Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, Ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech. Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye care less women: For the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not 'come. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: Strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. They shall lament for the teats, For the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; Yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city: Because the palaces shall be forsaken; The multitude of the city shall be left; The forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, And the fruitful field be counted for a forest. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, And in sure dwellings, And in quiet resting places; When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, That send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass. WOE to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; And dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; And when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. O Lord, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: Be thou their arm every morning, Our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the tumult the people fled; At the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered. And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpiller: As the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: The stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: The fear of the Lord is his treasure. Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. He hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man. Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits. Now will I rise, saith the Lord; Now will I be exalted; Now will I lift up myself. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: Your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: As thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; And, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; He that despiseth the gain of oppressions, That shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: They shall behold the land that is very far off. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? Where is he that counted the towers? Thou shalt not see a fierce people, A people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; Of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, Neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king; he will save us. Thy tacklings are loosed; They could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: Then is the prey of a great spoil divided; The lame take the prey. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. COME near, ye nations, to hear; And hearken, ye people: Let the earth hear, and all that is therein; The world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, And his fury upon all their armies: He hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, And their stink shall come up out of their carcases, As the leaf falleth off from the vine, And upon the people of my curse, to judgment. |