The Bible Part 144

24:19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.

24:20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

24:21 And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

24:22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

25:1 O Lord, thou art my G.o.d; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

25:2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

25:3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

25:4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

25:5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

25:6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

25:7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord G.o.d will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our G.o.d; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

25:10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

25:11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.

25:12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

26:1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will G.o.d appoint for walls and bulwarks.

26:2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

26:4 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength: 26:5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.

26:6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.

26:7 The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.

26:8 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

26:10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

26:11 LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

26:12 LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

26:13 O LORD our G.o.d, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.

26:14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

26:15 Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth.

26:16 LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.

26:17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD.

26:18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

26:20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

26:21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

27:2 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.

27:3 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.

27:4 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.

27:5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.

27:6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.

27:7 Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? 27:8 In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.

27:9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

27:10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.

27:11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

27:12 And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.

27:13 And it shall come to pa.s.s in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of a.s.syria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine! 28:2 Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

28:3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet: 28:4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.

28:5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, 28:6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.

28:7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

28:8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.

28:12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

28:13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

28:14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with h.e.l.l are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pa.s.s through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord G.o.d, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

28:18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with h.e.l.l shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pa.s.s through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

28:19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pa.s.s over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

28:20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

28:21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pa.s.s his act, his strange act.

28:22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord G.o.d of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

28:23 Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

28:24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground? 28:25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the c.u.mmin, and cast in the princ.i.p.al wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? 28:26 For his G.o.d doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

28:27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the c.u.mmin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the c.u.mmin with a rod.

28:28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his hors.e.m.e.n.

28:29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

29:1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

29:2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

29:3 And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

29:4 And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

29:5 Moreover the mult.i.tude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the mult.i.tude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that pa.s.seth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

29:6 Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

29:7 And the mult.i.tude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

29:8 It shall even be as when an 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 appet.i.te: so shall the mult.i.tude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

29:9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

29:10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

29:11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book 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: 29:12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: 29:14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

29:15 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? 29:16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? 29:17 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? 29:18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

29:19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

29:20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: 29:21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

29:22 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.

29:23 But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the G.o.d of Israel.

29:24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: 30:2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 30:3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

30:4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his amba.s.sadors came to Hanes.

30:5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

30:6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young a.s.ses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

30:7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.

30:8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: 30:9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 30:11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

30:12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 30:13 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.

30:14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

30:15 For thus saith the Lord G.o.d, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

30:16 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.

30:17 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 an hill.