The LORD's Controversy with Israel

61 Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2 Hear, ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye, unchanging foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of Jehovah.

What the LORD Requires

6 Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will Jehovah take pleasure in thousands of rams, in ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He hath shewn thee, O man, what is good: and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with thy God?

9 Jehovah's voice crieth unto the city, and wisdom looketh on thy name. Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. 10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure [which is] abominable? 11 Shall I be pure with the unjust balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? 12 For her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 Therefore also will I make [thee] sick in smiting thee; I will make [thee] desolate because of thy sins. 14 Thou shalt eat, and not be satisfied, and thine emptiness [shall remain] in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take away, and not save; and what thou savest will I give up to the sword. 15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and new wine, but shalt not drink wine. 16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and ye walk in their counsels: that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing; and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

Israel's Moral Corruption

71 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer-fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat; there is no early fruit [which] my soul desired. 2 The godly [man] hath perished out of the land, and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood, they hunt every man his brother with a net. 3 Both hands are for evil, to do it well. The prince asketh, and the judge [is there] for a reward; and the great [man] uttereth his soul's greed: and [together] they combine it. 4 The best of them is as a briar; the most upright, [worse] than a thorn-fence. The day of thy watchmen, thy visitation is come; now shall be their perplexity. 5 Believe ye not in a companion, put not confidence in a familiar friend: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. 6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: a man's enemies are the men of his own household.

7 But as for me, I will look unto Jehovah; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

The LORD Brings Light and Deliverance

8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: though I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, Jehovah shall be a light unto me. 9 I will bear the indignation of Jehovah—for I have sinned against him—until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light; I shall behold his righteousness. 10 And mine enemy shall see [it], and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her; now shall she be trodden down, as the mire of the streets. 11 In the day when thy walls shall be built, on that day shall the established limit recede. 12 In that day they shall come to thee from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. 13 But the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

The LORD's Compassion on Israel

14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine inheritance, dwelling alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15 —As in the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt, will I shew them marvellous things. 16 —The nations shall see, and be ashamed for all their might: they shall lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 17 They shall lick dust like the serpent; like crawling things of the earth, they shall come trembling forth from their close places. They shall turn with fear to Jehovah our God, and shall be afraid because of thee. 18 Who is a God like unto thee, that forgiveth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in loving-kindness. 19 He will yet again have compassion on us, he will tread under foot our iniquities: and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 Thou wilt perform truth to Jacob, loving-kindness to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers, from the days of old.

The Two Beasts

131 And I stood upon the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads names of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like to a leopardess, and its feet as of a bear, and its mouth as a lion's mouth; and the dragon gave to it his power, and his throne, and great authority; 3 and one of his heads [was] as slain to death, and his wound of death had been healed: and the whole earth wondered after the beast. 4 And they did homage to the dragon, because he gave the authority to the beast; and they did homage to the beast, saying, Who [is] like to the beast? and who can make war with it? 5 And there was given to it a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies; and there was given to it authority to pursue its career forty-two months. 6 And it opened its mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and those who have their tabernacle in the heaven. 7 And there was given to it to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and there was given to it authority over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation; 8 and all that dwell on the earth shall do it homage, [every one] whose name had not been written from [the] founding of [the] world in the book of life of the slain Lamb. 9 If any one has an ear, let him hear. 10 If any one [leads] into captivity, he goes into captivity. If any one shall kill with [the] sword, he must with [the] sword be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.

11 And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and it had two horns like to a lamb, and spake as a dragon; 12 and it exercises all the authority of the first beast before it, and causes the earth and those that dwell in it to do homage to the first beast, whose wound of death was healed. 13 And it works great signs, that it should cause even fire to come down from heaven to the earth before men. 14 And it deceives those that dwell upon the earth by reason of the signs which it was given to it to work before the beast, saying to those that dwell upon the earth to make an image to the beast, which has the wound of the sword, and lived. 15 And it was given to it to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should also speak, and should cause that as many as should not do homage to the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And it causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bondmen, that they should give them a mark upon their right hand or upon their forehead; 17 and that no one should be able to buy or sell save he that had the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of its name. 18 Here is wisdom. He that has understanding let him count the number of the beast: for it is a man's number; and its number [is] six hundred [and] sixty-six.