The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

And the multitude of all the nations that war against Ariel, even all that war against her, and the bulwarks about her, and they that distress her, shall be as a dream, a vision of the night.

And it shall be as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth, but he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh, but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite — so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

Stupefy yourselves, and be stupid! Blind yourselves, and be blind! ye that are drunken, but not with wine, that stagger, but not with strong drink.

For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets, and your heads, the seers, hath He covered.

And the vision of all this is become unto you as the words of a writing that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying: 'Read this, I pray thee'; and he saith: 'I cannot, for it is sealed';

and the writing is delivered to him that is not learned, saying: 'Read this, I pray thee'; and he saith: 'I am not learned.'

And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near, and with their mouth and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment of men learned by rote;

Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the prudence of their prudent men shall be hid.

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say: 'Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?'

O your perversity! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay; that the thing made should say of him that made it: 'He made me not'; or the thing framed say of him that framed it: 'He hath no understanding?'

Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of a book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.

The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the neediest among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner ceaseth, and all they that watch for iniquity are cut off;

That make a man an offender by words, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just with a thing of nought.

Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale;

When he seeth his children, the work of My hands, in the midst of him, that they sanctify My name; yea, they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall stand in awe of the God of Israel.

They also that err in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmur shall learn instruction.

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of Me; and that form projects, but not of My spirit, that they may add sin to sin;

That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at My mouth; to take refuge in the stronghold of Pharaoh, and to take shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

Therefore shall the stronghold of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your confusion.

For his princes are at Zoan, and his ambassadors are come to Hanes.

They shall all be ashamed of a people that cannot profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

The burden of the beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

For Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called her arrogancy that sitteth still.

Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever.

For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children that refuse to hear the teaching of the LORD;

That say to the seers: 'See not,' and to the prophets: 'Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy delusions;

Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.'

Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon;

Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

And He shall break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing; so that there shall not be found among the pieces thereof a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the cistern.

For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: in sitting still and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not.

But ye said: 'No, for we will flee upon horses'; therefore shall ye flee; and: 'We will ride upon the swift'; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one, at the rebuke of five shall ye flee; till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.

And therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have compassion upon you; for the LORD is a God of justice, happy are all they that wait for Him.

For, O people that dwellest in Zion at Jerusalem, thou shalt weep no more; He will surely be gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry, when He shall hear, He will answer thee.

And though the Lord give you sparing bread and scant water, yet shall not thy Teacher hide Himself any more, but thine eyes shall see thy Teacher;

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying: 'This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.'

And ye shall defile thy graven images overlaid with silver, and thy molten images covered with gold; thou shalt put them far away as one unclean; thou shalt say unto it: 'Get thee hence.'

And He will give the rain for thy seed, wherewith thou sowest the ground, and bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and plenteous; in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

The oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat savoury provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

And there shall be upon every lofty mountain, and upon every high hill streams and watercourses, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

Moreover 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 the seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the bruise of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, with His anger burning, and in thick uplifting of smoke; His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue is as a devouring fire;

And His breath is as an overflowing stream, that divideth even unto the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction; and a bridle that causeth to err shall be in the jaws of the peoples.

Ye shall have a song as in the night when a feast is hallowed; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with the pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.

And the LORD will cause His glorious voice to be heard, and will show the lighting down of His arm, with furious anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a bursting of clouds, and a storm of rain, and hailstones.

For through the voice of the LORD shall Asshur be dismayed, the rod with which He smote.

And in every place where the appointed staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps; and in battles of wielding will He fight with them.

For a hearth is ordered of old; yea, for the king it is prepared, deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many, and in horsemen, because they are exceeding mighty; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!

Yet He also is wise, and bringeth evil, and doth not call back His words; but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses flesh, and not spirit; so when the LORD shall stretch out His hand, both he that helpeth shall stumble, and he that is helped shall fall, and they all shall perish together.

For thus saith the LORD unto me: Like as the lion, or the young lion, growling over his prey, though a multitude of shepherds be called forth against him, will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them; so will the LORD of hosts come down to fight upon mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof.

As birds hovering, so will the LORD of hosts protect Jerusalem; He will deliver it as He protecteth it, He will rescue it as He passeth over.

Turn ye unto Him against whom ye have deeply rebelled, O children of Israel.

For in that day they shall cast away every man his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.

Then shall Asshur fall with the sword, not of man, and the sword, not of men, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become tributary.

And his rock shall pass away by reason of terror, and his princes shall be dismayed at the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem.

Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and as for princes, they shall rule in justice.

And a man shall be as in a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as by the watercourses in a dry place, as in the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

And the eyes of them that see shall not be closed, and the ears of them that hear shall attend.

The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be noble.

For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise ungodliness, and to utter wickedness against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

The instruments also of the churl are evil; he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, and the needy when he speaketh right.

But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

Rise up, ye women that are at ease, and hear my voice; ye confident daughters, give ear unto my speech.

After a year and days shall ye be troubled, ye confident women; for the vintage shall fail, the ingathering shall not come.

Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye confident ones; strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins,

Smiting upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine;

For the land of my people whereon thorns and briers come up; yea, for all the houses of joy and the joyous city.

For the palace shall be forsaken; the city with its stir shall be deserted; the mound and the tower shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.

Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field.

And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence for ever.

And my people shall abide in a peaceable habitation, and in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.

And it shall hail, in the downfall of the forest; but the city shall descend into the valley.

Happy are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth freely the feet of the ox and the ass.

Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! When thou hast ceased to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou art weary with dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.

O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for Thee; be Thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.

At the noise of the tumult the peoples are fled; at the lifting up of Thyself the nations are scattered.

And your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathereth; as locusts leap do they leap upon it.

The LORD is exalted, for He dwelleth on high; He hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

And the stability of thy times shall be a hoard of salvation — wisdom and knowledge, and the fear of the LORD which is His treasure.

Behold, their valiant ones cry without; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth; he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth not man.

The land mourneth and languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed, it withereth; Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel are clean bare.

Now will I arise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift Myself up.

Ye conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble; your breath is a fire that shall devour you.

And the peoples shall be as the burnings of lime; as thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.

Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge My might.

The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling hath seized the ungodly: 'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?'

He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil;

He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; his bread shall be given, his waters shall be sure.

Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty; they shall behold a land stretching afar.

Thy heart shall muse on the terror: 'Where is he that counted, where is he that weighed? Where is he that counted the towers?'

Thou shalt not see the fierce people; a people of a deep speech that thou canst not perceive, of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand.

Look upon Zion, the city of our solemn gatherings; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a peaceful habitation, a tent that shall not be removed, the stakes whereof shall never be plucked up, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.