Isaias

Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible, Isaias, Ottley, Cambridge, 1904

LXV. 1 I was to be inquired of by them that asked not, have let myself be found by them that sought me not; I said, Here am I, Here am I, unto a nation that was not called by my name.

2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a refractory people, which walk in a way which is not good, after their own thoughts.

[*](5 fin Very dubious. Some render, ‘in them (thy ways) is continuance (or eternity), and we shall be saved.)[*](7. ‘and melted us’: Seeker. Lowth, Cheyne, c. with Pesh. Targ. propose to read ‘delivered us into the hand of' [ root ABBREVfor ABBREVPerhaps ‘into’ is right.)[*](8. ‘potter': or ‘fashioner,’ xxix. 16, xlv. 9.)[*](9. ‘to the uttermost,' or, ‘to excess.)
318

3 The people that irritate me continually to my face; which sacrifice in the gardens, and burn incense upon the bricks:

4 Which sit in the graves, and lodge in guarded places, which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominations is in their vessels:

5 Which say, Keep to thyself, come not near to me; for I am holy to thee. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

6 Behold, it is written before me: I will not hold my peace, unless I requite, and I will requite into their bosom,

7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD; which burned incense on the mountains, and reproached me upon the hills: and I will measure their recompense first into their bosom.

8 Thus saith the LORD, As when the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it; so will I do for my servants’ sake, not to destroy the whole.

9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah a possessor of my mountains; and my chosen ones shall possess it, and my servants shall (go to) dwell there.

10 And Sharon shall become a home for flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting place for oxen, for my people that have inquired of me.

11 And as for you, that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that set in order a table for Fortune, that fill up a mingled draught for Destiny:

[*](4. Or, ‘who dwell...and pass the night in guarded places.)[*](5. Or, possibly, ‘I sanctify thee. ...)[*](7. ‘reproached,' or, ‘insulted.’)[*](9 fin. Lit. ‘shall dwell thither.)
320

12 I will (even) destine you for the sword, and ye shall all crouch down to the slaughter; because I called, and ye did not answer; I spake, and ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I took not pleasure.

13 Therefore, thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, and ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, and ye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, and ye shall be ashamed:

14 Behold, my servants shall sing for happiness of heart, and ye shall cry out for pain of heart, and shall howl for breaking of spirit.

15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen and the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name;

16 So that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself by the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the first distresses are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.

17 For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the first things shall not be remembered, nor come up into the heart.

18 But rejoice ye and exult for ever at that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem an exultation, and her people a joy.

19 And I Will exult in Jerusalem, and rejoice in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying out.

20 There shall be no more from thence an infant of days, or an old man, that shall not fulfil his days: for the youth a hundred years old shall die, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed