The Hebrew Prophets

There is none judging thy cause to bind up, Healing medicines there are none for thee.

all loving thee have forgotten thee, Thee they do not seek, For with the stroke of an enemy I smote thee, The chastisement of a fierce one, Because of the abundance of thy iniquity, Mighty have been thy sins!

What! --thou criest concerning thy breach! Incurable is thy pain, Because of the abundance of thy iniquity, Mighty have been thy sins! I have done these to thee.

Therefore all consuming thee are consumed, And all thine adversaries--all of them--Into captivity do go, And thy spoilers have been for a spoil, And all thy plunderers I give up to plunder.

For I increase health to thee, And from thy strokes I do heal thee, An affirmation of Jehovah, For `Outcast' they have called to thee, `Zion it is , there is none seeking for her.'

Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I turn back to the captivity of the tents of Jacob, And his dwelling places I pity, And the city hath been built on its heap, And the palace according to its ordinance remaineth.

And gone forth from them hath thanksgiving, And the voice of playful ones, And I have multiplied them and they are not few, And made them honourable, and they are not small.

And his sons have been as aforetime, And his company before Me is established, And I have seen after all his oppressors.

And his honourable one hath been of himself, And his ruler from his midst goeth forth, And I have caused him to draw near, And he hath drawn nigh unto Me, For who is he who hath pledged his heart To draw nigh unto Me? An affirmation of Jehovah.

And ye have been to Me for a people, And I am to you for God.

Lo, a whirlwind of Jehovah--Fury hath gone forth--a cutting whirlwind, On the head of the wicked it stayeth.

The fierceness of the anger of Jehovah Doth not turn back till His doing, Yea, till His establishing the devices of His heart, In the latter end of the days we consider it!

At that time, an affirmation of Jehovah, I am for God to all families of Israel, And they--they are to Me for a people.

Thus said Jehovah: Found grace in the wilderness Hath a people remaining from the sword Going to cause it to rest--Israel.

From afar Jehovah hath appeared to me, With love age-during I have loved thee, Therefore I have drawn thee with kindness.

Again do I build thee, And thou hast been built, O virgin of Israel, Again thou puttest on thy tabrets, And hast gone out in the chorus of the playful.

Again thou dost plant vineyards In mountains of Samaria, Planters have planted, and made common.

For there is a day, Cried have watchmen on mount Ephraim, `Rise, and we go up to Zion, unto Jehovah our God;

For thus said Jehovah: Sing, O ye to Jacob, with joy, And cry aloud at the head of the nations, Sound ye, praise ye, and say, Save, O Jehovah, thy people, the remnant of Israel.

Lo, I am bringing them in from the north country, And have gathered them from the sides of the earth, Among them are blind and lame, Conceiving and travailing one--together, A great assembly--they turn back hither.

With weeping they come in, And with supplications I bring them, I cause them to go unto streams of waters, In a right way--they stumble not in it, For I have been to Israel for a father, And Ephraim--My first-born is he.

Hear a word of Jehovah, O nations, And declare ye among isles afar off, and say: He who is scattering Israel doth gather him, And hath kept him as a shepherd doth his flock,

For Jehovah hath ransomed Jacob, And redeemed him from a hand stronger than he.

And they have come in, And have sung in the high place of Zion, And flowed unto the goodness of Jehovah, For wheat, and for new wine, and for oil, And for the young of the flock and herd, And their soul hath been as a watered garden, And they add not to grieve any more.

Then rejoice doth a virgin in a chorus, Both young men and old men--together, And I have turned their mourning to joy, And have comforted them, And gladdened them above their sorrow,