The Hebrew Prophets

For even thy brethren and the house of thy father, Even they dealt treacherously against thee, Even they--they called after thee fully, Trust not in them, when they speak to thee good things.

I have forsaken My house, I have left Mine inheritance, I have given the beloved of My soul Into the hand of her enemies.

Mine inheritance hath been to Me as a lion in a forest, She gave forth against Me with her voice, Therefore I have hated her.

A speckled fowl is Mine inheritance to Me? Is the fowl round about against her? Come, assemble, every beast of the field, Come ye for food.

Many shepherds did destroy My vineyard, They have trodden down My portion, They have made My desirable portion Become a wilderness--a desolation.

He hath made it become a desolation, The desolation hath mourned unto Me, Desolated hath been all the land, But there is no one laying it to heart.

On all high places in the plain have spoilers come in, For the sword of Jehovah is consuming, From the end of the land even unto the end of the land, There is no peace to any flesh.

They sowed wheat, and have thorns reaped, They have become sick--they profit not, And they have been ashamed of your increases, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah.

Thus said Jehovah concerning all my evil neighbours, who are striking against the inheritance that I caused my people--Israel--to inherit: `Lo, I am plucking them from off their ground, And the house of Judah I pluck out of their midst.

And it hath been, after My plucking them out, I turn back, and have pitied them, And I have brought them back, Each to his inheritance, and each to his land.

And it hath come to pass, If they learn well the ways of My people, To swear by My name, `Jehovah liveth,' As they taught My people to swear by Baal, Then they have been built up in the midst of My people.

And if they do not hearken, Then I have plucked up that nation, Plucking up and destroying, An affirmation of Jehovah!'

Thus said Jehovah unto me, `Go, and thou hast got for thee a girdle of linen, and hast placed it on thy loins, and into water thou dost not cause it to enter:'

and I get the girdle, according to the word of Jehovah, and I place it on my loins.

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me a second time, saying,

`Take the girdle that thou hast got, that is on thy loins, and rise, go to Phrat, and hide it there in a hole of the rock;

and I go and hide it by Phrat, as Jehovah commanded me.

And it cometh to pass, at the end of many days, that Jehovah saith unto me, `Rise, go to Phrat, and take thence the girdle, that I commanded thee to hide there;'

and I go to Phrat, and dig, and take the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and lo, the girdle hath been marred, it is not profitable for anything.

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Thus said Jehovah:

Thus do I mar the excellency of Judah, And the great excellency of Jerusalem.

This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, Who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, And go after other gods to serve them, And to bow themselves to them, Yea it is--as this girdle, that is not profitable for anything.

For, as the girdle cleaveth unto the loins of a man, So I caused to cleave unto Me The whole house of Israel, And the whole house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah, To be to Me for a people, and for a name, And for praise, and for beauty, And they have not hearkened.

And thou hast said unto them this word, Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, `Every bottle is full of wine,' And they have said unto thee: `Do we not certainly know that every bottle is full of wine?'

And thou hast said unto them, `Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am filling all the inhabitants of this land, And the kings who sit for David on his throne, And the priests, and the prophets, And all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, With drunkenness,