Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, For Jehovah hath spoken: Sons I have nourished and brought up, And they -- they transgressed against Me.

Ah, sinning nation, a people heavy with iniquity, A seed of evil doers, sons -- corrupters! They have forsaken Jehovah, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have gone away backward.

From the sole of the foot -- unto the head, There is no soundness in it, Wound, and bruise, and fresh smiting! They have not been closed nor bound, Nor have they softened with ointment.

Your new moons and your set seasons hath My soul hated, They have been upon me for a burden, I have been weary of bearing.

Come, I pray you, and we reason, saith Jehovah, If your sins are as scarlet, as snow they shall be white, If they are red as crimson, as wool they shall be!

Thy princes are apostates, and companions of thieves, Every one loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards, The fatherless they judge not, And the plea of the widow cometh not to them.

And He hath judged between the nations, And hath given a decision to many peoples, And they have beat their swords to ploughshares, And their spears to pruning-hooks, Nation doth not lift up sword unto nation, Nor do they learn any more -- war.

For Thou hast left Thy people, the house of Jacob. For they have been filled from the east, And are sorcerers like the Philistines, And with the children of strangers strike hands.

And the idols -- they completely pass away.

In that day doth man cast his idols of silver, And his idols of gold, That they have made for him to worship, To moles, and to bats,

The appearance of their faces witnessed against them, And their sin, as Sodom, they declared, They have not hidden! Woe to their soul, For they have done to themselves evil.

Say ye to the righteous, that it is good, Because the fruit of their doings they eat.

Because that daughters of Zion have been haughty, And they walk stretching out the neck, And deceiving with the eyes, Walking and mincing they go, And with their feet they make a tinkling,

Woe to those joining house to house, Field to field they bring near, till there is no place, And ye have been settled by yourselves In the midst of the land!

Woe to those rising early in the morning, Strong drink they pursue! Tarrying in twilight, wine inflameth them!

And harp, and psaltery, tabret, and pipe, And wine, have been their banquets, And the work of Jehovah they behold not, Yea, the work of His hands they have not seen.

Declaring righteous the wicked for a bribe, And the righteousness of the righteous They turn aside from him.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire devoureth stubble, And flaming hay falleth, Their root is as muck, And their flower as dust goeth up. Because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of Hosts, And the saying of the Holy One of Israel despised.

And they have come, and rested all of them in the desolate valleys, And in holes of the rocks, and on all the thorns, And on all the commendable things.

And when they say unto you, 'Seek unto those having familiar spirits, And unto wizards, who chatter and mutter, Doth not a people seek unto its God? -- For the living unto the dead!

Thou hast multiplied the nation, Thou hast made great its joy, They have joyed before Thee as the joy in harvest, As men rejoice in their apportioning spoil.

Aram from before, and Philistia from behind, And they devour Israel with the whole mouth. With all this not turned back hath His anger, And still His hand is stretched out.

And the people hath not turned back unto Him who is smiting it, And Jehovah of Hosts they have not sought.

For burned as a fire hath wickedness, Brier and thorn it devoureth, And it kindleth in thickets of the forest, And they lift themselves up, an exaltation of smoke!

And cutteth down on the right, and hath been hungry, And he devoureth on the left, And they have not been satisfied, Each the flesh of his own arm they devour.

Manasseh -- Ephraim, and Ephraim -- Manasseh, Together they are against Judah, With all this not turned back hath His anger. And still His hand is stretched out!

To turn aside from judgment the poor, And to take violently away the judgment Of the afflicted of My people, That widows may be their prey, That the fatherless they may spoil.

Without Me it hath bowed down In the place of a bound one, And in the place of the slain they fall. With all this not turned back hath His anger, And still His hand is stretched out.

They have gone over the passage, Geba they have made a lodging place, Trembled hath Rama, Gibeah of Saul fled.

Evil they do not, nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For full hath been the earth with the knowledge of Jehovah, As the waters are covering the sea.

And they have flown on the shoulder of the Philistines westward, Together they spoil the sons of the east, Edom and Moab sending forth their hand, And sons of Ammon obeying them.

'On a high mountain lift ye up an ensign, Raise the voice to them, wave the hand, And they go in to the openings of nobles.

They are coming in from a land afar off, From the end of the heavens, Jehovah and the instruments of His indignation, To destroy all the land.

And they have been troubled, Pains and pangs they take, As a travailing woman they are pained, A man at his friend they marvel, The appearance of flames -- their faces!

And it hath been, as a roe driven away, And as a flock that hath no gatherer, Each unto his people -- they turn, And each unto his land -- they flee.

Lo, I am stirring up against them the Medes, Who silver esteem not, And gold -- they delight not in it.

And bows dash young men to pieces, And the fruit of the womb they pity not, On sons their eye hath no pity.

Because Jehovah loveth Jacob, And hath fixed again on Israel, And given them rest on their own land, And joined hath been the sojourner to them, And they have been admitted to the house of Jacob.

And peoples have taken them, And have brought them in unto their place, And the house of Israel have inherited them, On the land of Jehovah, For men-servants and for maid-servants, And they have been captors of their captors, And have ruled over their exactors.

At rest -- quiet hath been all the earth, They have broken forth into singing.

Thy beholders look to thee, to thee they attend, Is this the man causing the earth to tremble, Shaking kingdoms?

Prepare ye for his sons slaughter; Because of the iniquity of their fathers, They rise not, nor have possessed the land, Nor filled the face of the world with cities.

In its out-places they girded on sackcloth, On its pinnacles, and in its broad places, Every one howleth -- going down with weeping.

My heart is toward Moab, Cry do her fugitives unto Zoar, a heifer of the third year, For -- the ascent of Luhith -- With weeping he goeth up in it, For, in the way of Horonaim, A cry of destruction they wake up.

Therefore the abundance he made, and their store, Unto the brook of the willows they carry.

Therefore howl doth Moab for Moab, all of it doth howl, For the grape-cakes of Kir-Hareseth it meditateth, Surely they are smitten.

Because fields of Heshbon languish, The vine of Sibmah, Lords of nations did beat her choice vines, Unto Jazer they have come, They have wandered in a wilderness, Her plants have spread themselves, They have passed over a sea.

And removed have been gladness and joy from the fruitful field, And in vineyards they sing not, nor shout, Wine in the presses treadeth not the treader, Shouting I have caused to cease.

Forsaken are the cities of Aroer, For droves they are, and they have lain down, And there is none troubling.

In that day are the cities of his strength As the forsaken thing of the forest, And the branch that they have left, Because of the sons of Israel, It also hath been a desolation.

Woe to the multitude of many peoples, As the sounding of seas they sound; And to the wasting of nations, As the wasting of mighty waters they are wasted.

They are left together to the ravenous fowl of the mountains, And to the beast of the earth, And summered on them hath the ravenous fowl, And every beast of the earth wintereth on them.

And I armed Egyptians against Egyptians, And they fought, each against his brother, And each against his neighbour, City against city, kingdom against kingdom.

And emptied out hath been in its midst the spirit of Egypt. And its counsel I swallow up, And they have sought unto the idols, And unto the charmers, And unto those having familiar spirits, And unto the wizards.

And they have turned away the flowings, Weak and dried up have been brooks of the bulwark, Reed and flag have withered.

Where are they now, thy wise ones? Yea, let them tell to thee, I pray thee, And they know what Jehovah of Hosts hath counselled against Egypt!

Foolish have been princes of Zoan, Lifted up have been princes of Noph, And they have caused Egypt to err, The chief of her tribes.

Jehovah hath mingled in her midst A spirit of perverseness, And they have caused Egypt to err in all its work, As a drunkard erreth in his vomit.

And it hath been for a sign and for a testimony, To Jehovah of Hosts in the land of Egypt, For they cry unto Jehovah from the face of oppressors, And He sendeth to them a saviour, Even a great one, and hath delivered them.

And Jehovah hath smitten Egypt, smiting and healing, And they have turned back unto Jehovah, And He hath been entreated of them, And hath healed them.

and they have been affrighted and ashamed of Cush their confidence, and of Egypt their beauty,

To meet the thirsty brought water have Inhabitants of the land of Tema, With his bread they came before a fugitive.

For from the face of destructions they fled, From the face of a stretched-out sword, And from the face of a trodden bow, And from the face of the grievousness of battle.

All thy rulers fled together from the bow, Bound have been all found of thee, They have been kept bound together, Afar off they have fled.

And the breaches of the city of David ye have seen, For they have become many, And ye gather the waters of the lower pool,

And they have hanged on him All the honour of the house of his father, The offspring and the issue, All vessels of small quality, From vessels of basins to all vessels of flagons.

Be silent, ye inhabitants of the isle, Trader of Zidon, passing the sea, they filled thee.

As at the report of Egypt they are pained, So at the report of Tyre.

Lo, the land of the Chaldeans -- this people was not, Asshur founded it for the Ziim, They raised its watch-towers, They lifted up her palaces, -- He hath appointed her for a ruin!

Mourned, faded hath the land, Languished, faded hath the world, Languished have they -- the high place of the people of the land.

And the land hath been defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed laws, They have changed a statute, They have made void a covenant age-during.

With a song they drink not wine, Bitter is strong drink to those drinking it.

They -- they lift up their voice, They sing of the excellency of Jehovah, They have cried aloud from the sea.

And they have been gathered -- A gathering of bound ones in a pit, And shut up they have been in a prison, And after a multitude of days are inspected.

O Jehovah, high is Thy hand -- they see not, They see the zeal of the people, and are ashamed, Also, the fire -- Thine adversaries, consumeth them.

Dead -- they live not, Rephaim, they rise not, Therefore Thou hast inspected and dost destroy them, Yea, thou destroyest all their memory.

O Jehovah, in distress they missed Thee, They have poured out a whisper, Thy chastisement is on them.

Thy dead live -- My dead body they rise. Awake and sing, ye dwellers in the dust, For the dew of herbs is thy dew, And the land of Rephaim thou causest to fall.

Those coming in He causeth to take root, Jacob doth blossom, and flourished hath Israel, And they have filled the face of the world with increase.

Therefore by this is the iniquity of Jacob covered, And this is all the fruit -- To take away his sin, in His setting all the stones of an altar, As chalkstones beaten in pieces, They rise not -- shrines and images.

And even these through wine have erred, And through strong drink have wandered, Priest and prophet erred through strong drink, They have been swallowed up of the wine, They wandered because of the strong drink, They have erred in seeing, They have stumbled judicially.

Unto whom He hath said, 'This is the rest, give ye rest to the weary, And this -- the refreshing:' And they have not been willing to hear,

And to whom a word of Jehovah hath been, Rule on rule, rule on rule, line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there, So that they go and have stumbled backward, And been broken, and snared, and captured.

And the vision of the whole is to you, As words of the sealed book, That they give unto one knowing books, Saying, 'Read this, we pray thee,' And he hath said, 'I am not able, for it is sealed;'

And the Lord saith: Because drawn near hath this people, with its mouth, And with its lips they have honoured Me, And its heart it hath put far off from Me, And their fear of Me is -- A precept of men is taught!

Woe to those going deep from Jehovah to hide counsel, And whose works have been in darkness. And they say, 'Who is seeing us? And who is knowing us?'

For in his seeing his children, The work of My hand, in his midst, They sanctify My name, And have sanctified the Holy One of Jacob, And the God of Israel they declare fearful.

The burden of the beasts of the south. Into a land of adversity and distress, Of young lion and of old lion, Whence are viper and flying saraph, They carry on the shoulder of asses their wealth, And on the hump of camels their treasures, Unto a people not profitable.

Lo, for righteousness doth a king reign, As to princes, for judgment they rule.

For breasts they are lamenting, For fields of desire, for the fruitful vine.

Woe, spoiler! and thou not spoiled, And treacherous! and they dealt not treacherously with thee, When thou dost finish, O spoiler, thou art spoiled, When thou dost finish dealing treacherously, They deal treacherously with thee.

Lo, 'Their Ariel,' they have cried without, Messengers of peace do weep bitterly.

And peoples have been as burnings of lime, Thorns, as sweepings, with fire they burn.

A king in his beauty, see do thine eyes, They see a land afar off.

Left have been thy ropes, They strengthen not rightly their mast, They have not spread out a sail, Then apportioned hath been a prey of much spoil, The lame have taken spoil.

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

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.

And the ransomed of Jehovah return, And have entered Zion with singing. And joy age-during on their head, Joy and gladness they attain, And fled away have sorrow and sighing!