phoenice: and
|
|
they honored the nation, and the temple of our Lord. 69 And these
|
|
thinges being finished, the rulers came to me, saying: The stocke of
|
|
Isreal, and the princes, and the Priestes, and the Leuites, (1 Esd 9:1)
|
|
70 and the strange people, and nations of the land haue not separated
|
|
their vncleannes from the Chananeites, and Hetheites, and Pherezeites,
|
|
and Iebuseites, and Moobites, & AEgyptians, and Idumeians. 71 For they
|
|
are ioyned to their daughters both themselues, and their sonnes: and the
|
|
holie sede is mingled with the strange nations of the earth, and the
|
|
rulers and magistrates were partakers of that iniquitie from the
|
|
beginning of the reigne it self. 72 And forthwith as I heard these
|
|
thinges, I rent my garmentes and sacred tunike: and tearing the heares
|
|
of my head, and my beard, I sate sorowful and heauie. 73 And there
|
|
assembled to me mourning vpon this iniquitie, as manie as were then moued
|
|
by the word of our Lord the God of Israel, and I sate sad vntil the
|
|
euening sacrifice. 74 And I rising vp from fasting, hauing my garmentes
|
|
rent and the sacred tunike, kneeling, and stretching forth my handes to
|
|
our Lord, 75 I sayd: Lord I am confounded, and ashamed before thy face,
|
|
76 for our sinnes are multiplied ouer our heades, and our iniquities are
|
|
exalted euen to heauen. 77 Because from the times of our fathers we are
|
|
in great sinne vnto this day. 78 And for the sinnes of vs, and of our
|
|
fathers we haue bene deliuered with our brethren, and with our Priestes
|
|
to the kinges of the earth, into sword and captiuitie, and spoile with
|
|
confusion vnto this present day. 79 And now what a great thing is this
|
|
that mercie hath happened to vs from thee o Lord God, & leaue thou vnto
|
|
vs a roote, and a name in the place of thy sanctification, 80 to discouer
|
|
our light in the house of the Lord our God, to geue vs meate in al the
|
|
time of our bondage. 81 And when we serued, we were not forsaken of the
|
|
Lord our God: but he sette vs in fauour, appointing the kinges of the
|
|
Persians to geue us meate, 82 and to glorifie the temple of the Lord our
|
|
God, and to build the desolations of Sion, to geue vs stabilitie in
|
|
Iurie, and Ierusalem. 83 And now what say we Lord, hauing these thinges?
|
|
For we haue transgressed thy preceptes, which thou gauest into the handes
|
|
of thy seruantes the prophetes, 84 saying: That the land into which ye
|
|
entred to possesse the inheritance therof, is a land polluted with the
|
|
coinquinations of the strangers of the land, and their vncleanes hath
|
|
filled it wholy with their filthines. 85 And now your daughters you shal
|
|
not match with their sonnes, and their daughters you shal not take for
|
|
your sonnes. 86 And you shal not seeke to haue peace with them for euer,
|
|
that growing strong you may eate the best things of the land, and may
|
|
distribute the inheritance to your children for euer. 87 And the thinges
|
|
that happen to vs, al are done for our nauhtie workes, and our great
|
|
sinnes. 88 And thou gauest vs such a roote, and we are returned againe
|
|
to transgresse thy ordinances, that we would be mingled with the
|
|
vncleannes of the nations of this land. 89 Wilt not thou be wrath with
|
|
vs to destroy vs, til there be no roote left nor our name? 90 Lord God
|
|
of Israel thou art true. For there is a roote left vntil this present
|
|
day. 91 Behold, now we are in thy sight in our iniquities. For it is
|
|
not to stand any longer before thee in these matters. 92 And when Esdras
|
|
with adoration confessed weeping, lying flat on the ground before the
|
|
temple, there were gathered before him out of Ierusalem a verie great
|
|
multitude, men and wemen, and yong men and yong wemen. For there was
|
|
great weeping in the multitude it self. (1 Esd 10:1) 93 And when he had
|
|
cried, Iechonias of Ieheli of the children of Israel, sayd to Esdras: We
|
|
haue sinned against our Lord, for that we haue taken vnto vs in mariage
|
|
strange wemen of the nations of the land. 94 And now thou art ouer al
|
|
Israel, in these therfore let there be an othe from our Lord to expel al
|
|
our wiues that are of strangers with their children. 95 As it was
|
|
decreed to thee of the ancesters according to the law of our Lord, rising
|
|
vp declare it. 96 For to thee the busines perteineth, and we are with
|
|
thee: doe manfully. 97 And Esdras rysing vp adiured the princes of the
|
|
Priestes and Leuites, and al Israel to doe according to these thinges and
|
|
they sware.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. IX.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Esdras fasting for the sinnes of the people, commandeth that they
|
|
separate al strange wemen from them. 18. The Priestes and Leuites, which
|
|
had offended herein, are recited. 38 He readeth the law before the
|
|
people: 48 certaine doe expound to the multitudes in seueral places.
|
|
52 And so they are dismissed with ioy.
|
|
|
|
AND Esdras rysing vp from before the court of the temple, went into the
|
|
chamber of Ionathas the sonne of Nasabi. (1 Esd 10:6) 2 And lodging
|
|
there he tasted no bread, nor dranke water for the iniquitie of the
|
|
multitude. 3 And there was proclamation made in al Iurie, & in Ierusalem
|
|
to al that were of the captiuitie gathered in Ierusalem, 4 that whosoeuer
|
|
shal not appeare with in two or three dayes, according to the iudgement
|
|
of the ancients sitting vpon it, their goods should be taken away, and
|
|
himselfe should be iudged an alien from the multitude of the captiuitie.
|
|
5 And al were gathered that were of the tribe of Iuda, and of Beniamin
|
|
within three dayes in Ierusalem: this is the ninth moneth, the twentith
|
|
day of the moneth. 6 And al the multitude sate in the court of the
|
|
temple trembling, for the present winter. 7 And Esdras rysing vp sayd to
|
|
them: You haue done vnlawfully taking to you in mariage strang wiues,
|
|
that you might adde to the sinnes of Israel. 8 And now geue confession,
|
|
& magnificence to our Lord the God of our fathers: 9 and accomplish his
|
|
wil, and depart from the nations of the land, and from your wiues the
|
|
strangers. 10 And al the multitude cried, and they sayd with a lowde
|
|
voice: As thou hast sayd, we wil doe. 11 But because the multitude is
|
|
great, and winter time, and we can not stand in the ayre without succour:
|
|
and this is a worke for vs not of one day, nor of two, for we haue sinned
|
|
much in these thinges: 12 Let the rulers of the multitude stand, and
|
|
that dwel with vs, and as manie as haue with them forreine wiues, 13 and
|
|
at a time appointed let the priestes out of euerie place, and the iudges
|
|
assist, vntil they appeaze the wrath of our Lord concerning this busines.
|
|
14 And Ionathas the sonne of Ezeli, and Ozias of Thecam tooke vpon them
|
|
according to these wordes: and Bosoramus, and Leuis, and Sabbathaeus,
|
|
wrought together with them. 15 And al that were of the captiuitie stood
|
|
according to al these thinges. 16 And Esdras the priest chose vnto him
|
|
men the great princes of their fathers according to their names: & they
|
|
sate together in the newmoone of the tenth moneth to examine this
|
|
busines. 17 And they determined of the men that had outlandish wiues,
|
|
vntil the newmoone of the first moneth. 18 And there were found of the
|
|
priestes entermingled that had outlandish wiues. 19 Of the sonnes of
|
|
Iesus the sonne of Iosedec, and his brethren: Maseas, and Eleazarus, and
|
|
Ioribus, and Ioadeus, 20 and they put to their handes to expel their
|
|
wiues: and to offer a ramme to obtayne pardon for their ignorance.
|
|
21 And the sonnes of Semmeri: Maseas and Esses, Ieelech, and Azarias.
|
|
22 And of the children of Fofere: Limosias, Hismaenis, and Nathanee,
|
|
Iussio, Reddus, and Thalsas. 23 And of the Leuites: Iorabdus, and
|
|
Semeis, and Colnis, and Calitas, and Facteas, and Coluas, and Eliomas,
|
|
24 and of the sacred singing men, Eliasib, Zaccarus. 25 And of the
|
|
porters, Salumus, and Tolbanes. 26 And of Israel: of the sonnes of
|
|
Foro, Ozi, and Remias, and Geddias, & Melchias, and Michelus, Eleazarus,
|
|
and Iammebias, and Bannas. 27 And of the sonnes of Iolaman: Chamas, and
|
|
Zacharias, and Iezuelus, and Ioddius, and Erimoth, and Helias. 28 And of
|
|
the sonnes of Zathoim: Eliadas, and Liasumus, Zochias, and Larimoth, &
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Zabdis, and Thebedias. 29 And of the sonnes of Zebes: Ioannes, and
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Amanias, and Zabdias, and Emeus. 30 And of the sonnes of Banni: Olamus,
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& Maluchus, and Ieddeus, and Iasub, and Azabus, & Ierimoth. 31 And of
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the sonnes of Addin: Nathus, and Moosias, & Caleus, and Raanas, Maaseas,
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Mathathias, and Beseel, and Bonnus, and Manasses. 32 And of the sonnes
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of Nuae: Noneas, and Aseas, and Melchias, and Sameas, and Simon,
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Beniamin, and Malchus, and Marras. 33 And of the sonnes of Asom:
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Carianeus, Mathathias, & Bannus, & Eliphalach, and Manasses, and Semei.
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34 And of the sonnes of Banni: Ieremias, and Moadias, and Abramus, &
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Iohel, and Baneas, & Pelias, and Ionas, and Marimoth, & Eliasib, and
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Matheneus, and Eliasis, and Orizas, and Dielus, and Semedius, & Zambris,
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and Iosephus. 35 And of the sonnes of Nobei: Idelus, and Mathathias,
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and Sabadus, and Zecheda, Zedmi, and Iessei, Baneas. 36 Al these maried
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outlandish wiues, and did put them away with their children. 37 And the
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Priestes and the Leuites, and they that were of Israel, dwelt in
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Ierusalem, and in the whole countrie in the newmoone of the seuenth
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moneth. And the children of Israel were in their habitations. 38 And al
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the multitude was gathered together into the court, which is on the east
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of the sacred gate: 39 and they sayd to Esdras the high priest, and
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reader, that he should bring the law of Moyses, which was deliuered of
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our Lord the God of Israel. 40 And Esdras the high priest brought the
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law to al the multitude of them from man vnto woman, and to al the
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priestes to heare the law in the newmoone of the seuenth moneth. 41 And
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he read in the court, which is before the sacred gate of the temple, from
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breake of day vntil euening before men and wemen. And they al gaue their
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minde to the law. 42 And Esdras the priest, and reader of the law stoode
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vpon a tribunal of wood, which was made. 43 And by him stood Mathathias,
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and Samus, and Ananias, Azarias, Vrias, Ezechias, and Balsamus on the
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right hand, 44 and on the left Faldeus, Misael, Malachias, Ambusthas,
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Sabus, Nabadias, and Zacharias. 45 And Esdras tooke the booke before al
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the multitude: for he was chiefe in glorie in the sight of al. 46 And
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when he had ended the law, they stood al vpright: and Esdras blessed our
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Lord the most high God, the God of Sabaoth omnipotent. 47 And al the
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people answered: Amen. And lifting vp their handes falling on the
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ground, they adored our Lord. 48 Iesus and Banaeus, and Sarebias, and
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Iaddimus, and Accubus, and Sabbathaeus, and Calithes, & Azarias, and
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Ioradus, and Ananias, and Philias Leuites, 49 who taught the law of our
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Lord, and read the same in the multitude, & euerie one preferred them
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that vnderstood the lesson. 50 And Atharathes sayd to Esdras the high
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priest and the reader, and to the Leuites, that taught the multitude,
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51 saying: This day is sancitified to our Lord. And they al wept, when
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they had heard the law. 52 And Esdras sayd, departing therfore eate ye
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al the fattest thinges, & drinke al most swete things, and send giftes to
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them that haue not. 53 For this is the holy day of our Lord, & be not
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sad. For our Lord wil glorifie you. 54 And the Leuites denounced openly
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to al, saying: This day is holie, be not sad. 55 And they went al to
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eate, and drinke, and make merie, and to geue giftes to them that had
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not, that they might make merie, for they were excedingly exalted with
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the wordes that they were taught. 56 And they were al gathered in
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Ierusalem to celebrate the ioy, according to the testament of our Lord
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the God of Israel.
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THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF ESDRAS.
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CHAP. I.
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Esdras is sent to expostulate with the vngratful Iewes for neglecting
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Gods manie great benefites.
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THE second book of Esdras the prophet, the sonne of Sarei, the sonne of
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Azarei, the sonne of Helcias, the sonne of Sadanias, the sonne of Sadoch,
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the sonne of Achitob, (1 Esd 7:1) 2 the sonne of Achias, the sonne of
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Phinees, the sonne of Heli, the sonne of Amerias, the sonne of Asiel, the
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sonne of Marimoth, the sonne of Arna, the sonne of Ozias, the sonne of
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Borith, the sonne of Abisei, the sonne of Phinees, the sonne of Eleazar,
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3 the sonne of Aaron of the tribe of Leui; who was captiue in the
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countrie of the Medes, in the reigne of Artaxerxes king of the Persians.
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4 And the word of our Lord came to me, saying: 5 Goe, and tel my people
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their wicked deedes, and their children the iniquities, that they haue
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done against me, that they may tel their childrens children: 6 because
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the sinnes of their parentes are increased in them, for they being
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forgetful of me haue sacrified to strange goddes. 7 Did not I bring them
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out of the land of AEgypt from the house of bondage? But they haue
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prouoked me, & haue despised my counsels. 8 But doe thou shake of the
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heare of thy head, and throw al euils vpon them: because they haue not
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obeyed my law. And it is a people without discipline. 9 How long shal I
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beare with them, on whom I haue bestowed so great benefiates? 10 I haue
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ouer throwen manie kinges from them. I haue stroke Pharao with his
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seruantes, and al his hoste. (Ex 14) 11 Al nations did I destroy before
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their face, & in the East I dissipated the peoples of two prouinces Tyre
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and Sidon, and I slew al their aduersaries. 12 But speake thou to them,
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saying: Thus sayth our Lord: 13 I made you passe through the sea, and
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gaue you fensed streates from the beginning. I gaue you Moyses for your
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gouernour, and Aaron for the Priest: 14 I gaue you light by the piller
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of fire, & did manie meruelous things among you: but you haue forgotten
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me, sayth our Lord. (Ex 13) 15 Thus sayth our Lord omnipotent: The
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quayle was a signe to you, I gaue you a campe for defense, and there you
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murmured: 16 And you triumphed not in my name for the destruction of
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your enemies, but yet vntil now you haue murmured. (Ex 16) 17 Where
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are the benefites, that I haue geuen you? Did you not crie out to me
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when you were hungrie in the desert, 18 saying: Why hast thou brought vs
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|
into this desert to kil vs? it had bene better for vs to serue the
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|
AEgyptians, then to dye in this desert. (Num 14) 19 I was sorie for
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your mournings, & gaue you manna to eate. You did eate bread of Angels.
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(Ex 16 / Wis 16:20) 20 When you thirsted did not I cleaue the rocke, &
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waters flowed in abundance? for the heates I couered you with the leaues
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of trees. 21 I deliuered vnto you fatte landes: The Chananeites, and
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Pherezeites, and Philistheans I threw out from your face: what shal I
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yet doe to you, sayth our Lord? (Isa 9:4) 22 Thus sayth our Lord
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omnipotent: In the desert when you were thirstie in the riuer of the
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Amorrheites, and blasphemeing my name, (Ex 15:25) 23 I gaue you not fire
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for blasphemies, but casting wood into the water, I made the riuer swete.
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24 What shal I doe to thee Iacob? Thou wouldest not obey o Iuda. I wil
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transferre my self to other nations, and wil geue them my name, that they
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may keepe my ordinances. (Ex 32) 25 Because you haue forsaken me, I
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aslo forsake you: when you aske mercie of me, I wil not haue mercie.
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(Isa 1:15) 26 When you shal inuocate me, I wil not heare you. For you
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haue defiled your handes with bloud, and your fete are quicke to commit
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murders. 27 Not as though you haue forsaken me, but yourselues, sayth
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our Lord. 28 Thus saith our Lord omnipotent, haue not I desired you, as
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a father his sonnes, and a mother her daughters, and as a nurce her litle
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ones, 29 that you would be my people, and I your God, and to me for
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children, and I to you for a father? 30 So haue I gathered you, as the
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henne her chickenes vnder her winges. But now what shal I doe to you? I
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wil throw you from my face. (Matt 23:37) 31 When you shal bring me
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oblation, I wil turne away my face from you. (Isa 66:5) For I haue
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refused your festiual dayes, & newmoones, and circumcisions. 32 I sent
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my seruantes the prophetes to you, whom being taken you slew, and mangled
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their bodies, whose bloud I wil require, sayth our Lord. 33 Thus sayth
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our Lord omnipotent, your house is made desolate, I wil throw you away,
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as the winde doth stubble, 34 and your children shal not haue issue:
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because they haue neglected my commandment, and haue done that which is
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euil before me. 35 I wil deliuer your houses to a people comming, who
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not hearing me do beleue: to whom I haue not shewed signes, they wil do
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the thinges that I haue commanded. 36 The prophetes they haue not sene,
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and they wil be mindful of their iniquities. 37 I cal to witnes the
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grace of the people comming, whose litle ones reioyce with ioy, not seing
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me with their carnal eyes, but in spirit beleuing the thinges that I haue
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sayd. 38 And now brother behold what glorie: and see people comming
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|
from the east, 39 to whom I wil geue the conduction of Abraham, Isaac,
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|
and Iacob, and of Osee, and Amos, and of Ioel, and Abdias, and Ionas, and
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|
Michaeas, 40 and Naum and Habacuc, of Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zacharias, and
|
|
Malachias, who also is called the Angel of our Lord. (Mal 3:1)
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CHAP. II.
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The Synagogue expostulateth with her children for their ingratitude;
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10. shewing that they shal be forsaken, and the gentiles called.
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THVS saith our Lord: I brought this people out of bondage, to whom I
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|
gaue commandment by my seruantes the Prophetes, whom they would not
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|
heare, but made my counsel frustrate. 2 Their mother that bare them,
|
|
sayth to them: Goe children, because I am a wydow and forsaken. 3 I
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|
brought you vp with ioy, & haue lost you with mourning & sorow, because
|
|
you haue sinned before our Lord your God, & haue done that which is euil
|
|
before him. 4 But now what shal I doe to you? I am a wydow and
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|
desolote, goe my children, & aske mercie of our Lord. 5 And I cal thee o
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|
father a witnes vpon the mother of the children, that would not keepe my
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|
testament, 6 that thou geue them confusion, & their mother into spoile,
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|
that there be no generation of them. 7 Let their names be dispersed into
|
|
the Gentiles, let them be destroyed out of the land: because they haue
|
|
despised my sacrament. 8 Woe be to thee Assur, which hidest the wicked
|
|
with thee. Thou naughtie nation, remember what I did to Sodom &
|
|
Gomorrha: (Gen 19:24) 9 whose land lieth in cloddes of pitch, & heapes
|
|
of ashes: so wil I make them, that haue not heard me, saith our Lord
|
|
omnipotent. 10 Thus saith our Lord to Esdras: Tel my pople, that I wil
|
|
geue them the kingdom of Ierusalem, which I ment to geue to Isreal.
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|
11 And I wil take to me the glorie of them, and wil geue them eternal
|
|
tabernacles, which I had prepared for them. 12 The wood of life shal be
|
|
to them for an odour of oyntment, and they shal not labour, nor be
|
|
wearied. 13 Goe & you shal receiue. Aske for your selues a few dayes,
|
|
that they may abide. Now the kingdom is prepared for you, watch ye.
|
|
14 Cal thou heauen and earth to witnes: for I haue destroyed euil, and
|
|
haue created good, because I liue sayth our Lord. 15 Mother embrace thy
|
|
children, bring them vp with ioy. As a doue confirme their feete:
|
|
because I haue chosen thee, sayth our Lord. 16 And I wil raise againe
|
|
the dead out of their places, and out of the monumentes I wil bring them
|
|
forth, because I haue knowen my name in Israel. 17 Feare not o mother of
|
|
the children, because I haue chosen thee, saith our Lord. 18 I wil send
|
|
thee ayde, my seruantes I saie, and Ieremie, at whose counsel I haue
|
|
sanctified, and prepared for thee tweleue trees loden with diuerse
|
|
fruites, 19 and as manie fountaines flowing milke and honie: and seuen
|
|
huge mountaines, hauing the rose and the lilie, in the which I wil fil
|
|
thy children with ioy. (Ex 15:27) 20 Iustifie thou the widow, iudge for
|
|
the pupil, geue to the needie, defend the orphane, cloth the naked,
|
|
21 cure the broken & feeble, mocke not the lame, defend the maimed, and
|
|
admitte the blind to the vision of my glorie. 22 The old man & the yong
|
|
keepe with in thy walles: 23 where thou shalt finde the dead, committe
|
|
them to the graue signing it, & I wil geue thee the first seate in my
|
|
resurrection. (Tob 1:20) 24 Pause and rest my people, because thy rest
|
|
shal come. 25 As a good nurce nourish thy children, confirme their
|
|
feete. 26 The seruantes that I haue geuen thee, none of them shal
|
|
perish. For I wil require them of thy number. 27 Be not wearied. For
|
|
when the day of affliction and distresse shal come, others shal weepe,
|
|
and be sad, but thou shalt be merie and plenteous. 28 The gentiles shal
|
|
enuie, and shal be able to doe nothing against thee, sayth our Lord.
|
|
29 My handes shal couer thee, that thy children see not hel. 30 Be
|
|
pleasant thou mother with thy children, because I wil deliuer thee sayth
|
|
our Lord. 31 Remember thy children that sleepe, for I wil bring them out
|
|
of the sides of the earth, & wil doe mercie with them: because I am
|
|
merciful, sayth our Lord omnipotent. 32 Embrace thy children til I come,
|
|
& shew them mercie: because my fountaines runne ouer, and my grace shal
|
|
not faile. 33 I Esdras receiued commandment of our Lord, in mount Oreb;
|
|
that I should goe to Israel: to whom when I came, they refused me, and
|
|
reiected the commandement of our Lord. 34 And therfore, I say vnto you
|
|
gentiles, which heare, and vnderstand, Looke for your pastor, he wil geue
|
|
you the rest of eternitie: because he is at hand, that shal come in the
|
|
end of the world. 35 Be ye readie for the rewardes of the kingdom,
|
|
because perpetual light shal shine to you for time euerlasting. 36 Flee
|
|
from the shadow of this world: receiue ye the pleasantnes of your
|
|
glorie. I openly cal to witnes my sauiour. 37 Receiue the commended
|
|
gift and be pleasant, geuing thankes to him that called you to the
|
|
heauenlie kingdomes. 38 Arise, & stand & see the number of them that are
|
|
signed in the feast of our Lord. 39 They that haue transferred them
|
|
selues from the shadow of the world, haue receiued glorious garmentes of
|
|
our Lord. 40 Receiue o Sion thy number, and shut vp thyne made white,
|
|
which haue accomplished the law of our Lord. 41 The number of thy
|
|
children, which thou didst wish is ful. Desire the powre of our Lord
|
|
that thy people may be sanctified, which was called from the beginning.
|
|
42 I Esdras saw in mount Sion a great multiude, which I could not number,
|
|
and they did al prayse our Lord with songes. (Apoc 7:9) 43 And in the
|
|
middes of them was a young man high of stature, appearing aboue ouer them
|
|
al, & he put crownes vpon euerie one of their heades, and he was more
|
|
exalted. And I was astonied at the miracle. 44 Then asked I an Angel,
|
|
and sayd: Who are these Lord? 45 Who answering sayd to me: These are
|
|
they that haue laid of the mortal garment, and taken an immortal, and
|
|
haue confessed the name of God. Now they are crowned, and receiue
|
|
palmes. 46 And I sayd to the Angel: That yongman what is he, which
|
|
putteth the crownes vpon them, and geueth palmes into their handes?
|
|
47 And answering he sayd to me: The same is the Sonne of God, whom they
|
|
did confesse in the world: & I begane to magnifie them, that stood
|
|
strongly for the name of our Lord. 48 Then sayd the Angel to me: Goe,
|
|
tel my people, what maner of meruelous thinges and how great, thou hast
|
|
sene of the Lord God.
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CHAP. III.
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|
The workes of God are wonderful from the beginning, 7. and men vngrateful
|
|
13. In Abraham God chose to himself a peculiar people: who neuertheles
|
|
were froward, and obstinate. 23. He also chose Dauid, but stil the
|
|
people were sinful: 28. the Babylonians also, by whom the are afflicted,
|
|
are no lesse but rather greater sinners.
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|
|
|
IN the thirteth yeare of the ruine of the citie I was in Babylon, and was
|
|
trubled lying in my chamber, and my cogitations came vp ouer my hart:
|
|
2 because I saw the desolation of Sion, and the abundance of them that
|
|
dwelt in Babylon. 3 And my spirit was tossed excedingly, and I began to
|
|
speake to the highest timorous wordes, 4 and sayd: O Lord dominatour
|
|
thou spakest from the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and
|
|
that alone, and didst rule ouer the people, (Gen 1) 5 and gauest Adam a
|
|
dead bodie: but that also was the worke of thy handes, & didst breath
|
|
into him the spirit of life, and he was made to liue before thee:
|
|
(Gen 2:7) 6 and thou broughst him into paradise, which thy right hand
|
|
had planted, before the earth came. 7 And him thou didst command to loue
|
|
thy way, and he transgressed it, & forth with thou didst institute death
|
|
in him, and in his posteritie, and there were borne nations, and tribes,
|
|
and peoples, and kindreds, wherof there is no number. 8 And euerie
|
|
nation walked in their owne wil, & they did meruelous thinges before
|
|
thee, and despised thy preceptes. 9 And agane in time thou broughst in
|
|
the floud vpon inhabitantes of the world, and didst destroy them.
|
|
(Gen 7) 10 And there was made in euery one of them, as vnto Adam to dye,
|
|
so to them the floud, 11 But thou didst leaue one of them, Noe with his
|
|
house and of him were al the iust. 12 And it came to passe, when they
|
|
began to be multiplied, that dwelt vpon the earth, & multiplied children
|
|
and peoples and manie nations: and they begane againe to doe impietie
|
|
more then the former. 13 And it came to passe when they did iniquitie
|
|
before thee, thou didst choose thee a man of them whose name was Abraham.
|
|
14 And thou didst loue him and to him onlie thou didst shew thy wil.
|
|
(Gen 12) 15 And thou didst dispose vnto him an euerlasting testament,
|
|
and toldst him that thou wouldst neuer forsake his seede. And thou
|
|
gauest him Issac, and to Isaac thou gauest Iacob and Esau. 16 And Iacob
|
|
thou didst seuer to thy selfe, but Esau thou didst separate. And Iacob
|
|
grewe to a great multitude. 17 And it came to passe when thou didst
|
|
bring forth his sede out of AEgypt, thou broughst it vpon mount Sinai.
|
|
(Ex 19) 18 And thou didst bowe the heauens, and fasten the earth, and
|
|
didst shake the world, and madest the depthes to tremble, and trubledst
|
|
the world, 19 and thy glorie passed foure gates of fire, and of
|
|
earthquake, and winde, and frost, that thou mightst geue a law to the
|
|
seede of Iacob, and to the generation of Israel diligence. 20 And thou
|
|
didst not take away from them a malignant hart, that thy law might bring
|
|
forth fruite in them. 21 For Adam the first bearing a vicious hart
|
|
transgressed and was ouercome, yea and al that were borne of him. 22 And
|
|
it was made a permanent infirmitie, and the law with the hart of the
|
|
people, with the wickednes of the roote, and that which is good departed,
|
|
and the wicked remayned. 23 And the times passed, & the yeares were
|
|
ended: and thou didst raise vp vnto thee a seruant named Dauid, 24 and
|
|
spakest vnto him to build a citie of thy name, and to offer vnto thee in
|
|
it frankencense, and oblations. 25 And this was done manie yeares, and
|
|
they that inhabited the citie forsooke thee, 26 in al things as Adam and
|
|
al his generations. For they also vsed a wicked hart. 27 And thou didst
|
|
deliuer thy citie into the hands of thyne enimies. 28 Why, doe they
|
|
better thinges, that inhabite Babylon? And for this shal she rule ouer
|
|
Sion? (Jer 12) 29 It came to passe when I was come hither, and had sene
|
|
the impieties that can not be numbred: and my soul saw manie offending
|
|
this thirteth yeare, & my hart was astonied: 30 because I saw how thou
|
|
bearest with their sinne, and didst spare them that did impiously, and
|
|
didst destroy thine owne people, and preserue thine enimies, and didst
|
|
not signifie it. 31 I nothing remember how this way should be forsaken:
|
|
doth Babylon better thinges then Sion? 32 Or hath anie nation knowen
|
|
thee beside Israel: or what tribes haue beleued thy testamentes as
|
|
Iacob? 33 Whose reward hath not appeared, nor their labour fructified.
|
|
For passing through I passed among the nations, and I saw them abound,
|
|
and not mindeful of thy commandmentes. 34 Now therfore wey our
|
|
iniquities in a ballance, and theirs that dwel in the world: & thy name
|
|
shal not be found, but in Israel. 35 Or when haue not they sinned in thy
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|
sight, that inhabite the earth? or what nation hath so obserued thy
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commandmentes? 36 These certes by their names thou shalt finde to haue
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kept thy commandments, but the nations thou shalt not finde.
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CHAP. IIII.
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Mans witte and reason is not able to vnderstand the counsel and iudgement
|
|
of God, 22. why his people are afflicted by wicked nations, 33. nor of
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|
times, and thinges to come.
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|
|
|
AND the Angel answered me, that was sent to me, whose name was Vriel,
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|
2 and sayd to me: Thy hart exceding hath exceded in this world, & thou
|
|
thinkest to comprehend the way of the Highest. 3 And I sayd: It is so
|
|
my Lord. And he answered me, & sayd: I am sent to shew thee three
|
|
wayes, & to propose to thee three similitudes. 4 Of the which if thou
|
|
shalt declare to me one of them, I also wil shew thee the way which thou
|
|
desirest to see, and wil teach thee whence a wicked hart is. 5 And I
|
|
sayd, Speak my Lord. And he sayd to me: Goe, wey me the weight of the
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|
fire, or measure me the blast of the winde, or cal me backe the day that
|
|
is past. 6 And I answered, and sayd: what man borne can doe it, that
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|
thou askest me of these thinges? 7 And he sayd to me: If I should aske
|
|
thee, saying: How great habitations are there in the hart of the sea, or
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|
how great vaines be there in the beginning of the depth, or how great
|
|
vaines be there aboue the firmament, and what are the issues of paradise:
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|
8 thou wouldest perhaps say to me: I haue not descended into the depth,
|
|
nor into hel as yet, neither haue I ascended at anie time into heauen.
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|
9 But now I haue not asked thee, sauing of the fire, and the winde, and
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|
the day by the which thou hast passed, and from the which thou canst not
|
|
be separated: and thou hast not answered me of them. 10 And he sayd to
|
|
me: Thou canst not know the thinges that are thine which grow together
|
|
with thee: 11 and how can thy vessel comprehend the way of the Highest,
|
|
and now the world being outwardly corrupted, vnderstand the corruption
|
|
euident in my sight: 12 I sayd to him: Better were it for vs not to be,
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|
then yet liuing to liue in impieties, and to suffer, and not to
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|
vnderstand for what thing. 13 And he answered me, & said: Going forth I
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|
went forward to a wood of trees in the filde, and they deuised a deuise,
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|
(Judges 9 / 2 Par 25) 14 and said: Come and let vs goe, and make warre
|
|
against the sea, that it may retyre backe before vs, and we may make vs
|
|
other woodes. 15 And in like maner the waues of the sea they also
|
|
deuised a deuise, and sayd: Come let vs goe vp, let vs ouerthrow the
|
|
woodes of the filde, that there also we may consummate an other countrie
|
|
for our selues. 16 And the woodes deuise was made vaine, for fire came,
|
|
and consumed it. 17 Likewise also the deuise of the waues of the sea.
|
|
For the sand stood, & stayed them. 18 For if thou wert iudge of these,
|
|
whom wouldest thou begin to iustifie, or whom to condemne? 19 And I
|
|
answered, and sayd: Verely they deuised a vayne deuise. For the earth
|
|
is geuen to the wood, and a place to the sea to carie her waues. 20 And
|
|
he answered me, and sayed: Thou hast iudged wel, and why hast thou not
|
|
iudged for thy self? 21 For as the earth is geuen to the wood, and the
|
|
sea for the waues therof: so they that inhabite vpon the earth, can
|
|
vnderstand onlie the thinges that are vpon the earth: and they vpon the
|
|
heauens, the thinges that are aboue the height of the heauens. 22 And I
|
|
answered, and sayd: I besech thee Lord, that sense may be geuen me to
|
|
vnderstand. 23 For I meant not to aske of thy superiour thinges, but of
|
|
those that passe by vs dayly. For what cause Israel is geuen into
|
|
reproche to the gentiles, the people whom thou hast loued, is geuen to
|
|
impious tribes, & the law of our fathers is brought to destruction, & the
|
|
written ordinances are no where: 24 and we haue passed out of the world,
|
|
as locustes, and our life is astonishment and dreade, and we are not
|
|
worthie to obtaine mercie. 25 But what wil he doe to his name that is
|
|
inuocated vpon vs? and of these thinges I did aske. 26 And he answered
|
|
me, and sayd: If thou search very much, thou shalt often meruail:
|
|
because the world hastening hasteneth to passe, 27 and can not comprehend
|
|
the thinges which in times to come are promised to the iust: because
|
|
this world is ful of iniustice and infirmities. 28 But conerning the
|
|
thinges that thou demandest I wil tel thee: for the euil is sowed, and
|
|
the destruction therof is not yet come. 29 If then that which is sowen
|
|
be not turned vp, and the place depart where the euil is sowen, that shal
|
|
not come where the good is sowen. 30 Because the grayne of il seede hath
|
|
bene sowen in the hart of Adam from the beginning: and how much impietie
|
|
hath it ingendered vntil now, and doth ingender vntil the floore come?
|
|
31 And esteme with thy self the graine of the il seede, how much fruite
|
|
of impietie it hath ingendred: 32 When the eares shal be cut, which are
|
|
innumerable, what a great floore wil they begin to make? 33 And I
|
|
answered, and sayd: How, and when shal these things be? why are our
|
|
yeares few and euil? 34 And he answered me, and sayd to me, Hasten not
|
|
aboue the Highest. For thou doest hasten in vaine to be aboue him, for
|
|
thy excesse is much. 35 Did not the soules of the iust in the cellars,
|
|
aske of these things, saying: How hope I so, and when shal the fruite
|
|
come of the floore of our reward? 36 And Ieremiel the Archangel answered
|
|
to those things, and sayd: When the number of the sedes in you shal be
|
|
filled, because he hath weyed the world in a balance, 37 and with a
|
|
measure hath he measured the times, and in number he hath numbered the
|
|
times, and hath not moued, nor stirred them, vntil the foresayd measure
|
|
be filled. 38 And I answered, and sayd: O Lord Dominatour, we also are
|
|
al ful of impietie. 39 And left perhaps for vs the floores of the iust
|
|
be not filled, for the sinnes of the inhabitantes vpon the earth. 40 And
|
|
he answered me, and sayd: Goe, and aske a woman with childe, if when
|
|
she hath accomplished her nine monethes, her wombe can yet hold the
|
|
infant within it? 41 And I sayd it can not Lord. And he sayd to me, in
|
|
hel the cellars of the soules are like to the matrice. 42 For as she
|
|
that is: In trauail maketh hast, to escape the necessitie of trauailing:
|
|
so this also hasteneth to render those thinges which are commended to it.
|
|
43 From the beginning it shal be shewed thee touching those thinges,
|
|
which thou doest couet to see. 44 And I answered, and sayd: If I haue
|
|
found grace before thine eyes, & if it be possible, and if I by fitte,
|
|
45 shew mee if there be more to come then is passed, or more things haue
|
|
passed, then are to come. 46 What passed, I know: but what is to come,
|
|
I know not. 47 And he sayd to me: Stand vpon the right side, and I wil
|
|
shew thee the interpretation of the similitude. 48 And I stood, and saw:
|
|
and behold a burning fornace passed before me, & it came to passe when
|
|
the flame passed, I saw: and behold the smoke ouercame. 49 And these
|
|
thinges there passed before me a clowd ful of water, and with violence
|
|
casting in much raine: and when the violence of raine was cast, the
|
|
droppes therin ouercame. 50 And he sayd to me: Thinke with thyself, as
|
|
the raine increaseth more then the droppes, and the fire then the smoke:
|
|
so did the measure that passed, more a bound. But the droppes, and the
|
|
smoke ouercame: 51 and I prayed, & sayd, shal I liue thinkest thou vntil
|
|
these dayes? or what shal be in those dayes? 52 He answered me, and
|
|
sayd: Of the signes wherof thou askest me, in part I can tel thee,
|
|
howbeit of thy life I was not sent to tel thee, neither doe I know.
|
|
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|
CHAP. V.
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|
|
Diuers signes of thinges to come are shewed to Esdras by an Angel:
|
|
16. for the comforth of the people in captiuitie.
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|
|
|
BVT concerning signes: behold the dayes shal come, wherin they that
|
|
inhabite the earth shal be taken in a great number: and the way of truth
|
|
shal be hid: and the countrie shal be barren from fayth. 2 And
|
|
iniustice shal be multiplied aboue that which thy self seest, & aboue
|
|
that which thou hast heard in time past. (Matt 24) 3 And they shal put
|
|
their foote into the countrie which now thou seest to reigne, and they
|
|
shal see it desolate. 4 And if the Highest geue thee life, thou shalt
|
|
see after the third trumpet, and the sunne shal sodenly shine agayne in
|
|
the night, and the moone thrise in a day, 5 and out of wood bloud shal
|
|
distil, and the stone shal geue his voice, and the peoples shal be moued:
|
|
6 and he reigne, whom they hope not that inhabite vpon the earth, and
|
|
soules shal make their flight away. 7 & the sea of Sodom shal cast the
|
|
fishes, and shal make a noise in the night, which manie knew not, and al
|
|
shal heare the voice therof, 8 and there shal be made a confusion in
|
|
manie places, and the fire shal often be sent backe, and the sauage
|
|
beastes shal goe to other places, and wemen in their monethlie flowers
|
|
shal bring forth monsters, 9 and in swete waters shal salt waters be
|
|
found, and al frendes shal ouerthrow one an other: and then shal witte
|
|
be hid, and vnderstanding shal be separated into his cellar: 10 and it
|
|
shal be sought of manie, and shal not be found: and iniustice shal be
|
|
multiplied, and incontinencie vpon the earth. 11 And one countrie shal
|
|
aske her neighbour, and shal say: Hath iustice doing iust passed
|
|
throught thee? and she shal denie it. 12 And it shal be in that time,
|
|
men shal hope, and shal not obtaine: they shal labour, and their wayes
|
|
shal not haue successe. 13 These signes I am permitted to tel thee: and
|
|
if thou pray againe and weepe, as also now, and fast seuen dayes, thou
|
|
shalt heare againe greater thinges then these. 14 And I awaked, and my
|
|
bodie did shiuer excedingly: and my soule laboured, that it fainted:
|
|
15 and the Angel that came, that spake in me, held me, and strengthened
|
|
me, and sette me vpon my feete. 16 And it came to passe in the second
|
|
night, and Salathiel the prince of the people came to me, and sayd to me:
|
|
Where wast thou? and why is thy countenance heauie? 17 Knowest thou not
|
|
that Isreal is committed to thee in the countrie of their transmigration?
|
|
18 Rise vp therfore, and taste bread, and forsake vs not, as the pastour
|
|
his flocke in the hand of wicked wolues. 19 And I sayd to him: Goe from
|
|
me, & approch not vnto me. And he heard, as I sayd: and he departed
|
|
from me. 20 And I fasted seuen dayes howling & weeping, as Vriel the
|
|
Angel commanded me. 21 And it came to passe after seuen dayes, and
|
|
againe cogitations of my hart molested me very much, 22 and my soule
|
|
resumed the spirit of vnderstanding: & agayne I began to speake wordes
|
|
before the Highest: 23 and I sayd: Lord Dominatour of euerie wood of
|
|
the earth, & al the trees therof, thou hast chosen one vineyard: 24 & of
|
|
euerie land of the world thou hast chosen thee one ditch: & of al the
|
|
flowers of the world thou hast chosen thee one lilie: 25 and of al
|
|
depthes of the sea, thou hast filled thee one riuer: and of al the
|
|
builded cities, thou hast sanctified vnto thyself Sion: 26 and of al
|
|
created soules, thou hast named thee one doue: and of al beastes that
|
|
were made, thou hast prouided thee one shepe: 27 and of al multiplied
|
|
peoples, thou host purchased thee one people: and a law approued of al
|
|
thou hast geuen to this people, whom thou didst desire. 28 And now Lord,
|
|
why hast thou deliuered one vnto manie? And thou hast perpared vpon one
|
|
roote others, and hast dispersed thy onlie one in manie: 29 and they
|
|
haue troden vpon it, which gainesayd thy couenants, and which beleued not
|
|
thy testamentes. 30 And if hating thou hatest thy people, it ought to be
|
|
chastised with thy handes. 31 And it came to passe, when I had spoken
|
|
the wordes, and the Angel was sent to me, that came to me before the
|
|
night past, 32 and he sayd to me: Heare me, and I wil instruct thee:
|
|
and harken to me, and I wil adde before thee. 33 And I sayd: Speake my
|
|
Lord. And he sayd to me: Thou art become excedingly in excesse of minde
|
|
for Israel: hast thou loued it more then him that made it? 34 And I
|
|
sayd to him: No Lord, but for sorow I haue spoken, for my veynes torment
|
|
me euerie houre, to apprehend the pathe of the Highest, and to search
|
|
part of his iudgement. 35 And he sayd to me: Thou canst not. And I
|
|
sayd: Why Lord? To what was I borne, or why was not my mothers wombe my
|
|
graue, that I might not see the labour of Iacob, & the wearines of the
|
|
stocke of Israel? 36 And he sayd to me: Number me the thinges that are
|
|
not yet come, and gather me the dispersed droppes, and make me the
|
|
withered flowers grene againe, 37 and open me the shut cellars, & bring
|
|
me forth the blastes inclosed in them, shew me the image of a voice: and
|
|
then wil I shew thee the labour that thou desirest to see. 38 And I
|
|
sayd: Lord Dominatour, for who is there that can know these thinges, but
|
|
he that hath not his habitation with men? 39 And I am vnwise, and how
|
|
can I speake of these thinges, which thou hast asked me? 40 And he sayd
|
|
to me: As thou canst not doe one of these thiges, which haue bene sayd:
|
|
so canst thou not finde my iudgement, or in the end the charitie, which I
|
|
haue promised to the people. 41 And I sayd: But behold Lord thou art
|
|
nigh to them that are nere the end: and what shal they doe that haue
|
|
bene before me, or we, or they after vs? 42 And he sayd to me: I wil
|
|
resemble my iudgement to a crowne. As there shal not be slacknes of the
|
|
last, so neither swiftnes of the former. 43 And I answered, and sayd:
|
|
Couldst thou not make them that haue bene, and that are, and that shal
|
|
be, at once, that thou mayst shew thy iudgement the quicker? 44 And he
|
|
answered me, and sayd: The creature can not hasten aboue the Creatour,
|
|
nor the world sustayne them that are to be created in it, at once.
|
|
45 And I sayd: As thou didst say to thy seruant, that quickening thou
|
|
didst quicken the creature created by thee at once, and the creature
|
|
susteined it: it may now also beare them present at once. 46 And he
|
|
sayd to me: Aske the matrice of a woman, & thou shalt say to it: And if
|
|
thou bring forth children, why by times? Aske it therfore, that it geue
|
|
ten at once. 47 And I sayd, it can not verily: but according to time.
|
|
48 And he sayd to me: And I haue geuen a matrice to the earth for them,
|
|
that are sowen vpon it by time. 49 For as the infant bringeth not forth
|
|
the thinges that perteyne to the aged, so haue I disposed the world
|
|
created of me. 50 And I asked, and sayd: Wheras thou hast now geuen me
|
|
a way, I wil speake before thee: for our mother, of whom thou toldest
|
|
me, yet she is yong: now draweth nigh to old age. 51 And he answered
|
|
me, and sayd: Aske her that beareth children, and she wil tel thee.
|
|
52 For thou shalt say to her: Why are not they whom thou hast brought
|
|
forth, now like to them that were before thee, but lesse of stature?
|
|
53 And she also wil say vnto thee: They that are borne in the youth of
|
|
streingth are of one sort, and they of an other, that are borne about the
|
|
time of old age, when the matrice fayleth. 54 Consider therfore thou
|
|
also, that you are of lesse stature, then they that were before you:
|
|
55 and they that are after you, of lesser then you, as it were creatures
|
|
now waxing old, and past the strength of youth. 56 And I sayd: I besech
|
|
thee Lord, if I haue found grace before thine eyes, shew vnto thy
|
|
seruant, by whom thou doest visite thy creature.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. VI.
|
|
|
|
|
|
God knowing al thinges before they were made, created them 54. for man:
|
|
and considerth the endes of al.
|
|
|
|
AND he sayd to me: In the beginning of the earthlie world, and before
|
|
the endes of the world stood, and before the congregation of the windes
|
|
did blow, (Prov 8) 2 and before the voyces of thunders sounded, & before
|
|
the flashinges of lightenings shined, and before the fundations of
|
|
paradise were confirmed, 3 and before beautiful flowers were sene, and
|
|
before the moued powers were established, and before the innumerable
|
|
hostes of Angels were gathered, 4 and before the heightes of the ayre
|
|
were aduanced, and before the measures of the firmaments were named, and
|
|
before the chymneies were hote in Sion, 5 and before the present yeares
|
|
were searched out, and before their inuentions that now sinne, were put
|
|
away, and they signed that made fayth their treasure: 6 then I thought,
|
|
and they were made by me only, and not by any other: and the end by me,
|
|
and not by any other. 7 And I answered, and sayd: What separation of
|
|
times shal there be? and when shal the end of the former be, and the
|
|
begynning of that which foloweth? 8 And he sayd to me, from Abraham vnto
|
|
Isaac, when Iacob and Esau were borne of him, the hand of Iacob held from
|
|
the begynning the heele of Esau, 9 for the end of this world is Esau, and
|
|
the begynning of the next Iacob. 10 The hand of a man betwen the heele
|
|
and the hand. Aske no other thing Esdras. 11 And I answered, and sayd:
|
|
O Lord dominatour, if I haue found grace before thyne eyes, 12 I pray
|
|
thee shew thy seruant the end of thy signes, wherof thou didst shew me
|
|
part the night before. 13 And he answered, and sayd to me: Arise vpon
|
|
thy feete, and heare a voice most ful of sound. 14 And it shal be as it
|
|
were a commotion, neither shal the place be moued wherin thou standest.
|
|
15 Therfore when it speaketh be not thou afrayd, because of the end is
|
|
the word, and the fundation of the earth vnderstood, 16 for concerning
|
|
them the word trembleth and is moued, for it knoweth that their end must
|
|
be changed. 17 And it came to passe, when I had heard, I rose vpon my
|
|
feete, and I heard: and behold a voice speaking, and the sound therof as
|
|
the sound of manie waters: 18 and it sayd: Behold the dayes come, and
|
|
the time shal be when I wil begyne to approch, that I may visite the
|
|
inhabitantes vpon the earth. 19 And when I wil begin to enquire of them
|
|
that vniustly haue hurt with their iniustice, and when the humilitie of
|
|
Sion shal be accomplished. 20 And when the world shal be ouersigned that
|
|
shal beginne to passe, I wil doe these signes: Bookes shal be opened
|
|
before the face of the firmament, and al shal see together, 21 and
|
|
infantes of one yeare shal speake with their voices, & wemen with child
|
|
shal bring forth vntimely infantes not ripe of three or foure monethes,
|
|
and shal liue, and shal be raysed vp. 22 And sodenly shal appeare sowen
|
|
places not sowen, & ful cellers shal sodenly be found emptie: 23 and a
|
|
trumpet shal sound; which when al shal heare, they wil sodenly be afrayd.
|
|
24 And it shal be in that time, freindes as enimies shal ouerthrow
|
|
freindes, and the earth shal be afrayd with them: & the vaynes of
|
|
fountaynes shal stand, and shal not runne in three howres: 25 and it
|
|
shal be, euerie one that shal be leaft of al these, of whom I haue
|
|
foretold thee, he shal be saued, and shal see my saluation, & the end of
|
|
your world. 26 And the men that are receiued, shal see, they that tasted
|
|
not death from their natiuitie, and the hart of the inhabitantes shal be
|
|
turned into an other sense. 27 For euil shal be put out, and deceite
|
|
shal be extinguished, 28 but fayth shal florish, and corruption shal be
|
|
ouercome, and truth shal be shewed, which was without fruite so manie
|
|
dayes. 29 And it came to passe, when he spake to me, & I loe by litle &
|
|
litle looked on him before whom I stood, 30 and he sayd to me these
|
|
wordes: I am come to shew thee the time of the night to come. 31 If
|
|
therfore thou pray agayne, and fast agayne seuen dayes, agayne I wil tel
|
|
thee greater thinges by the day which I haue heard. 32 For thy voice is
|
|
heard before the Highest. For the strong hath sene thy direction, and
|
|
hath fore sene the chastitie which thou hast had from thy youth: 33 and
|
|
for this cause he hath sent me to shew thee al these thinges, and to say
|
|
to thee, haue confidence, and feare not, 34 and hasten not with the
|
|
former times to thinke vayne thinges, that thou hasten not from the last
|
|
times. 35 And it came to passe after these thinges, and I wept againe,
|
|
and in like maner I fasted seuen dayes, to accomplish the three weekes,
|
|
that were told me. 36 And it came to passe in the eight night, and my
|
|
hart was trubled againe in me, and I began to speake before the Highest.
|
|
37 For my spirit was inflamed excedingly, and my soul was distressed.
|
|
38 And I sayd: O Lord, speaking thou didst speake from the beginning of
|
|
creature from the first day, saying: Let heauen be made and earth: and
|
|
thy word was a perfect worke. 39 And then there was spirit, and
|
|
darknesse was caried about, and silence, the sound of the voyce of man
|
|
was not yet from thee. 40 Then thou didst command the lighsome light to
|
|
be brought forth of thy treasures, wherby thy worke might appeare.
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|
41 And in the second day thou didst create the spirit of the firmament,
|
|
and commandest it to diuide, and to make a diuision betwen the waters,
|
|
that a certayn part should depart vpward, and part should remaine beneth.
|
|
42 And in the third day thou didst command the waters to be gathered
|
|
together in the seuenth part of the earth: but sixe partes thou didst
|
|
drie and preserue, that of them might be seruing before thee thinges
|
|
sowen of God, and tilled. 43 For thy word proceded, and the worke forth
|
|
with was made. 44 For sodenly came forth fruite of multitude infinite,
|
|
and diurse tastes of concupiscence, and flowers of vnchangeable colour,
|
|
and odours of vnsearcheable smel, and in the third day these thinges were
|
|
made. 45 And in the fourth day thou didst command to be made the
|
|
brightnesse of the sunne, the light of the moone, the disposition of the
|
|
starres: 46 and didst command them that they should serue man, that
|
|
should be made. 47 And in the fifth day: thou saydst to the seuenth
|
|
part, where the water was gathered together, that it should bring forth
|
|
beastes, and foules, and fishes: and so was it done, 48 the dumme water
|
|
and without life, the thinges that by Gods appointement were commanded,
|
|
made beastes, that therby the nations may declare thy meruelous workes.
|
|
49 And then thou didst preserue two soules: the name of one thou didst
|
|
cal Henoch, and the name of the second thou didst cal Leuiathan, 50 and
|
|
thou didst separate them from eche other. For the seuenth part, where
|
|
the water was gathered together, could not hold them. 51 And thou gauest
|
|
to Henoch one part, which was dried the third day, to dwelt therin, where
|
|
are a thousand mountaynes. 52 But to Leuiathan thou gauest the seuenth
|
|
part being moyst, and kepst it, that it might be to deuoure whom thou
|
|
wilt, and when thou wilt. 53 And in the sixt day thou didst command the
|
|
earth, to create before thee cattel, and beastes, and creeping creatures:
|
|
54 and ouer these Adam, whom thou madest ruler ouer al the workes, which
|
|
thou didst make, & out of him are al we brought forth, and the people
|
|
whom thou hast chosen. 55 And al these thinges I haue sayd before thee o
|
|
Lord, because thou didst create the world for vs. 56 But the residue of
|
|
the nations borne of Adam thou saydst that they were nothing, and that
|
|
they were like to spittle, and as it were the droping out of a vessel
|
|
thou didst liken the abundance of them. 57 And now Lord, behold these
|
|
nations which are reputed for nothing, haue begune to rule ouer vs, and
|
|
to deuoure vs: 58 but we thy people whom thou didst cal thy first onlie
|
|
begotten emulatour, are deliuered into their handes: 59 and if the world
|
|
was created for vs, why doe not we possesse inheritance with the world?
|
|
how long these thinges?
|
|
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|
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|
CHAP. VII.
|
|
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|
|
|
Without tribulations no man can attayne immortal life: 17. which the
|
|
iust shal inherite: and the wicked shal perish. 28. Christ wil come,
|
|
and dye for mankind. 36. Prayers of the iust shal profite til the end of
|
|
this world, but not after the general iudgement. 48. Al sinned in Adam.
|
|
52. and haue added more sinnes, 57. but it is in mans powre, 62. by Gods
|
|
grace, to liue eternally.
|
|
|
|
AND it came to passe when I had ended to speake these wordes, the Angel
|
|
was sent to me, which had bene sent to me the first nights, 2 and he sayd
|
|
to me: Arise Esdras, and heare the wordes which I am come to speake to
|
|
thee. 3 And I sayd: Speake my God. And he sayd to me: The sea is set
|
|
in a large place, that it might be deepe and wide: 4 but the entrance to
|
|
it shal be set in a straict place, that it might be like to riuers.
|
|
5 For who witting wil enter into the sea, and see it, or rule ouer it:
|
|
if he passe not the streite, how shal he come into the bredth? 6 Also an
|
|
other thing: A citie is built, and set in a plaine place, and it is ful
|
|
of al goodes. 7 The entrance therof narrow, and set in a stepe place, so
|
|
that on the right hand there was fire, & on the left depe water: 8 and
|
|
there is one onlie pathe set betwen them, that is, betwen the fire and
|
|
the water, so that the pathe can not conteyne, but onlie a mans steppe.
|
|
9 And if the citie shal be geuen a man for inheritance, if he neuer passe
|
|
through the peril set before it, how shal he receiue his inhertance?
|
|
10 And I sayd: So Lord. And he sayd to me, So it is: Israel also a
|
|
part. 11 For I made the world for them: and when Adam transgressed my
|
|
constitution, that was iudged which was done. 12 And the entrance of
|
|
this world were made streite, and sorowful, & paynful, and few and euil,
|
|
and ful of dangers, & stuffed very much with labour. 13 For the
|
|
entrances of the greater world are large andsecure, and making fruite of
|
|
immortalitie. 14 If then they that liue entring in enter into these
|
|
streite and vayne thinges: they can not receiue the thinges that are
|
|
layd vp. 15 Now therfore why art thou trubled, wheras thou art
|
|
corruptible? and why art thou moued, wheras thou art mortal? 16 And why
|
|
hast thou not taken in thy hart that which is to come, but that which is
|
|
present? 17 I answered, and sayd: Lord dominatour: behold thou hast
|
|
disposed by thy law that the iust shal inherite these thinges, and the
|
|
impious shal perish. (Deut 8) 18 But the iust shal suffer the streites,
|
|
hoping for the wyde places, for they that haue done impiously, haue both
|
|
suffered the streites, and shal not see the wide places. 19 And he sayd
|
|
to me: There is no iudge aboue God, nor that vnderstandeth aboue the
|
|
Highest. 20 For manie present doe perish, because the law of God which
|
|
was set before, is neglected. 21 For God commanding commanded them that
|
|
came, when they came, what doing they should liue, and what obseruing
|
|
they should not be punished. 22 But they were not perswaded, and
|
|
gaynesayd him, and made to them selues a cogitation of vanitie, 23 and
|
|
proposed to them selues deceites of sinnes, & they sayd to the Highest
|
|
that he was not, and they knew not his wayes, 24 and dispised his law,
|
|
and denyed his couenaunces, and had not fidelitie in his ordinances, and
|
|
did not accomplish his workes. 25 For this cause Esdras, the emptie to
|
|
the emptie, and the ful to the ful. 26 Behold the time shal come, and it
|
|
shal be when the signes shal come, which I haue foretold thee, and the
|
|
bride shal appeare, and appearing she shal be shewed that now is hid with
|
|
the earth: 27 and euerie one that is deliuered from the foresaid euils,
|
|
he shal see my meruelous thinges. 28 For my sonne IESVS shal be reueled
|
|
with them that are with him, and they shal be merie that are leaft in the
|
|
foure hundred yeares. 29 And it shal be after these yeares, and my sonne
|
|
CHRIST shal dye: and al men that haue breath, 30 and the world shal be
|
|
turned into the old silence seuen dayes, as in the former iudgementes, so
|
|
that none shal be leaft. 31 And it shal be after seuen dayes, and the
|
|
world shal be raysed vp that yet waketh not, and shal dye corrupted:
|
|
32 and the earth shal render the thinges that sleepe in it, & the dust
|
|
them that dwel in it with silence, and the cellars shal render the soules
|
|
that are commended to them. 33 And the Highest shal be reueled vpon the
|
|
seate of iudgement, and miseries shal passe, and long sufferance shal be
|
|
gathered together. 34 And iudgement onlie shal remayne, truth shal
|
|
stand, and fayth shal waxe strong, 35 and the worke shal folow, and the
|
|
reward shal be shewed, and iustice shal awake, and iniustice shal not
|
|
haue dominion. [See note below.] 36 And I sayd: First Abraham prayed
|
|
for the Sodomites, and Moyses for the fathers that sinned in the desert.
|
|
(Gen 18 / Ex 32) 37 And they that were after him for Isreal in the dayes
|
|
of Achaz, and of Samuel, 38 and Dauid for the destruction, and Salomon
|
|
for them that came vnto the sanctification. (2 Kings 24:17 / 2 Par 6:13)
|
|
39 And Elias for them that receiued raine, and for the dead that he might
|
|
liue, (3 Kings 17 & 18) 40 and Ezechias for the people in the dayes of
|
|
Sennacherib, and manie for manie. (4 Kings 19:15) 41 If therfore now
|
|
when corruptible did increase, and iniustice was multiplied, and the iust
|
|
prayed for the impious: why now also shal it not be so? 42 And he
|
|
answered me and sayd: This present world is not the end, much glorie
|
|
remaineth in it: for this cause they prayed for the impotent. 43 For
|
|
the day of iudgement shal be the end of this time, and the beginning of
|
|
the immortalitie to come, wherein corruption is past: 44 intemperance is
|
|
dissolued, incredulitie is cut of: and iustice hath increased, truth is
|
|
strong. 45 For then no man can saue him that hath perished, nor drowne
|
|
him that hath ouercome. And I answered, 46 and sayd: This is my word
|
|
the first and the last, that it had bene better not to geue the earth to
|
|
Adam, or when he had now geuen it, to restraine him that he should not
|
|
sinne. 47 For what doth it profit men presently to liue in sorow, and
|
|
being dead to hope for punishment? 48 O what hast thou done Adam? For
|
|
if thou didst sinne, it was not made thy fal only, but ours also which
|
|
came of thee. (Rom 5:12) 49 For what doth it profit vs if immortal time
|
|
be promised to vs: but we haue done mortal workes? 50 And that
|
|
euerlasting hope is foretold vs: but we most wicked are become vayne?
|
|
51 And that habitations of health and securitie are reserued for vs, but
|
|
we haue conuerst naughtely? 52 And that the glorie of the Highest is
|
|
reserued to protect them that haue slowly conuerst: but we haue walked
|
|
in most wicked wayes. 53 And that paradise shal be shewed, whose fruite
|
|
continueth incorrupted, wherin is securitie and remedie: 54 but we shal
|
|
not enter in: for we haue conuerst in vnlawful places. 55 And their
|
|
faces which haue had abstinence, shal shyne aboue the starres: but our
|
|
faces blacke aboue darkenes. 56 For we did not thinke liuing when we
|
|
did iniquitie, that we shal beginne after death to suffer. 57 And he
|
|
answered, and sayd: This is the cogitation of the battel which man shal
|
|
fight, who is borne vpon the earth, 58 that if he shal be ouercome, he
|
|
suffer that which thou hast sayd: but if he ouercome he shal receiue
|
|
that which I say: 59 for this is the life which Moyses spake of when he
|
|
liued, to the people, saying: Choose vnto thee life, that thou mayst
|
|
liue. (Deut 30:19) 60 But they beleued him not, no nor the Prophetes
|
|
after him, no nor me which haue spoken to them. 61 Because there should
|
|
not be sorow vnto their perdition, as there shal be ioy vpon them, to
|
|
whom saluation is perswaded. 62 And I answered, and sayd: I know Lord,
|
|
that the Highest is called merciful in that, that he hath mercie on them
|
|
which are not yet come into the world, 63 and that he hath mercie on them
|
|
which conuerse in his law: 64 and he is long suffering, because he
|
|
sheweth long sufferance to them that haue sinned, as it were with their
|
|
owne workes: 65 and he is bountiful, because he wil geue according to
|
|
exigentes: 66 and of freat mercie, because he multiplieth more mercies
|
|
to them that are present, and that are past, and that are to come.
|
|
67 For if he shal not multiplie his mercies, the world shal not be made
|
|
aliue with them that did inherite it. 68 And he geueth: for if he shal
|
|
not geue of his bountie, that they may be releeued which haue done
|
|
iniquitie, the tenth thousand part of men can not be quickned from their
|
|
iniquities. 69 And the iudge if he shal not forgeue them that are cured
|
|
with his word, and wype away a multitude of contentions: there should
|
|
not perhaps be leaft in an innumerable multitiude, but very few.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. VIII.
|
|
|
|
|
|
God is merciful in this world, yet fewe are saued. 6. Gods workes, and
|
|
disposition of his creatures are meruelous. 15. Esdras prayeth for the
|
|
people of Israel: 37. and saluation is promised to the iust, and
|
|
punishment threatned to the wicked.
|
|
|
|
AND he answered me, & sayd: This world the Highest made for manie, but
|
|
that to come for few. 2 And I wil speake a similitude Esdras before
|
|
thee. For as thou shalt aske the earth, and it wil tel thee, that it wil
|
|
geue much more earth wherof earthen worke may be made, but a litle dust
|
|
wherof gold is made: so also is the act of this present world. 3 Manie
|
|
in deede are created, but few shal be saued. (Matt 20:16) 4 And I
|
|
answered, and sayd: Then o soul swallow vp the sense, and deuoure that
|
|
which is wise. 5 For thou art agred to obey, and willing to prophecie.
|
|
For there is no space geuen thee but only to liue. 6 O Lord if thou wilt
|
|
not permitte thy seruant, that we pray before thee, and thou geue vs
|
|
seede to the hart, and tillage to the vnderstanding, wherof may the
|
|
fruite be made, wherby euerie corrupt person may liue, that shal beare
|
|
the place of a man? 7 For thou art alone, and we are one workmanshippe
|
|
of thy handes, as thou hast spoken: 8 and as now the bodie made in the
|
|
matrice, and thou doest geue the members, thy creature is preserued in
|
|
fire & water: and nine monethes thy workemanship doth suffer thy
|
|
creature that is created in it: 9 and it self that keepeth, and that
|
|
which is kept, both shal be preserued: and the matrice being preserued
|
|
rendreth agayne at some time the thinges that are growen in it. 10 For
|
|
thou hast commanded of the members, that is the brestes to geue milke
|
|
vnto the fruite of the brestes, 11 that the thing which is made, may be
|
|
nourished til a certayne time, and afterward thou mayst dispose him to
|
|
thy mercie. 12 For thou hast, brought him vp in thy iustice, and hast
|
|
instructed him in thy law, and hast corrected him in thy vnderstanding:
|
|
13 and thou shalt mortifie him, as thy creature: and shalt geue him
|
|
life, as thy worke. 14 If then thou wilt destroy him that is made with
|
|
so great labours: it is easie by thy commandment to be ordayned, that
|
|
also which was made, might be preserued. 15 And now Lord I wil speake,
|
|
of euerie man thou rather knowest: but concerning thy people, for which
|
|
I am sorowful: 16 and concerning thine inheritance, for which I mourne,
|
|
and for Israel for whom I am pensiue, and concerning Iacob, for whom I am
|
|
sorowful. 17 Therfore wil I begin to pray before thee for me, & for
|
|
them: because I see our defaultes that inhabite the earth. 18 But I
|
|
haue heard of the celeritie of the iudge that shal be. 19 Therfore heare
|
|
my voyce, and vnderstand my word, and I wil speake before thee. 20 The
|
|
beginning of the wordes of Esdras before he was assumpted: and I sayd:
|
|
Lord which inhabitest the world, whose eyes are eleuated vnto thinges on
|
|
high and in the ayre: 21 and whose throne is inestimable, and glorie
|
|
incomprehensible: by whom standeth an host of Angels with trembling,
|
|
22 whose keping is turned in wynde and fire, thou whose word is true, and
|
|
sayings premanent: 23 whose commandment is strong, and disposition
|
|
terrible: whose looke dryeth vp the depthes, and indignation maketh the
|
|
mountaynes to melt, and truth doth testifie. 24 Heare the prayer of thy
|
|
seruant, & with thine eares receiue the petition of thy creature. 25 For
|
|
whiles I liue, I wil speake: and whiles I vnderstand, I wil answere:
|
|
26 Neither doe thou respect the sinnes of thy people, but them that serue
|
|
thee in truth. 27 Neither doe thou attend the impious endeuours of the
|
|
nations, but them that with sorowes haue kept thy testimonies.
|
|
28 Neither thinke thou of them that in thy sight haue conuerst falsly,
|
|
but remember them that according to thy wil haue knowen thy feare.
|
|
29 Neither be thou willing to destroy them that haue had the maners of
|
|
beastes: but respect them that haue taught thy law gloriously.
|
|
30 Neither haue indignation towards them, which are iudged worse then
|
|
beastes: but loue them that alwayes haue confidence in thy iustice, and
|
|
glorie. 31 Because we and our fatheres languish with such diseases: but
|
|
thou for sinners shalt be called merciful. 32 For if thou shalt be
|
|
desirous to haue mercie on vs, then thou shalt be called merciful, to vs
|
|
hauing no workes of iustice. 33 For the iust which haue manie workes
|
|
layd vp, of their owne workes shal receiue reward. 34 For what is man,
|
|
that thou art angrie with him: or the corruptible kinde, that thou art
|
|
so bitter touching it? 35 For in truth there is no man of them that be
|
|
borne, which hath not done impiously, and of them that confesse, which
|
|
haue not sinned. (3 Kings 8:46 / 2 Par 6:36) 36 For in this shal thy
|
|
iustice be declared, and thy goodnes, o Lord, when thou shalt haue mercie
|
|
on them, that haue no substance of good workes. 37 And he answered me,
|
|
and sayd: Thou hast spoken somethinges rightly: and according to thy
|
|
wordes, so also shal it be done, 38 because I wil not in dede thinke vpon
|
|
the worke of them that haue sinned before death, before the iudgement,
|
|
before perdition: 39 but I wil reioyce vpon the creature of the iust,
|
|
and I wil remember their pilgrimage also, and saluation, and receiuing of
|
|
reward. 40 Therfore as I haue spoken, so also it is. 41 For as the
|
|
husbandman soweth vpon the ground manie seedes, and planteth manie
|
|
plantes, but not al which were sowen in time, are preserued, nor yet al
|
|
that were planted, shal take roote: so they also that are sowen in the
|
|
world, shal not al be saued. (Matt 13 & 20) 42 And I answered, and
|
|
sayd: If I haue found grace, let me speake. 43 As the seede of the
|
|
husbandman, if it come not vp, or receiue not the rayne in time, if it be
|
|
corupted with much rayne, perisheth: 44 so likewise also man who made
|
|
with thy handes, and thou named his image: because thou art likened to
|
|
him, for whom thou hast made al thinges, and hast likened him to the
|
|
seede of the husbandman. 45 Be not angrie vpon vs, but spare thy people,
|
|
and haue mercie on thy inheritance. And thou hast mercie on thy
|
|
creature. 46 And he answered me, and sayd: The thinges that are present
|
|
to them that are present, and that shal be, to them that shal be. 47 For
|
|
thou lackest much to be able to loue my creature aboue me: and to thee
|
|
often times, euen to thyselfe I haue approched, but to the vniust neuer.
|
|
48 But in this also thou art meruelous before the Highest, 49 because
|
|
thou hast humbled thyself as becometh thee: & hast not iudged thyself,
|
|
that among the iust thou maist be very much glorified. 50 For which
|
|
cause manie miseries, and miserable thinges shal be done to them that
|
|
inhabite the world in the later dayes: because they haue walked in much
|
|
pride. 51 But thou for thyselfe vnderstand, & for them that are like
|
|
vnto thee seeke glorie. 52 For to you paradise is open, the tree of life
|
|
is planted, time to come is prepared, abundance is prepared, a citie is
|
|
builded, rest is approued, goodnes is perfited, & perfit wisdome. 53 The
|
|
roote of euil is signed from you: infirmitie, and mothe is hid from you:
|
|
& corruption is fled into hel in obliuion. 54 Sorowes are past, & the
|
|
treasure of immortalitie is shewed in the end. 55 Adde not therfore
|
|
inquiring of the multitude of them that perish. 56 For they also
|
|
receiuing libertie, haue despised the Highest, and contemned his lawe,
|
|
and forsaken his wayes. 57 Yea and moreouer they haue troden downe his
|
|
iust ones, 58 and haue sayd in their hart, that there is no God: and
|
|
that, knowing that they dye. (Ps 13 & 52) 59 For as the thinges
|
|
aforesayd shal receiue you: so thirst and torment, which are prepared
|
|
shal take them: for he would not man to be destroyed. 60 But they them
|
|
selues also which are created, haue defyled his name which made them: &
|
|
haue bene vnkind to him that prepared life. 61 Wherfore my iudgement now
|
|
approcheth. 62 Which thinges I haue not shewed to al, but to thee, & to
|
|
few like vnto thee. And I answered, and sayd: 63 Behold now Lord thou
|
|
hast shewed me a multitude of signes, which thou wilt beginne to doe in
|
|
the latter times: but thou hast not shewed me at what time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. IX.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Certaine signes shal goe before the day of iudgement. 14. More shal
|
|
perish then be saued. 25. Prayer with other good workes, are meanes to
|
|
saluation.
|
|
|
|
AND he answered me, and sayd: Measuring measure thou the time in it
|
|
selfe: and it shal be when thou seest, after a certaine part of the
|
|
signes which are spoken of before shal passe, 2 then shalt thou
|
|
vnderstand, that the same is the time wherin the Highest wil beginne to
|
|
visite the world that was made by him. 3 And when there shal be sene in
|
|
the world mouing of places, and truble of peoples, 4 then shalt thou
|
|
vnderstand, that of these spake the Highest, from the dayes that were
|
|
before thee, from the beginning. 5 For as al that is made in the world
|
|
hath a beginning, and also a consummation, and the consummation is
|
|
manifest: 6 so also the times of the Highest haue the beginning manifest
|
|
in wonders and powers, and the consummations in worke and in signes.
|
|
7 And it shal be, euery one that shal be saued, and that can escape by
|
|
his workes, and by fayth, in which you haue beleeued, 8 shal be leaft out
|
|
of the foresayd dangers, and shal see my saluation in my land, and in my
|
|
costes, because I haue sancitifed my selfe from the world. 9 And then
|
|
shal they be in miserie, that now haue abused my wayes: and they that
|
|
haue reiected them in contempt, shal abide in torments. 10 For they that
|
|
knew not me, hauing obtained benefits when they liued: 11 and they that
|
|
loathed my law, when they yet had libertie, 12 and when as yet place of
|
|
penance was open to them vnderstoode not, but despised: they must after
|
|
death in torment know it. 13 Thou therfore be not yet curious, how the
|
|
impious shal be tormented: but inquire how the iust shal be saued, and
|
|
whose the world is, and for whom the world is, and when. 14 And I
|
|
answered, and sayd: 15 I haue spoken hertofore, and now I say, and
|
|
hereafter wil say: that they are more which perish then that shal be
|
|
saued: (Matt 10) 16 as a floud is multiplied aboue, more then a droppe.
|
|
17 And he ansvvered me, and sayd: Like as the field so also the sedes:
|
|
and as the flovvers, such also the colours: and as the workeman, such
|
|
also the worke: and such as the husbandman, such is the husbandrie:
|
|
because it was the time of the world. 18 And now when I was preparing
|
|
for them, for these that now are before the world was made, wherin they
|
|
should dwel: and no man gaynsayd me. 19 For then euery man, and now the
|
|
creator in this world prepared, and haruest not fayling, and law
|
|
vnsearchable their manners are corrupted. 20 And I considered the world,
|
|
and behold there was danger because of the cogitations that came in it.
|
|
21 And I saw, and spared it very much: and I kept vnto my selfe a grape
|
|
kernel of a cluster, and a plant of a great trybe. 22 Let the multitude
|
|
therfore perish, which was borne without cause, and let my kernel be
|
|
kept, & my plant: because I finished it with much labour. 23 And thou
|
|
if thou adde yet seuen other dayes, but thou shalt not fast in them,
|
|
24 thou shalt goe into a field of flowers, where no house is built: &
|
|
thou shalt eate only of the flowers of the field, and flesh thou shalt
|
|
not tast, and wine thou shalt not drinke, but only flowers. 25 Pray to
|
|
the Highest without intermission, and I wil come, and wil speake with
|
|
thee. 26 And I went forth, as he sayd to me, into a field which is
|
|
called Ardath, and I sate there among the flowers. And I did eate of the
|
|
herbes of the field, and the meate of them made me ful. 27 And it came
|
|
to passe after seuen dayes, and I sate downe vpon the grasse, and my hart
|
|
was trubled ayayne as before. 28 And my mouth was opened, and I beganne
|
|
to speake before the Highest, and sayd: 29 O Lord thou shewing thy selfe
|
|
to vs, wast shewed to our fathers in the desert, which is not troden, and
|
|
vnfruitful, when they came out of AEgypt: and saying thou saydst:
|
|
(Ex 19 & 24 / Deut 4) 30 Thou Israel heare me, and sede of Iacob attend
|
|
to my wordes. 31 For behold, I sow my lawe in you, and it shal bring
|
|
forth fruite in you, and you shal be glorified in it for euer. 32 For
|
|
our fathers receiuing the law obserued it not, and kept not my
|
|
ordinances, and the fruite of the law did not appeare: for it could not,
|
|
because it was thine. 33 For they that receiued it, perished, not
|
|
keeping that which had bene sowen in them. (Ex 32) 34 And behold it is
|
|
the custome, that when the earth hath receiued sede, or the sea a shippe,
|
|
or some vessel meate or drinke: when that shal be destroyed wherin it
|
|
was sowne, or into the which it was cast: 35 that which was sowne, or
|
|
cast in, or the thinges that were receiued, are destroyed withal, and the
|
|
thinges receiued now tarye not with vs: but it is not so done to vs.
|
|
36 We in dede that receiued the law, sinning haue perished, and our hart
|
|
that receiued it: 37 For the law hath not perished, but hath remayned in
|
|
his labour. (Ezech 48) 38 And when I spake these thinges in my hart, I
|
|
looked backe with myne eyes, and saw a woman on the right side, and
|
|
behold she mourned, and wept with a lowd voice, and was sorrowful in
|
|
mynde exceedingly, and her garments rent, and ashes vpon her heade.
|
|
39 And I left the cogitations, wherin I was thinking, and I turned to her
|
|
and sayd to her: 40 Why weepest thou? and why art thou sorie in mynde.
|
|
And she sayd to me: 41 Suffer me my Lord, that I may lament myselfe, &
|
|
adde sorrow: because I am of a very pensiue mynde, and am humbled
|
|
exceedingly. 42 And I sayd to her, What ayleth thee: tel me. And she
|
|
sayd to me: 43 I thy seruant haue beene barren, and haue not borne
|
|
childe, hauing a husband thirty yeares. 44 For I euery howre, and euerie
|
|
day, and these thirty yeares do beseche the Highest night and day.
|
|
45 And it came to passe, after thirtie yeares God heard me thy handmayd,
|
|
and saw my humilitie, and attended to my tribulation, and gaue me a
|
|
sonne: and I was very ioyful vpon him, and my husband, and al my
|
|
citizens, and we did glorifie the Strong exceedingly. 46 And I nourished
|
|
him with much labour. 47 And it came to passe when he was growen, and
|
|
came to take a wife, I made a feast day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. X.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The state of Ierusalem is prefigured by a woman mourning, 25. and
|
|
afterwardes reioycing.
|
|
|
|
AND it came to passe, when my sonne was entred into his inner chamber, he
|
|
fel downe, and dyed: 2 and we al ouerthrewe the lights, and al my
|
|
citizens rose vp to comfort me, and I was quiet vntil the other day at
|
|
night. 3 And it came to passe, when al were quiet to comfort me, that I
|
|
might be quiet: and I arose in the night, and fled: and came as thou
|
|
seest into this field. 4 And I meane nowe not to returne into the citie,
|
|
but to stay here: and neither eate, nor drinke, but without intermission
|
|
to mourne, and to fast vntil I dye. 5 And I left the talke wherin I was,
|
|
and with anger answered her, & sayd: 6 Thou foole aboue al wemen, seest
|
|
thou not our mourning, & what thinges chance to vs? 7 Because Sion our
|
|
mother is sorroweful with al sorrowe, and humbled, and mourneth most
|
|
bitterly. 8 And now wheras we al mourne, and are sadde: wheras we are
|
|
sorrowful, and art thou sorrowful for one sonne? 9 For aske the earth,
|
|
and it wil tel thee: that it is she, that ought to lament the fal of so
|
|
manie thinges that spring vpon it. 10 And of her were al borne from the
|
|
beginning, and others shal come: and behold, almost al walke into
|
|
perdition, and the multitude of them commeth to destruction. 11 And who
|
|
then ought to mourne more, but she that hath lost so great a multitude,
|
|
rather then thou which art sorie for one? 12 And if thou say vnto me,
|
|
that my mourning is not lyke the earthes: because I haue lost the fruite
|
|
of my wombe, which I bare with sorrowes, and brought forth with paynes:
|
|
13 but the earth according to the maner of the earth, and the present
|
|
multitude in it hath departed as it came: and I saye to thee, 14 as thou
|
|
hast brought forth with payne, so the earth also geueth her fruite for
|
|
man from the beginning to him that made her. 15 Now therfore kepe in
|
|
with thy sorrowe, and beare stoutly the chances that haue befallen thee.
|
|
16 For if thou iustifie the end of God, thou shalt in time both receiue
|
|
his counsel, and also in such thinges thou shalt be praysed. 17 Goe in
|
|
therfore into the citie to thy husband. And she sayd to me: 18 I wil
|
|
not doe it, neither wil I enter into the citie, but here wil I dye.
|
|
19 And I added yet to speake to her, & sayd: 20 Doe not this word, but
|
|
consent to him that counseleth thee. For how manie are the chances of
|
|
Sion? Take comfort for the sorrowe of Ierusalem. 21 For thou seest that
|
|
our sanctification is made desert, and our altar is throwen downe, and
|
|
our temple is destroyed, 22 and our psalter is humbled, and hymne is
|
|
silent, and our exultation is dissolued, and the light of our
|
|
candelsticke is extinguished, and the arke of our testament is taken for
|
|
spoyle, & our holie thinges are contaminated, and the name that is
|
|
inuocated vpon vs, is almost prophaned: and our children haue suffred
|
|
contumelie, and our Priestes are burnt, & our Leuites are gone into
|
|
captiuitie, & our virgins are defloured, and our wiues haue suffered
|
|
rape, and our iust men are violently taken, and our litle ones are lost,
|
|
and our yong men are in bondage, and our valiants are made impotent:
|
|
23 and that which is greatest of al, the seale of Sion, because she is
|
|
vnsealed of her glorie: For she is also deliuered into the handes of
|
|
them that hate vs. 24 Thou therfore shake of thy great heauines, and lay
|
|
away from thee the multitude of sorrowes, that the Strong may be
|
|
propicious to thee agayne, and the Highest wil geue thee rest, rest from
|
|
thy labours. 25 And it came to passe, when I spake to her, her face did
|
|
shine suddenly, and her shape, and her visage was made glistering, so
|
|
that I was afrayde excedingly at her, & thought what this thing should
|
|
be. 26 And Behold, suddenly she put forth a great sound of a voyce ful
|
|
of feare, that the earth was moued at the womans sound. And I saw:
|
|
27 and behold, the woman did no more appeare vnto me, but a citie was
|
|
built, & a place was shewed of great fundations: and I was afrayd, &
|
|
crying with a loude voyce I sayd: 28 Where is Vriel the Angel, that from
|
|
the beginning came to me? for he made me come in multitude in excesse of
|
|
this minde, and my end is made into corruption, & my prayer into reproch.
|
|
29 And when I was speaking these thinges, behold he came to me, and sawe
|
|
me. 30 And behold I was layd as dead, & my vnderstanding was alienated,
|
|
and he held my right hand, and strengthned me, & set me vpon my feete, &
|
|
sayd to me: 31 What ayleth thee? and why is thy vnderstanding, and the
|
|
sense of thy hart trubled, & why art thou trubled? And I sayd:
|
|
32 Because thou hast forsaken me, and I in dede haue done according to
|
|
thy wordes, & went out into the field: & behold, I haue seene, & doe see
|
|
that which I cannot vtter. And he sayd to me: 33 Stand like a man, & I
|
|
wil moue thee. And I sayd: 34 Speake thou my Lord in me, forsake me
|
|
not, that I die not in vaine: 35 because I haue seene thinges that I
|
|
knew not, & I doe heare thinges that I know not. 36 Or is my sense
|
|
deceiued, & doth my soule dreame? 37 Now therfore I besech thee, that
|
|
thou shew vnto thy seruant concerning this trance. And he answered me, &
|
|
sayd: 38 Heare me, and I wil teach thee, and wil tel thee of what
|
|
thinges thou art afrayd: because the Highest hath reuealed vnto thee
|
|
manie mysteries. 39 He hath seene thy right way, that without
|
|
intermission thou was forrowful for thy people, and didst mourne
|
|
exceedingly for Sion. 40 This therfore is the vnderstanding of the
|
|
vision which appeared to thee a litle before. 41 The woman whom thou
|
|
sawest mourning, thou beganst to comfort her. 42 And now thou seest not
|
|
the forme of the woman, but there appeared to thee a citie to be built.
|
|
43 And because she tolde thee of the fal of her sonne, this is the
|
|
interpretation. 44 This woman which thou sawest, she is Sion, and wheras
|
|
she told thee of her, whom now also thou shalt see, as a citie builded.
|
|
45 And whereas she told thee, that she was barren thirtie yeares: for
|
|
the which there were thirtie yeares, when there was not yet oblation
|
|
offered in it. 46 And it came to passe after thirtie yeares, Salomon
|
|
built the citie, and offered oblations: then it was, when the barren
|
|
bare a childe. 47 And that which she sayd vnto thee, that she nourished
|
|
him with labour, this was the habitation in Ierusalem. 48 And wheras she
|
|
sayd to thee, that my sonne comming into the bryde chamber dyed, and that
|
|
a fal chanced vnto him, this was the ruine of Ierusalem that is made.
|
|
49 And behold, thou hast seene the similitude of her: and because she
|
|
lamented her sonne, thou beganst to comfort her: and of these thinges
|
|
that haue chanced, these were to be opened to thee. 50 And now the
|
|
Highest seeth that thou wast sorie from the hart: and because with thy
|
|
whole hart thou sufferest for her, he hath shewed thee the clearnes of
|
|
her glorie, and the fayrenes of her beautie. 51 For therfore did he say
|
|
to thee, that thou shouldest tarie in a field where house is not built.
|
|
52 For I knew that the Highest beganne to shew thee these thinges:
|
|
53 therfore I sayd vnto thee, that thou shouldest goe into a field, where
|
|
is no fundation of building. 54 For the worke of mans building could not
|
|
be borne in the place, where the citie of the Highest began to be shewed.
|
|
55 Thou therfore feare not, neither let thy hart dread: but goe in, and
|
|
see the beautie, and greatnes of the building, as much as the sight of
|
|
thyne eyes is capable to see: 56 & afterward thou shalt heare as much,
|
|
as the hearing of thyne eares is capable to heare. 57 For thou art
|
|
blessed aboue manie, and art called with the Highest as few. 58 And to
|
|
morrow night thou shalt tarie here: 59 and the Highest wil shew thee
|
|
those visions of the thinges on high, which the Highest wil doe to them
|
|
that inhabite vpon the earth in the later dayes. 60 And I slept that
|
|
night, and the other next, as he had sayd to me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. XI.
|
|
|
|
|
|
An eagle appeareth to Esdras coming forth of the sea, with three heades,
|
|
and twelue winges: sometimes one reigning in the world, sometimes an
|
|
other, but euerie one vanisheth away. 36. A lion also appeareth coming
|
|
forth of the wood, to suppresse the eagle.
|
|
|
|
AND I sawe a dreame, & behold an eagle came vp out of the sea: which had
|
|
twelue winges of fethers, and three heades. 2 And I saw, and behold she
|
|
spred her winges into al the earth, and al the windes of heauen blew vpon
|
|
her, and were gathered together. 3 And I saw, and of her fethers sprang
|
|
contrarie feathers, and they became litle winges, and smale. 4 For her
|
|
heades were at rest, and the midle head was greater then the other
|
|
heades, but she rested with them. 5 And I saw, and behold the eagle flew
|
|
with her winges, and reigned ouer the earth, and ouer them that dwel in
|
|
it. 6 And I saw, that al thinges vnder heauen were subiect to her, and
|
|
no man gaynesayd her, no not one of the creature that is vpon the earth.
|
|
7 And I saw, and behold the eagle rose vp vpon her talons, and made a
|
|
voice with her winges, saying: 8 Watch not al together, sleepe euerie
|
|
one in his place, & watch according to time. 9 But let the heades be
|
|
preserued to the last. 10 And I saw, and behold the voice came not out
|
|
of her heades, but from the middes of her bodie. 11 And I numbered her
|
|
contrarie winges, and behold they were eight. 12 And I saw, and behold
|
|
on the right side rose one wing, and reighned ouer al the earth. 13 And
|
|
it came to passe, when it reigned, an end came to it, and the place
|
|
therof appeared not: and the next rose vp, & reigned, that held much
|
|
time. 14 And it came to passe, when it reigned, & the end of it also
|
|
came, that it appeared not as the former. 15 And behold, a voice was
|
|
sent forth to it, saying: 16 Heare thou that hast held the earth of long
|
|
time. Thus I tel thee before thou beginne not to appeare. 17 None after
|
|
thee shal hold thy time, no nor the halfe therof. 18 And the third
|
|
lifted vp it selfe, and held the principalitie as also the former: and
|
|
that also appeared not. 19 And so it chanced to al the other by one & by
|
|
one to haue the principalitie, & agayne to appeare nowhere. 20 And I
|
|
saw, and behold in time the rest of the winges were sent vp on the right
|
|
side, that they also might hold the principalitie: and of them there
|
|
were that held it, but yet forthwith they appeared not. 21 For some also
|
|
of them stoode vp, but they held not the principalitie. 22 And I saw
|
|
after these thinges, and behold the twelue winges, and two litle winges
|
|
appeared not: 23 and nothing remayned in the bodie of the eagle but two
|
|
heades resting, and six litle winges. 24 And I saw, and behold from the
|
|
six litle winges two were diuided, and they remayned vnder the head, that
|
|
is on the right side. For foure taried in their place. 25 And I saw,
|
|
and behold the vnderwinges thought to set vp them selues, and to hold the
|
|
principalities. 26 And I saw, and behold one was set vp, but forthwith
|
|
it appeared not. 27 And they that were second did sooner vanish away
|
|
then the former. 28 And I saw, and behold the two that remayned, thought
|
|
with them selues that they also would reigne: 29 and when they were
|
|
thincking thereon, behold one of the resting heades, which was the midde
|
|
one awaked, for this was greater then the other two heades. 30 And I saw
|
|
that the two heades were complete with themselues. 31 And behold the
|
|
head with them that were with him turned, and did eate the two
|
|
vnderwinges that thought to reigne. 32 And this head terrified al the
|
|
earth, & ruled in it ouer them that inhabite the earth with much labour,
|
|
and he that held the dominion of the whole world aboue al the winges that
|
|
were. 33 And I saw after these thinges, and behold the midle head
|
|
sodenly appeared not, as did the winges. 34 And there remained two
|
|
heads, which reigned also themselues ouer the earth, and ouer them that
|
|
dwelt therein. 35 And I saw, and behold the head on the right side
|
|
deuoured that which was on the left. 36 And I heard a voice saying to
|
|
me, Looke against thee, and consider what thou seest. 37 And I saw, &
|
|
behold as a lion raysed out of the wood roaring: and I saw that he sent
|
|
out a mans voyce to the eagle. And he spake saying. 38 Heare thou, and
|
|
I wil speake to thee, and the Highest wil say to thee: 39 Is it not thou
|
|
that hast ouercome of the foure beastes, which I made to reigne in my
|
|
world, and that by them the end of their times might come? 40 And the
|
|
fourth coming ouercame al the beastes that were past, and by might held
|
|
the world with much feare, and al the world with most wicked laboure, and
|
|
he inhabitied the whole earth so long time with deceipte. 41 And thou
|
|
hast iudged the earth not with truth. 42 For thou hast afflicted the
|
|
meeke, and hast trubled them that were quiet, and hast loued lyers, &
|
|
hast destroyed their habitations that did fructifie, and hast ouerthrowen
|
|
their walles that did not hurt thee. 43 And thy contumelie is ascended
|
|
euen to the Highest, and thy pride to the Strong. 44 And the Highest
|
|
hath looked vpon the proud times: and behold they are ended, and the
|
|
abominations therof are accomplished. 45 Therfore thou eagle appeare no
|
|
more, and thy horrible winges, & thy litle winges most wicked, and thy
|
|
heades malignant, and thy talons most wicked, and al thy bodie vayne,
|
|
46 that al the earth may be refreshed, and may returne deliuered from thy
|
|
violence, and may hope for his iudgement, and mercie that made it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. XII.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The eagle vanisheth away, 5. Esdras prayeth, 10. and the former visions
|
|
are declared to him.
|
|
|
|
AND it came to passe, whiles the lyon spake these wordes to the eagle: I
|
|
saw, 2 and behold the head that had ouercome, and those foure winges
|
|
appeared not which passed to him, and were set vp to reigne: and their
|
|
reigne was smal, and ful of tumult. 3 And I saw, and behold they
|
|
appeared not, and al the bodie of the eagle was burnt, & the earth was
|
|
afrayd excedingly, and I by the tumult and traunce of minde, and for
|
|
great feare awaked, and sayd to my spirit: 4 Behold thou hast geuen me
|
|
this, in that, that thou searchest the wayes of the Highest. 5 Behold
|
|
yet I am wearie in minde, and in my spirit I am very feeble, and there is
|
|
not so much as a litle strength in me for the great feare, that I was
|
|
afrayd of this night. 6 Now therfore I wil pray the Highest, that he
|
|
strengthen me euen to the end. 7 And I sayd: Lord Dominatour, if I haue
|
|
found grace before thine eyes, and if I am iustified before thee aboue
|
|
manie, and if in deede my prayer be ascended before thy face,
|
|
8 strengthen me, and shew vnto me thy seruant the interpretation, and
|
|
distinction of this horrible vision, that thou mayst comfort my soule
|
|
most fully. 9 For thou hast counted me worthie to shew vnto me the later
|
|
times. And he sayd to me: 10 This is the interpretation of this vision.
|
|
11 The eagle which thou sawest coming vp from the sea, this is the
|
|
kingdom which was sene in a vision to Daniel thy brother. (Dan 7:7)
|
|
12 But it was not interpreted to him, therfore I do now interprete it to
|
|
thee. 13 Behold the dayes come, and there shal rise a kingdon vpon the
|
|
earth, and the feare shal be more terrible then of al the kingdomes that
|
|
were before it. 14 And there shal twelue kinges reigne in it, one after
|
|
an other. 15 For the second shal beginne to reigne, and he shal continew
|
|
more time then the rest of the twelue. 16 This is the interpretation of
|
|
the twelue winges which thou sawest. 17 And the voice that spake which
|
|
thou heardst, not coming forth of her heads, but from the middes of her
|
|
bodie, 18 this is the interpretation, that after the time of that kingdom
|
|
shal rise no smal contentions, and it shal be in danger to fal: and it
|
|
shal not fal then, but shal be constituted againe according to the
|
|
beginning therof. 19 And wheras thou sawest eight vnderwings cleauing to
|
|
the wings therof, 20 this is the interpretation, eight kinges shal arise
|
|
in it, whose times shal be light, and yeares swift, and two of them shal
|
|
perish. 21 But when the middest time approcheth, foure shal be kept til
|
|
a time, when the time therof shal beginne to approch to be ended, yet two
|
|
shal be kept to the end. 22 And wheras thou sawest three heads resting,
|
|
23 this is the interpretation: in her last dayes the Highest wil rayse
|
|
vp three kingdoms, and wil cal backe manie thinges into them, and they
|
|
shal rule ouer the earth, 24 and them that dwel in it, with much labour
|
|
aboue al them that vvere before them. For this cause they are called the
|
|
heads of the eagle. 25 For these shal be they that shal recapitulate her
|
|
impieties, and that shal accomplish her last thinges. 26 And wheras thou
|
|
sawest a greater head not appearing, this is the interpretation therof:
|
|
that one of them shal dye vpon his bed, and yet with torments. 27 For
|
|
the two that shal remayne, the sword shal eate them. 28 For the sword of
|
|
one shal deuoure him that is with him: but yet this also at the last
|
|
shal fal by the sword. 29 And wheras thou sawest two vnderwings passing
|
|
ouer the head that is on the right side, 30 this is the interpretation:
|
|
these are they whom the Highest hath kept to their end, this is a smal
|
|
kingdom, and ful of truble. 31 As thou sawest the lyon also, whom thou
|
|
sawest awaking out of the wood, and roaring, and speaking to the eagle,
|
|
and rebuking her, and her iniustices by al his wordes as thou hast heard:
|
|
32 this is the wynde which the Highest hath kept vnto the end for them,
|
|
and their impieties: and he shal rebuke them, and shal cast in their
|
|
spoyles before them. 33 For he shal sette them in iudgment aliue: and
|
|
it shal be, when he hath reproued them, then shal he chastise them.
|
|
34 For the rest of my people he shal deliuer with miserie, them that are
|
|
saued vpon my borders, and he shal make them ioyful til the end shal
|
|
come, the day of iudgment, wherof I haue spoken to thee from the
|
|
beginning. 35 This is the dreame which thou sawest, and these be the
|
|
interpretations. 36 Thou therfore only hast bene worthie to know this
|
|
secrete of the Highest. 37 Write therfore in a booke al these thinges
|
|
which thou hast sene, and put them in a hidden place: 38 and thou shalt
|
|
teach them the wise men of thy people, whose harts thou knowest able to
|
|
take, and to kepe these secretes. 39 But doe thou stay here yet other
|
|
seuen dayes, that there may be shewed thee whatsoeuer shal seme good to
|
|
the Highest to shew thee. 40 And he departed from me. And it came to
|
|
passe, when al the people had heard that the seuen dayes were past, and I
|
|
had not returned into the citie, and al gathered them selues together
|
|
from the least vnto the greatest: & came to me, & spake to me saying:
|
|
41 What haue we sinned to thee, or what haue we done vniustly against
|
|
thee, that leauing vs thou hast sitten in this place? 42 For thou alone
|
|
art remayning to vs of al peoples, as a cluster of grapes of the
|
|
vineyard, and as a candle in a darke place, and as an hauen and shippe
|
|
saued from the tempest. 43 Or are not the euiles that chance, sufficient
|
|
for vs? 44 If then thou shalt forsake vs, how much better had it bene to
|
|
vs, if we also had bene burnt with the burning of Sion? 45 For we are
|
|
not better then they that dyed there. And they wept with a lowd voice.
|
|
And I answered them, and sayd: 46 Be of good chere Israel, and be not
|
|
sorowful thou house of Iacob. 47 For there is remebrance of you before
|
|
the Highest, and the Strong hath not forgotten you in tentation. 48 For
|
|
I haue not forsaken you, neither did I depart form you: but I came into
|
|
this place, to pray for the desolation of Sion, and to seeke mercie for
|
|
the low estate of your sanctification. 49 And now goe euery one of you
|
|
into his house, and I wil come to you after these dayes. 50 And the
|
|
people departed, as I sayd to them, into the citie: 51 but I sate in the
|
|
fielde seuen dayes, as he commanded me: and I did eate of the flowers of
|
|
the field only, of the herbes was my meate made in those dayes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. XIII.
|
|
|
|
|
|
A vision of a winde (as it first semed, but) in dede, v. 3. of a man:
|
|
5. strong against the enimies: 21. with the interpretation.
|
|
|
|
AND it came to passe after seuen dayse, and I dreamed a dreame in the
|
|
night. 2 And behold there rose a winde from the sea, that trubled al the
|
|
waues therof. 3 And I saw, and behold that man grew strong with
|
|
thousandes of heauen: and when he turned his countenance to consider, al
|
|
thinges trembled that were sene vnder him: 4 and whersoeuer voyce
|
|
proceded out of his mouth, al that heard his voices begane to burne, as
|
|
the earth is quiet when it feeleth the fire. 5 And I saw after these,
|
|
and behold a multitude of men was gathered together, of whom there was no
|
|
number, from the foure windes of heauen, to fight against the man that
|
|
was come vp out of the sea. 6 And I saw, and behold he had grauen to
|
|
himself a great mountaine, & he flew vpon it. 7 And I sought to see the
|
|
countrie, or the place whence the mountaine was grauen, & I could not.
|
|
8 And after these thinges I saw, and behold al that were gathered to him,
|
|
to ouerthrowe him, feared exceedingly, yet they were bold to fieght.
|
|
9 And behold as he sawe the violence of the multitude that came, he
|
|
lifted not vp his hand, nor held sword, nor anie warlyke instrument but
|
|
only as I saw, 10 that he sent forth out of his mouth as it were a blaste
|
|
of fire, and from his lippes a spirit of flame, & from his tongue he
|
|
sentforth sparkles & tempests, and al thinges were mingled together with
|
|
this blast of fire, & spirit of flame, & multitude of tempests. 11 And
|
|
it fel with violence vpon the multitude, that was prepared to fight, and
|
|
burned them al, that suddenly there was nothing sene of an innumerable
|
|
multitude, but only dust, & the sauour of smoke: and I saw, and was
|
|
afrayd. 12 And after these thinges I saw the man himself descending from
|
|
the mountaine, and calling to him an other peaceable multitude, 13 and
|
|
there came to him the countenance of manie men some reioycing, and some
|
|
sorrowing: and some bond, some bringing of them them that were offered.
|
|
And I was sicke for much feare, and awaked, and sayd. 14 Thou from the
|
|
beginning hast shewed thy seruant these meruelous thinges, and hast
|
|
counted me worthie that thou wouldest receiue my petition. 15 And now
|
|
shew me yet the interpretation of this dreame. 16 For as I thinke in my
|
|
iudgement, woe to them that were leaft in those dayes: & much more woe
|
|
to them that were not leaft. 17 For they that were not leaft, were
|
|
sorrowful. 18 I vnderstand now what thinges are layde vp in the later
|
|
dayes, and they shal happen to them, yea and to them that are leaft.
|
|
19 For therefore they came into great dangers, and manie necessities, as
|
|
these dreames do shew. 20 But yet it is easier, aduenturing to come into
|
|
it, then to passe, as a cloud from the world, and vow to see the thinges
|
|
that happen in the later time. And he answered me, and sayd: 21 Both
|
|
the interpretation of the vision I wil tel thee: and also concerning the
|
|
thinges that thou hast spoken I wil open to thee. 22 Wheras thou
|
|
speakest of them that were leaft, this is the interpretation. 23 He that
|
|
taketh away danger at that time, he hath garded himself. They that haue
|
|
fallen into danger, these are they that haue workes, and fayth in the
|
|
Strongest. 24 Know therefore that they are more blessed which are leaft,
|
|
then they that are dead. 25 These are the interpretations of the vision,
|
|
wheras thou sawest a man coming from the hart of the sea, 26 the same is
|
|
he whom the Highest preserueth much time, which by himself shal deliuer
|
|
his creature: and he shal dispose them that are leaft. 27 And wheras
|
|
thou sawest proceede out of his mouth, as it were winde, and fire, and
|
|
tempest: 28 and wheras he held no sworde, nor warlike instrument: for
|
|
his violence destroyed the multitude that came to ouerthrow him: this is
|
|
the interpretation. 29 Behold the dayes come, when the Highest shal
|
|
begin to deliuer them, that are vpon the earth: 30 and he shal come in
|
|
excesse of minde vpon them that inhabit the earth. 31 And one shal
|
|
thinke to ouerthrow an other: one citie an other citie, one place an
|
|
other place, and nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
|
|
(Matt 24 / Luke 21) 32 And it shal be, when these thinges shal come to
|
|
passe, and the signes shal happen, which I shewed thee before: and then
|
|
shal my sonne be reueled, whom thou sawest, as a man coming vp. 33 And
|
|
it shal be when al nations shal heare his voice: and euery one in his
|
|
countrie shal leaue their warre, that they haue toward each other:
|
|
34 and an innumerable multitude shal be gathered in one, as willing to
|
|
come to ouerthrow him. 35 But he shal stand vpon the top of mount Sion.
|
|
36 And Sion shal come, and it shal be shewed to al prepared and builded,
|
|
as thou sawest the mountaine to be grauen without handes. 37 And the
|
|
same my sonne shal reproue the thinges that the gentils haue inuented,
|
|
these their impieties which came nere to the tempest, because of their
|
|
euil cogitaitons, and torments wherewith they shal begin to be tormented.
|
|
38 Which were likened to the flame, and he shal destroy them without
|
|
labour by the law that was likened to the fyre. 39 And wheras thou
|
|
sawest him gathering vnto him an other peaceable multitude. 40 These are
|
|
the ten tribes, which were made captiue out of their land in the dayes of
|
|
Osee the King, whom Salmanasar the King of the Assyrians led captiue:
|
|
and he transported them beyond the riuer, and they were transported into
|
|
an other land. (4 Kings 17) 41 But they gaue themselues this counsel,
|
|
to forsake the multitude of nations, and to goe forth into a farther
|
|
countrie, where mankind neuer inhabited. 42 Or there to obserue their
|
|
ordinances, which they had not kept in their countrie. 43 And they
|
|
entred in by the narrow entrances of the riuer Euphrates. 44 For the
|
|
Highest then wrought them signes, and stayed the vaines of the riuer til
|
|
they passed. (Ex 14 / Jos 3) 45 For by that countie was a great way to
|
|
goe, of one yeare and a half: for the countrie is called Arsareth.
|
|
46 Then did they inhabite there til in the later time: and now againe
|
|
when they beginne to come, 47 againe the Highest shal stay the vaines of
|
|
the riuer, that they may passe: for these thou sawest a multitiude with
|
|
peace. 48 But they also that were leaft of the people, these are they
|
|
that be within my border. 49 In shal come to passe therefore, when he
|
|
shal begine to destroy the multitude of these nations, that are gathered,
|
|
he shal protect them that haue ouercome the people: 50 and then shal he
|
|
shew them very manie wonders. 51 And I sayd: Lord dominatour, shew me
|
|
this, why I saw a man comming vp from the hart of the sea, and he sayd to
|
|
me: 52 As thou canst not either search these thinges, or know what
|
|
thinges are in the depth of the sea: so can not any man vpon the earth
|
|
see my sonne, or them that are with him, but in the time of a day.
|
|
53 This is the interpretation of the dreame which thou sawest, and for
|
|
the which thou only art here illuminated. 54 For thou hast leaft thyne
|
|
owne law, and hast bene occupied about my law, and hast sought it.
|
|
55 For thou hast disposed thy lyfe in wisdom, and thyne vnderstanding
|
|
thou hast called mother: 56 and for this I haue shewed thee riches with
|
|
the Highest. For it shal be after other three dayes, I wil speake other
|
|
thinges to thee, and I wil expound to thee weightie and meruelous
|
|
thinges. 57 And I went forth, and passed into the fielde, much
|
|
glorifying & praising the Highest for the meruelous thinges that he did
|
|
by time. 58 And because he gouerneth it, and the thinges that are
|
|
brought in times, & I sate there three dayes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. XIIII.
|
|
|
|
|
|
God appeareth in a bush, 6. reuealing some thinges to be published, and
|
|
some thinges to be hid. 10. As the world waxeth old, al thinges become
|
|
worse. 27. The people of Israel are vngratful. 32. Al shal be iudged in
|
|
the Resurrection according to their deedes.
|
|
|
|
AND it came to passe the third day, and I sate vnder an oke. 2 And
|
|
behold a voice came forth against me out of a bush, and sayd: Esdras,
|
|
Esdras: and I sayd: Loe here I am Lord. And I arose vpon my feete.
|
|
And he sayd to me: 3 Reueling I was reueled vpon the bush, and spake to
|
|
Moyses, when the people serued in AEgypt, (Ex 3) 4 and I sent him, and
|
|
brought my people out of AEgypt, and brought him vpon mount Sina, & held
|
|
him with me manie dayes. 5 And I told him manie meruelous thinges, &
|
|
shewed him the secrets of times, and the end: and I commanded him,
|
|
saying: 6 These wordes thou shalt publish abroade, and these thou shalt
|
|
hyde. 7 And now to thee I say: 8 The signes which I haue shewed, and
|
|
the dreames which thou hast sene, and the interpretations which thou hast
|
|
sene, lay them vp in thy hart. 9 For thou shalt be receiued of al, thou
|
|
shalt be conuerted the residue with thy counsel, and with the like to
|
|
thee, til the times be finished: 10 Because the world hath lost his
|
|
youth, and the times draw nere to waxe old. 11 For the world is diuided
|
|
by twelue partes, & the tenth part, & half of the tenth part are passed:
|
|
12 and there remaineth hereafter the half of the tenth part. 13 Now
|
|
therefore dispose thy house, and correct thy people, & comfort the humble
|
|
of them, & forsake now corruption, 14 and put from thee mortal
|
|
cogitations, and cast from thee humane burdens, and doe from thee now
|
|
infirme nature, & lay at one side cogitations most trublesome to thee, &
|
|
make speedie transmigration from these times, 15 for the euiles which
|
|
thou hast sene to haue chanced now, worse then these wil they doe againe:
|
|
(Matt 24 / 1 John 2) 16 for looke how much the world shal become weake
|
|
by age, so much shal euiles be multiplied vpon the inhabitants. 17 For
|
|
truth hath remoued it self farther of, and lying hath approched, for now
|
|
the vision which thou sawest, hasteneth to come. 18 And I answered, and
|
|
sayd before thee o Lord: 19 For behold I wil goe, as thou hast commanded
|
|
me, & wil rebuke the people that now is. But them that shal yet be born,
|
|
who shal admonish? 20 The world therfore is set in darknes, and they
|
|
that dwel in it without light. 21 Because thy law is burnt, therefore no
|
|
man knowth the workes that haue bene done by thee, or that shal begin.
|
|
22 For if I haue found grace with thee, send the Holie Ghost to me, & I
|
|
wil write al that hath bene done in the world from the beginning, the
|
|
thinges that were written in thy law, that men may finde the pathe: and
|
|
they that wil liue in the later times, may liue. 23 And he answered me,
|
|
and sayd: Goe gather together the people, and thou shalt say to them,
|
|
that they seeke thee not for fourtie dayes. 24 And doe thou prepare thee
|
|
manie tables of boxe, & take with thee Sarea, Dabria, Salemia, Echanus,
|
|
and Asiel, these fiue which are readie to write sweeftly. 25 And come
|
|
hither, & I wil light in thy hart a candle of vnderstanding, which shal
|
|
not be put out til the things be finished, which thou shalt begine to
|
|
write. 26 And then some thinges thou shalt open to the perfect, some
|
|
thou shalt deliuer secretly to the wyse. For to morrow this houre thou
|
|
shalt begine to write. 27 And I went as he commanded me, & gathered
|
|
together al the people, and sayd: 28 Heare Israel these wordes: 29 Our
|
|
fathers were pilgrimes from the beginning in AEgypt, and were deliuered
|
|
from thence. (Gen 47) 30 And they receiued the law of life, which they
|
|
kept not, which you also after them haue transgressed: (Deut 4 / Acts 7)
|
|
31 and the land was geuen you by lotte, and the land of Sion, and your
|
|
fathers, and you haue done iniquitie, and haue not kept the wayes which
|
|
the Highest commanded you. 32 And whereas he is a iust iudge, he hath
|
|
taken from you in time that which he had geuen. 33 And now you are here,
|
|
and your brethren are among you. 34 If then you wil rule ouer your
|
|
sense, & instruct your hart, you shal be preserued aliue, and after death
|
|
shal obtaine mercie. 35 For the iudgement shal come after death, when we
|
|
shal returne to lyfe againe: and then the names of the iust shal
|
|
appeare, and the dedes of the impious shal be shewed. 36 Let no man
|
|
therfore come to me now, nor aske for me vntil fourtie dayes. 37 And I
|
|
tooke the fiue men, as he commandede me, and we went forth into the
|
|
field, and taried there. 38 And I was come to the morrow, & behold as
|
|
voice called me, saying: Esdras open thy mouth, and drinke that which I
|
|
wil geue thee to drinke. (Ezech 3) 39 And I opened my mouth, & behold a
|
|
ful cuppe was brought me, this was ful as it were with water: but the
|
|
colour therof like as fire. 40 And I tooke it, and dranke; and when I
|
|
had drunken of it, my hart was tormented with vnderstanding, and wisdome
|
|
grewe into my brest. For my spirit was kept by memorie. 41 And my mouth
|
|
was opened, and was shut no more. 42 The Highest gaue vnderstanding vnto
|
|
the fiue men, and they wrote excesses of the night which were spoken,
|
|
which they knewe not. 43 And at night they did eate breade, but I spake
|
|
by day, & by night held not my peace. 44 And there were written in the
|
|
fourtie dayes two hundred foure bookes. 45 And it came to passe when
|
|
they had ended the fourtie daies, the Highest spake, saying: 46 The
|
|
former thinges which thou hast written, set abrode, and let the worthie
|
|
and vnworthiereade: but the last seuentie bookes thou shalt keepe, that
|
|
thou mayest deliuer them to the wyse of thy people. 47 For in these is
|
|
the vaine of vnderstanding, and the fountaine of wisdome, and the streame
|
|
of knowledge. and I did soe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. XV.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Esdras is bid to denounce, that assuredly manie euiles wil come to the
|
|
world. 9. God wil protect his people, the wicked shal be punished, and
|
|
lament their final miseries, God reuenging for the good.
|
|
|
|
BEHOLD speake into the eares of my people the wordes of prophecie, which
|
|
I shal put into thy mouth, sayth our Lord: 2 and see that they be
|
|
written in paper, because they be faithful and true. 3 Be not afrayd of
|
|
the cogitations against thee, neither let the incredulities truble thee
|
|
of them that speake. 4 Because euerie incredulous person shal dye in his
|
|
incredulitie. 5 Behold I bring in, sayth our Lord, vpon the whole earth
|
|
euils, sword, and famine, and death, and destruction. 6 Because
|
|
iniquitie hath fully polluted ouer al the earth, and their hurtful workes
|
|
are accomplished. 7 Therefore sayth our Lord: 8 I wil not now kepe
|
|
silence of their impieties which they doe irreligiously, neither wil I
|
|
beare with those thinges, which they practise vniustly. Behold the
|
|
innocent & iust bloud crieth to me, & the soules of the iust crie
|
|
continually. 9 Reuenging I wil reuenge them, sayth our Lord, and I wil
|
|
take al innocent bloud out of them vnto me. (Apoc 6:10 & 19:2)
|
|
10 Behold my people is led to slaughter as a flocke, I wil no more suffer
|
|
it to dwel in the land of AEgypt. 11 But I wil bring them forth in a
|
|
mightie hand and valiant arme, and wil strike with plague as before, and
|
|
wil corrupt al the land thereof. 12 AEgypt shal mourne, and fundations
|
|
thereof beaten with plague, and with the chastisement which God wil bring
|
|
vpon it. 13 The husbandmen that til the ground shal mourne, because
|
|
their seedes shal perish by blasting, and haile, and by a terible starre.
|
|
14 Woe to the world and them that dwel therein. 15 Because the sword is
|
|
at hand and the destruction of them, and nation shal rise vp against
|
|
nation to fight, & sword in their handes. (Matt 24 / Luke 21) 16 For
|
|
there shal be instabilitie to men, & growing one against an other they
|
|
shal not care for their king, & the princes of the way of their doinges,
|
|
in their might. 17 For a man shal desire to go into the citie & can not.
|
|
18 Because of their prides the cities shal be trubled, the houses raised,
|
|
the men shal feare. 19 Man shal not pitie his neighbour, to make their
|
|
houses nothing worth in the sword, to spoyle their goodes for famine of
|
|
bread, & much tribulation. 20 Behold, I cal together sayth God, al the
|
|
kinges of the earth to feare me, that are from the Orient, & from the
|
|
South, from the East, & from Libanus, to be turned vpon themselues, and
|
|
to render the thinges that they haue geuen them. 21 As they doe vntil
|
|
this day to myne elect, so wil I doe, and render in their bosome. Thus
|
|
sayth our Lord God: 22 My right hand shal not spare sinners, neither
|
|
shal the sword cease vpon them that shede innocent bloud vpon the earth.
|
|
23 Fire came forth from his wrath, and hath deuoured the fundations of
|
|
the earth, and sinners as it were straw set on fire. 24 Woe to them that
|
|
sinne, and obserue not my comandmentes, sayth our Lord. 25 I wil not
|
|
spare them: depart o children from the powre. Defile not my
|
|
sanctification: 26 because the Lord knoweth al that sinne against him;
|
|
therefore hath he deliuered them into death and into slaughter. 27 For
|
|
now are euils come vpon the world, and you shal tarrie in them. For God
|
|
wil not deliuer you, because you haue sinned against him. 28 Behold an
|
|
horrible vision, and the face of it from the east. 29 And the nations of
|
|
dragons of Arabians shal come forth in manie chariots, & as a winde the
|
|
number of them is caried vpon the earth, so that now al doe feare and
|
|
tremble, that shal heare them. 30 the Carmonians madde for anger, and
|
|
they shal goe forth as wild boares out of the wood, & they shal come with
|
|
great power, and shal stand in fight with them, & they shal waste the
|
|
portion of the land of the Assirians. 31 And after these thinges the
|
|
dragons shal preuaile mindful of their natiuitie, and conspiring shal
|
|
turne themselues in great force to pursue them. 32 These shal be trubled
|
|
and hold their peace at their force, and shal turne their fete into
|
|
flight. 33 And from the territorie of the Assirians the besiegers shal
|
|
beseige them, and shal consume one of them, and there shal be feare and
|
|
trembling in their armie, and contention against their kinges. 34 Behold
|
|
cloudes from the east, and from the north vnto the south, and their face
|
|
very horrible, ful of wrath and storme. 35 And they shal beate one
|
|
against an other, and they shal beate downe manie starres, and their
|
|
starre vpon the earth, and bloud shal be from the sword vnto the bellie.
|
|
36 And mans dung vnto the camels litter, and there shal be much feare,
|
|
and trembling vpon the earth. 37 And they shal shake that shal see that
|
|
wrath, and tremble shal take them: and after these thinges there shal
|
|
manie showers be moued: 38 from the south, and the north: and an other
|
|
portion from the weast. 39 And the windes from the east shal reuaile
|
|
vpon it, and shal shut it vp, and the cloudes which he raised in wrath,
|
|
and the starre to make terrour to the east winde, and the west shal be
|
|
destroyed. 40 And there shal be exalted great and mightie cloudes ful of
|
|
wrath, and a starre to terrifie al the earth, and the inhabitantes
|
|
therof, and they shal powre in vpon euerie high, and eminent place a
|
|
terrible starre, 41 fire, and haile, and flying swordes, and manie
|
|
waters, so that al fildes also shal be filled, and al riuers with the
|
|
fulnes of manie waters. 42 And they shal throw downe cities, and walles,
|
|
and mountaines, and hilles, and the trees of the woodes, and the grasse
|
|
of the medowes, and their corne. 43 And they shal passe constant vnto
|
|
Babylon, and shal raise her. (Apoc 18) 44 They shal come together
|
|
against her, and shal compasse her, and shal power out the starre, and al
|
|
wrath vpon her, and the dust and smoke shal goe vp euen into heauen, and
|
|
round about shal lament her. 45 And they that shal remaine vnder her,
|
|
shal serue them that terified her. 46 And thou Asia agreeing into the
|
|
hope of Babylon, and the glorie of her person, 47 woe be to thee thou
|
|
wretch, because thou art like to her, and hast adorned thy daughters in
|
|
fornication, to please & glorie in thy louers, which haue desired alwayes
|
|
to fornicate with thee. 48 Thou hast imitated the odious in al her
|
|
workes, and in her inuentions: therefore sayth God: 49 I wil send in
|
|
euils vpon thee, widowhood, pouertie, and famine, and sword, and
|
|
pestilence, to destroy thy houses by violation, and death, and glorie of
|
|
thy vertue. 50 As a flower shal be withered, when the heate shal rise
|
|
that is sent forth vpon thee, 51 thou shalt be weakned as a litle poore
|
|
soule plaged and chastised of wemen, that the mightie and the louers may
|
|
not receiue thee. 52 Wil I be zealous against thee sayth our Lord,
|
|
53 vnles thou hadst slayne myne elect at al times, exalting the slaughter
|
|
of the handes, and saying vpon their death, when thou wast drunken.
|
|
54 Adorne the beautie of thy countenance. 55 The reward of thy
|
|
fornication is in thy bosome, therefore thou shalt receiue recompence.
|
|
56 As thou shalt doe to my elect, sayth our Lord, so shal God do to thee,
|
|
and shal deliuer thee vnto euil. 57 And thy children shal dye for
|
|
famine: and thou shalt fal by the sword, and thy cities shal be
|
|
destroyed, & al thyne shal fal in the filde by the sword. 58 And they
|
|
that are in the mountaines, shal perish, with famine, and shal eate their
|
|
owne flesh, & drinke bloud, for the famine of bread and thirst of waters.
|
|
59 Vnhappie by the seas shalt thou come, and againe thou shalt receuie
|
|
euils. 60 And in the passage they shal beate against the idle citie, and
|
|
shal destroy some portion of thy land, and shal deface part of thy
|
|
glorie, againe returning to Babylon ourethrowen. 61 And being throwen
|
|
downe thou shalt be to them for stubble, and they shal be to thee fire:
|
|
62 and deuoure thee, and thy cities, thy land, and thy mountaynes, al thy
|
|
woodes and fruitful trees they wil burne with fire. 63 Thy children they
|
|
shal lead captiue, & shal haue thy goodes for a praye, and the glorie of
|
|
thy face they shal destroy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CHAP. XVI.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Al are admonished, that extreme calamities shal fal vpon this world,
|
|
36. the penitent returning to iustice shal escape, 55. & as al thinges
|
|
were made by Gods omnipotent powre at his wil, so al thinges shal serue
|
|
to the reward of the blessed, and punishment of the wicked.
|
|
|
|
VVOE to thee Babylon & Asia, woe to thee AEgypt, and Syria. 2 Gird
|
|
yourselues with sackclothes and shirtes of heare, & mourne for your
|
|
children, & be sorie: because your destruction is at hand. 3 The sword
|
|
is sent in vpon you, and who is he that can turne it away? 4 Fire is
|
|
sent in vpon you, and who is he that can quench it? 5 Euiles are sent in
|
|
vpon you, and who is he that can repel them? 6 Shal anie man repel the
|
|
lion being hungrie in the woode, or quench the fire in stubble, forthwith
|
|
when it beginneth to burne? 7 Shal anie man repel the arrow shot of a
|
|
strong archer? 8 Our strong Lord sendeth in euiles, and who is he that
|
|
can repel them? 9 Fire came forth from his wrath, and who is he that can
|
|
quench it? 10 He wil lighten, who shal not feare, he wil thunder, and
|
|
who shal not be afrayed? 11 Our Lord wil threaten, and who shal not
|
|
vtterly be destroyed before his face? 12 The earth hath trembled, and
|
|
the fundations thereof, the sea tosseth vp waues from the depth, and the
|
|
floudes of it shal be destroyed, and the fishes thereof at the face of
|
|
our Lord, and at the glorie of his powre: 13 because his right hand is
|
|
strong which bendeth the bow, his arrowes be sharpe that are shot of him,
|
|
they shal not misse, when they shal begine to be shot into the endes of
|
|
the earth. 14 Behold euiles are sent, and they shal not returne til they
|
|
come vpon the earth. 15 The fire is kindled and it shal not be quenched,
|
|
til it consume the fundations of the earth. 16 For as the arrow shot of
|
|
a strong archer returneth not, so shal not the euils returne backe, that
|
|
shal be sent vpon the earth. 17 Woe is me, woe is me: who shal deliuer
|
|
me in those dayes? 18 The beginning of sorrowes and much mourning, the
|
|
beginning of famine and much destruction. The beginning of warres and
|
|
the potestates shal feare, the beginning of euiles and al shal tremble.
|
|
19 In these what shal I doe, when the euils shal come? 20 Behold famine,
|
|
and plague, and tribulation, and distresse are sent al as scourges for
|
|
amendment, 21 and in al these they wil not conuert themselues from their
|
|
iniquities, neither wil they be alwayes mindful of the scourges.
|
|
22 Behold, there shal be good cheape victuals vpon the earth, so that
|
|
they may thinke that peace is directly coming toward them, and then shal
|
|
euiles spring vpon the earth, sword, famine, and great confusion. 23 For
|
|
by famine manie that inhabit the earth shal dye, and the sword shal
|
|
destroy the rest that remained aliue of the famine, 24 and the dead shal
|
|
be cast forth as dung, and there shal be none to comfort them. For the
|
|
earth shal be left desert, and the cities therof shal be throwen downe.
|
|
25 There shal not be left a man to til the ground and to sow it. 26 The
|
|
trees shal yeeld fruites, and who shal gather them? 27 The grape shal
|
|
become ripe, & who shal tread it? For there shal be great desolation to
|
|
places. 28 For a man shal desire to see a man, or to heare his voyce.
|
|
29 For there shal be leaft ten of a citie, and two of the field that haue
|
|
hid themselues in thicke woodes, and cliffes of rockes. 30 As there are
|
|
left in the oliuet, and on euerie tree, three of foure oliues. 31 Or as
|
|
in a vinyeard when it is gathered there are grapes left by them, that
|
|
diligently search the vineyard: 32 so shal there be left in those dayes
|
|
three or foure, by them that search their houses in the sword. 33 And
|
|
the earth shal be left desolate, and the fildes thereof shal waxe old, &
|
|
the wayes thereof, and al the pathes thereof shal bringforth thornes,
|
|
because no man shal passe by it. 34 Virgins shal mourne hauing no
|
|
bridegromes, wemen shal mourne hauing no husbandes, their daughters shal
|
|
mourne hauing no helpe: 35 their bridegromes shal be consumed in battel,
|
|
and their husbandes be destroyed in famine. 36 But heare these thinges,
|
|
and know them ye seruantes of our Lord. 37 Behold the word of our Lord,
|
|
receiue it: beleue not the goddes of whom our Lord speaketh. 38 Behold
|
|
the euiles approch, and slacke not. 39 As a woman with childe when shee
|
|
bringeth forth her child in the ninth moneth, the houre of her
|
|
deliuerance approching, two or three howres before, paines come about her
|
|
wombe, and the infants coming out of her wombe, they wil not tarrie one
|
|
moment. 40 So the euiles shal not slacke to come forth vpon the earth,
|
|
and the world shal lament, and sorowes shal hold it round about.
|
|
41 Heare the word, my people: prepare yourselues vnto the fight, & in
|
|
the euiles so be ye as strangers of the earth. 42 He that selleth as if
|
|
he should flee, and he that byeth as he that should lose it. 43 He that
|
|
playeth the marchant, as he that should take no fruite: and he that
|
|
buildeth as he that should not inhabite. 44 He that soweth, as he that
|
|
shal not reape: so he also that pruneth a vinyeard, as if he should not
|
|
haue the vintage. 45 They that marie so as if they should not get
|
|
children, & they that marie not, so as if were widowes. 46 Wherfore they
|
|
that labour, labour without cause: 47 for foreners shal reape their
|
|
fruites, & shal violently take their goodes, and ouerthrow their houses,
|
|
and lead theire children captiue, because in captiuitie, and famine they
|
|
beget their children. 48 And they that play the marchantes by robrie,
|
|
the longer they adorne their cities and houses, and their possessions and
|
|
persons: 49 so much the more wil I be zealous toward them, vpon their
|
|
sinnes, sayth our Lord. 50 As a whore enuieth an honest & very good
|
|
woman: 51 so shal iustice hate impietie when she adorneth herselfe, and
|
|
accuseth her to her face, when he shal come that may defend him that
|
|
searcheth out al vpon the earth. 52 Therefore be not made like to her,
|
|
nor to her workes. 53 For yet a little whyle & iniquitie shal be taken
|
|
away from the earth, & iustice shal reigne ouer you. 54 Let not the
|
|
sinner say he hath not sinned: because he shal burne coales of fire vpon
|
|
his head, that sayth I haue not sinned before our Lord God and his
|
|
glorie. 55 Behold our Lord shal know al the workes of men, and their
|
|
inuentions, & their cogitations, and their hartes. (Eccli 23 / Luke 16)
|
|
56 For he sayd: Let the earth be made, and it was made: let the heauen
|
|
be made, & it was made. (Gen 1) 57 And by his worde the starrs were
|
|
made, & he noweth the number of the starres. (Ps 146:4) 58 Who
|
|
searcheth the depth and the treasures therof: who hath measured the sea,
|
|
& capacitie therof. (Job 38) 59 Who hath shut vp the sea in the midest
|
|
of waters, & hath hanged the earth vpon the waters with his word. 60 Who
|
|
hath spred heauen as it were a vault, ouer the waters he hath founded it.
|
|
61 Who hath put fountaines of waters in the desert, and lakes vpon the
|
|
toppes of mountaines, to send forth riuers from the high rocke to watter
|
|
the earth. 62 Who made man & put his hart in the midds of the bodie, and
|
|
gaue him spirit, life and vnderstanding. 63 And the inspiration of God
|
|
omnipotent that made al thinges, and searcheth al hid thinges, in the
|
|
secretes of the earth. 64 He knoweth your inuention, and what you thinke
|
|
in your hartes sinning, and willing to hide your sinnes. 65 Wherfore our
|
|
Lord in searching hath searched al your workes, and he wil put you al to
|
|
open shame, 66 and you shal be confounded when your sinnes shal come
|
|
forth before men, and the iniquities shal be they, that shal stand
|
|
accusers in that day. 67 What wil you doe? or how shal you hide your
|
|
sinnes before God and his Angels? 68 Behold God is the Iudge, feare him.
|
|
Cease from your sinnes, and now forget your iniquities to doe them anie
|
|
more, & God wil bring you out, and deliuer you from al tribulation.
|
|
69 For behold the heate of a great multitude is kindled ouer you, and
|
|
they shal take certaine of you by violence, & shal make the slaine to be
|
|
meate for idols. 70 And they that shal consent vnto them, shal be to
|
|
them in derision, and in reproch, and in conculcation. 71 For there shal
|
|
be place against places, and against the next cities great insurrection
|
|
vpon them that feare our Lord. 72 They shal be as it were madde sparing
|
|
no bodie, to spoyle and waste yet them that feare our Lord. 73 because
|
|
they shal waste and spoyle the goodes, and shal cast them out of their
|
|
houses. 74 Then shal appeare the probation of mine elect, as gold that
|
|
is proued by the fire. 75 Heare be beloued, sayth our Lord: Behold the
|
|
dayes of tribulation are come: and out of them I wil deliuer you.
|
|
76 Doe not feare, nor stagger, because God is your guide. 77 And he that
|
|
kepeth my commandmentes, and precepts, sayth our Lord God: Let not your
|
|
sinnes ouerway you, nor your inquities be aduanced ouer you. 78 Woe to
|
|
them that are entangled with their sinnes, and are couered with their
|
|
iniquities, as a filde is entangled with the wood, & the path therof
|
|
couered with thornes, by which no man passeth, & it is closed out, & cast
|
|
to be deuoured of the fire.
|
|
|
|
FINIS.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note: This translation comes from the Latin text, usually printed in an
|
|
appendix to editions of the Vulgate, but these editions miss seventy
|
|
verses between 7:35 and 7:36. The missing fragment was discovered in a
|
|
Latin manuscript by Robert Lubbock Bensly in 1874. Below is a
|
|
translation of this fragment from a revised Authorized Version.
|
|
Although often numbered 7:36-7:105, they are here number as A:1-A:70 to
|
|
avoid any repetition in chapter:verse designations.
|
|
|
|
A:1. And the pit of torment shall appear, and over against it shall be
|
|
the place of rest: and the furnace of hell shall be shewed, and over
|
|
against it the paradise of delight.
|
|
A:2. And then shall the Most High say to the nations that are raised from
|
|
the dead, See ye and understand whom ye have denied, or whom ye have not
|
|
served, or whose commandments ye have despised.
|
|
A:3. Look on this side and on that: here is delight and rest, and there
|
|
fire and torments. Thus shall he speak unto them in the day of
|
|
judgement:
|
|
A:4. This is a day that hath neither sun, nor moon, nor stars,
|
|
A:5. neither cloud, nor thunder, nor lightning, neither wind, nor water,
|
|
nor air, neither darkness, nor evening, nor morning,
|
|
A:6. neither summer, nor spring, nor heat, nor winter, neither frost, nor
|
|
cold, nor hail, nor rain, nor dew,
|
|
A:7. neither noon, nor night, nor dawn, neither shining, nor brightness,
|
|
nor light, save only the splendour of the glory of the Most High, whereby
|
|
all shall see the things that are set before them:
|
|
A:8. for it shall endure as it were a week of years.
|
|
A:9. This is my judgement and the ordinance thereof; but to thee only
|
|
have I shewed these things.
|
|
A:10. And I answered, I said even then, O Lord, and I say now: Blessed
|
|
are they that be now alive and keep the statutes ordained of thee.
|
|
A:11. But as touching them for whom my prayer was made, what shall I say?
|
|
for who is there of them that be alive that hath not sinned, and who of
|
|
the sons of men that hath not transgressed thy covenant?
|
|
A:12. And now I see, that the world to come shall bring delight to few,
|
|
but torments unto many.
|
|
A:13. For an evil heart hath grown up in us, which hath led us astray
|
|
from these statutes, and hath brought us into corruption and into the
|
|
ways of death, hath shewed us the paths of perdition and removed us far
|
|
from life; and that, not a few only, but well nigh all that have been
|
|
created.
|
|
A:14. And he answered me, and said, Hearken unto me, and I will instruct
|
|
thee; and I will admonish thee yet again:
|
|
A:15. for this cause the Most High hath not made one world, but two.
|
|
A:16. For whereas thou hast said that the just are not many, but few, and
|
|
the ungodly abound, hear the answer thereunto.
|
|
A:17. If thou have choice stones exceeding few, wilt thou set for thee
|
|
over against them according to their number things of lead and clay?
|
|
A:18. And I say, Lord, how shall this be?
|
|
A:19. And he said unto me, Not only this, but ask the earth, and she
|
|
shall tell thee; intreat her, and she shall declare unto thee.
|
|
A:20. For thou shalt say unto her, Thou bringest forth gold and silver
|
|
and brass, and iron also and lead and clay:
|
|
A:21. but silver is more abundant than gold, and brass than silver, and
|
|
iron than brass, lead than iron, and clay than lead.
|
|
A:22. Judge thou therefore which things are precious and to be desired,
|
|
whatso is abundant or what is rare.
|
|
A:23. And I said, O Lord that bearest rule, that which is plentiful is of
|
|
less worth, for that which is more rare is more precious.
|
|
A:24. And he answered me, and said, Weigh within thyself the things that
|
|
thou hast thought, for he that hath what is hard to get rejoiceth over
|
|
him that hath what is plentiful.
|
|
A:25. So also is the judgement which I have promised: for I will rejoice
|
|
over the few that shall be saved, inasmuch as these are they that have
|
|
made my glory now to prevail, and of whom my name is now named.
|
|
A:26. And I will not grieve over the multitude of them that perish; for
|
|
these are they that are now like unto vapour, and are become as flame and
|
|
smoke; they are set on fire and burn hotly, and are quenched.
|
|
A:27. And I answered and said, O thou earth, wherefore hast thou brought
|
|
forth, if the mind is made out of dust, like as all other created things?
|
|
A:28. For it were better that the dust itself had been unborn, so that
|
|
the mind might not have been made therefrom.
|
|
A:29. But now the mind groweth with us, and by reason of this we are
|
|
tormented, because we perish and know it.
|
|
A:30. Let the race of men lament and the beasts of the field be glad; let
|
|
all that are born lament, but let the fourfooted beasts and the cattle
|
|
rejoice.
|
|
A:31. For it is far better with them than with us; for they look not for
|
|
judgement, neither do they know of torments or of salvation promised unto
|
|
them after death.
|
|
A:32. For what doth it profit us, that we shall be preserved alive, but
|
|
yet be afflicted with torment?
|
|
A:33. For all that are born are defiled with iniquities, and are full of
|
|
sins and laden with offences:
|
|
A:34. and if after death we were not to come into judgement, peradventure
|
|
it had been better for us.
|
|
A:35. And he answered me, and said, When the Most High made the world,
|
|
and Adam and all them that came of him, he first prepared the judgement
|
|
and the things that pertain unto the judgement.
|
|
A:36. And now understand from thine own words, for thou hast said that
|
|
the mind groweth with us.
|
|
A:37. They therefore that dwell upon the earth shall be tormented for
|
|
this reason, that having understanding they have wrought iniquity, and
|
|
receiving commandments have not kept them, and having obtained a law they
|
|
dealt unfaithfully with that which they received.
|
|
A:38. What then will they have to say in the judgement, or how will they
|
|
answer in the last times?
|
|
A:39. For how great a time hath the Most High been longsuffering with
|
|
them that inhabit the world, and not for their sakes, but because of the
|
|
times which he hath foreordained!
|
|
A:40. And I answered and said, If I have found grace in thy sight, O
|
|
Lord, shew this also unto thy servant, whether after death, even now when
|
|
every one of us giveth up his soul, we shall be kept in rest until those
|
|
times come, in which thou shalt renew the creation, of whether we shall
|
|
be tormented forthwith.
|
|
A:41. And he answered me, and said, I will shew thee this also; but join
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not thyself with them that are scorners, nor number thyself with them
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that are tormented.
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A:42. For thou hast a treasure of good works laid up with the Most High,
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but it shall not be shewed thee until the last times.
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A:43. For concerning death the teaching is: When the determinate
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sentence hath gone forth from the Most High that a man should die, as the
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spirit leaveth the body to return again to him who gave it, it adoreth
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the glory of the Most High first of all.
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A:44. And if it be one of those that have been scorners and have not kept
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the way of the Most High, and that have despised his law, and that hate
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them that fear God,
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A:45. these spirits shall not enter into habitations, but shall wander
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and be in torments forthwith, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways.
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A:46. The first way, because they have despised the law of the Most High.
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A:47. The second way, because they cannot now make a good returning that
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they may live.
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A:48. The third way, they shall see the reward laid up for them that have
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believed the covenants of the Most High.
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A:49. The fourth way, they shall consider the torment laid up for
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themselves in the last days.
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A:50. The fifth way, they shall see the dwelling places of the others
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guarded by angels, with great quietness.
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A:51. The sixth way, they shall see how forthwith some of them shall pass
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into torment.
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A:52. The seventh way, which is more grievous than all the aforesaid
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ways, because they shall pine away in confusion and be consumed with
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shame, and shall be withered up by fears, seeing the glory of the Most
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High before whom they have sinned whilst living, and before whom they
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shall be judged in the last times.
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A:53. Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most
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High, when they shall be separated from the corruptible vessel.
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A:54. In the time that they dwelt therin they painfully served the Most
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High, and were in jeopardy every hour, that they might keep the law of
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the lawgiver perfectly.
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A:55. Wherefore this is the teaching concerning them:
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A:56. First of all they shall see with great joy the glory of him who
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taketh them up, for they shall have rest in seven orders.
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A:57. The first order, because they have striven with great labour to
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overcome the evil thought which was fashioned together with them, that it
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might not lead them astray from life into death.
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A:58. The second order, because they see the perplexity in which the
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souls of the ungodly wander, and the punishment that awaiteth them.
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A:59. The third order, they see the witness which he that fashioned them
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|
beareth concerning them, that while they lived they kept the law which
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|
was given them in trust.
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A:60. The fourth order, they understand the rest which, being gathered in
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|
their chambers, they now enjoy with great quietness, guarded by angels,
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and the glory that awaiteth them in the last days.
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A:61. The fifth order, they rejoice, seeing how they have now escaped
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from that which is corruptible, and how they shall inherit that which is
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to come, while they see moreover the straitness and the painfulness from
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which they have been delivered, and the large room which they shall
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receive with joy and immortality.
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A:62. The sixth order, when it is shewed unto them how their face shall
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shine as the sun, and how they shall be made like unto the light of the
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stars, being henceforth incorruptible.
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A:63. The seventh order, which is greater than all the aforesaid orders,
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because they shall rejoice with confidence, and because they shall be
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bold without confusion, and shall be glad without fear, for they hasten
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to behold the face of him whom in their lifetime they served, and from
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|
whom they shall receive their reward in glory.
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A:64. This is the order of the souls of the just, as from henceforth is
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announced unto them, and aforesaid are the ways of torture which they
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that would not give heed shall suffer from henceforth.
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A:65. And I answered and said, Shall time therefore be given unto the
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souls after they are separated from the bodies, that they may see that
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whereof thou hast spoken unto me?
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A:66. And he said, Their freedom shall be for seven days, that for seven
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days they may see the things whereof thou hast been told, and afterwards
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|
they shall be gathered together in their habitations.
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A:67. And I answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, shew
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further unto me thy servant whether in the day of judgement the just will
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be able to intercede for the ungodly or to intreat the Most High for
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them,
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A:68. whether fathers for children, or children for parents, or brethren
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for brethren, or kinsfolk for their next of kin, or friends for them that
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are most dear.
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A:69. And he answered me, and said, Since thou hast found favour in my
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|
sight, I will shew thee this also: The day of judgement is a day of
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decision, and displayeth unto all the seal of truth; even as now a father
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|
sendeth not his son, or a son his father, or a master his slave, or a
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|
friend him that is most dear, that in his stead he may be sick, or sleep,
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or eat, or be healed:
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|
A:70. so never shall any one pray for another in that day, neither shall
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one lay a burden on another, for then shall all bear every one his own
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|
righteousness or unrighteousness.
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BOOK FOR COMPARISON
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THE PROPHECIE OF ABDIAS.
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ABDIAS borne in Sichem, of the tribe Ephraim, prophecied the same time
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with Amos; so briefly that his prophecie is not parted into chapters:
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1. against the Idumeans; foreshewing their destruction; 10. for their
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perpetual emnitie against the Iewes, and confederacie with the Chaldees.
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17. The captiuitie and relaxation of the Iewes. 19. And redemption of
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the whole world by Christ.
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THE vision of Abdias. Thus sayth our Lord God to Edom: We haue heard a
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bruit from our Lord, and he hath sent a legate to the Gentils: Rise ye,
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and let vs arise against him into battel. 2 Behold I haue geuen thee a
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|
litle one in the Gentils: thou art contemptible excedingly. 3 The pride
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|
of thy hart hath extolled thee, dwelling in the clefts of rockes,
|
|
exalting thy throne: which sayst in thy hart: Who shal plucke me downe
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to the earth. 4 If thou shalt be exalted as an eagle, and if thou shalt
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|
set thy nest among the starres: thence wil I plucke thee downe, sayth
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our Lord. 5 If theues had gone in to thee, if robbers by night, how
|
|
hadst thou held thy peace. would not they haue stolen thinges sufficent
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for themselues. if the grape gathereres had entered in to thee, would
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|
they not haue left thee at the least a cluster. 6 How haue they searched
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Esau, haue they sought out his hidden thinges. 7 Euen to the border haue
|
|
they cast thee out: al the men of thy league haue mocked thee: the men
|
|
of thy peace haue peuailed against thee: they that eate with thee, shal
|
|
lay embushments vnder thee: there is no wisedom in him. 8 Why, shal not
|
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I in that day, sayth our Lord, destroy the wise out of Idumea, and
|
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prudence from the mount of Esau, 9 And thy valients of the South shal
|
|
feare, that man may perish from the mount of Esau. 10 For the slaughter,
|
|
and for the iniquitie against thy brother Iacob, confusion shal couer
|
|
thee, and thou shalt perish for euer. 11 In the day when thou stoodest
|
|
against him, when strangers tooke his armie, and foreners entered his
|
|
gates, and vpon Ierusalem cast lotte: thou also wast as one of them.
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|
12 And thou shalt not dispise in the day of thy brother, in the day of
|
|
his peregrination: and thou shalt not reioyce ouer the children of Iuda,
|
|
in the day of their perdition: & thou shalt not magnifie thy mouth in
|
|
the day of distresse. 13 Neither shalt thou enter the gate of my people
|
|
in the day of their ruine: neither shalt thou also dispise in his euils
|
|
in the day of his distruction: and thou shalt not be sent out against
|
|
his armie in the day of his destruction. 14 Neither shalt thou stand in
|
|
the outgoings to kil them that flee: and thou shalt not shut vp his
|
|
remnant in the day of tribulation. 15 Because the day of our Lord is at
|
|
hand vpon al nations: as thou hast done, so shal it be done to thee:
|
|
thy retribution he wil returne vpon thine owne head. 16 For as you haue
|
|
drunke vpon my holie mount, shal al Gentils drinke continually: & they
|
|
shal drinke, and swallow vp, and they shal be as though they were not.
|
|
17 And in mount Sion shal be saluation, and it shal be holie: and the
|
|
house of Iacob shal possesse those that had possessed them. 18 And the
|
|
house of Iacob shal be a fyre, and the house of Ioseph a flame, and the
|
|
house of Esau stubble: and they shal be kindled in them, and shal
|
|
deuoure them: and there shal be no remaynes of the house of Esau,
|
|
because our Lord hath spoken. 19 And they that are toward the South,
|
|
shal inherite the mount of Esau, and they in the champaine countries,
|
|
Philisthiims: and they shal possesse the region of Ephraim, and the
|
|
region of Samaria: and Beniamin shal possesse Galaad. 20 And the
|
|
transmigration of this host of the children of Israel, al places of the
|
|
Chananeits euen to Sarepta: and the transmigration of Ierusalem, that is
|
|
in Bosphorus, shal possesse the cities of the South. 21 And sauiours
|
|
shal ascend into mount Sion to iudge the mount of Esau: and the kingdom
|
|
shal be to our Lord.
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End of Project Gutenberg Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims Version, O.T. Part 2
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