Offer me no more oblations, for it is but lost labour. I abhor your incense. I may not away with your new moons, your Sabbaths and solemn days. Your fastings are also in vain.

Thy princes are traitors and companions of thieves. They love gifts altogether, and gape for rewards. As for the fatherless, they help him not to his right, neither will they let the widows causes come before them.

And he shall be judge among the heathen and tell many nations their faults. And they shall turn their swords into mattocks and their spears into scythes. One nation shall not lift up a sword against another, neither shall they teach to war any more.

There kneeleth the man, there falleth the man down before them; but thou, O LORD, wilt not leave them unpunished.

Fear not, then, any man whose breath is in his nostrils - for what is he?

The changing of their countenance betrayeth them; yea, they declare their own sins themselves, as Sodom, and hide them not. Woe be unto their souls, for they shall be heavily rewarded.

Moreover upon all the dwellings of the hill of Zion and upon their whole congregation, shall the LORD provide a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for all their glory shall be preserved.

What more could have been done for it, that I have not done? Wherefore than hath it given thorns, where I looked to have had grapes of it?

I will lay it waste, that it shall neither be twisted nor cut, but bear thorns and briers. I will also forbid the clouds, that they shall not rain upon it.

The LORD of Hosts roundeth me thus in mine ear: Shall not many greater and more gorgeous houses be so waste, that no man shall dwell in them?

Woe unto them that rise up early to use themselves in drunkenness, and yet at night are more superfluous with wine.

In those companies are harps and lutes, tabrets and pipes, and wine. But they regard not the work of the LORD, and consider not the operation of his hands.

Therefore is the wrath of the LORD kindled also against his people, and he shaketh his hand at them: yea he shall smite so, that the hills shall tremble. And their carcasses shall lie in the open streets, like mire. And in all this, the wrath of God shall not cease, but he shall stretch his hand wider.

There is not one faint or feeble among them, no not a sluggish nor slippery person. There shall not one of them put off the girdle from his loins, nor loose the latchet of his shoe.

And so he said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Ye shall hear indeed, but ye shall not understand; ye shall plainly see, and not perceive.

Harden the heart of this people, stop their ears, and shut their eyes, that they see not with their eyes, hear not with their ears, and understand not with their heart, and convert and be healed."

It happened in the time of Ahaz the son of Jotham, which was the son of Uzziah, king of Judah: that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to besiege it, but won it not.

and say unto him, 'Take heed to thyself and be still, but fear not, neither be fainthearted for these two tails: that is, for these two smoking firebrands, the wrath and furiousness of Rezin the Syrian and Remaliah's son.

For thus sayeth the LORD God thereto: It shall not so go forth, neither come so to pass:

And the chief city of Ephraim is Samaria, but the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. And if ye believe not, there shall no promise be kept with you.'"

But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask, neither will tempt the LORD."

And as for all hills that now are hewn down, thou shalt not come upon them, for fear of briers and thorns. But the cattle shall be driven thither, and the sheep shall feed there."

Take your counsel together, yet must your counsel come to nought; go in hand withal, yet shall it not prosper. For God is with us.

For the LORD chastised me, and took me by the hand, and warned me, saying unto me that I should not walk in the ways of this people. He said moreover,

"Round with none of them, whosoever say, 'Yonder people are bound together.' Nevertheless fear them not, neither be afraid of them,

For he is the sanctifying, and stone to stumble at, the rock to fall upon, a snare and net to both the houses: to Israel, and the inhabiters of Jerusalem.

And therefore if they say unto you, "Ask counsel at the soothsayers, witches, charmers and conjurers," then make them this answer: "Is there a people anywhere, that asketh not counsel at his God? Should they run unto the dead for the living?"

If any man want light, let him look upon the law and the testimony whether they speak not after this meaning.

If he do not this, he stumbleth and suffereth hunger. And if he suffer hunger, he is out of patience, and blasphemeth his king and his God. Then looketh he upward, and downward to the earth,

and behold, there is trouble and darkness; vexation is round about him, and the cloud of error. And out of such adversity, shall he not escape.

Shalt thou multiply the people, and not increase the joy also? They shall rejoice before thee even as men make merry in harvest, and as men that have gotten the victory, when they deal the spoil.

that the Syrians shall lay hold upon them before, and the Philistines behind, and so devour Israel with open mouth. After all this, the wrath of the Lord shall not cease, but yet his hand shall be stretched out still.

For the people turneth not unto him, that chastiseth them, neither do they seek the LORD of Hosts.

Therefore shall the LORD have no pleasure in their young men, neither favour their fatherless and widows. For they are all together hypocrites and wicked, and all their mouths speak folly. After all this shall not the LORD's wrath cease, but yet his hand shall be stretched out still.

but robbeth him on the righthand, and doth famish; he eateth on the left hand and he shall not have enough. Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.

Manasseh shall eat Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh, and they both shall eat Judah. After all this shall not the LORD's wrath cease, but yet shall his hand be stretched out still.

That ye come not among the prisoners, or lie among the dead? After all this shall not the wrath of the LORD cease, but yet shall his hand be stretched out still.

Howbeit, his meaning is not so, neither thinketh his heart of this fashion. But he imagineth only, how he may overthrow and destroy much people,

for he sayeth, "Are not my princes all kings?

Is not Calno as easy to win as Carchemish? Is it harder to conquer Hamath than Arpad? Or is it lighter to overcome Damascus than Samaria?"

As who say, "I were able to win the kingdom of the Idolaters and their gods, but not Jerusalem and Samaria.

Shall I not do unto Jerusalem and their Images, as I did unto Samaria and their Images?"

But doth the axe boost itself, against him that heweth therewith? Or doth the saw make any bragging, against him that ruleth it? That were even like as if the rod did exalt itself against him that beareth it: or as though the staff should magnify itself, as who say it were not wood.

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD God of Hosts, "Thou my people, that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid for the king of the Assyrians: He shall wag his staff at thee, yea and beat thee with the rod, as the Egyptians did sometimes:

And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes: neither shall rebuke after the hearing of his ears.

The hatred of Ephraim and the enmity of Judah shall be clean rooted out. Ephraim shall bear no evil will to Judah, and Judah shall not hate Ephraim:

Behold, God is my salvation: I will be bold therefore and not fear. For the LORD God is my strength and my praise whereof I sing: and is become my saviour.

They come not only out of far countries, but also from the ends of the heavens: Even the LORD himself with the ministers of his wrath, to destroy the whole land.

For the stars and planets of heaven shall not give their light; the sun shall be quenched in the rising, and the moon will not shine with his light.

For lo, I shall bring up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver, nor be desirous of gold.

Then shall young men's bows be knapped asunder. The Medes shall have no pity upon women with child, and their faces shall not spare the children.

the little owls shall cry in the palaces, one after another, and Dragons shall be in their pleasant parlors. And as for Babylon's time, it is at hand, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Is this he that made the world in a manner waste, and laid the cities to the ground, which let not his prisoners go home?"

and art not buried with them. Even because that thou hast wasted thy land, and destroyed thy people. For the generation of the wicked shall be without honour, forever.

There shall a way be sought to destroy their children, for their fathers' wickedness: They shall not rise up again to possess the land, and fill the world full of castles and towns.

Rejoice not, thou whole Philistia, as though the rod of him that beateth thee were broken: For out of the serpent's root, there shall come an adder, and the fruit shall be a fiery worm.

This is the heavy burden upon Moab: Ar of Moab was destroyed and overthrown in the night season: Kir also, in Moab, perished in the night and vanished away.

Gather your counsel, come together in judgment; cover us with your shadow in the midday, as the night doth: hide the chased, and betray not them that are fled.

And it shall come to pass, that when it is seen that Moab shall be made weary of his hill-chapels, he shall come to his temple to pray - but he shall not be made able.

And shall not turn to the altars that are the work of his own hands, neither shall he look upon groves and images, which his fingers have wrought.

So shalt thou, O Damascus, be desolate: because thou hast forgotten God thy Saviour, and hast not called to remembrance the rock of thy strength. Wherefore thou hast also set a fair plant, and grafted a strange branch.

My heart panted, I trembled for fear. The night of my voluptuousness hath he turned against me into fear.

And the watchman cried, "LORD, I have stood waiting all the whole day, and am appointed to keep my watch every night.

The heavy burden of Dumah. He calleth unto me, out of of Seir, "Watchman, what hast thou espied by night? Watchman, what hast thou espied by night?"

The watchman answered, "The morning cometh, and so doth the night. If ye will ask any question, then ask it, return and come again."

The burden of Tyre. Mourn, ye ships of Tarshish, for there cometh such destruction that ye shall not have a house to enter into. Out of the land of Chittim they have knowledge of this plague.

Be ashamed, thou Sidon, for the sea - even the strength of the sea - hath spoken, saying: "I have not traveled, nor brought forth children, nor nourished up young men, or brought up virgins."

Is not that the glorious city, which hath been of long antiquity? Whose natives dwelling far off, commend her so greatly?

My soul lusteth after thee all the night long, and my mind hasteth freely to thee. For as soon as thy judgment is known to the world, then the inhabiters of the earth learn righteousness.

But the ungodly, though he have received grace, yet learneth he not righteousness: but in that place where he is punished, he offendeth, and feareth not the glory of the LORD.

LORD, when thine hand is lift up to strike, they see it not: but they shall see it, and be confounded, when thou shalt devour them with the wrath of the people, and with the fire of thine enemies.

I the LORD keep it, and water it in due season. I watch day and night, that no man break into it.

Smiteth he not his smiter, as even as he is smitten himself? Destroyeth he not the murderers, as he is murdered?

And therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be thus reconciled. And so shall he take away all the fruit of his sins. As for altar stones, he shall make them all as stones beaten to powder: the groves and Idols shall not stand.

Their harvest shall be burnt; their wives, which were their beauty when they came forth, shall be defiled. For it is a people without understanding, and therefore he that created them, shall not favour them; and he that made them, shall not be merciful to them.

For ye comfort yourselves thus: "Tush, we have made a covenant with death, and with hell we are at an agreement. Though there break out any sore plague, it shall not come upon us. For with deceit will we escape, and with nimbleness will we defend ourselves."

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD God: "Behold, I will lay a stone in Zion, a great stone, a costly corner stone, for a sure foundation: that whoso putteth his trust in him, shall not be confounded.

Thus the covenant that ye have made with death shall be done away: and the condition that ye made with hell, shall not stand. Yea, when the sore plague goeth forth, ye shall be trodden down under it.

For it shall go forth early in the morning, and continue only that day and that night. And the very fear only shall teach you, when ye hear it.

For the bed shall be so narrow that a man cannot lie upon it: And the covering too small, that a man may not wind himself therein.

And therefore make no mocks at it, that your captivity increase not. For I have heard the LORD God of Hosts say that there shall come a sudden destruction and plague upon the whole earth.

Goeth not the husbandman ever in due season earnestly to his land? He moweth and ploweth his ground to sow.

For he treadeth not the fitches out with a waine, neither bringeth he the cart here and there over the cumin, but he thresheth the fitches out with a flail, and the cumin with a rod.

And the multitude of all nations that fight against Ariel shall be as a dream seen by night; even so shall all they be that make war against it, and strongholds to overcome it.

Ponder these things once in your mind, and wonder: Blinded are they themselves, and the blind guides of others; they are drunken, but not with wine; they are unstable, but not through strong drink.

But if it be given to one that is not learned, saying, "Read thou, in it." Then sayeth he, "I cannot read."

Doubtless, your destruction is, in reputation, as the potter's clay. And doth the work say of him that made it, "He made me not?" And doth an earthen vessel say of the potter, "He understandeth not?"

See ye not that it is hard at hand, that Lebanon shall be turned into a low field, and that the low field shall be as the wood?

And therefore the LORD, even the defender of Abraham, sayeth thus unto the house of Jacob: "Now shall not Jacob be ashamed, nor his face confounded,

Alas, for those disobedient children," sayeth the LORD, "that will take counsel without me. Alas, that they will take a secret advice, and not out of my spirit: and therefore add they sin unto sin.

They were all ashamed of the people that could do them no good, and that might not help them, nor show them any profit - but were their confusion and rebuke."

Now therefore, go thy way; and write them this before them in a table, and note it in a book: that it may finally remain and be kept still forever.

For it is an obstinate people, unfaithful children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD.

They dare say to the Prophets, "See not," and unto them that be clear of judgment, "Tell us of nothing for to come, but speak friendly words unto us, and preach us false things.

And your destruction shall be like as an earthen pot, which breaketh no man touching it, yea and breaketh so sore, that a man shall not find a shiver of it to fetch fire in, or to take water withal out of the pit."

And though the LORD giveth you the bread of adversity, and the water of trouble, thine instructor flyeth not far from thee; if thine eyes look unto thine instructor,

and thine ears hearken to his word that cryeth after thee and sayeth, "This is the way. Walk ye in it. Turn not aside; neither to the righthand nor to the left."

But ye shall sing, as the use is in the night of the holy solemnity. Ye shall rejoice from your heart, as they that come with the pipe, when they go up to the mount of the LORD, unto the rock of Israel.

Woe be unto them that go down into Egypt for help, and trust in horses, and comfort themselves in chariots, because they be many, and in horsemen because they be lusty and strong. But they regard not the holy one of Israel, and they ask no question at the LORD.

Whereas he nevertheless plagueth the wicked, and yet goeth not from his word, when he steppeth forth, and taketh the victory against the household of the froward, and against the help of evil doers.