Study Desk

How, for this, can I pardon thee? Thine own sons, have forsaken me, And have sworn by No-gods, - When I had fed them to the full, Then committed they adultery, And the house of the unchaste woman, they used to throng:

For these things, shall I not punish? Demandeth Yahweh: Yea on a nation such as this, must not my soul avenge herself?

Scale ye her walls and destroy, But a full end, do not make, - Remove her tendrils, For not to Yahweh, do, they, belong!

For very treacherously, have the house of Israel and the house of Judah dealt with me, Declareth Yahweh.

And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, For what cause hath Yahweh our God done to us all these things? Then shalt thou say unto them, - As ye forsook me, and served the gods of the foreigner in your own land, So, shall ye serve aliens in a land not your own.

Even for me, will ye have no reverence? Enquireth Yahweh, And because of me, will ye not he pained? In that though I placed the sand as a bound to the sea, A decree age-abiding, and it should not pass beyond it, - When they would toss themselves Then should they not prevail, When the waves thereof would roar Then should they not pass beyond it,

Neither have they said in their heart, - Let us we pray you, revere Yahweh our God, Who giveth rain, even the early and the latter, in its season, - The appointed weeks of harvest, he reserveth for us.

For there have been found among my people lawless men, - One lieth in wait, as with the stooping of fowlers, They have set a trap, they capture men:

As, a cage, is full of birds, So, are, their houses, full of unrighteous gain, - For this cause, have they become great and waxen rich:

Take your goods into safety, ye sons of Benjamin out of the midst of Jerusalem, And in Tekoa, blow ye a horn, And on Beth-haccherem, raise a fire-signal, - For calamity, hath looked out from the North, Even a great destruction.

Hallow ye against her a war, Arise! and let us go up in broad noon. Woe to us, for the day, hath turned, for the shadows of evening, stretch along.

For, Thus, saith Yahweh of hosts, Cut ye down timber, And cast up, against Jerusalem a mound, - That, is the city to be punished! There is, nothing, but oppression in her midst;

So then with the indignation of Yahweh, am I full I am too weary to hold it in, am constrained to pour it out, upon the boy in the street, and upon the circle of young men, together, - For, even husband with wife, will be captured, The eider with him who is full of days;

And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together, - For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, Declareth Yahweh.

For, from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, Every one, graspeth with greed, - And from the prophet even unto the priest, Every one, dealeth, falsely;

Thus saith Yahweh - Stand ye at the ways - and see, And ask for the paths of age-past times, Where is the good way? And walk therein, And ye shall find rest to your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein !

Hear thou - O earth, Lo! I, am bringing in Calamity against this people the fruit of their own devices, - For unto my words, have they not given heed, And as for my law, they have rejected it.

Bow and javelin, shall they grasp, Cruel, is he! So they will not have compassion, Their voice, like the sea, will roar, And on horses, will they ride, - Arrayed each one, like a man for battle, Against thee, O daughter of Zion!

O daughter of my people Gird thee with sackcloth and roll thyself in ashes, - The mourning for an only son, make thou for thyself, Most bitter lamentation! For suddenly, shall the destroyer come upon us.

They all, are rebels of rebels, Slander-walkers They are bronze and iron! As for them all, corrupters, they are!