5 (J) All this is on account of the impiety of Jacob, and for the sin of the house of Israel. What is the impiety of Ja-

6 cob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of the house of Ju- da? Is it not Jerusalem? Therefore I will make Samaria like a hut of a field and like a plant of a vineyard, and I will drag the

7 stones thereof into a ditch and lay her foundations bare. And all her graven images shall be hack'd to pieces; and all her earnings shall be burned with fire; and all her idols I will utterly destroy.

Because from the earnings of fornication she collected, and

8 from the earnings of fornication, amassed; therefore she shall wail and utter lamentations: she shall walk barefoot and naked; she shall utter a wailing like that of jackals; and meanings like the daughters of the ostrich.

9 Because her wound is large; because it hath come even to

10 Juda and reached the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem; magnify not yourselves ye men of Gath, and ye Enakims, rebuild not from a house, in derision. According to your derision you

11 shall sprinkle yourselves with dust. Sennaar, who dwelt at ease in her cities, went not forth to bewail a neighbouring house; from you she shall receive a painful wound.

12 Who led the way to good for her who was dwelling in sorrows, because evils from the Lord, a sound of Chariots and

13 horsemen came down against the gates of Jerusalem? Was it the inhabitant of Lachis? She is a leader to sin for the daughter of Sion. Because in thee have been found the impieties of

14 Israel, therefore even to the inheritance of Gath he will give up idolatrous houses as abandoned. To the kings of Israel

15 they were of no avail. O inhabitant of Lachis! until the true heirs shall be brought in—O! Odollam! until an inheritance,

16 the glory of the daughter of Israel shall come, shave thy locks and make thyself bald for thy delicate children; lengthen out thy widowhood like an eagle, for they shall be carried frond thee into captivity.

II. They planned mischief; they contrived evils on their beds,

and soon as it was day they executed them; for they did not

2 lift up their hands to God. They coveted fields and plundered

orphans and tyrannised over houses; they plundered a mail and

3 his household—a man and his inheritance; therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold against this tribe I am planning evils, from which you shall not withdraw your necks, nor walk erect sud-

4 denly. Because it is an evil time, a parable will in that day be taken up against you, and a song of lamentation will be sung, saying, "With affliction we have been afflicted! the portion of my people hath been measured with a line, and there was none

5 to hinder or turn it aside." Your fields have been parcelled out, therefore there shall be none to stretch a line for thee by lot,

6 in the congregation of the Lord. Weep not bitterly, nor let tears be shed for these things, for reproaches will not be cast off

7 even by him who saith, "The house of Israel hath provoked to wrath the spirit of the Lord. Are not these his purposes? Are not his words good with him? Have these walked in a

8 straight course?" Indeed this people of mine have openly risen up for enmity. In direct opposition to his peace they have even stripped off his skin, that the extreme horror of war might destroy hope.

9 The leaders of my people shall be hurled from their houses of pleasure; for their wicked devices they have been expelled;

10 draw ye near to the everlasting mountains. Arise and depart, for this is not a rest for thee. By reason of impurity you are '

11 utterly corrupted: you have been put to flight when there was no pursuer: a spirit hath set up a lie: it hath dropped on thee

12 for wine and plenty. Yet it shall come to pass that from a drop of this people, Jacob with all his sons shall be gathered together. With expectation I will expect the remnant of Israel. I will place together them who are about to return. Like sheep in distress, like a flock in their fold, they shall rush out from

13 among men through a breach before them. They have broken through and passed the gate; they are gone through it and their king is gone out before them; and the Lord will be their leader, and he will say,

III. Hear these things yc children of the house of Jacob, and ye remnant of the house of Israel, is it not your business to

2 know judgment? As for them who hate good and seek evil, who tear off the skin from these and the flesh from tbeir bones:

3 as they have devoured the flesh of my people and have flayed off their skin from them; and have broken their bones and chopped them up, as flesh for a kettle and as pieces of meat fa

4 a pot: so they shall cry to the Lord but he will not hearken to them; but will turn away his face from them at that time, because by their devices they have committed evil against these.

5 II. THUS saith the Lord against the prophets who led my people astray, who gnash with their teeth and proclaim peace for them, though it was not put in their mouths; they

6 have raised up war against them. Therefore from vision you shall have night; and from prophesying you shall have darkness. And the sun shall set upon the prophets, and upon them

7 the day shall darken: and the seers of dreams shall be put to shame; and the diviners shall be laughed to scorn, and reviled

8 by all; for none will hearken to them. None but I can, by the spirit of the Lord, supply strength both of judgment and might to declare to Jacob his impiety and to Israel his sins.

9 (p) Hear these things I beseech you, ye leaders of the house of Jacob, and ye remnant of the house of Israel, who ab-

10 hor judgment and pervert all equity, who are building up Si- on with blood and Jerusalem with injustice.

11 (J) Her rulers have judged for rewards; and her priests have given answers for hire; and her prophets have prophesied for silver, without waiting for the Lord, saying, "Is not the

12 Lord among us? No evils shall come upon us:" therefore because of you, Sion shall be ploughed like a field; and Jerusalem shall be like a temporary building for summer fruits; and the mountain of the house shall be for a grove of a forest.

IV. But it shall come to pass in the last of these days, that the mountain of the Lord shall be conspicuous: it shall be established on the tops of the mountains, and raised high above the

2 hills; and peoples shall hasten to it. And many nations shall come—they will say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; that they may point out to us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Sion shall go forth a law; and the word of the Lord

3 from Jerusalem. And he will judge among many peoples, aiic rebuke nations of extensive power. And they shall beat tlieir swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks Nation shall no more lift up a sword against nation; nor shall

4 they any more learn to fight. But they shaft rest every man under his own vine, and every man under his own fig tree ; and there shall be none to make them afraid.

(p) Because the mouth of the Lord Almighty hath spoken

5 these things—because all the people will walk every one in his own way, let us therefore walk in the name of the Lord our God until that age and beyond it.

6 (J) In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather her that hath been bruised; and take back her who was cast off and them

7 whom I had put away : and I will make the bruised a remnant, and her who was put away, a mighty nation. And the Lord will reign over them on mount Sion henceforth and for-

8 ever. And as for thee, thou squalid tower of a flock, thou daughter of Sion; to thee he will come, when the chiefdom, the first royal government shall have come from Babylon for

9 the daughter of Jerusalem. Now therefore why hast thou known evils? Was there no king for thee? Or was thy counsel destroyed, that pangs of a woman in travail have seized

10 thee? Be in pangs, but take courage and draw near to delivery, O daughter of Sion. For thou art now to go from a city and to make thy abode in a field, and go even to Babylon. Thence he will deliver thee; yes, thence the Lord thy God will redeem

11 thee out of the hands of thine enemies. Now indeed many nations are assembled against thee, saying, " Let us rejoice ex-

12 ceedingly and let our eyes look upon Sion." But they did not know the determination of the Lord nor understand his counsel. Because he hath gathered them as sheaves for a threshing

13 floor, arise daughter of Sion and tread them out. Because I will make thy horns iron and thy hoofs I will make brass; therefore thou shalt break many peoples in pieces, and devote the multitude of them to the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.

V. (p) Now shall a daughter be hedged in with a hedge. He hath ordered a siege against us.

(J) With a rod they will smite on the cheek the tribes of 2 Israel. But as for thee, Bethlehem, thou house of Ephratha, art thou too little to be one of the chiliads of Juda? Out of thee one shall come forth for me to be the chief of Israel. His goings forth have been from the beginning—from the- days of voi. in. 3 F

3 an age. Therefore he will continue them till the time of one bringing forth. She shall bring forth and the rest of their bre-

4 thren shall turn to the children of Israel. And they will stand i and look and the Lord will feed his flock with majesty; and in

the glory of the name of the Lord their God they shall subsist; because they shall now be magnified to the ends of the earth; therefore she shall have peace.

5 As for Assur, when he hath come against your land, and when he

6 hath passed over your country; against him shall be raised up seven shepherds. And there shall be eight bites of men and they will feed Assur widi a sword and the land of Nebrod in its enclosure. So he will deliver from the Assyrian, when he hath come

7 against your land and when he hath passed over your borders. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations in the midst of many people, like dew falling from the Lord and like lambs upon the wilds.

8 That none may be ungathered or left behind among the children of men, the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among beasts of the forest, and like a young lion among flocks of sheep ; so that when he passeth through and hath made a

9 choice, he may tear and there shall be none to deliver. Thy hand shall be raised up against them who afflict thee; and all

10 thine enemies shall be utterly cut off". And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will destroy the horses from

11 the midst of thee and destroy thy chariots and I will root out

12 the cities of thy land and demolish thy fortifications. And I will cut off thy sorceries out of thy hands and in thee shall be

13 no diviners. And I will cut off thy graven images and thy pillars from the midst of thee; and thou shall no more worship

14 the works of thy hands. And I will cut down the groves from amidst thee and utterly destroy thy cities; and with indignation and with wrath I will execute vengeance among the nations because they have not hearkened.

VI. III. (p) HEAR, I beseech you, a word. The Lord, Lord- hath commanded. .

(J.) Arise; come to judgment before the mountains ; and let the hills hear thy voice ! 2 (p) Hear ye mountains the controversy of the Lord ! Ami ye vallies the foundations of the earth! For the Lord hath a

J

3 controversy with his people, and with Israel he will plead. O my people, what have I done to thee? Or wherein have I

4 grieved thee? Or what molestation have I given thee? Answer me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage,, and sent before thee

5 Moses and Aaron and Mariam. O my people call now to remembrance what counsel Balak king of Moab took against thee; and what answer was made him by Balaam son of Beor, That from Schoinon the righteousness of the Lord may be made known to GalgaL

6 (Balak.) " By what mean shall I gain over the Lord? Shall I take him for my God most high ? Shall I gain him over by

7 whole burnt offerings—by calves of a year old? Will the Lord accept me for thousands of rams or myriads of fat goats? Must I give my first born for iniquity—the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul." .

8 (Balaam.) "Must thou, O man, be told what is good? What doth the Lord require from thee, buttodo justice and to love mercy, and to be prepared to walk with the Lord thy God?"

9 (p) Let the voice of the Lord be proclaimed in the city and it will save them who fear his name.

(J) Hear, O tribe I Who is the man that wfll adorn a city?

10 Will fire and the house of an unrighteous man [do it?] Or he who is treasuring up unlawful treasures and iniquities with

11 haughtiness? Will an unrighteous man be justified by a balance, or false weights by a bag with which they have incrcas-

12 ed their wicked wealth? As they who inhabit it have spoken

13 lies and their tongue hath been exalted in their mouth; therefore I.will begin with smiting tliee—I will make thee desolate

14 for thy. sins. Thou shalt eat but shall not be satisfied. Though darkness come and warn thee thou shalt not escape ; and if

15 any escape, to the sword they shall be delivered up. Thou shalt sow but thou shalt not reap. Thou shalt press the olive, but shalt not anoint thyself with oil. You shall make wine, but shall not drink it. And the ritual services of my people shall

16 be utterly destroyed. As thou hast kept the statutes of Zam- bri, and all the works of the house of Achab; and you have walked in their ways, that I might deliver thee up to desolation, and the inhabitants of this city to hissing; therefore you shall bear the reproaches of peoples.

VII. (p) Woe is me! for I am like one picking up stalks in harvest, and like one gathering a gleaning at the vintage? Not

2 a bunch of the first fruits is left for me to eat. Ah woe is my life, that the pious is perished from the land, and among men there is not an upright man left!

(J) They are all indicted for capital crimes: they griev-

3 ously afflict every man his neighbour: they are preparing their hands for evil. The chief asketh and the judge hath spoken words of peace ! He is entirely at his devotion; therefore I will

4 take away their good things, like a consuming moth advancing regularly in the day of visitation.

5 (p) Alas! alas! thy punishments are come; now will their lamentations be—" Trust not in friends, nor confide in rulers, against the wife of thy bosom be on thy guard—to trust no-

6 thing to her: for a son dishonoureth a father; a daughter will rise up against her mother, a daughter in law against her mother in law; all a man's household are his enemies."

7 (c) But as for me I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God who is my saviour; he who is my God will hearken

8 to me. Rejoice not over me, O mine enemy, because I have fallen. I shall rise again, for though I sit in darkness the

9 Lord will give me light. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him; until he vindicate my cause. He will do me justice and bring me out into light;

10 and shame shall cover her who saith, " Where is thy God?" Mine eyes shall see her. She shall now be trodden down like dirt in the streets. - '

11 (J) The day for anointing a plinth—that day wfll be the unanointing of thee, that day will indeed destroy thy ritual ser-

12 vices. And thy cities shall become plains and be distributed among the Assyrians : even thy fortified cities shall be for distribution, from Tjtc to the river and from sea to sea, and from

13 mountain to the mountain. And the land shall be for desolation with them who inhabit it, for the fruits of their devices.

(c) The chorus, or Sion.

t, (p) Feed thou thy people with thy crook—the flock of thy heritage—them who ate by themselves in a forest in the midst of yonder Carmel.

(J) They shall feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days

5 of old. And as in the days of thy coming out of Egypt, you

6 shall see wonderful things. Nations shall see and be confound- ed, and because of all the mighty power of these, they will lay their hands on their mouths. Their ears will be stopped.

7 They will lick dust like serpents trailing on the ground; they will be confounded in their enclosure.

8 (p) At the Lord our God let them be confounded and struck with terror because of thee. Who is a God like unto thee, taking away iniquities, and passing by the transgressions of the remnant of his heritage ? He hath not kept his anger

9 in remembrance; because he delighteth in mercy; he will turn arid have compassion on us : he will bury deep our iniquities ; they shall be whelmed in the depths of the sea. All our sins he will give up for truth to Jacob, as an act of mercy to Abraham as he sware to our fathers, according to the days which have been heretofore.