Study Desk

For the fire, shalt thou serve as fuel, Thy blood shall be in the midst of the land,- Thou shalt not be remembered, For I, Yahweh, have spoken.

Thou shalt say then Thus saith My Lord. Yahweh, A city shedding blood in her own midst That her time might come, Therefore hath she been making manufactured gods for herself, to be defiled.

Because of the blood which thou hast shed, hast thou become guilty. And with the manufactured gods which thou hast made, hast thou defiled thyself, Thus hast thou brought near thy days, And hast come unto thy years, - For this cause, have I delivered thee As a reproach to the nations, And as a derision to all the lands.

Lo! the princes of Israel, very man for his own arm, have they been in thee, For the sake of shedding blood.

Slanders, have arisen in thee For the sake of shedding blood,- And unto the mountains, have they eaten in thee, Lewdness, have they practised in the midst of thee:

Bribes, have they accepted in thee, For the sake of shedding blood,-Interest and increase, hast thou accepted And thou hast overreached thy neighbour by oppression, And me, hast thou forgotten, Declareth My Lord Yahweh.

Her rulers within her have been like wolves, rending prey,- In shedding blood In destroying lives, For the sake of getting dishonest gain.

And her prophets have coated it for them with whitewash, Seeing visions of falsehood And divining for them lies, Saying, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, when Yahweh, hath not spoken.

And their names were Oholah the elder And Oholibah - her sister, And they became mine and hare sons and daughters,- And as for their names, Samaria was Oholah, And Jerusalem, was Oholibah.

Then became Oholah unchaste after she had become mine- And lusted after her lovers, For Assyrians, so warlike,

And her unchaste doings from the time she was in Egypt:, trod she not forsaken, For with her, had they lain in her youth, Yea They had pressed her virgin bosoms,- and had poured out their unchastity upon her.

Yea thou didst look about for the lewdness of thy youth,- When were pressed by the Egyptians. thy bosoms, When they handled thy youthful breasts.

For thus saith My Lord, Yahweh, Behold me! delivering thee up, into the hand of them whom thou hatest, Into the hand of them from whom thy soul hath been torn;

Yea thou shalt drink it and drain it out And the sherds thereof, shalt thou gnaw And thy breasts, shalt thou tear out,- For, I, have spoken, Declareth My Lord. Yahweh.

For they have committed adultery. And blood, is one their hands, Yea with their manufactured gods, have they committed adultery. And even their own children whom they bare unto me, have they set apart for them to be devoured.

Yea verily, that ye must needs send for men, ready to come in. from afar-in that a messenger was sent unto them. and to they came, For whom thou didst bathe thyself Paint thine eyes And deck thyself with ornaments.

For thus, saith My Lord. Yahweh,- There shall be brought up against them a gathered host, Then shall they be delivered up. for a terror and for a prey,

For, her own blood, hath come to be in her midst, Upon the smooth face of the cliff, hath she set it,- She hath not poured it out on the earth, that she might cover it with dust.

Therefore, behold me! delivering thee up to the Sons of the East for a possession And they shall set their encampments in thee, And place in thee their habitations, They, shall eat thy fruits, And they, shall drink thy milk;

And I will make of Rabbah a home for camels, And the sons of Ammon a couching-place for flocks, shall ye know that am Yahweh.