The Hebrew Prophets

For wrath is to Jehovah against all the nations, And fury against all their host, He hath devoted them to destruction, He hath given them to slaughter.

And their wounded are cast out, And their carcases cause their stench to ascend, And melted have been mountains from their blood.

And consumed have been all the host of the heavens, And rolled together as a book have been the heavens, And all their hosts do fade, As the fading of a leaf of a vine, And as the fading one of a fig-tree.

For soaked in the heavens was My sword, Lo, on Edom it cometh down, On the people of My curse for judgment.

A sword is to Jehovah--it hath been full of blood, It hath been made fat with fatness, With blood of lambs and he-goats. With fat of kidneys of rams, For a sacrifice is to Jehovah in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

And come down have reems with them, And bullocks with bulls, And soaked hath been their land from blood, And their dust from fatness is made fat.

(For a day of vengeance is to Jehovah, A year of recompences for Zion's strife,)

And turned have been her streams to pitch, And her dust to brimstone, And her land hath become burning pitch.

By night and by day she is not quenched, To the age go up doth her smoke, From generation to generation she is waste, For ever and ever, none is passing into her.

And possess her do pelican and hedge-hog, And owl and raven dwell in her, And He hath stretched out over her A line of vacancy, and stones of emptiness.

To the kingdom her freemen they call, But there are none there, And all her princes are at an end.

And gone up her palaces have thorns, Nettle and bramble are in her fortresses, And it hath been a habitation of dragons, A court for daughters of an ostrich.

And met have Ziim with Aiim, And the goat for its companion calleth, Only there rested hath the night-owl, And hath found for herself a place of rest.

There made her nest hath the bittern, Yea, she layeth, and hath hatched, And hath gathered under her shadow, Only there gathered have been vultures, Each with its companion.

Seek out of the book of Jehovah, and read, One of these hath not been lacking, None hath missed its companion, For My mouth--it hath commanded, And His spirit--He hath gathered them.

And He hath cast for them a lot, And His hand hath apportioned it to them by line, Unto the age they possess it, To all generations they dwell in it!

They joy from the wilderness and dry place, And rejoice doth the desert, and flourish as the rose,

Flourishing it doth flourish, and rejoice, Yea, with joy and singing, The honour of Lebanon hath been given to it, The beauty of Carmel and Sharon, They--they see the honour of Jehovah, The majesty of our God.

Strengthen ye the feeble hands, Yea, the stumbling knees strengthen.

Say to the hastened of heart, `Be strong, Fear not, lo, your God; vengeance cometh, The recompence of God, He Himself doth come and save you.'

Then opened are eyes of the blind, And ears of the deaf are unstopped,

Then leap as a hart doth the lame, And sing doth the tongue of the dumb, For broken up in a wilderness have been waters, And streams in a desert.

And the mirage hath become a pond, And the thirsty land fountains of waters, In the habitation of dragons, Its place of couching down, a court for reed and rush.

And a highway hath been there, and a way, And the `way of holiness' is called to it, Not pass over it doth the unclean, And He Himself is by them, Whoso is going in the way--even fools err not.

No lion is there, yea, a destructive beast Ascendeth it not, it is not found there, And walked have the redeemed,