Translated by
Rev. C. W. H. Pauli
1871
"The kingdom of your God is revealed." (Isaiah 52:7)
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ISAIAH 1 (BEN UZIEL) 1 THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH, THE SON OF AMOZ, WHICH IS PROPHESIED CONCERNING THE MEN OF JUDAH AND THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM, IN THE DAYS OF UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ, AND HEZEKIAH, THE KINGS OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH.
2 Hear, heavens, which trembled when I gave my law to my people, and give ear, earth, which was agitated on account of my words, for the Lord has spoken. My people, the house of Israel, whom I called sons, I loved them, I made them glorious; but they have rebelled against my Word. 3 The ox knoweth his purchaser, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel has not learned to know my fear, my people doth not consider to return to my law.
4 Woe to those who are called a holy people, because they have sinned; a chosen congregation, but they have multiplied sins; they are sur named a beloved seed, but they have done evil; they are called beloved sons, but they have corrupted their paths; they have forsaken the worship of the Lord; they abhorred the fear ot the Holy One of Israel, and because their works are evil they are turned away, and they are turned back. 5 They do not consider so as to say. Wherefore has He smitten us? They continue in sin;(1) they do not say, Why is all the head sick, and the whole heart faint? 6 From the lowest(2) of my people even unto the chief of them, there is not one amongst them who is perfect in my fear: all of them are disobedient and rebellious; they are polluted with sins, they are like an ulcerous wound; they have not forsaken their pride, neither long for repentance; they have also no righteousness to protect them. 7 Your land is desolate, your cities each burnt with fire; in your presence the nations possess it. On account of their sins it is laid desolate: from you it is transferred, and it belongs to aliens. 8 The congregation of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard after they have gathered the grapes; as a lodge for passing the night in,(3) in a garden of cucumbers after they have gleaned it; as a city against which they lay siege. 9 Except the exceeding goodness of the Lord of hosts had caused to remain unto us in His mercy a deliverance, we had sins, on account of which we certainly had perished as the men of Sodom, and as the inhabitants of Gomorrah we would have been consumed.
10 Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye rulers, whose works are evil, as of the rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, people, whose works are evil like those of the people of Gomorrah. 11 I have no pleasure in the multitude of your holy sacrifices, saith the Lord: I am full with the abundance of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and the blood of bullocks, and of lambs, and of he-goats; for in such I have no pleasure. 12 When ye come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, and that ye should come? Tread not my courts; 13 Bring no more the oblation obtained by oppression; sacrifice is an abomination before me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the assembly ye are congregating, your sins shall not be forgiven, nor shall I hear your prayer at the time of your congregating yourselves together. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my Word hates; they are an abomination before me. I have often forgiven you.(4) 15 When your priests are spreading out their hands to pray for you, I shall make to ascend(5) the presence(6) of my Shekinah from you; and when you are multiplying prayer, it is not my pleasure to accept your prayer at your hands, they being full of the blood of the innocent. 16 Retum to the law; make you clean from your sins; put away the evil of your doings from before the presence of my Word; cease(7) to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment; judge ye justice for him who is suffering violence; do justice to the orphan; hear ye the cry of the widow.
18 Then, when ye return to the law, ye shall pray before me, and I will grant your petition, saith the Lord. Though your sins be stained as with dye, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be pure as wool. 19 If ye be willing and obedient to my Word, ye shall eat the good of the land. 20 But if ye refuse, and will not be obedient to my Word, ye shall be slain with the sword of the enemy; for the Word of the Lord has decreed it thus.
21 How are the works of the faithfiil city become like those of an harlot! she was full of those who did judgment, truth was wrought in her; but now they are murderers! 22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water. 23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: all of them love gifts. One saith to the other, Show me kindness in my cause, and I will repay thee in thy cause. The fatherless they judge not, and the cry of the widow does not come before them.
24 Therefore saith the Lord of the world, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, The city of Jerusalem, I will comfort her; but woe to the wicked, when I shall reveal myself, to render just recompense to the enemies of my people, and render vengeance to my enemies. 25 And I will turn the blow of my might upon thee; and I will scour away all the wicked, as he that is scouring with soap, and take away all thy sin. 26 And I will appoint in thee judges of truth, upright ones, as at the first, and thy counsellors, as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called the holy city,(9) the faithful city. 27 As for Zion, when justice shall be practised in her, she shall be redeemed; and those that do the law shall return to her in righteousness. 28 The rebels and the sinners shall be broken together; and those that forsake the law of the Lord shall be destroyed. 29 For ye shall be confounded of the oaks of idolatry which ye have desired; and ye shall be ashamed of the gardens of idolatry in which ye were seeking help. 30 For ye shall be as an oak(10) whose leaf fadeth, and as a watered garden that hath no water. 31 The strength of the wicked shall be as tow of flax, and the work of their hand as a spark of fire, when one approaches to the side of the other, both are burning together: thus the wicked shall be consumed, they and their evil works, and none shall have pity upon them.
ISAIAH 2 (BEN UZIEL) THE WORD OF PROPHECY, WHICH ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOZ PROPHESIED CONCERNING THE MEN OF JUDAH AND THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM.
2 And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of the house of the sanctuary of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all the kingdoms shall be turned to worship upon it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, to the house of the Shekinah(11) of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, which are right before Him, and we will walk in the instruction of His law; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the instruction of the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 And He shall judge among the kingdoms, and rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles: nation against nation shall not lift up any weapon, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 Those of the house of Jacob shall say, Come ye, and let us walk in the instruction of the law of the Lord. 6 Because ye have forsaken the terrible, the mighty One, who has redeemed you of the house of Jacob, therefore your land is full of idols, as from the beginning; and they have become prognos ticators by the clouds, like the Philistines; and they are walking in the laws of the nations. 7 Also their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, and there is no end of their chariots. 8 Their land is also full of idols; they prostrate themselves to the work of their own hands, to that which is shaped by their own fingers. 9 The common man shall be humbled, and the strength of the great men shall become weak; and Thou shalt not pardon them. 10 They shall enter into the rock in order to flee with a flight, and to be hidden in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the brightness of His glory. 11 The lofty looks of the common man shall be humbled, and the strength of the great men shall become weak, and the Lord alone shall be mighty in that time.
12 For the day shall come from the Lord of hosts upon all the proud, and upon those who are highminded(12) and upon all the mighty, yea, they shall be humbled. 13 And upon all the kings of the nations, the strong and the mighty; and upon all the princes of the provinces; 14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; 15 And upon all that dwell in a high tower; and upon all who dwell within fortified walls;(13) 16 And upon all that dwell in the islands of the sea; and upon all that dwell in beautiful palaces. 17 The pride of the common man shall be humbled, and the strength of the great men shall become weak, and the Lord alone shall be mighty in that time.
18 And the idols shall utterly come to an end. 19 And they shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the caverns of the earth,(14) for the fear of the Lord, and for the brightness of His glory, when He shall be revealed to destroy(15) the wicked of the earth. 20 At that time the sons of men shall abominate the idols of their silver, and the idols of their gold, which they have made for themselves to prostrate themselves to idols and to images. 21 To go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the rocks, for the fear of the Lord and for the brightness of His glory, when He shall be revealed to destroy(16) the wicked of the earth.
22 Cease ye to make yourselves servile to man, because he is working terror; the breath of the spirit of life is in his nostrils, for to-day he is alive, but to-morrow he is not, and he is counted as nothing.
ISAIAH 3 (BEN UZIEL) 1 For, behold, the Lord of the world, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of food, and the whole stay of water. 2 The mighty man, and the man that maketh war, the judge, and the prophet, and the scribe, and the diviner, and the ancient, 3 The captain of fifty, and the honourable man,(17) and the counsellor, and he that commands, and he that obeyeth, and the wise in counsel. 4 And I will appoint sucklings to be their governors, and the weak shall rule over them. 5 The nations shall wage war, man against man, and a man against his neighbour; children shall rule over the ancient, and the base over the honourable. 6 For a man shall take hold of his brother, of the family of his father's house, saying, Thou hast clothing, be thou a ruler over us, and this ruin shall be under thy government.(18) 7 He shall answer in that time, saying, I am not a proper person to become a chief, and in my house I have nothing that I could eat, and nothing wherewith I could clothe myself; appoint me not a chief over all this people. 8 Because the inhabitants of Jerusalem have stumbled, therefore the men of Judah shall go into captivity; surely the speech of their mouth and the wages of their works are revealed before the Lord, and they have provoked to anger His glory.
9 The shew(19) of their faces in judgment bears testimony against them, and they declare their sins as the Sodomites, and they restrain not.(20) Woe unto them! for they have caused that evil should come upon them. 10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with you, for the fruits of their work shall be recompensed. 11 Woe to the wicked, whose works are evil; because the reward of their hands shall be returned to them. 12 As for my people, their oppressors plunder them, as those who glean the vineyard; and as usurers they rule over them. my people, those that call thee blessed cause thee to err; and the way of thy path they have perverted.(21)
13 The Lord is ready to judge, and to reveal Himself to take vengeance of judgment of the nations. 14 The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of His people, and with their oppressors; because ye have robbed my people, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15 What mean ye, that ye impoverish my people and grind the faces of the poor? They are perishing in their contentions, saith the Lord, the God of hosts. 16 And the Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and they are walking with stretched-forth necks, and they walk with their eyes painted, with their hair rolled up, and with their feet they excite lust. 17 And the Lord shall make servile the glory of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord shall remove their dignity.
18 In that day the Lord will take away the ornament of their sandals and their cauls(22) and head-nets.(23) 19 The necklaces,(24) and the bracelets for the hands, and the long robes.(25) 20 The crowns(26) , the bracelets for the feet, the crisping-pin,(27) and the ear-rings, and the orna ment; 21 And the finger-rings, and the jewels; 22 The tunics, and the cloaks, and the wimples,(28) and the stays.(29) 23 The mirrors,(30) and the fine linen, and the crowns,(31) and the veils.(32) 24 It shall come to pass, that in the place where they were giving forth sweet smells, there shall be putrefaction; and in the place where they were binding the girdles, shall be marks of smiting; and instead of plaited locks, baldness;(33) and instead of their walking in pride, they shall bind on sackcloth; this vengeance shall be taken on them because they have committed fornication in their beauty. 25 Thy beautiful men shall be killed by the sword, and thy heroes(34) in the war. 26 And the gates of her city shall be laid desolate, and shall come to an end; and the land shall be laid waste, and shall be destroyed.
ISAIAH 4 (BEN UZIEL) 1 And In that time seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, Of that which is ours we will eat, and of that which is ours we will cover ourselves: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach. 2 At that time shall the Messiah of the Lord be for joy and for glory to those that are escaped, and those that keep the law shall be for greatness and for praise. 3 And it shall come to pass, that he that shall return to Zion, and he that is doing the law, shall be established in Jerusalem, he shall be called holy; every one that is written for eternal life shall see the consolation of Jerusalem. 4 When the Lord shall have put away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and when He shall have removed from her midst those that are shedding the innocent blood, which is in Jerusalem, by the word of judgment, and by the word of consum mation. 5 And the Lord will create upon every holy place of the mountain of Zion, and upon the place of the house of His Shekinah a cloud of glory; which shall be shadowing over it by day, and a thick cloud and a brightness as of flaming fire by night; because of the excellency of the glory which He has promised to bring upon it, the Shekinah shall be protecting it with a pro tection. 6 And over Jerusalem shall be a tabernacle of clouds, to overshadow it by day from the scorching heat,(35) and for a place of refuge from storm and from rain.
ISAIAH 5 (BEN UZIEL) 1 The prophet said, Now I will sing unto Israel, who is like unto a vineyard, the seed of Abra ham, my beloved, a song of my beloved, concerning his vineyard. My people, my beloved Israel, I gave to them an inheritance in a high mountain, in a fat land. 2 I sanctified them, and I made them glorious, I propped them up as a precious vine; and I built my sanctuary in the midst of them; and I gave also mine altar to make an atonement for their sins; and I thought(36) that they should do good works before me, but they did evil works.(37)
3 The prophet said unto them: They have revolted from the law, and are not willing to return. Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge now a judgment between me and my people. 4 What more good could I have thought to do to them, which I have not done to them? And what is this? I have thought that they should do good; but they have done evil.(38)
5 And now, now I will tell you what I will do to my people; I will cause my Shekinah to remove from them, and they shall be for a spoil; I will break down the house of their sanctuary, and they shall be for a treading down. 6 I will make them abandoned ones; they shall not be visited, neither shall they be supported; and they shall be cast out and forsaken. I will command the prophets that they do not prophesy to them prophecy.
7 For the people of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And I thought that they should do judgment, but, behold, they are oppressors; I thought that they should do righteousness, but, behold, they are multiplying sins.
8 Woe unto them that join house to house; the field of violence they bring nigh to their fields, saying, Until we possess every place; and they think they shall dwell alone in the midst of the land. 9 The prophet said, With mine ears I have heard when this was decreed from before the Lord of hosts. Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even the great and the fair, without inhabitant. 10 Because of the sin of not giving tithes, the place of ten acres of vineyard shall produce one bath; and the place where a cor of seed was sown shall produce three measures.
11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, chasing after drink of old wine, delaying to separate; tarrying upon their couches till the dawn of the morning.(39) The wine of oppression inflames them! 12 And in their feasts are the harp, and the viol, the cithara, the organ, and the wine: and the law of the Lord they regard not, neither consider the work of His power. 13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity unawares, and their honourable men have died through famine, and their multitude through dryness and thirst. 14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure, and their nobles, and their multitudes, and their tumultuous assemblies, and he that is strong among them, shall descend into it. 15 And the mean man shall be humbled, and the strength of the strong shall be weakened, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humibled. 16 And the Lord of hosts shall be mighty in judgment, and the holy God shall be sanctified in righteousness. 17 And the righteous shall be fed, as it is promised concerning them, and they shall multiply; and the substance of the ungodly shall the righteous possess.
18 Woe to them that begin to sin by little, drawing sins with the ropes of vanity, and they go on and increase until that they are strong, and their sins are as a cart-rope. 19 That say, When will He hasten and reveal His miracle, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
20 Woe to them that say to the wicked who prosper in this world, Ye are good; and say to the meek, Ye are wicked. What, is it not so? When light cometh to the righteous, shall it not be dark with the wicked? And the words of the law shall be sweet to them that do them; but bitterness(40) shall come to the wicked, and they shall know that in the end sin is bitter to them that commit it.
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and mighty lords of riches, to make them selves drunk with old wine. 23 Who justify the guilty in order to receive from him the mammon of falsehood, and wickedly take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. 24 Therefore they shall be devoured as stubble in the fire, and like dry hay in the flame; they are multiplying their strength, it shall be like an ulcer, and the money of their oppression, as the dust that flieth away: because they despised the law of the Lord of hosts, and rejected the Word, the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore is the anger of the Lord of hosts mighty against His people, and He has lifted the stroke of His power upon them. When He smote them, then the mountains moved, and their carcases were cast out as dung into the midst of the streets. By all this they turn not away from their sins, that His fury may turn away from them; but until now their rebellion groweth stronger, and His stroke is again to take vengeance on them. 26 And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and he will call him from the end of the earth: and, behold, a king with his army shall come swiftly, as light clouds. 27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their sandals be broken. 28 Whose arrows are sharp, and their bows bent, their horses' hoofs strong like flint, and their wheels swift, behold, like a whirlwind. 29 His roaring shall be like a lion, and he shall roar like a young lion,(41) yea, he shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it. 30 And in that time he shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: so that if the wicked should seek support from the inhabitants of the earth, he will bring upon them oppression and destruction; but the righteous which shall be in that hour shall be protected(42) on account of the evil.(43)
ISAIAH 6 (BEN UZIEL) 1 In the year in which King Uzziah was smitten with the leprosy the prophet said, I saw the glory of the Lord sitting upon His throne, high, and lifted up unto the highest heavens, and the temple was filled with the brightness of His glory. 2 Holy ministers on high stood before him: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, that it should not see; and with twain he covered his body, that it should not be seen; and with twain he was ministering.
3 And one cried unto another, and they were saying, Holy in the highest and exalted heavens is the house of His Shekinah,(44) holy upon the earth is the work of His might, holy for ever, world without end, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of the brightness of His glory. 4 And the posts of the threshold of the temple moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house of the sanctuary was filled with cloudy darkness. 5 Then said I, Woe is me, for I have sinned, for I am a guilty man to reprove,(45) and I dwell in the midst of a people polluted with sin: for mine eyes have seen the glory of the Shekinah of the King of the worlds, the Lord of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the ministers unto me, and in his mouth was a word, which he received from the Shekinah of Him who sat upon the throne of glory in the highest heavens, above the altar. 7 And he placed(46) it in my mouth, and said, Behold, I have put the words of my prophecies in thy mouth, and thy iniquities are put away, and thy sins are expiated.
8 And I heard the voice of the Word of the Lord, which said, Whom shall I send to prophesy? and who will go to teach? Then said I, Here am I, send me. 9 And He said, Go, and tell this people, who are diligently hearing, but understand not, and see diligently, but know not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and darken their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and repent, and it shall be forgiven them.
11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities be wasted without an inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be laid desolate and wasted. 12 And the Lord have removed the children of men far away, and the desolation be great in the midst of the land.
13 And there shall be left in it righteous men,(47) one out of ten: they shall return, and they shall be for poverty, as the terebynth and the oak when their leaves fall, they are like to dry trees, never theless, they are moist to raise up seed from them; thus the captivity of Israel shall be gathered, and shall return to their land, for the seed which is holy is their plantation.
ISAIAH 7 (BEN UZIEL) 1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, the king of the tribe of the house of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to wage war against it, but he was not able to fight against it. 2 And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is joined with the king of Israel to come upon him. And his heart and the heart of his people moved as the moving of the trees of the wood with the wind.
3 Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and the rest of thy disciples, who have not sinned, and who are turned away from sin, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, which is by the way of the field of the spreading of the fullers, 4 And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, and let not thy heart be moved for the two kings, which are as smoking firebrands, for the strength of the anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Rema liah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, 6 We will go up into the land of the house of Judah, and let us be united together, and make them profitable unto us.(48) We will make a king in it whom we shall think proper.(49) 7 Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin, and at the end of threescore and five years the house of Israel shall cease from being a kingdom. 9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If ye will not believe the words of the prophet, surely ye shall not be established,
10 Moreover the prophet of the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask thee a sign from before the presence of the Lord, that a miracle may be done for thee upon the earth, or that a sign may be shewn thee in heaven. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.(50) 13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a small thing to you that ye are troublesome(51) to the prophets, that ye refuse also the words of my God? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and she shall call His name Immanuel.(52) 15 Butter and honey a child(53) eats before he knows to reject the evil and to choose the good; 16 But before a child shall know to reject the evil and to choose the good, the land(54) shall be laid desolate, on account of which thou art in a strait, because of these two kings. 17 The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come from the day of the separation of the house of Ephraim from the house of Judah; even the king of Assyria. 18 And it shall come to pass at that time that the Lord shall call to a people, to bands of armies, mighty men, who are numerous as flies, and shall bring them from the ends of the land of Egypt; and to mighty armies, who are powerful as bees, and shall bring them from the uttermost parts of the land of Assyria. 19 And they shall all of them come and dwell in the streets of the cities, and in the clefts of the rocks, and in all deserts full of thorn-hedges, and in all houses of praise.
20 In that time the Lord shall slay them as one is slain by a sharp sword, by clubs, and by saws, by those beyond the river, and by the king of Assyria; the king and his army, and even also his rulers, together shall he destroy.
21 And it shall come to pass in that time, that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep. 22 And it shall come to pass on account of the abundance of the goodness of fatness, one shall eat oil; because with oil and honey shall all the righteous be fed, who are left in the midst of the land.
23 And it shall come to pass in that time, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines for a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns. 24 With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. 25 And all the hills of the house of Judah, which shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for a place of crouching down of oxen, and for a place of dwelling of flocks and of sheep.
ISAIAH 8 (BEN UZIEL) 1 And the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great tablet, and write upon it a clear writing, Hasten to seize the prey, and to take away the spoil. 2 And call to witness before me as faithful witnesses, the curses, which I have threatened to bring by the prophecy of Uriah the priest, and, behold, they have come. And also the consola tions, which I promised to bring by the prophecy of Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, I am about to bring. 3 And I went to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord unto me, Call his name Hasten to seize the prey, and to take away the spoil. 4 For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be led into captivity before the king of Assyria.
5 And the Word of the Lord spake again to me, saying, 6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth the kingdom of the house of David, which guides them in quietness, like the waters of Shiloah, which flow softly,(55) and delight themselves in Rezin and Remaliah's son; 7 Therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing, and is causing to ascend upon them, the army of the people, who are many, as the waters of a river, strong and mighty, the king of Assyria, and his army; and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks. 8 And he shall pass through the land of the house of Judah as an overflowing torrent, unto Jerusalem shall he come; and the people of his army shall fill the breadth of thy land, Israel.(56)
9 Associate yourselves, O ye people, yet ye shall be broken; and give ear all who are at the ends of the earth, strengthen yourselves, yet ye shall be broken, strengthen yourselves, yet ye shall be broken. 10 Take counsel together, yet it shall pass away; speak the word, and it shall not be es tablished, because God is our help.
11 For the Lord spake thus to me by the power of prophecy, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, 12 Say ye not a rebellion to all that this people shall say a rebellion; neither fear ye their fear; and concerning their strength say ye not strength. 13 The Lord of hosts Him shall ye call holy; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your strength. 14 And if ye will not obey, His Word shall be amongst you for revenge, and for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both of the houses of the princes of Israel, for destruction and for a snare, because they contend against those of the house of Judah, who ard dwelling in Jerusalem. 15 And many among them shall stumible, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
16 O prophet, keep the testimony, testify not the testimony among them, because they do not obey; seal and hide the law, they are not willing to learn it. 17 The prophet said, On account of this I prayed before the Lord, who has said that he would take away His Shekinah from the house of Jacob, and I intreated before Him. 18 Behold, whilst I live with the children, which the Lord has given me, the signs and the wonders, which are promised to come upon Israel shall be established among us. But if they would see and repent, the decree should be annulled, which He decreed against them, that they should go into captivity, and that they should not appear before the Lord of hosts, whose Shekinah is in the mountain of Zion. 19 And when the nations amongst whom you shall be shall say to you, Seek of necromancers, and of the wizards, that peep, and that mutter. Is not this the way of nations, the worshippers of idols? A people seek from their idol, the living from the dead. 20 Thus ye shall say unto them: We will listen to the law which has been given to us, and to the testimony: yet ye shall go into captivity amongst the nations, and they shall speak to you according to this word. Now there is none amongst them,(57) who would search and seek after it.(58) 21 And one shall pass through the land, stumbling along, and there shall be oppression and famine. And it shall come to pass, when he shall see famine and affliction, he shall curse and despise the name of his Moloch(59) and his idolatry: and he shall look upwards to seek deliverance after the decree has been sealed, and he shall not be able to obtain it. 22 And he shall seek help from the inhabitants of the earth, because there shall come upon him oppression, famine, weariness of oppression, dark ness, and dispersion.
ISAIAH 9 (BEN UZIEL) 1 For none shall be weary who shall come to oppress them,(60) as at the former time, when the people of the land of Zebulun, and the people of the land of Naphtali went into captivity: and those that were left, a mighty king led into captivity, because they did not remember tbe power of the Red Sea, neither the wonders of the Jordan, the war of the fortifications of the nations. 2 The people, the house of Israel, which walked in Egypt as in the darkness, went forth to see a great light. They that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. 3 Thou hast multiplied the people, the house of Israel, unto them Thou hast multiplied the joy: they joy before Thee as the joy of the conquerors of battle, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For Thou hast taken away the yoke of his dominion, and the government of oppression, the government wherewith he enslaved him is broken as in the day of Midian. 5 All their transactions(61) are in wickedness; they are polluted with sins, as a garment dipped in blood, the marks of its filth cannot be purified; thus it is like something, in which there is no use, but to be burned in fire: thus He shall bring forth(62) against them nations, who are mighty as fire, and they shall slay them. 6 The prophet said to the house of David, For unto us a Child is bom, unto us a Son is given, and He has taken the law upon Himself to keep it.(63) His name is called from eternity, Wonderful, The Mighty God, who liveth to eternity, The Messiah, whose peace shall be great upon us in His days. 7 The greatness of those who do the law shall be magnified, and to those, that preserve peace. There shall be no end to the throne of David, and of his kingdom, to establish it and to build it in judgment and in righteousness from henceforth, even for ever. By the Word of the Lord of hosts this shall be done.
8 The Lord sent a word into the house of Jacob, and it was heard in Israel. 9 The people, all of them have become great; Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, that say in greatness and stoutness of heart, 10 The princes are carried captive; but we will appoint better ones than they. Treasures are plundered, but we will purchase more beautiful ones than they. 11 Therefore the Lord shall make strong the hatred of Rezin(64) against him, and he will stir up his adversaries. 12 The Syrians from the east, and the Philis tines from the west; and they shall spoil the treasures of Israel in every place. For all this they do not turn away from their sins, that His anger might turn away from them; but still they hold fast their rebellion, and yet His stroke will be to take vengeance on them.
13 And the people have not returned to the worship of God from the time that He brought upon tliem tlie stroke; and they do not seek the instruction of the Lord of hosts. 14 And the Lord will destroy, from Israel the prince, the captain, the ruler, and the governor,(65) in one day. 15 The ancient and honourable one, he is the head, and the scribe that teaches lies, he is the feeble one.(66) 16 And those that praise this people cause them to err, and their princes swallow them up.(67) 17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for all of them are hypocrites and evildoers, and all their mouths speak lies. For all this they do not turn away from their sins, that His anger might turn away from them; but still they hold fast their rebellion, and yet His stroke is ready to take vengeance on them.
18 The punishment of their sins shall burn like fire; it shall consume the sinners and the wicked, and shall rule over the rest of the people, and shall make an end of a great host. 19 Through the wrath from before the presence of the Lord of hosts the earth shall be burnt up, and the people shall be like the burning fuel(68) of fire: no man shall spare his brother. 20 And he shall spoil on the south, and be hungry; and he shall destroy on the north, and not be satisfied: they shall spoil the substance, every man the substance of his neighbour. 21 Those of the house of Manasseh, with those of the house of Ephraim, and they of the house of Ephraim, with those of the house of Manasseh, shall be joined together as one, to come against them of the house of Judah. For all this they do not turn away from their sins, that His anger might turn away from them; but still they hold fast their rebellion, and yet His stroke is ready to take yengeance on them.
ISAIAH 10 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Woe unto them that sign oppressive decrees, and to those who write a grievous enactment.(69) 2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to rob whatever the poor of my people desire in judgment, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the wealth of the orphans. 3 What will ye do in the day that your sins shall be visited upon you? when the tumult of oppression shall come from far? whither will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? 4 Therefore out of your land ye shall be fettered amongst the captives; and out of your cities ye shall be cast out slain. For all this they do not turn away from their sins, that His anger might turn away from them; but still they hold fast their rebellion, and yet His stroke will be to take vengeance on them.
5 Woe to the Assyrian, the government of my fury, an angel is sent from(70) me against them for a curse! 6 I will send him against an hypocritical assembly, and against a people that have transgressed my law will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to place him for a treading under foot like the mire of the streets. 7 Howbeit he did not purpose so, neither doth his heart think so; but to destroy he hath said in his heart, and to make an end of nations without compassion. 8 For he saith. Are not all my rulers altogether as kings considered before me? 9 Is it not so? As Carchemish is subdued before me, shall not Calno be so? Surely, as Arphad is delivered into my hands, shall not Hamath be so? As I have done to Damascus, so will I do to Samaria. 10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms which worship idols, although their images were more than those of Jerusalem, and their statues more than those of Samaria; 11 Shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and to her idols, so do to Jerusalem and to her id Pls?
12 And it shall come to pass, when the Lord hath finished to do all he hath said in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, I will visit upon the works of the loftiness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have led nations into captivity from province to province; and the cities of their glory I have plundered: and I have brought down with strength those that dwell in fortified places. 14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth; and there was none that moved from thence and flew thither, that opened his mouth and spoke a word.
15 What, is it possible that the axe should boast itself against him that heweth therewith, saying, Behold, I have cut! Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that draweth it, saying. Do I not draw? When a rod is lifted up to smite, it is not the rod that smites, but he that smites with it. 16 Because the king of Assyria magnifies him self, therefore the Lord of the world, the Lord of hosts, shall send among his princes a blow; and beneath the vessels of their glory they are utterly burned up(71) like the burning of a fire. 17 And there shall be the Lord, the Light of Israel, and His Holy One, His Word, strong as fire, and His word as a flame; and it shall slay, and make an end of his rulers and of his governors in one day. 18 And it shall consume the glory of the multi tude of his army, and their souls with their bodies, and he shall be broken, and be a fugitive.(72) 19 And the rest of his warriors shall come to an end, that the people shall be a small number, and they shall be reckoned a weak kingdom.
20 And it shall come to pass in that time, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean on the people whom they served; but they shall lean upon the Word of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 The remnant which have not sinned, and have turned away from sin, the remnant of the house of Jacob, shall return to worship before the mighty God. 22 Though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant which hath not sinned, but hath turned away from sin, for them mighty things shall be done, which shall prevail,(73) even those which speak in righteousness. 23 For a completion, and an end, the Lord, the God of hosts is making with all the wicked in the midst of the earth.
24 Therefore, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, my people, that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with his government, and his dominion he shall lift up upon thee, after the manner of Egypt. 25 For yet a little while, and the curses shall cease from you of the house of Jacob; and mine anger shall be upon the people that work iniquity,(74) to destroy them. 26 And the Lord of hosts shall bring upon him a stroke, as the stroke of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and his dominion shall depart from you, as the dominion of Pharaoh departed by the sea, and mighty works shall be done for you after the manner of Egypt. 27 And it shall come to pass at that time, that his dominion shall depart from you, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the nations shall be broken from before the Messiah. 28 He is come to Aiath, he has passed through Migron; at Micmash he shall appoint the princes of his army. 29 They waded, they passed through the Jordan: at Geba they passed the night; the inhabitants of Ramah are broken;(75) the men of Gibeah of Saul have fled. 30 Lift up your voice, men of the daughter of Gallim: give ear, ye who are dwelling in Laish, who are dwelling in poor Anathoth. 31 The men of Madmenah are broken; the inhabitants of Gebim are fled. 32 As yet the day is still high,(76) and he has much time to come. Behold, Sennacherib the king of Assyria shall come, and shall stand in Nob, the city of the priests, before the wall of Jerusalem; he answered and said to his army, Is not this the city of Jerusalem, against which I have tumultu ously brought together all my camps? Behold, she is weaker than all the fortified cities of the nations which I have subdued by the strength of my hand. He came up, he stood and shook his head; he stretched out(77) and moved(78) his hand against the mount of the house of the sanctuary which is in Zion, and against the court which is in Jerusalem.(79)
33 Behold, the Lord of the world, the Lord of hosts, shall cast forth slaughter into his camp, as grapes that are trod in a winepress: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the mighty shall be humbled. 34 And He shall slay the mighty men of his camp, who are strong as iron. And those that make war upon the earth shall be cast down.
ISAIAH 11 (BEN UZIEL) 1 And a King shall come forth from the sons of Jesse, and from his children's children the Messiah shall be anointed.(80) 2 And there shall dwell upon Him the Spirit of prophecy from before the Lord: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 3 He shall bring him to the fear of the Lord: and He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears. 4 But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with faithfulness the needy of the earth; and He shall smite the sinners of the earth with the word of His mouth, and with the speech of His lips He shall slay the wicked.(81) 5 And the righteous shall be round about Him, and those that work in faith(82) shall draw nigh unto Him. 6 In the days of the Messiah of Israel peace shall be multiplied in the earth. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall dwell with the kid; and the calf, and the lion, and the fatling together; and a little sucking child shall be leading them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed together, their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put forth his hand on the glistering pupil(83) of the eyes of the cockatrice. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the fear of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
10 And there shall be at that time a son of the son of Jesse, who shall stand for an ensign of the people; kings shall obey Him, and the place of His dwelling shall be in glory.
11 And it shall come to pass at that time, that the Lord shall use(84) a second time His might to redeem the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pattros, and from India, and from Elam, and from Babylon, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12 And He shall lift up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the scattered of Israel, and the captivity of Judah He shall gather together from the four winds of the earth. 13 The envy of the house of Ephraim shall depart, and those that oppress the house of Judah shall come to an end: those of the house of Ephraim shall not envy the house of Judah; and those of the house of Judah shall not oppress the house of Ephraim. 14 They shall be united in one mind(85) to smite the Philistines towards the west: they shall spoil the children of the east. Against Edom and Moab they shall stretch out their hands, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. 15 And the Lord shall dry up the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and shall lift the stroke of His strength upon Euphrates by the word of His prophets, and shall smite it in seven streams, and men shall walk through it dryshod.(86) 16 And there shall be a paved way for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day of their coming up from the land of Egypt.
ISAIAH 12 (BEN UZIEL) 1 And thou shalt say at that time, I will confess before Thee, Lord, for that I have sinned before Thee, Thine anger is upon me; but when I return to the law, Thine anger will turn from me, and Thou wilt have mercy on me. 2 Behold, in the Word of God is my salvation; I am trusting, and shall not be moved, because my strength and my praise is the fear of the Lord: He hath spoken by His Word, and He is become my Saviour.(87) 3 And ye shall receive a new doctrine with joy from the chosen of the righteous. 4 And at that time shall ye say, Praise the Lord,(88) pray in His name,(89) declare His doings among the people, remember ye that powerful is His name. 5 Praise the Lord, for He has done mighty works; this is revealed in all the earth. 6 Cry out and shout, congregation of Zion, because He is great that promised to cause His Shekinah(90) to dwell in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel.
ISAIAH 13 (BEN UZIEL) 1 THE BURDEN OF THE CUP OF CURSING TO GIVE TO BABYLON TO DRINK, WHICH ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOZ DID PROPHESY.
2 Against the fortified city that dwells securely lift up the ensign, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. 3 I have commanded those that are prepared by me, I have also called together my mighty ones, that they may avenge my wrath upon them, my strength, and my praise. 4 There is a voice of a multitude in the moun tains, like as of a great people: the voice of the tumultuous assembly of kings, of nations being assembled, the Lord of hosts is mustering the armies for battle.
5 They are coming from a far coimtry, from the ends of the earth: the Lord and the vessels of the cup of cursing before Him, to destroy all the wicked of the earth. 6 Howl ye, for nigh is the day, ready to come from before the Lord; like spoil from before the Almighty it shall come. 7 Therefore shall all hands be slackened, and every man's heart shall melt. 8 They shall be struck with consternation; distress and pangs shall take hold of them; they shall tremble as with the trembling of a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their countenances shall be like flames of fire.
9 Behold, the day from before the presence of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constella tions shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth; and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11 And I will visit the inhabitants of the world with the punishment for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity: and I will put an end to the greatness of the wicked, and the strength of the mighty I will humble. 12 And I will love them that fear me more than gold, in which the sons of men glory; and those that keep the law more than the fine gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heayens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, from before the presence of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of the fierceness of His anger. 14 And he shall be as a roe chased, and as sheep when there is none to gather them together: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. 15 Every one that shall be found in her shall be slain, and every one that shall enter into the fortified cities shall be slain by the sword. 16 And their children shall be dashed before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I am bringing upon them the Medes, who are not impelled by silver; and as for gold, they delight not in it. 18 And their bows shall strike through the young men; and they shall not compassionate the child of the womb; their eye shall not spare the children. 19 And Babylon shall become, she that was aforetimes the joy of kings, the beauty of the Chaldeens' excellency, as the overthrow wherewith the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It shall not be inhabited for ever; it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there, neither shall the shepherds dwell there. 21 But the martens shall lodge there; and their houses shall be filled with howling monsters: and there shall the ostriches dwell; and devils shall delight themselves there. 22 The wild cats shall shriek in their palaces; and dragons in the place of the abodes of their luxuries. And nigh to come is the time of the destruction of Babylon, and her days shall not be prolonged.
ISAIAH 14 (BEN UZIEL) 1 For the Lord will have compassion upon the house of Jacob, and will delight again in Israel, and shall make them to dwell in their land; and proselytes shall be joined unto them, and they shall be united unto the house of Jacob. 2 And the nations shall take them, and shall bring them to their land; and the house of Israel shall possess them iln the land of the Shekinah of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them, captives, whose captives they were; those who had made them their servants shall now serve them.
3 And it shall come to pass ia that day, that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy distress, from thy bondage, and from the hard servitude which was served upon thee, 4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say. How hath the dominion that made us servile ceased! How is come to an end the strength of the sinner! 5 The Lord hath broken the strength of the wicked, the government of sinners, 6 Of him who was smiting the people in fury, with a perpetual stroke, of him who was ruling the nations in anger, ruling and none hindered. 7 The whole earth is at rest, is quiet, they rejoice with a song. 8 Rulers also rejoiced over thee; the rich in treasures said. Since thou art laid down, the destroyer is not come up upon us.
9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; she rouseth for thee the mighty: all the rich in treasures, all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones. 10 All of them shall answer and say unto thee, Art thou become sick as we? Unto us thou hast become like. 11 Thy glory is brought down to the grave, the rattling noise of the songs of thy musical instruments: the worm is spread under thee, and upon thee vermin.
12 How art thou cast down from on high, who wast shining among the sons of men as the star Venus among the stars: thou art dashed down to the earth, who wast a slaughterer among the nations. 13 And thou, thou hast said in thy heart, I will climb up the heavens; I will place the throne of my kingdom above the people of God, and I will sit upon the mountain of the solemn assembly upon the ends of the north; 14 I will have the ascendency over all people; I will be higher than all of them. 15 But to the grave thou shalt be brought down, to the ends of the pit of the place of perdition.
16 Those that see thee shall look attentively at thee, they shall consider thee, and say, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that laid waste kingdoms? 17 That made the world as a wilderness, that laid waste its cities, and did not open the gate to his prisoners. 18 All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie down in glory, each in his eternal abode. 19 But thou art cast out of thy grave as a hidden abortion, as those hidden among the slain, as those pierced by the sword, as those that are descending the lowest pit of the place of destruc tion, as a carcase trodden under foot. 20 Thou shalt not be like one of them in burial; because thou hast destroyed thy country, thou hast slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall not be established for ever. 21 Prepare ye slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers; lest they rise and possess the earth, and the faces of the world be filled with enemies.
22 And I will reveal myself to take vengeance of them, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will destroy of Babylon the name, and the remnant, and the son, and the son's son, saith the Lord of hosts. 23 And I will make it an inheritance for the hedgehog, a place of desolation, pools of water: and I will sweep her as they are sweeping with a besom: and I will throw her down to destroy her, saith the Lord of hosts.
24 The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it be; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. 25 To break the Assyrian in my land, and upon the mountains of my people I will tread him under foot; then there shall depart from them his dominion, and his yoke off from their necks shall cease. 26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon all the inhabitants of the earth; and this is the might of the ruler which is lifted up over all the kingdoms. 27 For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who can remove it? yea. His power is exalted, and who can withstand it?
28 In the year that king Ahaz died was the burden of this prophecy.
29 Rejoice not, Philistia, all of ye, because the government that hath made you servile is broken; because from the children of Jesse shall come forth the Messiah, and His works among you shall be as a flying serpent. 30 And the poor of my people shall be fed, and the meek in His days shall dwell in safety; and He shall slay with famine thy children, and the remnant of thy people He shall kill. 31 Howl, on account of thy gate, cry on account of thy city, ye, Philistines, all of you; ye shall be broken: because from the north vengeance is coming, and is not delaying its appointed time. 32 And what good news will they tell the messengers of the nations? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall trust in it.
ISAIAH 15 (BEN UZIEL) 1 THE BURDEN OF THE CUP OF CURSING TO GIVE MOAB TO DRINK. Because in the night Leheyath- Moab is destroyed, and they were asleep. Yea, in the night the fortified city of Moab was sub dued, and they were in deep slumber.
2 They went up to the houses in Dibon, to the high place, to weep. Over Nebo, and over Me deba the Moabites are howling: on every head is baldness; every beard is shorn. 3 In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on their house-tops, and in their broad-places all of them shall howl, crying and weeping. 4 And the inhabitants of Heshbon and Elealeh shall cry out aloud; unto Jahats is their voice heard: therefore the armed of Moab are howling, and crying out aloud for their souls. 5 The Moabites shall think to flee to Zoar, unto Eglath Tiltum Rabb'tha; for the ascent of Luhith they shall ascend it as with weeping; because in the descent of Horonaim they shall declare the cry of the broken in battle. 6 For the waters of Nimrim shall become desolate; for the herbage is withered away; the grass faileth, there is no green herb. 7 Therefore the remnant of their riches, shall be plundered; and their border, which is by the western sea, shall be taken from them. 8 For the cry encompasseth the border of Moab; unto Eglaim are they howling, and unto Beer- Elim they are crying aloud. 9 For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will appoint upon Dimon an assembly of armies. Upon the escaped of Moab, a king with his army shall ascend; yea, to spoil the remainder of their land.
ISAIAH 16 (BEN UZIEL) 1 They shall bring tributes to the Messiah of Israel, who shall prevail over those who are in the wilderness, unto the mountain of the congregation of Zion. 2 Otherwise it shall come to pass, as a bird which men have driven away, being cast out of its nest, the daughters of Moab shall be led round about, made to wade Amon. 3 Take counsel, execute counsel. Make thy shadow as the night in the day, in the midst of the noonday: hide the outcasts; touch not the dispersed. 4 Let my outcasts dwell with thee, kingdom of Moab! be thou a covert to them on account of the spoilers: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, all that trampled under foot have come to an end. 5 Then the throne of the Messiah of Israel shall be established in goodness, and He shall sit upon it in truth in the city of David, judging and seeking justice, and executing truth.
6 We have heard of the princes of Moab; who are very proud; their nobles, and their delicate ones, and their pride shall not profit them, when their punishment comes. 7 Therefore the Moabiteis shall howl: over the Moabites all of them shall cry aloud; and they shall howl over the men of the city of their strength; they, mourning, shall say, surely they are conquered. 8 Because the armies of Heshbon are spoiled, the multitude of Sebama are killed, the kings of the people have killed their rulers; they reached unto Jazer; they strayed to the desert; their ftigitives passed by, they crossed the sea. 9 Therefore, as I have brought armies against Jazer, so will I bring slayers against Sibmah; I will water thee with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh! for upon thy harvest, and upon thy vintage the robbers have fallen. 10 And joy is taken away and gladness out of the fruitfiil field, and in the vineyards they shall not rejoice, neither shall they play sport; in the vats the treaders shall not tread out the wine; the treading of grapes I have made to cease. 11 Wherefore the bowels of the Moabites shall sound as a harp, and their heart shall mourn over the men of the city of their strength.
12 And it shall come to pass, that one shall see, that when Moab is wearied out upon his high place, he shall enter his idol-temple to pray, yet he shall not prevail.
13 This is the word which the Lord spake concerning the Moabites long ago: 14 But now the Lord hath spoken, saying: Within three years, as the years of an hireling, the glory of the Moabites shall come to an end with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be small, a few; all their glory shall come to an end.
ISAIAH 17 (BEN UZIEL) 1 THE BURDEN OF THE CUP OF CURSING TO GIVE DAMASCUS TO DRINK. Behold, Damascus is removed, so as to be no more a kingdom: and it shall be as a city laid waste.
2 Their cities are deserted, they are laid waste; they shall be for dwelling-places for flocks of sheep; they shall lie down, and none shall make them to move away. 3 The government shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the rem nant of the solitary ones from Syria, and their glory shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.
4 And it shall come to pass at that time, that the glory of Jacob shall be humbled, and the riches of his glory shall be carried away. 5 And it shall be, as when one gathereth the standing harvest, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as one that is gathering ears in the valley of giants. 6 Yet a gleaning shall be left; in it, as in the shaking of the olive tree, two or three berries on the top of the uppermost branch; so shall the righteous be left lonely in the midst of the world, among the kingdoms, saith the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 At that time a man shall stay himself upon the service of his Maker, and his eyes shall hopefully look for the Word, the Holy One of Israel. 8 He shall not rest upon the altars, the work of his hands, or stay himself upon that which his fingers have prepared, neither upon the groves nor upon the sun-images.
9 At that time the cities of their strength shall be as a fortification that was laid desolate and waste from before the children of Israel, and each shall be a desolation.
10 Because thou hast forsaken the God of thy salvation, and thou hast not remembered the fear of the Mighty One, whose Word was thy support; therefore thou hast planted a choice plant, and hast multiplied despicable works. 11 After that ye were sanctified to be a people, there ye made your works despicable; and also when ye came to the land, the place of my Shekinah, there it was your duty to worship me; ye forsook my worship, and ye served idols: ye abhorred repentance till the day of your destruc tion came, then your sorrow was a breathing out of soul.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the sea, and to the tumultuous assembly of kings, which roar like the roaring of mighty waters. 13 The kings roar like the roaring of many waters, and he shall rebuke him, and he shall flee far off, and shall be driven as the chaff of the hills before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. 14 And at eveningtide behold, as if he had not been; and before the morning behold, as if he had not been. This is the portion of those that hate us, and the lot of those who spoil us.
ISAIAH 18 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Ho! the land which is beyond the rivers of India, to which they come in ships from a far country, whose sails are spread as an eagle flieth with its wings. 2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in ships on the face of the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, unto a people oppressed and plundered, unto a people that was mighty in times past, and shall be so in time to come: a people oppressed and robbed, whose land the nations have spoiled. 3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, when the standard is lifted up on the mountains, ye shall see the standard, and the trumpet shall sound, ye shall hear of redemption.
4 For thus hath the Lord said unto me: I will give rest to my people, yea, I will make them to rest, and I will delight in my holy habitation to do them good: blessings and consolations I will bring upon them quickly, when the heat is in tense through the heat of the sun, then I will be to them a cloud of dew as in the heat of harvest. 5 Before the time of harvest cometh the tree is ready to bud, and the unripe grape bursts forth into a flower: He shall slay the rulers of the na tions with the sword, and their mighty ones He shall remove, and cause to pass away. 6 They shall be left together imto the fowl of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: all the fowls of the heavens shall dwell upon them in the summer, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them,
7 At that time shall one bring an oflfering unto the Lord of hosts, to a people oppressed and spoiled, to a people that was mighty in times past, and shall be so in time to come, a people op pressed and robbed, whose land the nations have spoiled, imto the place which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, whose Shekinah is in the mountain of Zion.
ISAIAH 19 (BEN UZIEL) 1 THE BURDEN OF THE UP OF CURSING TO MAKE THE EGYPTIANS TO DRINK. Behold, the Lord is revealed in the cloud of His glory, to take vengeance of the Egyptians; and the idols of the Egyptians shall be broken before His face, and the heart of the Egyptians shall be melted within them.
2 And I will excite Egyptians against Egyp tians, and they shall wage war, every man against his brother, and every man against his neighbour: city against city, kingdom against kingdom. 3 And the spirit of the Egyptians shall melt within them, and their wise men I will destroy: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, to the deceitful, and to the diviners. 4 And I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord of the world, the Lord of hosts.
5 And the waters of the sea shall be laid deso late, and their river shall be wasted and dried up. 6 And their rivers shall be laid waste, and their deep streams shall be dried up and wasted: the reeds and flags shall not grow. 7 And the greatest part of the river shall wither, and that which is on its bank, and every sown place of their rivers shall wither, and shall be dried up, and nothing shall grow. 8 The fishermen shall be laid desolate, and all they that cast angle into the brook, and they that spread nets upon the faces of the waters shall be destroyed. 9 They shall be confounded which work combed flax, and weave nets of it. 10 And there shall be trodden under foot the well watered place, where they have been making pits, waterpools each for himself.
11 Surely the princes of Tanes have become foolish; the wise, the counsellors of Pharaoh have counselled an erroneous counsel; how will ye say to Pharaoh, We are the sons of the wise, and thou art the son of ancient kings. 12 Where are thy wise men? Let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts has counselled against Egypt. 13 The princes of Tanes have become foolish, the men of Memphis have erred; they caused the Egyptians, the lords of the provinces, to err. 14 The Lord hath sent among them a spirit of error, and they have caused the Egjrptians to err in all their works, as a drunkard staggereth, and tramples in his vomit. 15 And the Egyptians shall have no king to reign, no prince, noble, governor, or ruler.
16 At that time the Egyptians shall be weak,' they shall be afraid, and fear on account of the exultation of the power of the Lord of hosts, which He is lifting up against them. 17 And the land of the house of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt; if any one mention it unto them, they shall tremble; because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath counselled against them.
18 At that time, there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt, speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing by the name of the Lord of hosts. The city of Beth-Shemesh, which is to be de stroyed, shall be called one of them.
19 At that time there shall be prepared an altar before the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt: and a pillar by the border thereof before the Lord. 20 And it shall be for a sign, and for a witness before the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt, vhen they shall pray before the Lord because of their oppressors, and He shall send unto them a Saviour, and a Judge, and He shall deliver them. 21 And the power of the Lord shall be revealed to do good to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the fear of the Lord at that time, and they shall worship with holy sacrifices and offerings; yea, they shall vow vows before the Lord, and shall perform them. 22 And the Lord shall smite Egypt with a stroke, and shall heal them, and they shall return to the worship of the Lord, and He shall hear their prayers, and shall heal them.
23 And at that time there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria; and the Assyrians shall fight against the Egyptians, and the Egyptians against the Assyrians, and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians. 24 And at that time Israel shall be a third party to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, a blessing in the midst of the land. 25 Whom the Lord of hosts hath blessed, saying, Blessed be my people, whom I have brought out of Egypt; and because they sinned before me, I carried them captive into Assyria; but when they repent, they are called my people, and Israel mine inheritance.
ISAIAH 20 (BEN UZIEL) 1 In the year that Tharthan marched to Ashdod, (when Sargon, the king of Assyria, sent him,) and he waged battle against Ashdod, and subdued it; 2 At that time the Lord decreed by Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saying, Go and remove the sackcloth which is on thy loins, and put off thy sandals from off thy feet: and he did so, walk ing naked and barefoot. 3 And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and Cush: 4 So shall the king of Assyria lead the captives, and the captivity of Cush, the young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their shame uncovered, to the disgrace of Egypt. 5 And they shall be afraid and confounded be cause of Cush, the place of their confidence, and because of Egypt, their boasting. 6 At that time the inhabitant of this island shall say: Such is become the place of our trust, to which we were hoping to flee for help to be delivered from before the king of Assyria, if hitherto they could not deliver themselves, how shall we be delivered?
ISAIAH 21 (BEN UZIEL) 1 The burden of the armies which are coming from the wilderness, as the waters of the sea, rushing along as the tempests: yea, they are coming by the way of the south, hurrying along; yea, they are coming from the wilderness, from the land, in which terrible things are done. 2 The prophet said: a dreadful vision has been declared unto me. The violent deal violently and the spoilers spoil. Come up, ye Elamites; en compass, ye Media! I will give rest to all who sigh on account of the king of Babylon. 3 Therefore their loins shall be full of terror: behold, fear shall seize them, like the pangs of a woman that travaileth. They are become foolish, so that they cannot hear; they have erred, so that they cannot see. 4 Their heart is bewildered; distress and ter rors have seized them, because the place of tlieir confidence hath become destruction unto tbem. 5 Prepare the table, place the watchmen, eat ye, drink ye; rise, ye princes, polish, and make bright the arms!
6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me: Go, set a watchman, let him report what he seeth. 7 And he saw a chariot, a man, and with him a couple of horsemen: a rider on an ass, a rider on a camel. The prophet said, I listened diligently, and, behold, I saw mighty armies! 8 The prophet said, the voice of armies, coming with coats of mail, is as a lion; and I stand continually upon the watchtower before the Lord in the day, and as a guard I stand all the night. 9 And, behold, this was coming: A chariot! a man! and with him a couple of horsemen. He answered, and said, She is fallen! Yea, it shall come to pass, that Babylon shall fall, and all the images of her idols shall be dashed to pieces to the ground. 10 Kings, who are skilful to wage war, shall come against her to plunder her, like a husbandman who is skilful to thrash the floor. The prophet said, The voice of the Word of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, which I have heard, I have declared unto you.
11 THE BURDEN OF THE CUP OF CURSING TO GIVE DUMA TO DRINK. He thundered unto me from the heavens. Prophet! explain unto them the prophecy; prophet! explain unto them what shall hereafter come to pass. 12 The prophet said, there is a reward to the righteous, and there is punishment to the wicked: if ye will repent, repent ye, whilst ye are able to repent.
13 THE BURDEN OF THE CUP OF CURSING TO GIVE THE ARABIANS TO DRINK. In the forest, at even, the caravan of the sons of Dedan shall remain for the night. 14 Bring bottles of water before the thirsty, who dwell in land of the south; prepare for the fugitives the daily food which ye eat. 15 Because, on account of the slaughter they have fled: from the face of the drawn sword; and from the face of the bent bow; and from the face of the strength of the battle.
16 For thus hath the Lord said unto me: at the end of the years, as the years of an hireling, all the glory of the Arabians shall come to an end. 17 And the strength of the warriors, the mighty, the sons of the Arabians, shall be lessened, because by the Word of the Lord, the God of Israel, it is thus decreed.
ISAIAH 22 (BEN UZIEL) 1 THE BURDEN OF THE PROPHECY CONCERNING THE CITY THAT DWELLETH IN THE VALLEY, OF WHICH THE PROPHETS PROPHESIED. What aileth you here, that all of you are gone up to the house-tops? 2 On account of the tumult wherewith the praiseworthy, the fortified, the joyous city is filled. Thy slain were not slain by the sword, neither did they die in battle. 3 All thy rulers hare been led forth; from before the bent bow, they are gone into captivity together: all that were found in thee have been slain, together they have fled afar. 4 Wherefore I said: Leave off from me, I will weep bitterly, seek ye not to comfort me for the desolation of the congregation of my people. 5 For it is a day of tumult, and of treading under foot, and of slaughter before the Lord, the God of hosts, against the city that dwelleth in the valley, against which the prophets prophesied, They search the houses, they encompass the towers which are on the tops of the mountains. 6 And the Elamites have taken arms in the chariot of a man, and with him are a couple of horsemen, and on the wall they hang the shields. 7 And it shall come to pass that the most beautiful of thy valleys shall be filled with chariots; and the horsemen shall be set against the gates. 8 And he shall discover the covering of Judah, and he shall look at that time upon the arms of the house of the treasury of the sanctuary. 9 And the breaches of the city of David ye shall see, because they are many; and ye shall gather together the people to the lower pool. 10 And ye shall number the houses of Jerusa lem, and ye shall break down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 And ye shall make a lake between the walls of the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had re spect unto him that created it of old. 12 And the prophet of the Lord, the God, the God of hosts, called in that day to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: 13 But, behold, joy and gladness; they say, Let us slay oxen, and kill sheep, we will eat flesh, ve will drink wine; let us eat, and drink, since we shall die, and not live. 14 The prophet said, with mine ears I was hearing when this was decreed from before the Lord of hosts, namely, that this your iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die the second death, said the Lord, the God, the God of hosts.
15 Thus said the Lord, the God, the God of hosts. Come, go to this ruler, even to Shebna, who is appointed over the house. 16 And thou shalt say to him. What hast thou here? and what hast thou here, that thou hast prepared for thyself here a place? — He hath prepared on high his place! he hath put in the rock the place of his habitation! 17 Behold, the Lord will cast thee out with a mighty casting out, and confusion shall cover thee. 18 He shall take away from thee thy tiara, and the enemies shall enclose thee, like a surrounding wall, and they shall lead thee into captivity into a spacious country, there thou shalt die, and thither the chariots of thy glory shall return in disgrace, because thou hast not preserved the honour of thy master's house. 19 And I will thrust thee down firpm thy station, and I will divest thee of thy office. 20 And it shall come to pass at that time, that , I will make my servant Eliakim great, the son of Hilkiah. 21 And I will clothe him with thy robe, and with thy girdle I will gird him, and I will commit thy government into his hand, and he shall be a prince to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22 And I will place the key of the house of the sanctuary, and the government of the house of David, in his hand; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will appoint him a faithful chief governor, an officer in a firm place, and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
24 All the nobles of his father's house shall rest themselves upon him, children, and children's children, from young men to little ones, from the priests clothed with the ephod to the Levites that are holding the lyres. 25 At that time, saith the Lord of hosts, there shall be removed the faithful chief governor, who ministered in a firm place, and he shall be cut off, and he shall fall: and there shall be accomplished the burden of prophecy, which was conceming him; because the Word of the Lord hath so decreed it.
ISAIAH 23 (BEN UZIEL) 1 THE BURDEN OF THE CUP OF CURSING, TO GIVE TYRE TO DRINK. Howl, ye that are embarking in ships of the sea, because their havens are spoiled, so that none can enter in. From the land of Chittim it is coming upon them. 2 The inhabitants of the island are destroyed, the merchants that pass over the sea they used to replenish thee. 3 She was the plentiful mart for many nations; tihe harvest of the increase of the river was her revenue, and she became the mart of the nations. 4 The Sidonians are confounded, because the west hath spoken, which dwells in the strength of the sea, saying, that I had never travailed, never conceived, and never nourished up young men, never brought up virgins delicately! 5 When they heard of the stroke wherewith the Egyptians were smitten, the Tyrians quaked when they heard it.
6 They have gone to a province of the sea. Howl, inhabitants of the island! 7 Is this your strong city, Tyre, of ancient days? In olden time they were bringing her gifts from a distant land; behold, now she is re moved to sojourn afar off! 8 Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, against her that was giving advice? whose mer chants are princes, and whose rulers the nobles of the land. 9 The Lord of hosts is the counsellor against her' to defile the glory of all the objects of rejoic ing, and make contemptible all the nobles of the land. 10 Remove from thy land, as the waters of a river; flee to a province of the sea: there is no more strength. 11 His power is lifted up against the sea, to make the kingdom to tremble; the Lord has given the command concerning the merchant city, to make an end of her strength. 12 And he said, ye shall no more be strong, ye that did violence to the people which are in Zidon. Arise, pass over to Chittim; even there ye shall have no rest.
13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans, this is the people that formerly did not exist; the Assy rians founded it in the islands; they raised up her beacons, they destroyed her palaces, they have made her a ruinous heap.
14 Howl, ye that are embarking in ships of the sea, for the seacoast of your strength is spoiled.
15 And it shall come to pass at that time, that Tyre shall be put by for seventy years, according to the days of one king: at the end of seventy years, it shall be unto Tyre as the song of an harlot. 16 Thy glory is changed: wander to another country, O city, who hast been as an harlot, thou art doomed to oblivion: thy harp is turned into mourning, and thy song to lamentation; perhaps, thou mayest be remembered.
17 And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years that Tyre shall be remembered before the Lord; and she shall return to her place, and her mart shall be plentiful for all the kingdoms of the nations, which are upon the face of the earth. 18 And her merchandise and her gain shall be holy before the Lord, it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for it shall be for them that are serving before the Lord; her gain shall be for food suffi cient, and for vestments of glory.
ISAIAH 24 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Behold, the Lord shall spoil the land and deliver it over to the enemy; and confusion shall cover the faces of the princes, because they have transgressed the law, and scattered its inhabitants. 2 And it shall be, as with the laity, so with the priest; 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 borrower, so with the lender: as with the giver of usury, so with the usurer. 3 The land shall be utterly destroyed, it shall be utterly trampled under foot; for the Lord hath spoken this word. 4 The land mourneth, it is laid desolate; the world is laid waste, it is laid desolate: the strength of the people of the land hath come to an end. 5 The land hath become guilty beneath her in habitants, because they have transgressed the law, and they have made the festivals to cease, they have changed the everlasting covenant. 6 Because of perjury the land hath become a desert, and all the inhabitants in it are laid desolate: therefore are the inhabitants of the land destroyed, and the men that are left are but few. 7 All that drink wine mourn, because the vines are broken down, all the merry-hearted sigh. 8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth; the tumultu ous assembly of the mighty is restrained, the joy of the harp ceaseth. 9 They shall no more drink wine with songs; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. 10 Their city is broken down, and laid deso late: all their houses are shut up, so that no one can enter. 11 They cry for wine in the streets; all joy is ended: all gladness is removed from the land. 12 Desolation is left in the city, and there is a tumult in the destruction of the gates. 13 When thus the righteous shall be left alone in the midst of the earth, among the kingdoms, as the shaking of olives, as the gleaning of grapes after the vintage. 14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall praise on account of the Word of the Lord: they shall rejoice as they rejoiced on account of the mighty works which were done for them by the sea. 15 When light shall come to the righteous they shall glorify the Lord: in the islands of the sea they shall laud and bless the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
16 From the house of the sanctuary, yea, from thence joy shall go forth to all the inhabitants of the earth, for we have heard the praise of the righteous! The prophet said, a secret! A reward to the righteous is shown to me, a secret! A punishment for the wicked is revealed to me. Woe to the oppressors, for they shall be oppressed; and to those who spoil, for, behold, they shall be spoiled. 17 The terror, the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, inhabitant of the land. 18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from before the terror, he shall fall into the midst of the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for mighty works are done in the heavens, therefore the foundations of the earth quake. 19 The land is terribly shaken, the land terribly reeleth to and fro, the land is utterly broken. 20 The land is utterly cast down like a drunkard, she is tottering like a couch: and her sins are heavy upon her: she shall fall, and rise no more. 21 And it shall come to pass at that time, that the Lord shall punish the mighty host that is dwelling in power, and the kings, the sons of men, who are dwelling upon the earth. 22 And they shall be utterly gathered for the prison, and they shall be shut up in the dungeon, and after many days they shall be remembered. 23 And they shall be confounded that worship the moon, and they shall be ashamed that worship the sun; because the power of the Lord of hosts shall be revealed in mount Sion, and before the elders of his people in glory.
ISAIAH 25 (BEN UZIEL) 1 O Lord, thou art my God: I will exalt thee; I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; surely thou hast brought to pass and hast established the counsels which thou hadst promised of old to bring to pass. 2 For thou hast made the unfortified cities heaps; the fortified city is a ruin; the idolatrous house of the nations in the city of Jerusalem, shall nerer be built up again. 3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of terrible nations shall fear thee. 4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a help to the needy in the time of distress; aa those who are protected from before a storm, or who are protected as in a shade from the scorching heat; thus the words of the wicked against the righteous are as a storm that beats against the wall. 5 As the scorching heat in a dry land thou shalt bring low the tumult of the mighty: as the shade of a cooling rock in a parched land, thus peace of mind shall be to the righteous, when the wicked shall be humbled.
6 And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make a feast and a banquet; they think that it shall be for their glory; but it shall be to them for disgrace and for mighty afflictions, from which they shall not deliver themselves, afflictions through which they shall come to an end. 7 The face of the prince, of the prince of all the people shall be destroyed; and the face of the king, of the ruler of all the kingdoms. 8 Death shall be forgotten for ever; and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from off all the faces, and the reproach of his people he shall remove from off all the earth, because it hath been decreed thus by the Word of the Lord.
9 And one shall say at that time: Behold, this is our God; this is he for whom we have hoped, and he shall save us: this is the Lord, for His Word we have hoped; we will rejoice, and be glad in his salvation. 10 For the power of the Lord of hosts shall be revealed in this mountain; and the Moabites shall be trodden under foot even as straw is in the clay. 11 And he shall extend the stroke of his power among them, as the swimmer extends himself to swim; and he shall humble his glory, together with the wiles of his hands. 12 He shall cast down the fortified city, the great city; he shall thrust it down, it shall come to the earth, even to the dust.
ISAIAH 26 (BEN UZIEL) 1 AT THAT TIME THEY SHALL SING A NEW SONG IN THE LAND OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH: We have a strong city, salvation and mercy shall be established upon her walls. 2 Open ye the gates, and let the righteous nation enter, which have kept the law with a perfect heart. 3 In a perfect heart they shall preserve peace: peace shall be wrought for them, because they have trusted in thy Word. 4 Trust ye in the Word of the Lord for ever and ever: thus ye shall be saved by the Word, who is the fear of the Lord, the mighty One to eternity. 5 For he will humble the inhabitants of the high and strong city; he will humble her, he will cast her unto the ground, he will bring her even to the dust. 6 The feet shall tread her down, the feet of the just, the sole of the foot of the poor, of the needy of the people.
7 The paths of the righteous are right: thou wilt establish the works of the ways of the just. 8 Yea, for the way of thy judgment, Lord, have we hoped; to thy name and to the remembrance of thee is the desire of our soul. 9 My soul desireth to pray before thee in the night; yea, my spirit within me is blessing thee: when thy judgments are prepared for the earth, those that dwell in the world shall be taught to practise truth. 10 Thou hast granted unto the wicked continuance, that verily they should return to the law; but they did not return, all the days that they lived; — that they shoidd practise truth in the earth, but they dealt falsely: yea they will not regard the praise of thy glory, O Lord!
11 O Lord, when thou shalt be revealed in thy power to do good to them that fear thee, there will be no light to the enemies of thy people: the wicked shall see it, and shall be confounded. The vengeance of thy people shall cover them; yea, fire shall consume thy enemies. 12 O Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for at all times, when we restrained ourselves from our sins, thou wast working for us. 13 O Lord our God, the nations have had do minion over us, being lords over us beside thee; but we trust in thy Word; we praise thy name. 14 They worship idols, who do not live, their heroes, who shall not rise; therefore, when thou shalt visit their sins thou wilt make an end of them, and make all memorial of them to perish. 15 Thou shalt reveal thyself to gather the dispersed of thy people, thou wilt bring together their captivity. Thou wilt reveal thyself in thy power to cast all the wicked into hell.
16 O Lord, in distress they remembered' thy fear: in their trouble they were ardently learning the doctrine of thy law. 17 Like as a woman with child, who draweth near the time of her delivery, trembleth, and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been, because we have sinned before thee. 18 Distress swift as the wind hath seized us, like a woman with child, who draweth near the time of her delivery; the inhabitants of the world have not brought deliverance: they have not tilled the earth, neither have they been able to per form any miracles. 19 Thou art he who dost quicken the dead, the bones of their dead bodies thou dost raise up. They shall live, and offer praise before thee, all that were cast into the dust, because thy dew is the dew of light to them who do thy law; but thou wilt deliver the wicked into hell, to whom thou hast given power, for they have transgressed against thy Word.
20 Come, my people; produce for thyself good works, which shall protect thee in the time of distress: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the curse shall have passed away. 21 For, behold, the Lord is revealing himself from the place of his Shekinah, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their sins; and the earth shall disclose the innocent blood that was shed in her, and shall no more cover her slain.
ISAIAH 27 (BEN UZIEL) 1 At that time the Lord shall punish with his great, mighty, and strong sword the king, who has magnified himself as Pharaoh the first, and the king who has exalted himself as Senna cherib the second; and he shall slay the king that is strong as the dragon that is in the sea.
2 At that time the congregation of Israel, which is like a vineyard planted in a goodly land, shall sing concerning that vineyard: 3 I, the Lord, keep the covenant of their fathers with them, that I may not destroy them; but at the time that they provoked me to anger, I gave them the cup of their punishment to drink; but their sins were the cause of their punishment; nevertheless, my Word shall protect them by day and by night. 4 Behold, many mighty works are before me. Is it not so? If the house of Israel would set their face to do my law, I would send my anger and my fury among the nations, who are waging war against them, and I would destroy them, as the fire destroyeth the briers and the thorns together. 5 If they would lay hold on the words of my law, peace would be made with them; henceforth peace woidd be made with them. 6 They shall be gathered from the midst of their captivity, and return to their country; there children shall be bom to the house of Jacob; they of the house of Israel shall be fruitful, and they shall midtiply; their children's children shall fill the face of the world.
7 Hath he smitten him (Judah and Israel) as He smote those that smote him? Or is he (Judah md Israel) slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by Him (by God)? 8 With the measure wherewith thou didst measure, they shall measure unto thee, thou didst send forth and oppress them. He meditated a word against them. He' prevailed against them in the day of wrath. 9 By this, therefore, shall the sins of the house of Jacob be forgiven; and thus it shall be with all the works of the perverseness of their sins, namely that they shall make all the stones of the (idolatrous) altar like chalk stones that are beaten asunder; the groves and the sun-images shall not be raised up again. 10 But the city that was fortified shall sit soli tary: she shall totter, and be forsaken like a desert; the just shall wage war against her, and plunder her treasures, and make an end of her hosts, so that none shall go forth. 11 Their armies shall be cut off; and they shall be confounded on account of their works, which shall be broken: women shall enter the house of their idolatry, and teach them, because they are a people of no understanding: therefore He that made them shall not have mercy on them, and He that created them shall show them no favour.
12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that the slain of the Lord shall be cast from the bank of the river Euphrates into the river of Egypt; and ye shall be brought near one to the other, ye sons of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass at that time, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come, who had gone into captivity into the land of Assyria, and those who were cast into the land of Egypt, and they shall worship before the Lord, in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
ISAIAH 28 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Woe that He gave a crown to the proud and foolish prince of Israel, and that He gave a diadem to the wicked of the house of the sanctuary of His praise; they who are at the head of the valley of fatness are smitten with wine. 2 Behold, plagues, strong and mighty, are coming from the Lord: like a storm of hail, like a whirlwind, like a storm of mighty waters, over flowing, thus the nations shall come upon them, and shall lead them into captivity to another land on account of the sins which are in their hands. 3 The crown of the pride of the foolish prince of Israel shall be trodden down with feet. 4 And the diadem, which He gave to the wicked of the house of the sanctuary of His praise, which is on the head of the valley of fatness, shall be as the first ripe fig before the summer, which, when one sees it, no sooner is it in the hand, than one devours it.
5 At that time, the Messiah of the Lord of hosts shall be for a crown of rejoicing, and for a crown of praise to the remnant of His people: 6 For a word of true judgment to them that sit in the house of justice, in order that they should judge according to truth; and to give victory to them that are going forth into battle, to bring them back in peace to their homes.
7 But verily these are drunk with wine, they are swallowed up of old wine: the priest and the scribe are drunk, in old wine they are swallowed up: on account of wine they have erred; they are turned after sweet food; their judges have erred. 8 Because all their tables are full of polluted and loathsome food: they have not a spot free from rapine.
9 To whom was the law given? and to whom was the command given to understand wisdom? Was it not to the house of Israel, who were beloved above all nations, and beloved above all the kingdoms? 10 Surely, they were commanded to do the law; but what they were commanded, they were not willing to do. The prophets prophesied unto them, that if they would repent, it should be for given them; but they did not obey the words of the prophets: they walked after the desire of their soul, neither did they desire to do my law. They hoped to have idolatrous worship established among them, and they did not consider the worship of the house of my sanctuary: to worship in the house of my sanctuary was as a little thing in their eyes, my Shekinah was as a little thing in their eyes. 11 Because with feigned speech, and with mocking language, this people mocked the prophets, who prophesies unto them. 12 The prophets said unto them, This is the house of the sanctuary, worship ye in it: and this is the possession in which there is rest; but they would not accept instructions. 13 This shall be the cup of their punishment, because they have transgressed the word of the Lord, and because they were commanded to do my law, but would not do what they were commanded. Therefore they shall be delivered unto the nations, who do not know the law; be cause they walked after the desire of their soul, and had no delight to do my will. Therefore they shall hope for help at the time that I shall bring distress upon them; but they shall have no help or support. Because the house of my sanctuary was too little in their eyes to wor ship there, therefore they shall be left as a little thing in the eyes of the nations, among whom they shall go in captivity, in order that they may walk, and stumble backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Therefore, hear ye the word of the Lord, O wicked men, rulers of this people that are in Jerusalem: 15 Because ye say, "We have made a covenant with death, and have made peace with the de stroyer": ye say, when the blow of the enemy shall come upon you like an overwhelming river, "It shall not come upon us, because we have placed our confidence in a lie, and have hidden ourselves under falsehood." 16 Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I appoint a King in Zion; a King mighty, powerful, and terrible: I will make Him powerful, and I will strengthen Him, saith the prophet. But the righteous, who believe these things shall not be moved, when distress shall come. 17 And I will make judgment straight as a line of a building, and justice as a plummet, because ye would hide yourselves. And my justice shall bum against the confidence of your lie; and be cause ye would hide yourselves from the coming distress, the nations shall lead you into capti vity. 18 And your covenant with death shall be de stroyed, and your peace with the destroyer shall not stand. When the stroke of the enemy shall come upon you, it shall be like an overwhelming river, and ye shall be unto them for a treading under foot. 19 At the time of its passing by, it shall lead you captive, because each moming it shall pass by, by day and by night: and it shall come to pass before the time of the curse shall have come, that ye shall consider the words of the prophets. 20 For their strength shall be diminished by reason of mighty slavery; and the government of the oppressor shall increase their subjection. 21 For as the mountains trembled when the glory of the Lord was revealed in the days of king Uzziah, and in the wonders which He performed for Joshua in the valley of Gibeon, taking vengeance on the wicked, who had trans gressed against His Word: so shall He be re vealed to take vengeance on them, who work works, strange works, and on those who worship with idolatrous worship. 22 But now deal not wickedly, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord, the God of hosts, a consummation, and an end, upon all the inhabitants of the land.
23 The prophet said, Listen to, and hear my voice, turn and hear my word. 24 The prohets prophesied at all times in order to teach, if peradventure the ears of sinners might be opened, and receive instruction. 25 Is it not so? If the house of Israel would set their faces to do the law, and repent, then behold. He would gather them from among the nations, amongst whom they were dispersed, like fitches and cumin that are scattered: and, behold, he would bring their offspring together accord ing to their tribes, as seed of wheat in the uncultivated field, and barley in the appointed place, and spelt in the borders. 26 All these things are instruction of judg ment, that they may know, that our God shows them the right path, in which they ought to walk. 27 For they do not tread out the fitches with an iron threshing instrument, nor do they turn the wheels of a cart upon the cumin; but they beat out the fitches with a staff, and the cumin with a rod. 28 Corn they tread out, yet they will not continue to tread it out for ever; but he will throw it into confusion with the wheel of his wain, and would separate the corn, and blow away the chaff. 29 This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who in the vast knowledge of His mind hath established the world; He hath multi plied His works in the beginning by His great wisdom.
ISAIAH 29 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Woe to the altar, the altar which is built in the city in which David dwelt; because of the assembly of the armies which are gathering them selves together against her year by year, because the festivals shall cease. 2 And I will distress the city, in which the altar is, and she shall be desolate and empty; and she shall be surrounded before me with the blood of the slain, as the altar is surrounded round about with the blood of the holy sacrifices in the day of the festival. 3 And I will encamp against thee with armies; and I will build a fortified camp against thee, and I will cast up a mound against thee. 4 And thou shalt be brought low, and shalt speak from beneath the earth, thy words shall gibber from the dust; and thy voice shall come like that of a necromancer out of the ground; yea, thy words shall gibber from the dust. 5 Moreover the multitude of those scattering thee shall be like small dust, and the tumultuous assembly of the mighty as chaff that passeth away; and there shall be a tumult suddenly. 6 Thou shalt be visited with thunder from the Lord of hosts, and with earthquake, and with a great noise; with storm, and tempest, and a flame of devouring fire. 7 And the multitude of all the nations, that are gathered together against the city, and the altar which is in her, and all their camps and their armies, that are oppressing her, shall be like a phantom of the night. 8 And it shall be as when a hungry man dreameth, behold, he eateth; but he awakes, and he is in want: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and behold, he is faint, he is spent: so shall the, multitude of all the nations be, that gatiier them selves together against the mountain of Zion.
9 Be astounded, wonder, be ye terrified, and muse, and marvel. They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with old wine. 10 Because the Lord shall cast among you a spirit of error; and He shall hide the prophets from you, and He shall hide the scribes, and the teachers, who teach you the instruction of the law.
11 And all the prophecy shall be unto you as the words of a sealed book, which if one gives to a man that is learned, saying, "Read this now";' then he shall answer, "I am not able, because it is sealed." 12 Or should the book be given to one that is not learned, saying, "Read this now," then he shall answer, "I am not learned."
13 Wherefore the Lord hath said: Because I am magnified by the mouth of this people, and with their lips they do honour me, but their heart is far from my fear, and their fear towards me is as the commandment of men teaching them: 14 Therefore, behold, I shall again strike this people with wonderful strokes; the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.
15 Woe unto them that purpose to hide counsel from before the Lord, that their works may be in darkness, and they say, If one sees us, and none takes cognizance of our works. 16 Why do ye seek to pervert your works? Behold, as the clay in the hand of the potter, thus are ye accounted before me. Is it possible that the clay should say to its maker. Thou hast not made me? or should the creature say to its creator, Thou dost not understand me? 17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall turn into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be inhabited by many cities. 18 And at that time those that are like the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. 19 And those that have suffered affliction on account of the Word of the Lord shall increase their joy, and the poor of the sons of men shall rejoice in the Word of the holy One of Israel. 20 For the oppressor is come to an end, and the plunderer is made to cease, and all that rose up early to act violently have come to an end; 21 All that declare the sons of men guilty on account of their words. The court of justice that is in the gate seeks to ensnare him, who reproves them with the words of the law. They turn aside the just by false judgment.
22 Therefore thus hath the Lord said, who hath redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: They of the house of Jacob shall not henceforth be confounded, neither shall their faces henceforth look dismayed. 23 But when they of the house of Jacob shall see the mighty deeds which I shall do for their children, the kindness which I have promised Abraham, and his posterity after him in their own land, they shall sanctify my name among them; they shall say, Holy is the holy One of Jacob; and concerning the God of Israel they shall say, He is mighty. 24 And they who were not taught by the spirit of understanding shall have knowledge; and they who said, All these things are nothing, shall receive instruction.
ISAIAH 30 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Woe unto the rebellious children, saith the Lord, who take counsel, but not of my Word, who consult a consultation, but do not ask my prophets, that they may add sin unto the sins of their soul. 2 Who go to descend into Egypt, but ask not the words of my prophets: to strengthen them selves with the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. 3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall be unto you for confusion; and confidence in the shadow of Egypt for disgrace. 4 For their princes were in Tanes, and their messengers have reached Taphnes. 5 All of them go unto a people to be con founded, a people that shall not profit them, who shall be of no help, and of no profit, but for a confusion, and reproaches.
6 They carry upon their beasts of burden on the way southward, into a land of oppression and distress, a place of the lion, and the whelps of the lionesses, and serpents, and of the flying basilisks — they carry upon the shoulders of their young cattle their treasures, and they bring upon the bunches of camels whatever is in their trea suries unto a people, that shall not profit them. 7 And as for the Egyptians, their help is vanity and emptiness; therefore I shall meet many of them slain: I will bring armed men upon them. 8 Now go, write it amongst them upon a tablet, and mark it upon lines of a book, that it may be for a witness before me in the day of judgment for ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, lying chil dren, children that will not receive the instruction of the law of the Lord: 10 Who say to the prophets. Prophesy ye not: and as for doctrines, teach us not the doctrine of the law: speak ye with us with signs, relate unto us various things: 11 Turn us from the right path, make us to cease from tradition; put at a distance from us the Word of the Holy One of Israel. 12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye have despised this word, and trust in lie and oppression, and stay thereon: 13 Therefore this sin shall be unto you as a city laid waste and made a ruinous heap, as a bending wall, whose breaking cometh very sud denly. 14 And its breaking shall be as the breaking of a potter's vessel of clay, who is breaking it without compassion, and among its fragments there shall not be found a potsherd to take fire from the hearth, or to draw water from the cistern.
15 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: I have said, If ye return to my law, ye shall have rest, and ye shall be redeemed, ye shall be quiet, and ye shall dwell in safety, and be mighty; but ye would not. 16 And ye said: Nay, but we will flee on horses; therefore shall ye flee; and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they be swift that pursue you. 17 One thousand of you shall flee because of the rebuke of one, because of the re buke of five: till ye be left as a signal- fire on the top of a mountain; and as a beacon on a high hill. 18 And therefore the Lord will shew you pity, and He that is mighty will compassionate you; for the Lord is the God who doeth judgment: blessed are the righteous who wait for His salvation.
19 For the people of Zion shall dwell in Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more. He will assuredly shew thee compassion: the voice of thy prayer He will hear, and He will answer thy supplication. 20 And the Lord shall give unto you the trea sures of the enemy, and the spoil of the oppressor, and He will no more take away His Shekinah from the house of the sanctuary, and thine eyes shall behold my Shekinah in the house of the sanctuary. 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying. This is the right way, walk ye in it, and turn ye not from it to the right, or to the left. 22 And ye shall defile the covering of your idols of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold; ye shall abominate it, as they abominate the impurity of a menstruous woman, thus ye shall abominate it. 23 Then shall He give rain for thy seed, with which thou shalt sow the ground, and corn and fruit shall increase in the land, and there shall be sustenance and goodness; and at that time, the just shall be nourished from their cattle, with the marrow of the tender and the fat ones. 24 And the oxen and the asses, with which they plough the ground, shall eat fattening meslin, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. 25 And there shall be upon every high moun tain, and upon every high and lofty hill, rivers flowing with water at the time of the ruin of the kings and their armies, in the day of the great slaughter, at the falling of the princes. 26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall in future shine three hundred and forty-three times more brightly, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord shall turn the captivity of His people, and heal the sickness caused by His blow.
27 Behold, the Name of the Lord shall be revealed, as the prophets of old have prophesied concerning Him: His wrath is mighty, and too heavy to bear. His curse shall go forth from before Him upon the wicked, and His word as a consimiing fire. 28 And His word is as an overwhelming river reaching unto the neck: He shall slay the mighty; He will assuredly agitate the nations with the agitation of vanity: and there shall be a bridle of error in the jaws of the people. 29 Ye shall have a song as in the night, as in the night when the festival is sanctified with joy of heart, as when they march with thanksgivings and the pipe, to enter the holy mountain of the Lord, to appear before the mighty One of Israel. 30 And the Lord shall proclaim the brightness of the voice of His Word, and He shall reveal the strength of His arm in the fury of His anger, and in flames of fire, destroying the graven images with scattering, and storm, and hailstones. 31 For through the voice of the Word of the Lord the Assyrian shall be broken, he that smote by his power. 32 And it shall come to pass, that the Lord shall cause to rest the vengeance of His might in every pass of their princes and mighty ones, even amongst them. The house of Israel shall praise with tabrets and harps, because of the mighty war which shall be waged for them against the people. 33 For hell is made ready from eternity on account of their sins; yea, the eternal King hath prepared it deep and wide: a fiery pyre as of abundance of fuel bums in it: the Word of the Lord, like an overwhelming torrent of brimstone, shall kindle it.
ISAIAH 31 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, who stay themselves upon horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many: and in horse men, because they are very strong; but they stay not themselves upon the Word of the Holy One of Israel, neither seek instruction from the Lord. 2 And also He in His wisdom will bring evil on account of what he is doing; and He will not make to fail His words, but He will arise against the house of evildoers; and against those who help the work of a lie. 3 And the Egyptians are men, and none of them a mighty one, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit: and the Lord shall deal the stroke of His power, and he that helpeth shall stumble, and he that is holpen shall fall, and all of them together shall be destroyed.
4 For thus the Lord hath said unto me: Like as the lion and the lion's whelp roar over their prey, when a multitude of shepherds are come together, he will not be afraid of their voice, neither be terrified at their timiult; thus shall the kingdom of the Lord of hosts be revealed encamping' upon the mountain of Zion, and upon its hill. 5 As a bird by flying, so the power of the Lord of hosts shall be revealed; He shall protect. He shall deliver. He shall save, and He shall make to pass away. 6 Return to the law; for you have multiplied sin, sons of Israel! 7 At that time each man shall abhor the idols of their silver and the idols of their gold, which your hands have made for you for a god. 8 Then shall the Assyrian fall by a sword not of man; and the sword not of a man shall destroy him: and he shall betake himself to flight as from before those who slay with the sword, and his heroes shall be for destruction. 9 And his princes shall flee through fear, they shall move away; and his princes shall be broken on account of the miracle, saith the Lord, whose splendour is in Zion to them who obey the law, and whose burning furnace of fire is in Jerusalem for them who transgress His word.
ISAIAH 32 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Behold, a King shall reign in truth, and the righteous shall be magnified to execute just vengeance on the people. 2 And the just that were hidden because of the wicked, as those who hide themselves on account of a storm, shall return, and shall be magnified, and their instruction shall be received quickly, like the waters that flow into a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in a parched land. 3 And the eyes of the righteous shall not be shut, and the ears of those who receive instruction shall hear. 4 Even the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of those that was tied shall be ready to speak plainly. 5 And the wicked man shall no more be called just, and he that transgresses against His Word shall not be called mighty. 6 For the wicked will talk wickedness, and in their heart they meditate violence, to practise falsehood, and to speak revolt against the Lord, to weary the soul of the righteous, who long after instruction, as the hungry after bread; and after the words of the law, which are like water to him that is athirst, they purpose to make to cease. 7 And the wicked, whose works are evil, take coimsel with sinners to destroy the poor with lying words, and the words of the needy in judgment. 8 But the righteous counsel truth, and in their truth they shall be established.
9 Ye provinces that dwell at ease: arise, hear my voice. Ye cities that dwell in safety, listen to my word. 10 Those who dwell at ease shall be agitated for days and years, because the corn is come to an end, and there is no fruit to gather. 11 They that dwell at ease shall be broken, they that dwell in safety shall tremble; strip ye, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. 12 They beat the breast for the pleasant fields, for the fruit-laden vines. 13 Upon the land of my people thorns and thistles shall come up, yea, in all the houses of joy in the fortified city. 14 For the house of the sanctuary shall be laid waste; the noisy city shall be desolate, in which they worship: the house of our strength and hiding place shall be searched out, dug up, desolate and waste unto a time. The place which was a house of joy and gladness for kings is now become a spoil for armies. 15 All these things shall come upon us until refreshing shall come to us from the face of Him, whose Shekinah is in the, highest heavens. The wilderness shall become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be inhabited by many cities. 16 Then they that do justice shall dwell in the wilderness, and those that do righteousness shall inhabit the fruitful field. 17 And they that do righteousness shall be at peace, and those that adorn righteousness shall be in quietness, and they shall be in safety for ever. 18 And my people shall dwell in their habita tions in peace, and in their land in safety, and in their cities at ease. 19 And hail shall descend and shall slay the armies of the nations, and their encampments shall be laid desolate, and come to an end. 20 Blessed are ye, O just, ye work out for yourselves good works: because ye are like those, who sow by watered places, sending the oxen to tread out the corn, and asses to gather it in.
ISAIAH 33 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Woe to him who is coining to spoil thee, and shall they not spoil thee? And woe to him that is coining to plunder, and shall they not plunder thee? When thou shalt come to spoil, they shall spoil thee, and when thou shalt be weary of plundering, they shall plunder thee.
2 O Lord, be merciful unto us; we have hoped for Thy Word: be Thou our strength every day, our salvation also in the time of distress. 3 At the voice of a tumultuous noise the people are afraid, on account of the multitude of mighty actions kingdoms are scattered. 4 And the house of Israel shall gather the treasures of the people, their enemies, as they gather the locusts. They shall be armed with the instruments of warfare, as they that are armed with a sling. 5 Mighty is the Lord who maketh His Shekinah to dwell in the highest heavens, who hath promised to fill Zion witi them that do true justice and righteousness. 6 And it shall come to pass, whatever good Thou hast promised to them that fear Thee, Thou wilt bring and establish it in its time: strength and salvation, wisdom and knowledge. For them that fear the Lord, the treasure of His goodness is prepared.
7 When Thou shalt reveal Thyself to them, the messengers of the nations shall cry bitterly in the street; those who had gone forth to proclaim peace, shall return to weep in the bitterness of soul. 8 The highways lie desolate, the wayfaring man ceaseth: because they have forgotten' the covenant: they shall be removed far from their cities; they have not considered the sons of men, evil shall come upon them. 9 The land mourneth, it is laid desolate; Lebanon is withered, it shakes off its leaves: Sharon has become like a desert; Bashan is laid desolate, and Carmel. 10 Now I will reveal myself, saith the Lord; now will I lift myself up on high; now will I be exalted. 11 Ye, O people! have purposed for yourselves purposes of iniquity; ye have worked for yourselves evil works, because your works are evil; my Word shall consume you, as a whirlwind con sumes chaff. 12 And the people shall be as the burning of fire, as thorns are cut up and burnt in the fire.
13 Hear ye, righteous, that keep the law from of old, what I have done; and know ye, ye sinners that have returned to my law, that my strength is nigh. 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; terror hath seized the wicked, who, when they were committing theft in their ways, said: Who of us shall dwell in Zion, in which the brightness of His Shekinah is like devouring fire? Who of us shall sojourn in Jerusalem, where the wicked shall be judged, to be delivered into hell, into everlasting burning? 15 The prophet said, The just shall live in it, every one who walketh in righteousness, and speaketh honest things; removing himself to a distance from the mammon of iniquity; removing himself from oppressions, that restraineth his hands from holding a bribe, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of the shedding of innocent blood, and shutteth his eyes from looking at the workers of iniquity. 16 The house of his inhabitation shall be in a high and exalted place; in the house of the sanctuary shall his soul be satisfied; his food shall be sufficient; his waters shall continue; like a fountain of water, whose waters fail not.
17 Thine eyes shall see the Shekinah of the king of the worlds in his beauty; thou shalt behold and see those that descend down to hell. 18 Thy heart shalt meditate great things: where are the scribes? where are the rulers? where are the mathematicians? let them come, if they are able to count the number of the slain of the chief of the camp of the mighty. 19 Thou shalt not be able to see the govern ment of a mighty people, whose language is so unintelligible that thou canst not understand it, whose tongue stammereth, because there is no understanding in them. 20 O Zion, thou shalt see their fall; city of our festivals, thine eyes shall see the consolation of Jerusalem in her prosperity and security, like a tabernacle that is not taken down, and whose pegs are not drawn out for ever, and whose cords shall not be broken. 21 Yea, surely from thence the power of the Lord shall be revealed, to do good unto us from the place whence overflowing rivers of broad span shall flow, through which shall not pass the fishermen's boat, nor the large pinnace go through it. 22 For the Lord is our judge, who by His power brought us out of Egypt; the Lord, who is our teacher, who gave us the doctrine of the law from Sinai; the Lord is our king, He will redeem us, and execute for us vengeance of judgment on the host of Gog. 23 At that time the people shall be bereft of their strength, and shall be like a ship, whose ropes are broken; neither shall there be strength in their mast, which is cut down, so that it is not possible to spread a sail upon it; then shall the house of Israel divide the treasures of the people, the abundance of spoil and prey; and although the blind and the lame are left among them, they also shall divide the abundance of spoil and prey. 24 Henceforth they shall not say to the people which dwell round about them, I shall return to the Shekinah. (From you is come upon us the evil plague.) The people, the house of Israel, shall be gathered together, and they shall return to their land, their sins being forgiven.
ISAIAH 34 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye kingdoms: let the earth hear, and the world's fulness, and all that dwell in her. 2 For the wrath from before the presence of the Lord is upon all the nations, and slaughter upon all their hosts: He hath condemned them and delivered them over to the slaughter. 3 And their slain shall be cast out; and their stink shall ascend from their carcases; and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4 And all the pleasant host of heaven shall be dissolved, and they shall be blotted out from beneath the heavens, as it is said concerning them in this book; and all their armies shall come to an end, as the fading leaf from the vine, and as the withering fig from the fig-tree. 5 Because my sword is revealed in heaven; behold, it shall be uncovered upon Edom, and upon the people which I have condemned to judgment. 6 The sword before the presence of the Lord is filled with blood, it is fattened, it is fattened with the blood of kings and rulers, it is fattened with the kidneys of princes; because there is a slaughter before the Lord in Bozrah, and a great sacrifice in the land of Edom. 7 And the mighty men shall be slain with them, and the rulers, and the princes; and their land shall be drunken with their own blood; and their dust made fat with their own fat. 8 For it is the day of vengeance before the presence of the Lord; the year of recompense, to take vengeance of judgment on account of the ignominy of Zion. 9 And the rivers of Samaria shall be turned into pitch, and her dust into brimstone, and the land shall become burning pitch. 10 By night and by day it shall not be ex tinguished; her smoke shall ascend for ever: from generation to generation she shall lie waste; none shall pass through her to everlasting ages. 11 The pelican and the porcupine shall inherit her, and the owls and the ravens shall dwell in her: and the line of devastation shall be extended over her, and the plummet of desolation. 12 They said, we are the sons of free men, and they were not willing to accept over them a kingly government; and all her princes shall come to nothing. 13 And in her palaces shall spring up thorns, and the nettles, and the brambles in their fortified city: and she shall become a habitation for dragons, a place for the daughter of the ostrich. 14 And there shall meet one another, martens and wild cats, and demons, each shall sport with its companion: verily dryads shall dwell there, and they shall find rest for themselves. 15 And the hedgehog shall make its nest there, and shall breed there; partridges shall chirp in the shady boughs: surely, the vultures shall be gathered thither, every one with her mate. 16 Search ye out of the book of the Lord, and seek: no one of them shall fail, none shall tarry for her mate, for by His Word they shall be gathered together, and by His pleasure they shall be brought together. 17 And He by His Word hath cast the lot for them; and by His will He hath divided it unto them by line; they shall possess it for ever; from generation to generation they shall dwell therein.
ISAIAH 35 (BEN UZIEL) 1 They that dwell in the wilderness, in a thirsty land, shall rejoice; and those that inhabit the desert shall rejoice, and shall shine as the lilies. 2 They shall greatly rejoice and be glad, yea, with joy and gladness. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto them; the splendour of Carmel and of Sharon. The house of Israel to whom these things are promised, they, they shall see the glory of the Lord, the beauty of our God. 3 The prophet said: Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm ye the feeble knees. 4 Say ye to the fearful of heart that they may keep the law, Be ye strong, and fear ye not: behold, your God shall be revealed to take vengeance of judgment: the Lord of retributions, the Lord shall be revealed, and He shall save you.
5 Then the eyes of Israel shall be opened, which were blind to the law, and their ears, which were as of the deaf, shall hear and receive the words of the prophets. 6 Then when they shall see the captives of Israel gathered to go up to their own land as the swift harts, and not tarry, they shall sing with their tongue, which has been tied, because then the waters shall gush forth in the wilderness, and rivers in the plain. 7 Then the mirage shall become pools of water, and the thirsty place springs of water, in the place where the dragons dwell, reeds and rushes shall come up. 8 And a trodden way shall be there, and a straight one; and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it, and the wayfaring men shall not cease; the ignorant shall not err. 9 There shall not be there a king doing evil, and an oppressive governor shall not pass over it, yea, they shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, because they shall be gathered from the midst of their captivity; and they shall come to Zion with a song, and they shall have everlasting joy, which shall not cease, and a cloud of glory shall over- shadow their heads; joy and gladness shall be found, and sorrow and sighing shall cease from them, namely, from the house of Israel.
ISAIAH 36 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fenced cities of the house of Judah, and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the field of the fullers. 3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, who was appointed over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, who was appointed over the records. 4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith our great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? 5 I say (you speak but empty words) I make war with counsel and might: now, in whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me? 6 Behold, thou trustest in the support of this broken reed, in Pharaoh, the king of Egypt; on which if a man lean, it will enter his hand and wound him: so is Pharaoh the king of Egypt to all that trust in him. 7 But if ye say to me, We trust in the Word of the Lord our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezkiah hath taken away, and said to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar ? 8 And now, pledge thyself with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to appoint riders upon them. 9 And how dost thou expect to turn back the face of one of the least princes, servants of my master? yet, thou trustest in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. 10 Am I now come up without the Word of the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we under stand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' lan guage before the people that are upon the wall. 12 But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss in the siege with you ? 13 Then Rabshakeh stood forth, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of our great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah cause you to err: for he shall not be able to deliver you. 15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Word of the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make peace with me, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of the fruit of his vine, and every one of the fruit of his fig tree, and drink ye every one of the waters of his cistern: 17 Until I come and take you away to a good land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of fields and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah cause you to err, saying, The Lord shall deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? what? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land from my hand, that the Lord shall deliver Jerusalem from my hand?
21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. 22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was appointed over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, who was appointed over the records, to Hezekiah, now having their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
ISAIAH 37 (BEN UZIEL) 1 And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the sanctuary of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was appointed over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, thus covered with sack- cloth, unto Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. 3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Heze kiah: This day is a day of distress, of reproach, and of contumely: for distress hath laid hold on us, as a woman that sitteth upon the stool of a woman in labour, and hath no strength to bring forth. 4 Perhaps the words of Rabshakeh may be heard by the Lord thy God, whom the king of Assyria, his master, hath sent to reproach the people of the living God, and he may take ven geance for the words which were heard before thy God, wherefore thou shalt supplicate in prayer for the remnant that is left. 5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid on account of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed before me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit within him, and he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land: and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria waging war against Libnah: for he had heard that he had departed from Lachish. 9 And Sennacherib heard say concerning Tir haka king of Ethiopia, he hath gone forth to wage war against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah, king of the tribe of the house of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, cause thee to err, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroy ing them utterly; and dost thou imagine that thou wilt be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Bezeph, and the inhabitants of Eden which were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim? hath he not removed them, and carried them captive?
14 And Hezekiah received letters from the hands of the messengers, and read one of them: and Hezekiah went to the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, saying, 16 O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, whose Shekinah dwelleth above the Cherubim! Thou art the Lord, and there is none besides Thee in all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made the heavens and the earth. 17 It is manifest to Thee, Lord, judge therefore; and it hath been heard by Thee, Lord, avenge therefore! Take vengeance on account of all the words of Sennacherib, who hath sent to reproach the people of the living God. 18 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the provinces and their lands, 19 And have burnt their gods in the fire: for they were no gods, they are of no use, but they are the work of men's hands, wood and stone, therefore they have destroyed them. 20 And now, Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord; there is none be sides Thee.
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Heze kiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, whereas thou hast prayed before me con cerning Sennacherib, the king of Assyria:
22 This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him, The kingdom of the congregation of Zion despises thee, abhors thee; the people which are in Jerusalem shake their head behind thee. 23 Whom hast thou reproached, and against whom hast thou exalted thyself? and before whom hast thou lifted up thy voice? Yea, thou hast lifted up thine eyes on high; because thou hast spoken words which are not right before the Holy One of Israel. 24 By thy servants hast thou reproached the people of the Lord, and hast said, By the multi tude of my chariots am I come up against their fortified cities; and moreover, I will seize the house of their sanctuary, and I will slay the most beau tiful of their mighty ones, and the choicest of their rulers, and I will subdue the city of their strength, and I will destroy the multitude of their army. 25 I have digged cisterns, and I have drunk water, and I have dried up all the waters of the deep rivers with the sole of the people that were with me. 26 Hast thou not heard long ago, what I have done to Pharao, king of Egypt? Yea, also, the prophets of Israel have prophesied concern ing thee; but thou hast not repented. I contemplated doing this unto thee, since the days of old. I have prepared it, now I will bring it to pass, and it shall be ruin unto thee; be cause it shall be before thee as the raging of waves, which destroy fortified cities. 27 Therefore their inhabitants had their strength cut off, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the fields, yea, as the green grass, as the herb on the house- tops, as corn blasted before it becomes an ear of corn.
28 And thy sitting down in counsel, and thy going forth to wage war, and thy coming into the land of Israel is known to me, and that thou art enraged is known to me. 29 Because thou art enraged against my Word, and thy tumultuous noise hath come up before me: therefore I will put a ring in thy nostril, and a bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
30 And this shall be a sign to thee: Eat this year such as groweth of itself; and in the second year, that which springeth of the same; and in the third year, sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. 31 And again the escaped of the house of Judah that are left shall be like a tree which sends forth its roots downwards, and lifts its branches upwards. 32 For the remnant of the righteous shall go forth from Jerusalem, and the escaped of them that establish the law from mount Zion: by the Word of the Lord of hosts shall this be done. 33 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor shall he cast up a mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for the sake of my Word, and for the sake of David my servant.
36 Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and four score and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all of them dead corpses. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went away, and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. 38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that Adramelech and Sharezer his sons slew him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Kardu: and Eserhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
ISAIAH 38 (BEN UZIEL) 1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Order thy household, for thou art dying, and shalt not live. 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall of the house of the sanctuary, and prayed before the Lord, 3 And said. Hear my prayer, Lord, re member, I beseech thee, how I have served before Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and I have done that which is right in Thy eyes. And Hezekiah wept sore. 4 Then the words of prophecy came from before the Lord to Isaiah, saying, 5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father. Thy prayer hath been heard by me, thy tears are observed by me: behold, I will add to thy days fifteen years; 6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. 7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from be fore the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He hath promised. 8 Behold, I will turn back the shadow on the hour-lines by which the sun is gone down on the dial of Ahaz, ten hours backwards. And the sun returned ten hours on the figure of the hour- lines, which it had gone down.
9 THE WRITING OF THE THANKSGIVING MIRACLE, WHICH HAD BEEN DONE FOR HEZEKIAH, THE KING OF THE TRIBE OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, WHEN HE HAD BEEN SICK, AND WAS HEALED OF HIS SICKNESS.
10 I said in the sorrow of my days, I shall go into the gates of the grave; but because He remembered me for good, an addition hath been made to my years. 11 I thought, I shall not appear again before the terrible God, in the land of the house of His Shekinah, in which is length of life: and I shall no more serve before Him in the house of the sanctuary, from whence shall go forth joy unto all the inhabitants of the earth; neither shall I dwell in Jerusalem the holy city; my habitation is cut down. 12 From the children of my generation my days are taken away, they are cut off, and gone away from me; they are folded up like a shep herd's tent; my life is cut off like a weaver's web; from the glory of my kingdom I am gone into captivity; my days and my nights are ended, 13 I roar until the morning like a lion that roareth when he breaketh the bones of a beast; thus on account of my sorrow all my bones are broken; my days and my nights are come to an end. 14 As a swallow chirps which is caught, so I chirped; and I moan like a dove: I lifted up mine eyes, that refreshing might come to me from (before) Him whose Shekinah is in the highest heavens: Lord, hear my prayer; grant my petition.
15 What praise shall I utter and speak unto Him? For He hatli multiplied His kindness to wards me. With what shall I serve Him, and what shall I render unto Him for all the years He hath added to my life, and delivered my soul from bitterness. 16 O Lord, Thou hast said concerning all the dead, that Thou wilt quicken them, and Thou hast quickened my spirit before any of them: Thou hast quickened, Thou hast made me to live. 17 Behold, to them that obey the law, peace shall be multiplied before Thee; but Thou wilt bring bitterness to the wicked: therefore, when I knew the day of my death, I poured out my tears in prayer before Thee; my bitterness was great, but Thou hast had pleasure in my life, not to destroy it; for Thou hast cast all my sins far away from Thy presence.
18 For they that are in the grave do not praise Thee; neither do the dead celebrate Thee, nor do those that descend into the pit of the place of Abaddon hope for Thy salvation. 19 The living, the living shall praise Thee, as I do this day: the fathers unto their children shall make known Thy might, and They shall confess, saying, that all these things are truth. 20 The Lord has promised to save us: and we will sing the song of His praise all the days of our life in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord.
21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it on the boil, and he shall recover. 22 And Hezekiah said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the sanctuary of the Lord?
ISAIAH 39 (BEN UZIEL) 1 At that time Merodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and presents to Hezekiah, when he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. 2 And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his treasures, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his vessels, and everything that was found in his treasury: and there was not anything in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not. 3 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. 4 Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is not anything in my treasures that I have not showed them. 5 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 Behold the days come, that all that is in thy house shall be taken away, and that which thy fathers have treasured up unto this day, yea, it shall be carried to Babylon, nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. 7 And thy sons which shall come forth from thee shall be in the palace of the king of Babylon. 8 Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Right is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken: and he said, for there shall be peace and truth in my days.
ISAIAH 40 (BEN UZIEL) 1 O ye prophets, prophesy comforts to my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably, to Jerusalem, and prophesy concerning her, that she shall be filled with the people of the captivity, because her sins are forgiven, for she hath received the cup of consolations from the Lord as if she had been smitten twice for all her sins.
3 A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way before the people of the Lord; cast up a highway in the plain before the con gregation of our God. 4 All the valleys shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the rugged way shall be a level, and the hilly ground a valley. 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all the sons of flesh shall see together, that by the Word of the Lord it has been decreed thus.
6 The voice of one crying, Prophesy! He answered and said, What shall I prophesy? All the wicked are as grass, and all their strength as chaff of the field. 7 The grass withereth, its flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the wicked among a people are considered like grass. 8 The wicked dieth, and his thoughts perish; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9 Upon a high mountain get up, ye prophets, that bring good tidings unto Zion; lift ye up your voice with strength that bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, be not afraid, say to the cities of the house of Judah, The kingdom of your God is revealed. 10 Behold, the Lord God shall be revealed, and the strength of the arm of His might shall rule before Him: behold, the reward of those who perform His word is with Him, because their works are manifest to Him. 11 He shall feed those that are of His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and He shall carry the tender ones in His bosom; He shall lead gently those that give suck.
12 He who hath promised these things, shall confirm them: He hath spoken it, and He will do it; He in whose sight all the waters of the world are accounted as a drop in the hollow of the hand, and the expansion of the heavens as if they had been prepared with tlie span; and the dust of the earth as if measured in a measure, and the mountains as if weighed in scales, and the hills in a balance. 13 Who hath directed the Holy Spirit in the mouth of all the prophets? Is it not the Lord? He maketh known the words of His will to the righteous, the servants of His Word. 14 I will make known wisdom to them who pray for it from Him, and I will teach them the way of justice; yea, He will give the law to their sons, and He will make known to their sons' sons the path of understanding. 15 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 fine dust that flieth away. 16 And the trees of Lebanon are not sufficient for fire, nor the beasts in it sufficient for a holocaust. 17 All nations are as nothing, their works are accounted before Him as naught. 18 And whom do you think able to contend with God? and what is the likeness that ye can compare with Him? 19 Beholdy the artificer maketh an image, and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and with silver chains the silversmith fasteneth it. 20 He cuts a wild ash of the forest, which rottenness will seize; he procures a skilful artist to fix the image, that it be not moved.
21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath not the work in the creation been declared unto you in its order from the beginning? Have ye not understood that ye ought to fear Him, who hath created the foundations of the earth? 22 Who maketh the Shekinah of His glory to dwell in exalted strength, and all the inhabitants of the earth are in His estimation as locusts; He that stretched out the heavens as a little thing, and spreadeth them out as the tent of the glory of the house of the Shekinah. 23 Who gives princes over to weakness; the judges of the earth He bringeth to naught. 24 Although they multiply, although they increase, although their children become great in the earth, yet, nevertheless, He will send His wrath among them, and they shall be confounded: and His Word shall scatter them, as the whirl wind the chaff. 25 To whom, then, will ye liken me? and to whom will ye equal me? saith the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, that ye may fear Him, who hath created these things, who bringeth forth the host of the heavens by number: He calleth them all by their name: on account of the combination of forces and might of power, not one is hindered in its orb.
27 Why sayesfh thou, O Jacob, and speakest, Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my cause is removed from my God? 28 Hast thou not known? yea, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord who hath created the foundations of the earth, is not fatigued, neither is weary? there is no end to His wisdom. 29 Who giveth wisdom to the righteous that long for the words of the law; and to those who have no strength, he multiplieth strength. 30 And the wicked youths shall be fatigued and shall be weary; and the impious young men shall utterly fall. 31 But they that hope for the salvation of the Lord shall be gathered together from the midst of their captivity, and shall increase their strength, and their youth shall be renewed like the sprout that springeth up: they shall hasten upon the wings of eagles, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
ISAIAH 41 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Listen unto my word, ye islands, and let the kingdoms increase their strength: let them come nigh, then let them speak; let us approach one another for judgment. 2 Who openly brought Abraham from the east? He brought the chosen of the righteous in truth to his place. He delivered up nations before him, and broke in pieces mighty kings, he cast the slain down like the dust before his sword, and he pursued them like stubble before his bow. 3 He pursued them, and passed safely by; the roughness of the path shall not affect his feet. 4 Who hath promised these things and estab lished them? Who hath spoken, and it was done? And who hath ranged the generations in their order from the beginning? I, the Lord, I created the world from the beginning; yea, ages after ages are mine, and besides me there is no God. 5 The isles shall see and be afraid; they that are at the ends of the earth shall tremble; they shall draw nigh, they shall come.
6 Let every one help Hs neighbour, and every one say to his brother, Be of good courage. 7 Shall they not be confounded in their works? Because the artificer encourageth the silversmith, and he that smiteth with the great hammer him that smiteth with the small: It is time, one saith, for the soldering, it is ready; he fasteneth it with nails, that it may not be moved.
8 But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob, in whom I delight, the seed of Abraham my friend: 9 I have brought thee out of the families of the earth, I have chosen thee out of a kingdom: and I have said unto thee. Thou art my servant; I delight in thee, and I will not thrust thee away. 10 Fear not, for my Word shall be thy support; be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my truth. 11 Behold, all the nations that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. 12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they shall be as nothing; the men that stirred themselves up to make war with thee shall be less than nothing. 13 For I am the Lord thy God, that will hold thee fast by thy right hand; who saith unto thee, Fear not, my Word shall be thy help.
14 Fear ye not, ye tribes of the house of Jacob, ye seed of Israel, my Word shall be your help, saith the Lord, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15 Behold, I will make you a mighty threshing instrument full of sharp edges: thou shalt slay the nations, thou shalt consume the kingdoms, thou shalt make them like chaff. 16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and my Word shall scatter them as the whirlwind scattereth the chaff; but as for thee, thou shalt rejoice in the Word of the Lord, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and the needy long after instruc tion, as the thirsty after water, but do not find it; their spirit faints in affliction. I, the Lord, will hear their prayer; I, the God of Israel, will not cast them off. 18 I will gather their captives from the midst of the nations, and I will lead them in the right path; and I will open for them rivers in torrent- beds, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the desert pools of water, and the land that is a thirsty place springs of water. 19 I will put cedars, acacias, and myrtles, and oil trees in the wilderness; I will make the fir tree, the elm, and the box tree to grow in the desert together: 20 In order that they may see, and know, and put my fear in their heart, and may consider together, that the might of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. 21. Produce your cause, saith the Lord, bring forth your arguments, saith the King of Jacob. 22 Let them approach, and show us what shall happen unto us; Let them declare the former things what they were, that we may consider and know their event: or declare unto us the things that shall come. 23 Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know whether ye worship idols in which there is any profit, whether they are able to do good, or to do evil; that we may consider and argue together. 24 Behold, ye are nothing, and your works are to no purpose; that in which ye delight is an abomination. 25 I will certainly bring a king who is mightier than the north wind, and he shall go forth as the going forth of the sun in might from the east: I will strengthen him by my name, and he shall come, and tread the rulers of the nations under foot, as those who tread the dust under foot, as the potter who prepares the clay. 26 Who hath declared this from the beginning that we should know it? and beforetime, that we may say, It is true? Yea, there was none that foretold it; yea, none that declared it; yea, none that heard your words. 27 The words of consolation which the prophets prophesied from of old concerning Zion, behold, they shall come to pass! and unto Jerusalem I will give one that bringeth good tidings. 28 And it was made known to me, that there was no man whose works were good, and of these there was none who would take counsel, that I should ask them, and they would answer a word. 29 Behold, all of them are nothing, and their work less than nothing: their thoughts are plunder and destruction.
ISAIAH 42 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Behold, my servant, the Messiah, whom I bring, my chosen in whom one delights: as for my Word, I will put my Holy Spirit upon Him; He shall reveal my judgment unto the nations. 2 He shall not cry aloud, nor raise a clamour, and He shall not lift up His voice in the street. 3 The meek who are like a bruised reed He shall not break, and the poor who are as a glimmering wick with Him, He will not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4 He shall not faint nor be weary, till He have established judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for His law. 5 Thus saith the God of eternity, who hath created the heavens and suspended them, who hath founded the earth, and hath given breath to its inhabitants, even to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein. 6 I, the Lord, I will make Thee to grow in truth, and will hold Thine hand, and I will direct Thee, and give Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7 To open the eyes of the house of Israel, who are blind to the law, to bring back their captivity from among the nations, where they are like prisoners, and to redeem them from the servi tude of the kingdoms being shut up as those that are bound in darkness. 8 I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory in which I am revealed to you I will not give to another people; nor my praise to the worshippers of images. 9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: I apprize you of them before they come to pass. 10 Sing unto the Lord a new song, proclaim His praise from the ends of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and its fulness; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. 11 Let the wilderness praise Him, and the cities that are in it, the villages which inhabit the wilderness of the Arabians; let the dead praise Him, when they go forth from their long abodes; from tlie tops of the mountains let them lift up their voice. 12 Let them ascribe glory unto the Lord, and declare His praise in the islands. 13 The Lord shall be seen to do mighty things: He shall reveal Himself in anger to do a mighty work by the word of His wrath; He shall reveal Himself to His enemies by His might in an earthquake.
14 I have given them prolongation for a long time, if they would but return to my law; but they did not return. My judgment shall be re vealed upon them, as pains on a woman in travail; they shall be destroyed, and come to an end together. 15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. 16 And I will lead the house of Israel, who are like the blind, in a way which they knew not, in paths they have not learned I will lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and the rugged place a plain. These things will I do for them, and will not forsake them. 17 They shall be turned back, they shall be ashamed, that worship images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
18 Ye wicked, (who are like the deaf,) have ye no ears? hear ye! and ye sinners, (who are like the blind,) have ye no eyes? 19 Is it not so? if the wicked and the sinners, to whom I have sent my prophets, will repent, they shall be called my servants; but the wicked shall be paid with vengeance for their sins; but if they will repent, they shall be called the servants of the Lord. 20 Ye see many things, but ye observe not; having your ears opened, but ye receive not instruction. 21 The Lord delights in justifying Israel; He will magnify those that obey His law, yea. He will strengthen them. 22 But this is a people robbed, and spoiled, and all their young men are covered with confusion, and shut up in prison-houses: they are for a prey, and there is none who delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. 23 Who is there among you that will listen to this? who will hearken, and consider for the time to come? 24 Who delivered Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord? Because they have sinned against Him; and they would not walk in His righteous paths before Him, neither would they receive the instruction of His law. 25 Therefore He hath poured upon them the fury of His anger, and hath brought upon them the strength of His warriors, and hath slain them round about, and they knew it not; and they ruled over them, and they did not lay His fear to heart.
ISAIAH 43 (BEN UZIEL) 1 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee who art mine by thy name. 2 For at first when ye did pass the Red sea my Word was your support. Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who were as many as the waters of the river, did not prevail against you. And again, when ye came amongst nations, who were as mighty as fire, they did not prevail against you; and kingdoms, which were strong as a flame, did not destroy you; 3 Because I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt in ex change for thee, Ethiopia, and Seba, in thy stead. 4 Ever since I loved thee, thou wast precious; yea, I loved thee dearly, and I gave nations instead of thee, and kingdoms for thy soul. 5 Fear not, for my Word shall be thy support; I will bring thy children from the east, I will bring together thy captivity from the west. 6 I will say to the north, Bring; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from afar, and the captivity of my people from the ends of the earth. 7 All these things shall come to pass for the sake of your righteous fathers, upon whom my name was called, yea, for my glory I have created them. I will restore their captivity, yea, I will work wonders for them. 8 When I brought forth my people from Egypt, they were like the blind, although they had eyes; and like the deaf, although they had ears. 9 Let all the nations be gathered together, let the kingdoms be brought together: who among them can declare this, and give us the joyful tidings of old? let them bring forth their wit nesses, that they may be justified; let them hear, and let them speak the truth. 10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant, the Messiah, in whom is my delight, in order that ye may know, and that ye may believe in me, and understand that I am He who was from the beginning; yea, ages after ages are mine, and beside me there is no god.
11 I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no saviour. 12 I, I have declared unto Abraham your father what would come to pass; I, I redeemed you out of Egypt, as I swore to him between the pieces; and I, I have made you to hear the doctrine of my law from Sinai, and ye are still alive, when there was no strange god among you; yea, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. 13 Yea, from eternity I am He; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will do it, and who shall turn it back?
14 Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, Because of your sins I led you captive to Babylon; but I will prostrate all of them with their oars, yea, the Chaldeans in the ships of which they boast. 15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
16 Thus saith the Lord, I am He who prepared a way in the sea, and a path in mighty waters. 17 I who brought out the chariots, and horses, and a great host, yea, much people; they were swallowed up together, they did not rise, they were extinguished, they are extinct like the glimmer ing wick is extinguished." 18 Remember not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I make a new thing, and now it shall be revealed: and will ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 20 They shall honour me, when I make habitable provinces at the desert, and the places where the dragons and the daughters of the ostrich dwell; because I will give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to the captives of my people, in whom I delight. 21 This people have I prepared for my service, they shall declare my praise.
22 It hath been said by the prophets, that ye of the house of Jacob have not met together for my worship; but that ye were weary of the doctrine of my law, O Israel. 23 Thou hast not brought unto me the lambs of thy burnt offerings, and with thy holy sacri fices thou hast not honoured me. I have not caused thee to multiply offerings, neither did I burden thee with frankincense. 24 Thou hast not bought for me the aromatic reed with silver; with the fat of thy holy sacrifices thou hast not anointed mine altar; but thou hast multiplied thy sins before me; thou hast burdened me with thine iniquities. 25 I, even I, am He who forgiveth thy sins for the sake of my name, and thy sins shall not be remembered. 26 Speak now, we will plead together, declare thou for the purpose, that thou mayest justify thyself, if thou art able to do so. 27 Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have rebelled against my Word. 28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and I have delivered Jacob to the slaughter, and Israel to reproaches.
ISAIA1 44 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Yet now hear, Jacob, my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: 2 Thus saith the Lord, thy Maker; and He that formed thee from the womb. He will help thee; Fear not, Jacob, my servant, and thou, Israel whom I have chosen. 3 For as waters are discharged upon the thirsty land, and are set flowing upon the dry land, so will I give my Holy Spirit unto thy children, and my blessing unto thy children's children. 4 The righteous shall grow, and tender and de licate as the flowers of the grass, as a tree that sends forth its roots by the streams of waters. 5 This one shall say, I am of them that fear the Lord, and another shall pray in the name of the God of Jacob; this one shall offer his oblation before the Lord, and draw near in the name of Israel.
6 Thus saith the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts; I am He who was from the beginning, yea, eternities of eternities are mine; and beside me there is no God. 7 Who like me shall proclaim this, shall declare it, and set it in order before me, from the time that I appointed the ancient people? and let them declare unto us the things that are coming, and shall come. 8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye also are my witnesses, that there is no God beside me, and there is none strong, except he to whom strength is given from me.
9 They that make images are all of them vanity, and worship what does not profit them; and they are witnesses against themselves, that they do not see, nor know, that they may be ashamed. 10 Whoever maketh a god or a molten image, it is for no purpose. 11 Behold, all their worshippers shall be ashamed, and the working artificers are workmen of the sons of men; let them all be gathered to gether, let them stand up; they shall fear and be confounded together.
12 The smith maketh an axe out of iron, and bloweth the coals in the fire, and maketh it firm with the hammer, and worketh it with the power of his strength; but when he that worketh it is hungry, and does not eat bread, he hath no strength; and if he is thirsty, and drinketh no water, he fainteth. 13 The carpenter stretcheth out the line, he applieth the plummet to it; he carveth it with a knife, and he dove-taileth it together, and he maketh it after the likeness of a man, according to the beauty of a woman, that it may remain in the house. 14 He heweth for himself cedars and taketh the scarlet oak, and the chestnut, and seasons them. He plants the ash amongst the trees of the forest, and the rain nourisheth it. 15 That it may serve a man to burn: and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh it a god, and worshippeth it; he formeth it an image, and prayeth to it. 16 He bumeth half thereof in the fire; and by the other half he eateth flesh, he roasteth meat, and is satisfied; he also warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. 17 And the remainder thereof he maketh a god; to the image he boweth down; he becometh servile to it, and prayeth to it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They know not, neither do they understand; for their eyes are closely shut up, so that they cannot see, and their heart, that they cannot understand. 19 And he does not consider in his heart, neither hath he knowledge or understanding to say, Half of it I have burned in the fire; yea, I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the remnant thereof a god? shall I bow myself down to the stock of a tree? 20 Behold his god, part of it is ashes; his undisceming heart has caused him to err, so that, he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is it not a lie which I have made with my right hand?
21 Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee that thou shouldest serve me, that thou, Israel, shouldest not forget my fear. 22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud vanisheth away, all thy sins: return to my worship, for I have redeemed thee. 23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath wrought redemption for His people: Let the foundations of the earth rejoice; rejoice, O mountains, in praise, O forest, and all the trees therein! for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and will glorify Himself in Israel.
24 Thus saith the Lord, who hath redeemed thee, and who hath prepared thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things, I have suspended the heavens by my Word, I have laid the foundations of the earth by my strength; 25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that tumeth wise men backward and bringeth their knowledge into contempt. 26 That confirmeth the word of His righteous servants, and performeth the counsel of His messengers, that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and concerning the cities of the house of Judah, They shall be built; and her desolated places I will raise up. 27 That saith to Babylon, Be desolate, and I will dry up thy rivers. 28 That promises Cyrus that He will give him a kingdom; and that he shall establish all my pleasure,even to him that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and the temple shall have its foundation laid.
ISAIAH 45 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whom I hold firm by his right hand, to deliver the nations unto him; and I will loose the loins of the kings, to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut. 2 My Word shall go before thee, I will have a way in the plains; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. 3 And I will give thee the treasures of dark ness, and hidden treasures, that thou mayest know, that I, the Lord, who called thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my elect, yea, I have called thee by thy name; I have guided thee, though thou hast not known that thou shouldest fear me. 5 I am the Lord, and none else; there is no God beside me: I have supported thee, though thou hast not known that thou shouldest fear me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west; I am the Lord, and there is none else: 7 Who prepares the light, and creates dark ness, makes peace, and creates punishment for evil. I the Lord do all these things.
8 Let the heavens drop down from above, and the clouds flow with good, let the earth open itself, and the dead live, and let righteousness be revealed together; I the Lord have created them.
9 Woe to him who thinks of striving against the words of his Creator, and trusts that the images of a potter shall do him good, which are made out of the dust of the earth. Is it possible, that the clay could say to him that worketh it, Thou hast not made me? or thy work, He hath no hands? 10 Woe to him that saith to his father, What begettest thou? and to his mother, What hast thou brought forth?
11 Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and He that formed him, Ye question me about things concerning my people, which shall come to pass; and will ye command me concerning the work of my power? 12 It is I who have made the earth by my Word, and I have created man upon it; it is I who have suspended the heavens by my power, and I have laid the foundation of all the hosts of them. 13 It is I who will verily bring him forth publicly, and all his paths I will direct: he shall build my city, and he shall let the captives of my people go, not for a price nor for money, saith the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus saith the Lord, the wealth of Egypt, and the merchandize of Ethiopia and of the men of the Sabeans, the men of traffic, shall come unto thee, and thine they shall be: they shall walk according to thy command; they shall pass along in chains; and they shall bow down unto thee, and shall supplicate thee, saying, Verily God is in thee, and there is no God whatever besides Him. 15 Verily, thou art He, who dost make Thy Shekinah to dwell in the highest heaven, God of Israel, the Saviour! 16 They shall be ashamed and confounded, all of them: the worshippers of images shall walk in confusion. 17 Israel shall be saved by the Word of the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded for ever, yea, for ages after ages.
18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; He who laid the foundation of the earth and made it, is God; He formed it. He created it not in vain; but He formed it, that the sons of man should multiply upon it. I am the Lord, and there is none else. 19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of the house of Jacob, Seek me reverently in vain: I the Lord speak the truth, declaring upright things. 20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they know nothing that carry about their wooden images, and who pray unto a god who shall not save. 21 Tell ye, and draw ye near; yea, take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God whatever besides me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none but I. 22 Turn unto my Word, and be ye saved, all that are at the ends of the earth: for I am the Lord, and there is none else. 23 I have sworn by my Word, the word is gone forth in righteousness from my presence, and shall not fail, That before me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 24 Surely, He has promised to bring me right eousness and strength by the Word of the Lord. In His Word they shall offer praise, and all the nations that are incensed against His people shall be ashamed. 25 In the Word of the Lord all the seed of Israel shall be justified and glorified.
ISAIAH 46 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Bel is bowed down, Nebo is cut down. Their images are in the likeness of serpents and beasts. The burdens of your idols shall be heavy upon those who carry them; because they be exhausted. 2 They are cut off, yea, they are altogether cut to pieces, and they were not able to deliver them that carried them; and their worshippers are gone into captivity. 3 Hearken unto me O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are beloved above all nations, yea, beloved above all kingdoms. 4 Even unto eternity I am He, and my Word shall endure for ages after ages. It is I who have created all men, and I have scattered them among the nations, yea, I will forgive their sins, and I will pardon.
5 To whom will ye liken me, and equal me, and compare me in truth? 6 Behold, the people collect gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they do it reverence. 7 They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him and set him in his place, and he abideth; it is not possible for him to move from his place; yea, one supplicates to him; but he does not answer him, nor save him out of his distress.
8 Remember this, and be ye strong; and bear it in mind, rebels! 9 Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no God whatever beside me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying. My counsel shall stand, and I wil do all my pleasure: 11 Who hath promised to gather together the captivity from the East, to bring openly, as a swift bird, the sons of Abraham, my chosen, from a distant land; yea, I have promised it; yea, I will bring it to pass; I have ordained it; yea, I will do it.
12 Hearken unto my Word, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness. 13 My righteousness is nigh, it is not far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion, and my glory in Israel.
ISAIAH 47 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Descend and sit in the dust, kingdom of the congregation of Babylon; sit on the ground, there is no throne of glory, kingdom of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called ten der and delicate. 2 Receive this calamity and go into servitude; put away the glory of thy kingdom, thy princes are overthrown, the people of thy armies are scattered, they have vanished away like waters of the river. 3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, thy shame shall be seen; I will take full vengeance on thee and I will change thy judgment from the children of men. 4 As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel. 5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O glory of the kingdom of Chaldeans; thou shalt no more be called, The mighty one of the kingdoms. 6 I was angry with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou hast not had compassion upon them, thou didst make thy dominion over the ancient very cruel. 7 And thou saidst, I shall be the mighty one of kingdoms, so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the end of them.
8 Therefore, hear now this, voluptuous one, that dwellest in security, that saith in her heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 9 But these two things shall come to thee, in an appointed time, in one day, loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection: notwithstanding the multi tude of thy sorceries, notwithstanding the great strength of thine enchantments.
10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth thee. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge have corrupted thee; thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. 11 Therefore shall evil come upon thee: thou shalt not know how to deprecate it; distress shall fall upon thee, and thou shalt not be able to re move it; a tumult shall come upon thee suddenly, unawares.
12 Persist now in thine enchantments; and in the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou wast occupied from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to prevail. 13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let them now rise up, and save thee, who are familiar with the Zodiac of the heavens, who look at the stars, who make known appointed seasons: deceiving thee, saying, Thus it shall happen unto thee each month. 14 Behold, they shall be weak as stubble. The nations which are as strong as fire shall con sume them, they shall not deliver themselves from the hand of the slayers: there shall be no remnant nor escaped of them, yea, not a place, in which one might deliver himself. 15 Thus shall the workers of thy lies be in thee, with whom thou wast occupied from thy youth; the princes of thy power, shall go into captivity; each one straight before his face, none shall save thee.
ISAIAH 48 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth from the stock of Judah, with whom he hath made a covenant in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, that the remembrance of them shall not cease. Shall not His Word stand in truth and righteousness? 2 For their portion is in the holy city, and their confidence is in the God of Israel; The Lord of hosts is His name. 3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they have gone forth from my Word, and I announced them; suddenly I will do them, and they shall come to pass. 4 I knew that thou wouldest be a rebel, and thy neck would be as hard iron, and thy brow strong as brass. 5 Therefore I have declared these things to thee from the beginning; before they came to pass I annoimced them unto thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my molten image hath prepared them. 6 Hast thou heard whether that was revealed to any people which was revealed unto thee? and as for you, will ye not declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, and hidden things, and thou didst not know them. 7 They are created now, and not of old; yea, I have not announced them before the day of their coming to pass, lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I have known them. 8 Yea, thou didst not listen to the words of the prophets; yea, thou didst not accept the instruction of the law; yea, thou didst not incline thine ear to receive the words of the blessings and curses of my covenant which I made with you in Horeb; for it was manifest to me that thou wouldest altogether deal falsely, and be called a rebel from the womb. 9 For my name's sake, I will defer mine anger, and for my praise I will preserve thee, so as not to destroy thee. 10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not in the crucible of silver; I tried thee in the distress of poverty. 11 For my name's sake, for the sake of my Word, that it may not be profaned, I will do it, and my glory in which I have revealed myself unto you, I will not give to another people.
12 Hearken unto my Word, ye who are of the house of Jacob and Israel, my called, I am He, who was of old, yea, ages after ages are mine, and besides me there is no God. 13 Yea, by my Word I have laid the founda tion of the earth, and by my might I have suspended the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together. 14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear: who among them hath declared these things ever since the Lord loved Israel? He will do His pleasure on Babylon, and He will reveal the strength of His arm on the Chaldeans. 15 I by my Word have made a covenant with Abraham your father; yea, I have called him, I have brought him into the land of the place of my Shekinah, and I prospered his way.
16 Come ye near to my Word; hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; at the time when the nations separated themselves from fearing me, at that time I brought Abraham your father to my service. The prophet saith: And now the Lord God, and His Word, hath sent me.
17 Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God, who teacheth thee what will profit thee, who sheweth the way wherein thou shouldest walk. 18 If thou hadst hearkened to my command ments, thy peace would certainly have been as the overflowing of the river Euphrates, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. 19 Thy seed had certainly been as numerous as the sand; and thy children's children as the gravel thereof: the name of Israel should not have ceased nor have been destroyed from before me for ever.
20 Go ye forth from Babylon, flee ye from the province of the land of the Chaldeans, declare ye with a voice of singing, bring the joyful tidings of this, bring it to the ends of the earth, say ye. The Lord hath redeemed His servants of the house of Jacob. 21 He will not suffer them to thirst in the desert; He will guide them; He will cause water to flow for them from the rock: yea. He will cleave the rock, and the waters shall gush out. 22 There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
ISAIAH 49 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Listen, O isles, unto my Word, and hearken, O kingdoms, from afar; the Lord called me before I was; He hath made mention of my name from the bowels of my mother. 2 And he hath put His words in my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His power hath He protected me, and He hath made me like a choice arrow, which is hidden in the quiver. 3 And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4 And as for me, I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain; but my cause is known to the Lord, and the reward of my work is before my God. 5 And now, saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be a perfect servant before Him, to make the house of Jacob to return to His service, and Israel shall be brought to fear Him and we shall be glorious before the Lord; and the Word of my God shall be my support. 6 And He said, Is it too little for you that ye should be called my servants, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the captivity of Israel? Yea, I will give thee for a light to the nations, to be my salvation unto the ends of the earth.
7 Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to them that are despised among the nations, to them that are scattered among the kingdoms, to them that are the servants to rulers: Kings shall look at them; and princes shall rise and fall prostrate, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and He shall delight in thee.
8 Thus saith the Lord, at the time when ye do my will, I hear your prayer, and in the day of distress I uphold you with salvation and support; for I will maintain thee, and I will give thee for a covenant with the people, to raise up the righteous that lie in the dust, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; 9 Saying to them who are prisoners among the nations, Go forth to them who are kept back in darkness among the kingdoms; shew yourselves to the light; they shall dwell in all the paths, and by all the rivers shall be the place of their dwelling. 10 They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them: for He that shall have mercy on them shall guide them, and He shall cause them to dwell by the springs of water. 11 And I will make all the mountains trodden paths like a way before them, and the foot-paths shall be cast up. 12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the North and from the West, and these from the land of the South.
13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, earth; and be glad, mountains, with praise, for the Lord will comfort His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted,
14 But Zion said, The Lord hath taken His Shekinah from me, and the Lord hath cast me away. 15 Is it possible that a mother can forget her child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? The congregation of Israel answered and said: If there is no forgetfulness with Him, perhaps He will not forget that I have made a calf of gold? The prophet said to her, Yea, these things shall be forgotten. And she said to him, If there is forgetfulness with Him, perhaps it will be forgotten that I said on Sinai: We will do and obey? He answered and said to her: My Word shall not cast you off. 16 Behold, as upon the hands thou art engraven before me; thy walls are continually before me. 17 Those that shall build thy desolate places shall make haste, thy destroyers and they that made thee waste, shall go forth of thee. 18 Lift up thine eyes round about, Jerusalem, and see; all the children of the people of thy captivity are gathered together and come unto thee. As I live, saith the Lord, all these shall be unto thee as a vesture of glory, and their works in the midst of thee as the ornament of a bride. 19 For thy waste and desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, surely now shall be too strait by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. 20 Henceforth shall each of the children of thy captivity in the midst of thee say: The place is too strait for me: make room for me that I may dwell. 21 Then thou shalt say in thine heart, Who hath nourished up these for me, seeing I have lost my children, and have been solitary; an exile, and an outcast; who then hath brought up these? Lo! I was left alone; these, where were they?
22 Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will reveal my power among the Gentiles, and unto the kingdoms I will raise my standard, and thy children shall come in palanquins, and thy daughters shall be carried upon the shoulders. 23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens shall minister unto thee; they shall prostrate themselves with their faces to the earth to supplicate to thee, and lick the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; because the righteous that hope for my salvation shall not be ashamed.
24 Shall the spoil be taken from the mighty, and shall that which the just have taken captive be delivered? [Another Paraphrase. — Jerusalem says, Is it possible, that the prey shall be taken from Esau the wicked, which he took from me? concerning whom it was said, By thy sword thou shalt live. Or the captive whom Ishmael led captive, concerning whom it has been said, That which be longeth to the righteous shall he deliver? ] 25 For thus saith the Lord, I will surely restore the captivity of the mighty, and I will deliver the prey of the terrible: Surely the captivity of the mighty I will restore, and the prey of the terrible I will deliver, and I will take vengeance for thee, and I will save thy children. [Another Paraphrase. — For thus saith the Lord: Yea, the prey, which the mighty Esau hath taken of thee, shall be taken from him, and the captivity, which the proud Ishmael led captive (concerning whom it has been said: He shall be a conqueror among men) be delivered? and I will save thy children.] 26 And I will give the flesh of them who oppress thee for food to every fowl of the heavens, and as they are drunken with new wine, so the beasts of the field shall be drunk with their blood, and all flesh shall know, that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
ISAIAH 50 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of divorcement, which I gave to your congregation, that she is cast off? Or who is the man, who has a debt against me, unto whom I sold you? Behold, for your sins ye were sold, and for your rebellion your congregation was put away. 2 Wherefore have I sent my prophets, and they have not repented? They prophesied, but they obeyed not. Is my power altogether deficient, so that I cannot save? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. 3 I cover the heavens as with blackness, and as with sackcloth I make their covering.
4 The Lord God hath given me a tongue to teach, to give knowledge, and to instruct the righteous with wisdom, who weary themselves with the words of the law; each morning rising up early to send His prophets, that perhaps the ears of the sinners might be opened, and they might receive instruction. 5 The Lord God hath sent me to prophesy, and I did not refuse, neither turned away back. 6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7 The Lord God is my helper, therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face strong as a rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded. 8 My righteousness is near; who is he that will contend with me? Let us stand forth together: who is my adversary? let him come near me. 9 Behold, the Lord God is my helper; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall be as a garment that waxeth old, yea, as when the moth eateth it.
10 The prophet said: The Holy One, blessed be He, shall say to all the nations: Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant the prophet, who keepeth the law, being in distress, as a man that walketh in darkness and has no light, he trusting in the name of the Lord, will stay upon the salvation of his God? 11 The nations answered and said to him: O our Lord! it is not possible for us to occupy ourselves with the law; because we continually wage war against each other, and when we gain the vic tory one over the other, we bum their houses with fire, and bring their children and their treasures into captivity, and in this manner our days are spent; thus it is impossible for us to occupy our selves with the law. The Holy One, blessed be He, answered and said unto them: Behold, all of you who stir up a fire, and lay hold on the sword; go ye, fall into the fire which ye have stirred up, and by the sword, which ye have laid hold on. This shall be unto you from my Word, ye shall turn to your destruction.
ISAIAH 51 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Hearken to my Word, ye that follow after truth, who seek instruction from the Lord; consider that ye were cut out like a stone hewn from a rock, that ye were cut out like a mass hewn out of a hollow cistern. 2 Consider Abraham your father, and Sarah who conceived you: for Abraham was one alone in the world, and I brought him to my service, I also blessed him, and multiplied him. 3 For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, they that offer thanksgiving, and the voice of them that praise.
4 Listen to my Word, my people, and give ear, my congregation, to my service; for the law shall go forth from me, and my judgment like a light; the nations which, I led into captivity shall praise it. 5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and the nations shall be judged by the strength of the arm of my might; the isles shall hope for my Word, and they shall wait for the strength of the arm of my might. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and consider the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth that waxeth old like a garment, so shall it wax old, and its inhabitants, also, they shall die; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not tarry.
7 Hearken unto my Word, ye that know the truth, the people in whose heart is the instruction of my law; be ye not afraid of the reproaches of the sons of men, neither be terrified on account of their grandeur. 8 For they vanish like a garment, which the moth eateth, and like wool, which rottenness seizeth; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
9 Reveal thyself, reveal thyself, put on the strength of might from the Lord; reveal thyself as in the days of old, in the generations which were at the beginning: was it not for thy sake, congregation of Israel, that I broke the mighty, that I destroyed Pharaoh and his host, who were strong as a dragon? 10 Was it not for thy sake, O congregation of Israel, that I dried up the sea, the water of the great deep, I made the depth of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? 11 Thus the redeemed of the Lord shall be gathered together out of their captivity, and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be theirs, which shall not cease: and a cloud of glory shall shadow over their heads; they shall find joy and gladness, and there shall be an end of sorrow and sighing for the house of Israel. 12 I, even I, am He that comforteth you: of whom are ye afraid? of a mortal man? or of a son of man, who is counted like grass? 13 And that thou shouldest forget the worship of the Lord thy maker, who hath suspended the heavens and founded the earth; and shouldest fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy; and where is now the fury of the oppressor? 14 Vengeance hasteneth to be revealed, and the righteous shall not die in the pit, nor be in want of their food. 15 For I am the Lord thy God, who rebuketh the sea, though its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is His name. 16 1 have put the words of my prophecy in thy mouth, and with the shadow of my power have I protected thee, to raise up the nation, concerning which it hath been promised that they shall be as many as the stars of heaven, and to establish the congregation it has been promised concerning them, that they shall multiply like the dust of the earth, and to say to the inhabitants of Zion, Ye are my people.
17 Magnify thyself, magnify thyself; arise, O Jerusalem! who hast received from the Lord the cup of His wrath; the vial of the cup of cursing thou hast drunk, and thou hast removed it. 18 There is none to comfort thee, of all the sons which she hath brought forth; neither is there one to lay hold on her hand, of all the sons she hath nourished. 19 Two tribulations have come upon thee, Jerusalem, thou art not able to arise; when four shall come upon thee, spoiling, and destruction, and famine, and sword, there shall be none to comfort thee beside me. 20 Thy children shall be torn in pieces, they shall be cast at the head of all the streets as broken vials: they are full of the fury of the Lord, and of the rebuke of thy God. 21 Therefore hear now this, thou who art cast out, drunk with tribulation and not with wine: 22 Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, even thy God will take vengeance of judgment for His people, behold, I have taken away the cup of cursing, the vial of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again. 23 But I will deliver it into the hand of them that afflict thee: which have said to thee, Bow down that we may go over; and thou hast humbled thy glory as the ground, and thou becamest like the street to them that passed by.
ISAIAH 52 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Reveal thyself, reveal thyself, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the city of holiness: for the uncircmncised and the polluted shall pass no more through thee. 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit upon the throne of glory, O Jerusalem; the chains of thy neck are broken, O captive congregation of Zion.
3 For thus saith the Lord, Ye were sold for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. 4 For thus saith the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5 Therefore now I am ready to redeem them, saith the Lord; for my people was sold for nought; the nations that ruled over them boasted, saith the Lord; and they continually, all the day, provoke them to anger, because of the worship of my name. 6 Therefore my name shall be magnified among the nations: therefore at that time ye shall know, that I am He that hath spoken: and my Word shall abide.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains of the land of Israel are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that publisheth salvation, saying to the congregation of Zion, The kingdom of thy God is revealed. 8 The voice of thy rulers! They are lifting up their voice, together they offer praise; because with their eyes they see the mighty works which the Lord shall do, when He shall return His Shekinah to Zion. 9 Rejoice and shout together, ye desolate places of Jerusalem, for the Lord shall comfort His people, Jerusalem shall be redeemed. 10 The Lord hath revealed His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all that are in the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11 Separate yourselves, separate yourselves, go ye out from thence, do not come near the unclean; come forth from the midst of her: those that carry the vessels of the house of the sanctuary of the Lord have been chosen. 12 For ye shall not go forth in haste from among the nations, nor be carried in flight to your land: for your guide is the Lord, and He that shall gather your captivity is the God of Israel.
13 Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper. He shall be exalted and extolled, and He shall be very strong. 14 As the house of Israel anxiously hoped for Him many days, (which was poor among the nations; their appearance and their brightness being worse than that of the sons of men:) 15 Thus shall He scatter many nations; before Him kings shall keep silence: they shall put their hands upon their mouths, for that which had not been told them shall they see: and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
ISAIAH 53 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Who hath believed this our report? and to whom is now the power of the arm of the Lord revealed? 2 The righteous shall be great before Him, behold, like branches that bud; and like a tree which sends forth its roots by the streams of water, thus shall the generation of the just multiply in the land, which hath need of Him. 3 His visage shall not be the visage of a common person, neither His fear the fear of a plebeian; but a holy brightness shall be His brightness, that every one who seeth Him shall contemplate Him. 4 Although He shall be in contempt; yet He shall cut off the glory of all the wicked, they shall be weak and wretched. Lo, we are in contempt and not esteemed, as a man of pain and appointed to sickness, and as if He had removed the face of His Shekinah from us. 5 Therefore He shall pray for our sins, and our iniquities for His sake shall be forgiven us; for we are considered crushed, smitten of the Lord, and afflicted. 6 He shall build the house of the sanctuary, which has been profaned on account of our sins; He was delivered over on account of our iniquities, and through His doctrine peace shall be multiplied upon us, and through the teaching of His words our sins shall be forgiven us. 7 All we like sheep have been scattered, every one of us has turned to his own way; it pleased the Lord to forgive the sins of all of us for His sake. 8 He shall pray and He shall be answered, yea, before He shall open His mouth. He shall be heard; He shall deliver over the mighty of the nations as a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheep before her shearers is dumb, none shall in His presence open his mouth, or speak a word. 9 He shall gather our captives from affliction and pain, and who shall be able to narrate the won derful works which shall be done for us in His days? He shall remove the rule of the nations from the land of Israel, the sins which my people have committed have come upon them.
10 And He shall deliver the wicked into hell, and the riches of treasures which they got by violence unto the death of Abaddon, that they who commit sin shall not remain, and that they should not speak folly with their mouth. 11 And it was the pleasure of the Lord to refine and to purify the remnant of His people, in order to cleanse their souls from sin, that they might see the kingdom of their Messiah, that their sons and daughters might multiply, and prolong their days, and those that keep the law of the Lord shall prosper through His pleasure. 12 He shall deliver their souls from the servi tude of the nations, they shall see the vengeance upon their enemies; they shall be satisfied with the spoil of their kings. By His wisdom He shall justify the righteous, in order to make many to keep the law, and He shall pray for their sins. 13 Therefore I will divide to Him the spoil of many people, and the treasures of strong fortifi cations; He shall divide the spoil; because He has delivered His life unto death, and He shall make the rebellious to keep the law; He shall pray for the sins of many, and as for the transgressors, each shall be pardoned for His sake.
ISAIAH 54 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Sing, Jerusalem, who was like a barren woman that beareth not; rejoice with praise and be glad, who was like a woman that conceiveth not: for more shall be the children of Jerusalem that was laid desolate, than of the inhabited city, saith the Lord. 2 Enlarge the place of the house of thy dwelling, and from the cities of the land do not keep back the inhabitants; multiply the people of the camp, and increase the number of thy governors. 3 For thou shalt spread abroad to the south and to the north, and thy children shall inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 4 Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproaches of thy widowhood any more. 5 For thy husband, who is thy Maker, the Lord of hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called. 6 For as a woman forsaken, and afflicted in spirit, the Shekinah, the Lord, met thee, like a woman of youth which was forsaken, saith thy God. 7 In a little anger have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I bring together thy captivity. 8 For a little moment I removed the presence of my Shekinah, yea, for a short time from thee, but with everlasting kindness, which shall not cease, will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. 9 This shall be before me as the days of Noah, when I swore by my Word, that the waters of the deluge, which were in the days of Noah, shall no more pass over the earth; thus I swear by my Word, that my anger shall not be hurled upon thee, neither will I reprove thee. 10 For .the mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be rent; but my kindness shall not de part from thee, Jerusalem, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that will have mercy on thee.
11 O distressed city that receiveth affliction, concerning her the nations say, She shall not be comforted: behold, I lay the stones of thy pavement with Mosaic, and thy foundations with costly stones. 12 And I will place thy timber with gems, and thy gates shall be of carbuncles, and all thy borders with precious stones. 13 And all thy children shall learn the law of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far removed from oppression, for thou shalt not fear it: and from terror; for it shall not come upon thee, 15 Behold, the captivity of thy people shall surely be gathered unto thee: in the end, the kings of the nations, who are gathered together to oppress thee, Jerusalem, shall be cast down in the midst of thee. 16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his use; and I have created the destroyer to destroy. 17 No weapon that is formed against thee, Jerusalem, shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, saith the Lord.
ISAIAH 55 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Ho, every one that is willing to learn, let him come and learn, and he that hath no silver, come, hear and learn; come, hear and learn, without price and money, doctrine that is better than wine and milk. 2 Wherefore do ye weigh out your silver for that which is not food? and your wealth for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently to my Word, and ye shall eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3 Incline your ear and receive instruction of my law, obey my Word and your soul shall be quickened, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the mercies of David, which are sure. 4 Behold, I have appointed him a prince, a king, and a ruler over all the kingdoms. 5 Behold, a people which thou knowest not shall serve thee, and a people which hath not known thee shall run to offer tribute unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He hath glorified thee.
6 Seek ye the fear of the Lord whilst ye are alive, supplicate before His presence whilst ye remain. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way of wickedness, and the man of violence his thoughts, and let him return to the worship of the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and into the fear of our God, for He will abundantly pardon. 8 For your thoughts are not as my thoughts, and your ways are not right, as the ways of my goodness, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, thus are my ways better than your ways, and my thoughts better than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and it is impossible that it should return thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to sprout, and to be fruitful, that it may give sufficient grain of seed to the sower, and food sufficient to the eater: 11 Thus shall be the word of my kindness, which proceeds from my presence, it is not possible that it shall return to my presence void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12 For ye shall go out with joy from among the nations, and with peace ye shall be carried to your land: the mountains and the hills shall rejoice before you with praise, and all the trees of the field shall clap with their branches. 13 Instead of the wicked the righteous shall rise up, and instead of sinners shall rise up those that fear sin: and it shall be before the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign, that shall not cease.
ISAIAH 56 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; every one that shall keep the Sabbath from polluting it, and shall keep his hand from doing any evil. 3 Neither let the son of the heathen, that is joined to the people of the Lord, say, The Lord hath utterly separated me from His people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am considered a dry tree. 4 For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbath days, and delight in what I desire, and take hold on my covenant: 5 Even unto them will I give in the house of my sanctuary, and in the land of the house of my Shekinah a place, and a name that is better than that of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6 And the sons of the Gentiles, that are joined unto the people of the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; 7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their holy sacrifices shall be offered up with acceptance upon mine altar; for the house of my sanctuary shall be called an house of prayer for all people. 8 The Lord God, who will gather together the scattered ones of Israel, saith, I will again gather their captivity, by collecting them together.
9 All the kings of the nations, who are assembled together to oppress thee, Jerusalem, shall be cast down in the midst of thee; they shall be for food to the beasts of the field, the beasts of the forest shall be satisfied with them. 10 Their watchmen are blind: they know nothing, all of them are dumb dogs, they are not able to bark, they are slumbering, they lie down, they love to sleep. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs, they know not how to be satisfied; they are evildoers, they know not how to become wise: all of them go their own way, to rob the treasures of Israel. 12 Come ye, say they, We will fetch wine, and we will be inebriated with old wine, and to morrow our banquet shall be better than today, great, very great.
ISAIAH 57 (BEN UZIEL) 1 The righteous die, and no man layeth my fear to heart; and the men who shew mercy are taken away, and they consider not that the righteous are taken away on account of the evil which shall come. 2 They shall enter into peace; they shall rest in the place of their beds, those that do His law.
3 But ye, come nigh hither, people of a gene ration whose works are evil, whose plant was of a holy plant; but they are adulterers, and fornicators. 4 Of whom do ye make your sport? and before whom do ye open your mouth? do ye continue speaking great things? are ye not rebellious children, a lying seed? 5 Who worship idols beneath every green tree, who sacrifice the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks. 6 Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion; yea, there they shall be thy lot, even to them thou hast poured out drink-offerings, thou hast offered sacrifices; ah! on account of these things my Word shall retribute. 7 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set the place of the house of thy dwell ing, even thither didst thou go up to sacrifice sacrifice. 8 Behind the doors and the posts hast thou set up the remembrance of thy idols; thou hast been like a woman who is beloved by her husband, but goeth astray after strangers; thou hast enlarged thy bed: thou hast made a covenant with some of them, thou lovedst the place, the place of their beds, the place thou hast chosen. 9 When thou didst keep the law, thou didst prosper in the kingdom; and when thou didst multiply for thyself good works, thy camp was enlarged, and thou didst send thy messengers to a distant land; and thou didst humible mighty nations unto hades. 10 Thou hast wearied thyself in the greatness of thy way; yet thou didst not think to return the many treasures thou hast multiplied, wherefore thou thoughtest not to repent. 11 And of whom hast thou been afraid? and on account of whom hast thou feared? Thou hast surely multiplied speaking lies, and thou hast not remembered my service, and hast not had my fear in thine heart: I would have given you the ends of the world, if you had returned to my law; but thou hast not returned to me. 12 I have shewn thee those good works, which would have been thy righteousness; but thou hast multiplied evil works which did not profit thee. 13 Proclaim aloud, whether thy deceitful works will save thee, in which thou hast been occupied from thy youth? the wind shall carry away all of them, they shall be as nothing: but he that putteth his trust in my Word shall possess the earth, and shall inherit my holy mountain.
14 And he shall say, Teach and admonish, turn the heart of this people to the right way; remove the stumbling-block of the wicked out of the way of the congregation of my people. 15 For thus saith the high and lofty One, that dwelleth in the heavens, and whose name is Holy, who inhabits the height — yea, His holy Shekinah hath promised to save the contrite of heart, and the humble of spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to support the heart of the contrite. 16 For I will not take vengeance of judgment for ever, neither shall my wrath be eternal: for I will revive the spirits of the dead, and the souls I have created. 17 My wrath is upon them on account of their robbed riches, and I smote them; I re moved my Shekinah from them, and cast them out; I scattered their captives, because they went astray after the imagination of their hearts. 18 The way of their repentance is revealed before me, and I will forgive them, and I will have compassion upon them, and requite con solations to them and to those that mourn with them. 19 The prophet saith: He that creates the speech in the lips of every man, peace shall be wrought for the righteous, who have kept my law of old, and peace shall be wrought out for the penitent, who return to my law. It is at hand that I will pardon them, saith the Lord. 20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, that seeketh to rest, but cannot, and its waters bring forth mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
ISAIAH 58 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Cry aloud, O prophet, spare not, lift up thy voice like the voice of a trumpet, and shew unto my people their rebellion, and unto the house of Jacob their sins. 2 And they seek daily instruction from me, as if to know the ways which are right before me, finding delight in my presence as a people that doeth righteousness, and have not forsaken the judgment of their God: they ask of me judgment and truth, as if they delighted to draw nigh to the fear of the Lord.
3 They say, Wherefore do we fast, as it is revealed before Thee? wherefore have we afflicted ourselves, as known unto Thee? The prophet said unto them, Behold, in the day of your fast ye seek your extortions, and ye bring near all your stumbling-blocks. 4 Behold, ye fast for provocation and strife, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye shall not fast a fast as if to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the fast which I delight in? a day to afflict oneself? Is it to have his head bent down as a bulrush, and passing the night in sackcloth and ashes? Willl ye call this a fast before the presence of the Lord, and a day in which I delight? 6 Is not this the fast which I have chosen? to scatter the assembly of wickedness, to loose the fetters of a decree of perverted judgment, to set at liberty the sons of the freeborn, who have suffered violence, and to remove all perverted judgment? 7 Shouldest not thou sustain the hungry with thy bread, and bring the poor that are cast out, into the midst of thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and shouldest not hide thine eyes from the kindred who is thy flesh? 8 Then shall thy light be revealed like the early dawn, and the healing of thy wound shall appear quickly; thy great righteousness shall go before thee, and thou shalt be gathered to the glory, which is in the presence of the Lord. 9 Then thou shalt pray, and the Lord shall hear thy prayer; thou shalt supplicate before Him and He shall grant thy supplication, if thou put away from the midst of thee perverted judgment, the pointing of the finger, and the speaking of violent words; 10 And if thou breathest out thy soul before the hungry and satisfiest the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in the years of drought, and He shall quicken thy body with eternal life, and thy soul shall be full with delicacies like a watered garden, well irrigated, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 Thy offspring shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and they shall call thee, The restorer of the right way; The converter of the wicked to the law. 13 If thou turn away thy foot' from the Sabbath from following thine employment on my holy day, and dost meet the Sabbath with great delight to sanctify the Lord, and honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor making thy wants ample, nor speaking violent words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and He shall cause thee to dwell in the strong places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for thus it is decreed by the Word of the Lord.
ISAIAH 59 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Behold, it is not on account of any deficiency in the power of the Lord that ye are not saved; nor because it is too difficult for Him to hear, that your prayer is not received: 2 But your iniquities separate between you and your God, and your sins have caused Him to take away the favour of His Shekinah from you, not to receive your prayer. 3 For your hands are associated with innocent blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips speak lies, your tongue muttereth deceit. 4 There is none that truly prayeth, nor any that pleadeth for faithfulness: they trust in vanity and speak lies; they hasten, and bring forth words of violence out of their heart. 5 Behold, they hatch as it were eggs of a basilisk; they are like the threads which the spiders weave: he that eateth of their eggs dieth; and when they are hatched, they bring forth the flying serpents. 6 Behold, like a spider's web, with which no one can be covered, thus there is no profit from the works of the wicked; their works are the works of violence, and the work of a lie is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to do that which is evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of violence, plunder and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no justice in their ways, they have perverted their ways: whoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
9 Therefore is judgment removed far from us and the least righteousness does not meet us: we wait for light, but behold, darkness; for bright ness, but behold, we are walking in obscurity. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as those that stumble in the dark; it is shut up before us, as the graves are shut up before the dead. 11 We all roar like bears by reason of our enemies, who are gathered against us, and mourn like doves: we hoped for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far removed from us.
12 Because our iniquities are multiplied before Thee, and our sins testify against us: for our iniquities are revealed unto us, and our crimes we know them. 13 We have rebelled, and acted falsely against the Word of the Lord; we have turned backward from following after the worship of our God; we have spoken falsehood and apostasy, hastening and bringing forth from their hearts lying words. 14 And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off: for they that follow truth stumble in the street; and they that follow faithfulness cannot shew them selves. 15 And they that follow truth are hidden, and those that depart from evil become a prey. It is revealed before the Lord, that there is no justice, which is evil in His sight 16 And it is revealed in His sight that there is no man who hath good works, and it is known to Him that there is no man, who would arise and seek after them: therefore He will redeem them by the arm of His strength, and by the Word of His delight He will help them. 17 It is revealed, that He will work a great salvation for His people, yea, He will render vengeance to His enemies. 18 He is the Lord of retributions. He shall render recompense: vengeance to His enemies, retribution to His adversaries; He shall render recompense to the islands. 19 They shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the oppressors shall come in like an inundation of the river Euphrates, they shall be broken by the Word of the Lord.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and turn the transgressors of the house of Jacob to the law, saith the Lord.
21 And as for me, this shall be my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My Holy Spirit that is upon thee, and the words of my prophecy which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy children, nor out of the mouth of thy children's children, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.
ISAIAH 60 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Arise, shine, Jerusalem, for the time of thy redemption is come, and the glory of the Lord is revealed upon thee. 2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the kingdoms: but in thee the Shekinah of the Lord shall dwell, and His glory shall be revealed upon thee. 3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to thy brightness.
4 Lift up thine eyes, O Jerusalem, round about, and see all the children of the people of thy captivity, who are gathered together: thy sons shall come from far into thy midst, and thy daughters shall be carried upon the arms. 5 Then thou shalt see and be enlightened, and thou shalt be struck with awe, and thine heart shall be enlarged on account of the terror of sinners, for the riches of the west shall be transferred unto thee; the treasures of the nations shall be brought unto thee. 6 A multitude of Arabians shall cover thee round about, the dromedaries of Midian and Holad, all of them from Sheba shall come: they shall be laden with gold and frankincense, and those that are coming with them, shall shew forth the praises of the Lord. 7 All the sheep of the Arabians shall be gathered unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall be offered up with acceptance upon mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.
8 Who are these that are coming openly like swift clouds, and tarry not? the captives of Israel, who are gathered together, come to their land, lo, as doves which return to their dove-houses. 9 Surely, the isles shall wait for my Word, and those that embark in the ships of the sea, the hand that stretcheth out their sails shall be first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of the nations shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. 11 Thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the treasures of the nations, and their kings in chains. 12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee, Jerusalem, shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly destroyed.
13 The glory of Lebanon shall be brought unto thee, the fir-tree, the elm, and the box together, to beautify the place of the house of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of the dwelling of my Shekinah glorious. 14 The sons of them that enslaved thee shall come and bow down to thee, and all that pro voked thee to anger shall prostrate themselves at the soles of thy feet to make supplication unto thee; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion in which the Holy One of Israel delights.
15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken, and an outcast, so that none went through thee I will make thee an eternal glory, the house of joy for generation and generation. 16 And thou shalt be satisfied with the riches of the nations, and in the spoil of their kings thou shalt delight thyself; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
17 For the brass which they spoiled thee of, Jerusalem, I will bring gold, and for the iron I will bring silver, and for the wood brass, and for the stones iron: I will also make thy pastors peace, and thy rulers righteousness. 18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, spoil nor destruction within thy borders; but they shall proclaim salvation on thy ways, and on thy gates there shall be those that praise.
19 Thou shalt need no more the sun for a light by day, neither for brightness the moon by night: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 20 Thy kingdom shall cease no more, and thy glory shall not be removed: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
21 Thy people shall be all righteous: for ever shall they inherit the land, the plant of my delight, the work of my might, that I may assuredly be glorified. 22 He that is little amongst them shall become a thousand, and he that is weak shall become a strong nation: I the Lord will bring it to pass in its time.
ISAIAH 61 (BEN UZIEL) 1 The prophet said, the spirit of prophecy from before the presence of the Lord God is upon me; because that the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; He hath sent me to strengthen the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberly to the captives, and to the prisoners! Appear in light! 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, 8 and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn. 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, that unto them be given a crown for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the spirit of praise for their spirit which is faint; they shall be called princes of truth, the people of the Lord, that He may assuredly be glorified. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the cities which were wastes, the deso lations of many generations. 5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the Gentiles shall be your plowmen, and they shall dress your vineyards. 6 But ye shall be called the Priests of the Lord: it shall be said of you that ye are those who minister before our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory ye shall delight yourselves. 7 Instead of your having suffered shame, and confusion, I will bring unto you double mercies, which I have promised you; and the Gentiles who glory in their portion shall be confounded: therefore in their own land they shall possess double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8 For I, the Lord, love justice; lying and vio lence are an abomination in my presence; and I will render the reward of their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 And their sons shall be magnified amongst the nations, and their sons' sons amongst the kingdoms: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord has blessed.
10 Jerusalem shall say, I will greatly rejoice in the Word of the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in the salvation of my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the upper garment of righteousness, like a bridegroom who is happy in his bride- chamber, and like the high priest who decketh himself with his robes, and like a bride who is adorned with her jewels. 11 For as the earth bringeth forth her shoots, and as a watered garden causeth the things that are sown in it to grow, thus the Lord God shall reveal the righteousness and the praise of Jerusalem before all the nations.
ISAIAH 62 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Till I work salvation for Zion, I will give no rest to the nations, until I bring consolation to Jerusalem, I will give no rest to the kingdoms, till her light be revealed as the early dawn, and her salvation shall bum as a lamp. 2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and they shall call thee by a new name, which the Word of the Lord shall declare. 3 Ye shall be a crown of joy before the Lord, and a diadem of glory before thy God. 4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Abeday Reoothee Bahh, and thy land Inhabited: for the Lord shall delight in thee, and thy land shall be inhabited. 5 For as a young man dwelleth with a virgin, thus thy sons shall dwell in thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
6 Behold, the works of thy righteous fathers, O city of Jerusalem, are right, and kept by me all the day and all the night, continually; the remembrance of thine excellencies is declared before the Lord, it shall not fail you. 7 Their remembrance shall not cease from before Him, till He establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8 The Lord hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, I will no more give thy corn to be food for thy enemies; and the sons of the Gentiles shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured. 9 But they that gather the corn, they shall eat it, and offer praise before the Lord; and they that tread out the wine, they shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.
10 O prophets, pass through and return through the gates; turn the heart of the people into the right way; bring good tidings of good things, and consolations to the righteous, who re move the thoughts of an evil imagination, which are like a stone of stumbling; lift up a standard for the people. 11 Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the ends of the world, Say ye to the congregation of Zion, Behold, thy Redeemer shall be revealed; Behold, the reward for them that do His word is with Him: and all their works are manifest before Him. 12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed' of the Lord: and thou shalt be called Teviatha, (i. e. "Sought out,'') A city not forsaken.
ISAIAH 63 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Who hath spoken these things? He who shall bring the blow upon Persia, the mighty vengeance upon Bozrah, to execute vengeance of judgment of His people, as He hath sworn unto them by His Word. He hath said, Behold, I shall reveal myself as I have spoken in righteous ness, great is my power to save. 2 Wherefore are the mountains red from the blood of the slain? yea, the valleys shall flow as the wine from the winepress. 3 Behold, as the grapes are trodden in the vat, thus He shall increase the slaughter in the camps of the nations; they shall have no strength before me: yea, I will slay them in my anger, and tread them down in my fury; and I will break the strength of their mighty ones before me, and all their wise men will I consume. 4 For the day of vengeance is before me, and the year of the salvation of my people hath come. 5 And it is revealed before me, that there is no man whose works are good, and it is known to me, that there is no man who will stand up and pray in behalf of them; yea, I will redeem them by the arm of my strength, and by the Word of my delight I will help them. 6 And I will slay the nations in my anger, and I will tread them down in my fury, and I will cast the slain of their mighty ones into the lowest parts of the earth.
7 The prophet said, I will mention the loving- kindness of the Lord; the praise of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath dealt bounti fully with us, and His great goodness toward the house of Israel which He hath bestowed upon them according to His mercies, and according to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses. 8 And He said, Surely, they are my people, children that will not lie: and His Word became their salvation. 9 Whenever they sinned against Him, that He might have brought upon them distress. He did not distress them; but an angel was sent from Him, who in His mercy redeemed them; and in His compassion, behold,' He delivered them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old. 10 But they rebelled against the word of His holy prophets, and blasphemed, and His Word became their enemy, and He waged war against them. 11 And He had compassion for the glory of His name, because of the remembrance of His goodness of old, the mighty works which He did by the hands of Moses for His people; lest the Gentiles should say, Where is He that brought them up out of the sea? Where is He that led them through the wilderness, as a shepherd his flock? Where is He that made the word of His holy prophets to dwell amongst them? 12 That led them by the right hand of Moses, the arm of His glory, dividing the waters of the Red Sea before them, to make Himself an ever- lasting name? 13 That led them through the depths, as a horse that stumbleth not in the plain? thus also they stumbled not. 14 As a beast is led in a plain, the Word of the Lord led them; so didst Thou lead Thy people to make Thyself a glorious name.
15 Look down from heaven, and reveal Thyself from the habitation of Thy holiness and of Thy glory: where is Thy vengeance, and Thy great might? the multitude of Thy mercies and Thy compassion towards me are restrained. 16 For Thou art He, whose mercies towards us are as many as a father's towards his children: for Abraham hath not brought us up out of Egypt, and Israel hath not wrought for us wonderful works in the wilderness; Thou art the Lord; Thy mercies towards us are many, like a father's towards his children, O, our redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting. 17 Why hast Thou cast us off, Lord, that we should go astray from the paths which are right in Thy sight, as the nations which have no part in the instruction of Thy law? Our heart is not turned away from Thy fear: return Thy Shekinah unto Thy people, for the sake of Thy righteous ser vants, unto whom Thou hast sworn by Thy Word to make the tribes amongst themThine inheritance. 18 The people of Thy holiness have possessed Thy sanctuary but a little time, our adversaries have trodden it down. 19 We are Thy people that were of old: not unto the Gentiles hast Thou given the doctrine of Thy law, neither is Thy name invoked upon them; not unto them hast Thou inclined the heavens and revealed Thyself; the mountains quaked before Thee.
ISAIAH 64 (BEN UZIEL) 1 When Thou didst send forth Thine anger like fire in the days of Elijah, the sea was melted, the waters were flames of fire, to make Thy name known to the enemies of Thy people, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence. 2. When Thou didst wonderful things, which we expected not, Thou didst reveal Thyself; the mountains trembled at Thy presence. 3 And since the world was, ear hath not heard the report of such mighty deeds, nor hearkened to the speech of rapture, nor hath eye seen, what Thy people saw, the Shekinah of Thy glory, O Lord; for there is none besides Thee, who will do such things for Thy righteous people, who were of old; who hope for Thy salvation.
4 The works of our righteous fathers were ac ceptable in Thy sight, who rejoiced to do Thy will in truth and in righteousness: in the way of Thy goodness and mercy they remembered Thy fear whenever Thy wrath from Thy presence was upon us, because we had sinned: on account of the works of our righteous fathers, we have been saved. 5 But we are all as an unclean thing; all our righteousnesses are as an abominable garment, and we all do fade as the fading of a leaf; and because of our sins, we are taken away as by the wind. 6 And there is none that prayeth in Thy name willing to lay hold on Thy fear; because Thou hast taken away the fear of Thy Shekinah from us, and Thou hast delivered us to the power of our sins.
7 And Thy mercies, Lord, have been as many upon us as a father's upon his cliildren; we are the clay and Thou hast formed us and we all are the work of Thy hand. 8 Let there not be, Lord, very sore wrath from Thee against us, neither remember iniqui ties for ever: behold, it is revealed before Thee, that we are all Thy people. 9 Thy holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem has become a desolation. 10 The house of our holiness and of our glory, where our fathers worshipped Thee, is burned up with fire: and every place of our desire hath become a waste. 11 Wilt Thou refrain Thyself for these things O Lord? and wilt Thou give prosperity' for ever to the wicked, who make us servile?
ISAIAH 65 (BEN UZIEL) 1 I am asked concerning my Word of them that have not asked after me; I am inquired of for instruction in my law, of them who have not sought my fear: I will say, Behold, I am inquired after continually, all the day, of a people that hath not prayed in my name. 2 I have sent my prophets every day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way which was not good, after their own thoughts; 3 A people that provoketh my Word to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens to idols, and offereth aromatic spices upon bricks; 4 Who dwell in houses, which are built of the dust of graves, with the dead bodies of the sons of men they dwell, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; 5 Who say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; because I am purer than thou. These their provocations are as smoke before me: their re compense shall be in hell, where the fire burneth all the day. 6 Behold, it is written before me: I will not give unto them prolongation in this life; but I will recompense unto them the wages for their sins, and deliver their bodies to the second death. 7 Your sins and the sins of your fathers to gether are revealed before me, saith the Lord, which have offered incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I give the reward of their former works into their bosom.
8 Thus saith the Lord, As Noah was found righteous in the generation of the deluge, and I said that I would not destroy him, for the purpose that I might raise up the world by him; so will I do for my righteous servants' sakes, in order that I may not destroy them all. 9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my righteous servants shall dwell there. 10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the crouching down of the herds of oxen, for my people which have sought my fear. 11 But ye, O house of Israel, ye have for saken the worship of the Lord, ye have forgotten the worship of my holy mountain, that prepare tables for the idols, and mix goblets for their gods. 12 Therefore will I deliver them to the sword, yea, all of you shall be delivered to the slaughter; because I sent my prophets, and ye repented not; they prophesied, and ye did not receive them; but did evil before me, and delighted yourselves in that I would not.
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my righteous servants shall eat, but ye, wicked, shall be hungry: behold, my righteous servants shall drink, but ye, wicked, shall be thirsty: behold, my righteous servants shall rejoice, but ye, wicked, shall be ashamed: 14 Behold, my righteous servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and ye shall howl for vexation of spirit. 15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay you with the second death, and call His righteous servants by another name: 16 That he who blesseth in the earth shall bless by the God of the covenant, and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of the covenant; because, the former troubles shall be forgotten, and because they shall be hidden from before me. 17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remem bered, neither shall they come into mind. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice in the world of worlds, which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and my people shall be glad in her: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of those that cry. 20 There shall be no more thence a suckling of days, or an old man that shall not accomplish his days, for even the child that sinneth shall die an hundred years old; but he that is a sinner being an hundred years old shall be thrust out. 21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and others inhabit; they shall not plant, and others eat: for as the days of the tree of life are the days of my people, and mine elect shall wear out the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, neither shall they rear up children for death, for they shall be the seed which the Lord has blessed, and the children of their children with them. 24 And it shall come to pass, before they shall pray before me, that I will hear their prayer; and before they supplicate before me, I will grant their request. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and as for the serpent, dust shall be its food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.
ISAIAH 66 (BEN UZIEL) 1 Thus saith the Lord, the heavens are the throne of my glory, and the earth is a footstool before me: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of the dwelling of my Shekinah? 2 For all these things my power hath made, and have not all these things been? saith the Lord: but it shall be my delight to consider the man, even him who is of an humble and a contrite spirit, and trembleth on account of my word. 3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; the offering of their gifts is the gift of violence. Yea, they delight in their paths, and their soul findeth pleasure in their abomina tions. 4 I also will desire their destruction, and they shall not be delivered from that which they dread; because, when I sent my prophets, yea, they did not repent; they prophesied, but they obeyed not: but they did evil before me, and they delighted in that I desired not.
5 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye righteous I who tremble on account of the words of His will;, your brethren that hate you, that cast you out for my name's sake, say "Let the glory of the Lord be magnified, that we may see your joy"; but they shall be confounded. 6 A voice of a tumult from the city of Je rusalem, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Word of the Lord, who rendereth recompense to His enemies. 7 Before distress cometh upon her, she shall be redeemed; and before trembling cometh upon her, like the pains upon a woman in child-bearings her King shall be revealed. 8 Who hatli heard sucli a thing? who hath seen such things? Is it possible that a country be made in one day, and a nation be created at once? but Zion shall be comforted, and shall be filled with the people of the captivity of her captivity. 9 I am God; I have created the world from the beginning, saith the Lord; I, even I have created all men; I, even I have scattered them among the nations, also I will gather thy cap tivity, saith thy God.
10 Rejoice ye on account of Jerusalem, and be ye glad on account of her, all ye that love her: rejoice greatly with her, all ye that mourn for her: 11 In order that ye may delight yourselves and be satisfied with the food of her consolations, in order that ye may drink and overflow with the wine of her glory. 12 For thus saith the Lord, behold, I bring unto her peace, as the floods of the river Euphrates, and the glory of the nations, as an overwhelming stream, and ye shall delight yourselves: ye shall be borne upon the sides, and ye shall be nou rished upon the knees. 13 As a man whom his mother comforts, so my Word shall comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And when ye see this, your heart shall re joice, and your bodies shall flourish like grass; and the power of the Lord shall be revealed to do good to His righteous servants; but a curse shall come upon His enemies.
15 For, behold, the Lord shall be revealed with fire, and His chariots as a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by His sword will the Lord judge all flesh, and the slain shall be many before the Lord. 17 They who prepare and purify themselves in the gardens of idols, multitude after multitude, eating swines' flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.
18 Their works and their thoughts are revealed before me: I will gather all people, nations and tongues; and they shall come and see my glory. 19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them among the nations to the province of the sea, Pul and Lud, that draw the bow, and smite with it, to the province of Tubal, and Javan, the isles that are afar off, that have not heard the fame of my might, neither have seen my glory; but they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 And they shall bring all your brethren out of all nations an offering before the Lord upon horses, and in chariots, and litters, and upon mules, yea, with songs unto my holy mountain in Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the sanctuary of the Lord. 21 And I will also take of them to be priests and Levites, saith the Lord. 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, thus shall your seed and your name be made to remain.
23 And it shall come to pass at the time of the beginning of each month, and at the time of each Sabbath, that all flesh shall come to worship before me, saith the Lord. 24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men, the sinners, who have rebelled against my Word: for their souls shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and the wicked shall be judged in hell, till the righteous shall say concerning them, we have seen enough.