The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

I said: In the noontide of my days I shall go, even to the gates of the nether-world; I am deprived of the residue of my years.

I said: I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

My habitation is plucked up and carried away from me as a shepherd's tent; I have rolled up like a weaver my life; He will cut me off from the thrum; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.

The more I make myself like unto a lion until morning, the more it breaketh all my bones; from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me.

Like a swallow or a crane, so do I chatter, I do moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward. O LORD, I am oppressed, be Thou my surety.

What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it; I shall go softly all my years for the bitterness of my soul.

O Lord, by these things men live, and altogether therein is the life of my spirit; wherefore recover Thou me, and make me to live.

Behold, for my peace I had great bitterness; but Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.

For the nether-world cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth.

The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known Thy truth.

The LORD is ready to save me; therefore we will sing songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

And Isaiah said: 'Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover.'

And Hezekiah said. 'What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?'

At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent a letter and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and was recovered.

And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them his treasure-house, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures; there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.

Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him: 'What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee?' And Hezekiah said: 'They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon.'

Then said he: 'What have they seen in thy house?' And Hezekiah answered: 'All that is in my house have they seen; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.'

Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah: 'Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:

Behold, the days come, that all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.

And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be officers in the palace of the king of Babylon.'

Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah: 'Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken.' He said moreover: 'If but there shall be peace and truth in my days.'

Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.

Bid Jerusalem take heart, and proclaim unto her, that her time of service is accomplished, that her guilt is paid off; that she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.

Hark! one calleth: 'Clear ye in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make plain in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the rugged shall be made level, and the rough places a plain;

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.'

Hark! one saith: 'Proclaim!' And he saith: 'What shall I proclaim?' 'All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field;

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the breath of the LORD bloweth upon it — surely the people is grass.

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.'

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah: 'Behold your God!'

Behold, the Lord GOD will come as a Mighty One, and His arm will rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.

Even as a shepherd that feedeth his flock, that gathereth the lambs in his arm, and carrieth them in his bosom, and gently leadeth those that give suck.

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

Who hath meted out the spirit of the LORD? Or who was His counsellor that he might instruct Him?

With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of right, and taught Him knowledge, and made Him to know the way of discernment?

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold the isles are as a mote in weight.

And Lebanon is not sufficient fuel, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for burnt-offerings.

All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are accounted by Him as things of nought, and vanity.

To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him?

The image perchance, which the craftsman hath melted, and the goldsmith spread over with gold, the silversmith casting silver chains?

A holm-oak is set apart, he chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning craftsman to set up an image, that shall not be moved.

Know ye not? hear ye not? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood the foundations of the earth?

It is He that sitteth above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;

That bringeth princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as a thing of nought.

Scarce are they planted, scarce are they sown, scarce hath their stock taken root in the earth; when He bloweth upon them, they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble.

To whom then will ye liken Me, that I should be equal? saith the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high, and see: who hath created these? He that bringeth out their host by number, He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one faileth.

Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: 'My way is hid from the LORD, and my right is passed over from my God'?

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? His discernment is past searching out.

He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might He increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall;

But they that wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.

Keep silence before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength; let them draw near, then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment.

Who hath raised up one from the east, at whose steps victory attendeth? He giveth nations before him, and maketh him rule over kings; his sword maketh them as the dust, his bow as the driven stubble.

He pursueth them, and passeth on safely; the way with his feet he treadeth not.

Who hath wrought and done it? He that called the generations from the beginning. I, the LORD, who am the first, and with the last am the same.

The isles saw, and feared; the ends of the earth trembled; they drew near, and came.

They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother: 'Be of good courage.'

So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering: 'It is good'; and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

But thou, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend;

Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the uttermost parts thereof, and said unto thee: 'Thou art My servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away';

Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I strengthen thee, yea, I help thee; yea, I uphold thee with My victorious right hand.

Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they that strove with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish.

Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee; they that warred against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

For I the LORD thy God hold thy right hand, who say unto thee: 'Fear not, I help thee.'

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I help thee, saith the LORD, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Behold, I make thee a new threshing-sledge having sharp teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst; I the LORD will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

I will open rivers on the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane-tree, and the larch together;

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.

Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us the things that shall happen; the former things, what are they? Declare ye, that we may consider, and know the end of them; or announce to us things to come.

Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

Behold, ye are nothing, and your work a thing of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

I have roused up one from the north, and he is come, from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon My name; and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.

Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say that he is right? Yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that announceth, yea, there is none that heareth your utterances.

A harbinger unto Zion will I give: 'Behold, behold them', and to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.

And I look, but there is no man; even among them, but there is no counsellor, that, when I ask of them, can give an answer.

Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.

Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My spirit upon him, he shall make the right to go forth to the nations.

He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

A bruised reed shall he not break, and the dimly burning wick shall he not quench; he shall make the right to go forth according to the truth.

He shall not fail nor be crushed, till he have set the right in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his teaching.

Thus saith God the LORD, He that created the heavens, and stretched them forth, He that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it, He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and have taken hold of thy hand, and kept thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations;

To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.

I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images.

Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth; ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.

Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of Sela exult, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare His praise in the islands.

The LORD will go forth as a mighty man, He will stir up jealousy like a man of war; He will cry, yea, He will shout aloud, He will prove Himself mighty against His enemies.

I have long time held My peace, I have been still, and refrained Myself; now will I cry like a travailing woman, gasping and panting at once.

I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not, in paths that they knew not will I lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and rugged places plain. These things will I do, and I will not leave them undone.

They shall be turned back, greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say unto molten images: 'Ye are our gods.'

Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

Who is blind, but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger that I send? Who is blind as he that is wholehearted, and blind as the LORD'S servant?