41 If thou dost turn back, O Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah, unto Me turn back, And if thou dost turn aside Thine abominations from My face, Then thou dost not bemoan. 2 And thou hast sworn—Jehovah liveth, In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, And blessed themselves in Him have nations, And in Him they boast themselves.

3 For thus said Jehovah, To the man of Judah, and to Jerusalem: Till for yourselves tillage, And do not sow unto the thorns. 4 Be circumcised to Jehovah, And turn aside the foreskins of your heart, O man of Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury go out as fire, and hath burned, And there is none quenching, Because of the evil of your doings.

Judah Threatened with Invasion

5 Declare in Judah, and in Jerusalem sound, And say ye, 'Blow a trumpet in the land,' Call ye fully, and say ye: 'Be gathered, and we go in to the fenced city.' 6 Lift up an ensign Zionward, Strengthen yourselves, stand not still, For evil I am bringing in from the north, And a great destruction. 7 Gone up hath a lion from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations hath journeyed, He hath come forth from his place To make thy land become a desolation, Thy cities are laid waste, without inhabitant. 8 For this, gird on sackcloth, lament and howl, For the fierce anger of Jehovah hath not turned back from us. 9 And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah: 'Perish doth the heart of the king, And the heart of the princes, And astonished have been the priests, And the prophets do wonder.' 10 And I say, 'Ah, Lord Jehovah, Surely thou hast entirely forgotten this people and Jerusalem, saying, Peace is for you, And struck hath a sword unto the soul!' 11 At that time it is said of this people, And of Jerusalem: 'A dry wind of high places in the wilderness,' The way of the daughter of My people, (Not for winnowing, nor for cleansing,) 12 A full wind from these doth come for Me, Now, also, I speak judgments with them. 13 Lo, as clouds he cometh up, And as a hurricane his chariots, Lighter than eagles have been his horses, Wo to us, for we have been spoiled. 14 Wash from evil thy heart, O Jerusalem, That thou mayest be saved, Till when dost thou lodge in thy heart Thoughts of thy strength? 15 For a voice is declaring from Dan, And sounding sorrow from mount Ephraim. 16 Make ye mention to the nations, Lo, sound ye to Jerusalem: 'Besiegers are coming from the land afar off, And they give forth against cities of Judah their voice. 17 As the keepers of a field They have been against her round about, For with Me she hath been rebellious, An affirmation of Jehovah.' 18 Thy way and thy doings have done these to thee, This 'is' thy vexation, for 'it is' bitter, For it hath struck unto thy heart.

19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained 'at' the walls of my heart, Make a noise for me doth My heart, I am not silent, For the voice of a trumpet I have heard, O my soul—a shout of battle! 20 Destruction on destruction is proclaimed, For spoiled hath been all the land, Suddenly spoiled have been my tents, In a moment—my curtains. 21 Till when do I see an ensign? Do I hear the voice of a trumpet? 22 For my people 'are' foolish, me they have not known, Foolish sons 'are' they, yea, they 'are' not intelligent, Wise 'are' they to do evil, And to do good they have not known. 23 I looked 'to' the land, and lo, waste and void, And unto the heavens, and their light is not. 24 I have looked 'to' the mountains, And lo, they are trembling. And all the hills moved themselves lightly. 25 I have looked, and lo, man is not, And all fowls of the heavens have fled. 26 I have looked, and lo, The fruitful place 'is' a wilderness, And all its cities have been broken down, Because of Jehovah, Because of the fierceness of His anger. 27 For thus said Jehovah: All the land is a desolation, but a completion I make not. 28 For this doth the land mourn, And black have been the heavens above, because I have spoken—I have purposed, And I have not repented, Nor do I turn back from it. 29 From the voice of the horseman, And of him shooting with the bow, all the city is fleeing, They have come into thickets, And on cliffs they have gone up, All the city is forsaken, And there is no one dwelling in them. 30 And thou, O spoiled one, what dost thou? For thou puttest on scarlet, For thou adornest thyself 'with' ornaments of gold. For thou rendest with pain thine eyes, In vain thou dost make thyself fair, Kicked against thee have doting ones, Thy life they do seek. 31 For a voice as of a sick woman I have heard, Distress, as of one bringing forth a first-born, The voice of the daughter of Zion, She bewaileth herself, she spreadeth out her hands, 'Wo to me now, for weary is my soul of slayers!'

The Sins of Jerusalem and Judah

51 Go to and fro in streets of Jerusalem, And see, I pray you, and know, And seek in her broad places, if ye find a man, If there be one doing judgment, seeking stedfastness—Then am I propitious to her. 2 And if they say, 'Jehovah liveth,' Surely to a falsehood they swear. 3 Jehovah, Thine eyes, are they not on stedfastness? Thou hast smitten them, and they have not grieved, Thou hast consumed them, They have refused to receive instruction, They made their faces harder than a rock, They have refused to turn back. 4 And I—I said, 'Surely these 'are' poor, They have been foolish, For they have not known the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God. 5 I get me to the great, and I speak with them, For they have known the way of Jehovah, The judgment of their God.' Surely they together have broken the yoke, They have drawn away the bands. 6 Therefore smitten them hath a lion out of the forest, A wolf of the deserts doth spoil them, A leopard is watching over their cities, Every one who is going out of them is torn, For many have been their transgressions, Mighty have been their backslidings. 7 For this I am not propitious to thee, Thy sons have forsaken Me, And are satisfied by that which is not god, I satisfy them, and they commit adultery, And at the house of a harlot They gather themselves together. 8 Fed horses—they have been early risers, Each to the wife of his neighbour they neigh. 9 For these do I not lay a charge? An affirmation of Jehovah, And on a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself?

10 Go ye up on her walls, and destroy, And a completion make not, Turn aside her branches, for they 'are' not Jehovah's, 11 For dealt treacherously against Me have the house of Israel, And the house of Judah, an affirmation of Jehovah. 12 They have lied against Jehovah, And they say, ''It is' not He, Nor come in against us doth evil, Yea, sword and famine we do not see. 13 And the prophets become wind, And the word is not in them,'—thus it is done by them. 14 Therefore, thus said Jehovah, God of Hosts, Because of your speaking this word, Lo, I am making My words in thy mouth become fire, And this people wood, and it hath devoured them. 15 Lo, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, an affirmation of Jehovah, A nation—strong it 'is', a nation—from of old it 'is', A nation—thou knowest not its tongue, Nor understandest what it speaketh. 16 Its quiver 'is' as an open sepulchre, All of them—mighty ones. 17 And it hath consumed thy harvest and thy bread, They consume thy sons, and thy daughters, It consumeth thy flock, and thy herd, It consumeth thy vine, and thy fig-tree, It maketh poor thy fenced cities, In which thou art trusting—by the sword. 18 And even in those days, an affirmation of Jehovah, I do not make you a completion. 19 And it hath come to pass, when ye say, 'For what hath Jehovah our God done to us all these?' That thou hast said unto them, 'As ye have forsaken Me, And serve the gods of a foreigner in your land, So do ye serve strangers in a land not yours.

20 Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, And sound ye it in Judah, saying, 21 Hear ye, I pray you, this, O people, foolish and without heart, Eyes they have, and they see not, Ears they have, and they hear not. 22 Me do ye not fear, an affirmation of Jehovah? From My presence are ye not pained? Who hath made sand the border of the sea, A limit age-during, and it passeth not over it, They shake themselves, and they are not able, Yea, sounded have its billows, and they pass not over. 23 And this people hath an apostate and rebellious heart, They have turned aside, and they go on. 24 And they have not said in their heart, 'Let us fear, we pray you, Jehovah our God, who is giving rain, The sprinkling and the gathered, in its season, The appointed weeks of harvest He keepeth for us.'

25 Your iniquities have turned these away, And your sins have kept the good from you. 26 For the wicked have been found among My people. It looketh about the covering of snares, They have set up a trap—men they capture. 27 As a cage full of fowls, So their houses are full of deceit, Therefore they have been great, and are rich. 28 They have been fat, they have shone, Yea, they have overpassed the acts of the evil, Judgment they have not judged, The judgment of the fatherless—and they prosper, And the judgment of the needy they have not judged. 29 For these do not I inspect, an affirmation of Jehovah, On a nation such as this, Doth not My soul avenge itself? 30 An astonishing and horrible thing hath been in the land. 31 The prophets have prophesied falsely, And the priests bear rule by their means, And My people have loved 'it' so, And what do they at its latter end?

The Doom of Jerusalem and Judah

61 Strengthen yourselves, sons of Benjamin, From the midst of Jerusalem, And in Tekoa blow ye a trumpet, And over Beth-Haccerem lift ye up a flame, For evil hath been seen from the north, And great destruction. 2 The comely and the delicate one I have cut off, The daughter of Zion. 3 Unto her come do shepherds and their droves, They have stricken tents by her round about, They have fed each 'in' his own station. 4 Sanctify ye against her the battle, Rise, and we go up at noon. Wo to us, for turned hath the day, For stretched out are the shades of evening, 5 'Rise, and we go up by night, And we destroy her palaces.' 6 For thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Cut down her wood, And pour out against Jerusalem a mount, She 'is' the city to be inspected, Wholly—she is oppression in her midst. 7 As the digging of a well, is 'for' its waters, So she hath digged 'for' her wickedness, Violence and spoil is heard in her, Before My face continually 'are' sickness and smiting. 8 Be instructed, O Jerusalem, Lest My soul be alienated from thee, Lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited.

9 Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: They surely glean, as a vine, the remnant of Israel, Put back thy hand, as a gatherer to the baskets. 10 To whom do I speak, and testify, and they hear? Lo, their ear 'is' uncircumcised, And they are not able to attend. Lo, a word of Jehovah hath been to them for a reproach, They delight not in it. 11 And with the fury of Jehovah I have been filled, (I have been weary of containing,) To pour 'it' on the suckling in the street, And on the assembly of youths together, For even husband with wife are captured, An elder with one full of days, 12 And their houses have been turned to others, Fields and wives together, For I stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah. 13 For from their least unto their greatest, Every one is gaining dishonest gain, And from prophet even unto priest, Every one is dealing falsely, 14 And they heal the breach of the daughter of my people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' and there is no peace. 15 They were ashamed when they did abomination! Yea, they are not at all ashamed, Yea, blushing they have not known, Therefore they do fall among those falling, In the time I have inspected them, They stumble, said Jehovah. 16 Thus said Jehovah: Stand ye by the ways and see, and ask for paths of old, Where 'is' this—the good way? and go ye in it, And find rest for yourselves. And they say, 'We do not go.' 17 And I have raised up for you watchmen, Attend ye to the voice of the trumpet. And they say, 'We do not attend.'

18 Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O company, That which 'is' upon them. 19 Hear, O earth, lo, I am bringing evil on this people, The fruit of their devices, For to My words they gave no attention, And My law—they kick against it. 20 Why 'is' this to Me? frankincense from Sheba cometh, And the sweet cane from a land afar off, Your burnt-offerings 'are' not for acceptance, And your sacrifices have not been sweet to Me. 21 Therefore thus said Jehovah: Lo, I do give to this people stumbling blocks, And stumbled against them have fathers and sons together, The neighbour and his friend do perish. 22 Thus said Jehovah: Lo, a people hath come from a north country, And a great nation is stirred up from the sides of the earth. 23 Bow and javelin they take hold of, Fierce it 'is', and they have no mercy, Their voice as a sea doth sound, And on horses they ride, set in array as a man of war, Against thee, O daughter of Zion. 24 'We have heard its sound, feeble have been our hands, Distress hath seized us, pain as of a travailing woman. 25 Go not forth to the field, And in the way walk not, For a sword hath the enemy, fear 'is' round about. 26 O daughter of My people, Gird on sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes, The mourning of an only one make for thee, A lamentation most bitter, For suddenly come doth the spoiler against us. 27 A watch-tower I have given thee, Among My people a fortress, And thou knowest, and hast tried their way. 28 All of them are turned aside by apostates, Walking slanderously—brass and iron, All of them are corrupters. 29 The bellows have been burnt, By fire hath the lead been consumed, In vain hath a refiner refined, And the wicked have not been drawn away. 30 'Silver rejected,' they have called to them, For Jehovah hath kicked against them!