The Holy Bible

Part 13 out of 29



thirsty.

32:7. The vessels of the deceitful are most wicked: for he hath framed
devices to destroy the meek, with lying words, when the poor man
speaketh judgment.

32:8. But the prince will devise such things as are worthy of a prince,
and he shall stand above the rulers.

32:9. Rise up, ye rich women, and hear my voice: ye confident
daughters, give ear to my speech.

32:10. For after days and a year, you that are confident shall be
troubled: for the vintage is at an end, the gathering shall come no
more.

32:11. Be astonished, ye rich women, be troubled, ye confident ones:
strip you, and be confounded, gird your loins.

32:12. Mourn for your breasts, for the delightful country, for the
fruitful vineyard.

32:13. Upon the land of my people shall thorns and briers come up: how
much more upon all the houses of joy, of the city that rejoiced?

32:14. For the house is forsaken, the multitude of the city is left,
darkness and obscurity are come upon its dens for ever. A joy of wild
asses, the pastures of flocks.

32:15. Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high: and the desert
shall be as a charmel, and charmel shall be counted for a forest.

32:16. An judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and justice shall sit
in charmel.

32:17. And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of
justice quietness, and security for ever.

32:18. And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the
tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest.

32:19. But hail shall be in the descent of the forest, and the city
shall be made very low.

32:20. Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters, sending thither the
foot of the ox and the ass.



Isaias Chapter 33


God's revenge against the enemies of his church. The happiness of the
heavenly Jerusalem.

33:1. Woe to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself also be
spoiled? and thou that despisest, shalt not thyself also be despised?
when thou shalt have made an end of spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled:
when being wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised.

That spoilest, etc. . .This is particularly directed to Sennacherib.

33:2. O Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou
our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble.

33:3. At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up
thyself the nations are scattered.

33:4. And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are
gathered, as when the ditches are full of them.

33:5. The Lord is magnified, for he hath dwelt on high: he hath filled
Sion with judgment and justice.

33:6. And there shall be faith in thy times: riches of salvation,
wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

33:7. Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall
weep bitterly.

The angels of peace. . .The messengers or deputies sent to negotiate a
peace.

33:8. The ways are made desolate, no one passeth by the road, the
covenant is made void, he hath rejected the cities, he hath not
regarded the men.

33:9. The land hath mourned, and languished: Libanus is confounded, and
become foul, and Saron is become as a desert: and Basan and Carmel are
shaken.

33:10. Now will I rise up, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now
will I lift up myself.

33:11. You shall conceive heat, you shall bring forth stubble: your
breath as fire shall devour you.

33:12. And the people shall be as ashes after a fire, as a bundle of
thorns they shall be burnt with fire.

33:13. Hear, you that are far off, what I have done, and you that are
near know my strength.

33:14. The sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling hath seized upon the
hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you
shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

33:15. He that walketh in justices, and speaketh truth, that casteth
away avarice by oppression, and shaketh his hands from all bribes, that
stoppeth his ears lest he hear blood, and shutteth his eyes that he may
see no evil.

33:16. He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his
highness: bread is given him, his waters are sure.

33:17. His eyes shall see the king in his beauty, they shall see the
land far off.

33:18. Thy heart shall meditate fear: where is the learned? where is he
that pondered the words of the law? where is the teacher of little
ones?

33:19. The shameless people thou shalt not see, the people of profound
speech: so that thou canst not understand the eloquence of his tongue,
in whom there is no wisdom.

33:20. Look upon Sion the city of our solemnity: thy eyes shall see
Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed:
neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, neither shall
any of the cords thereof be broken.

33:21. Because only there our Lord is magnificent: a place of rivers,
very broad and spacious streams: no ship with oars shall pass by it,
neither shall the great galley pass through it.

Of rivers. . .He speaks of the rivers of endless joys that flow from the
throne of God to water the heavenly Jerusalem, where no enemy's ship
can come, etc.

33:22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is
our king: he will save us.

33:23. Thy tacklings are loosed, and they shall be of no strength: thy
mast shall be in such condition, that thou shalt not be able to spread
the flag. Then shall the spoils of much prey be divided: the lame shall
take the spoil.

Thy tacklings. . .He speaks of the enemies of the church, under the
allegory of a ship that is disabled.

33:24. Neither shall he that is near, say: I am feeble. The people that
dwell therein, shall have their iniquity taken away from them.



Isaias Chapter 34


The general judgment of the wicked.

34:1. Come near, ye Gentiles, and hear, and hearken, ye people: let the
earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and every thing that
cometh forth of it.

34:2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury
upon all their armies: he hath killed them, and delivered them to
slaughter.

34:3. Their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shall
rise a stink: the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

34:4. And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens
shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down
as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree.

And all the host of the heavens. . .That is, the sun, moon, and stars.

34:5. For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down
upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment.

Idumea. . .Under the name of Idumea, or Edom a people that were enemies
of the Jews, are here understood the wicked in general, the enemies of
God and his church.

34:6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with
the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams full of
marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great
slaughter in the land of Edom.

34:7. And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the
mighty: their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with
the fat of fat ones.

The unicorns. . .That is, the great and mighty.

34:8. For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of
recompenses of the judgment of Sion.

The year of recompenses, etc. . .When the persecutors of Sion, that is,
of the church, shall receive their reward.

34:9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the
ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become
burning pitch.

34:10. Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall
go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none
shall pass through it for ever and ever.

34:11. The bittern and ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the
raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to
bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation.

34:12. The nobles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather
upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing.

34:13. And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the
thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of
dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.

34:14. And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry
out one to another, there hath the lamia lain down, and found rest for
herself.

34:15. There hath the ericius had its hole, and brought up its young
ones, and hath dug round about, and cherished them in the shadow
thereof: thither are the kites gathered together one to another.

34:16. Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one
of them was wanting, one hath not sought for the other: for that which
proceedeth out of my mouth, he hath commanded, and his spirit it hath
gathered them.

34:17. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it
to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to
generation they shall dwell therein.



Isaias Chapter 35


The joyful flourishing of Christ's kingdom: in his church shall be a
holy and secure way.

35:1. The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the
wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.

35:2. It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and
praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and
Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.

35:3. Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees.

35:4. Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your
God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and
will save you.

35:5. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the
deaf shall be unstopped.

35:6. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the
dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and
streams in the wilderness.

35:7. And that which was dry land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty
land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwelt before, shall
rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush.

35:8. And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the
holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto
you a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein.

35:9. No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go up by
it, nor be found there: but they shall walk there that shall be
delivered.

35:10. And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come into
Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.



Isaias Chapter 36


Sennacherib invades Juda: his blasphemies.

36:1. And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, that
Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against all the fenced cities
of Juda, and took them.

36:2. And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces from Lachis to
Jerusalem, to king Ezechias with a great army, and he stood by the
conduit of the upper pool in the way of the fuller's field.

36:3. And there went out to him Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was
over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the
recorder.

36:4. And Rabsaces said to them: Tell Ezechias: Thus saith the great
king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence wherein thou
trustest?

36:5. Or with what counsel or strength dost thou prepare for war? on
whom dost thou trust, that thou art revolted from me?

36:6. Lo thou trustest upon this broken staff of a reed, upon Egypt:
upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so
is Pharao king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

36:7. But if thou wilt answer me: We trust in the Lord our God: is it
not he whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away, and hath
said to Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar?

36:8. And now deliver thyself up to my lord the king of the Assyrians,
and I will give thee two thousand horses, and thou wilt not be able on
thy part to find riders for them.

36:9. And how wilt thou stand against the face of the judge of one
place, of the least of my master's servants? But if thou trust in
Egypt, in chariots and in horsemen:

36:10. And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to
destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up against this land, and destroy
it.

36:11. And Eliacim, and Sobna, and Joahe said to Rabsaces: Speak to thy
servants in the Syrian tongue: for we understand it: speak not to us in
the Jews' language in the hearing of the people, that are upon the
wall.

36:12. And Rabsaces said to them: Hath my master sent me to thy master
and to thee, to speak all these words; and not rather to the men that
sit on the wall; that they may eat their own dung, and drink their
urine with you?

36:13. Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the
Jews' language, and said: Hear the words of the great king, the king of
the Assyrians.

36:14. Thus saith the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you, for he shall
not be able to deliver you.

36:15. And let not Ezechias make you trust in the Lord, saying: The
Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the
hands of the king of the Assyrians.

36:16. Do not hearken to Ezechias: for thus said the king of the
Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to
me, and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree,
and drink ye every one the water of his cistern,

36:17. Till I come and take you away to a land, like to your own, a
land of corn and of wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

36:18. Neither let Ezechias trouble you, saying: The Lord will deliver
us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land out of the
hand of the king of the Assyrians?

36:19. Where is the god of Emath and of Arphad? where is the god of
Sepharvaim? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

36:20. Who is there among all the gods of these lands, that hath
delivered his country out of my hand, that the Lord may deliver
Jerusalem out of my hand?

36:21. And they held their peace, and answered him not a word. For the
king had commanded, saying: Answer him not.

36:22. And Eliacim the son of Helcias, that was over the house, and
Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder, went in to
Ezechias with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.



Isaias Chapter 37


Ezechias, his mourning and prayer. God's promise of protection. The
Assyrian army is destroyed. Sennacherib is slain.

37:1. And it came to pass, when king Ezechias had heard it, that he
rent his garments and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the
house of the Lord.

37:2. And he sent Eliacim who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe,
and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the
son of Amos the prophet.

37:3. And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of
tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come
to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

37:4. It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom
the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to blaspheme the living
God, and to reproach with words which the Lord thy God hath heard:
wherefore lift up by prayer for the remnant that is left.

37:5. And the servants of Ezechias came to Isaias.

37:6. And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus
saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with
which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.

37:7. Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a
message, and shall return to his own country, and I will cause him to
fall by the sword in his own country.

37:8. And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians
besieging Lobna. For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.

37:9. And he heard say about Tharaca the king of Ethiopia: He is come
forth to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers
to Ezechias, saying:

37:10. Thus shall you speak to Ezechias the king of Juda, saying: Let
not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem
shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.

37:11. Behold thou hast heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have
done to all countries which they have destroyed, and canst thou be
delivered?

37:12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have
destroyed, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that
were in Thalassar?

37:13. Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king
of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?

37:14. And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers,
and read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread
it before the Lord.

37:15. And Ezechias prayed to the Lord, saying:

37:16. Lord of hosts, God of Israel who sitteth upon the cherubims,
thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made
heaven and earth.

37:17. Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and
see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to
blaspheme the living God.

37:18. For of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid
waste lands, and their countries.

37:19. And they have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not
gods, but the works of men's hands, of wood and stone: and they broke
them in pieces.

37:20. And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand: and let all
the kingdoms of the earth know, that thou only art the Lord.

37:21. And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith
the Lord the God of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me
concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians:

37:22. This is the word which the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin
the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the
daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged the head after thee.

37:23. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and
against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on
high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

37:24. By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord: and
hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the
height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus: and I will cut down its
tall cedars, and its choice fir trees, and will enter to the top of its
height, to the forest of its Carmel.

Carmel. . .See these figurative expressions explained in the annotations
on the nineteenth chapter of the fourth book of Kings.

37:25. I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up with the sole
of my foot, all the rivers shut up in banks.

37:26. Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? from the
days of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and
it hath come to pass that hills fighting together, and fenced cities
should be destroyed.

37:27. The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled, and
were confounded: they became like the grass of the field, and the herb
of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered
before it was ripe.

37:28. I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and
thy rage against me.

37:29. When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears:
therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy lips,
and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

37:30. But to thee this shall be a sign: Eat this year the things that
spring of themselves, and in the second year eat fruits: but in the
third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of
them.

37:31. And that which shall be saved of the house of Juda, and which is
left, shall take root downward, and shall bear fruit upward:

37:32. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and salvation
from mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

37:33. Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the
Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into
it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it.

37:34. By the way that he came, he shall return, and into this city he
shall not come, saith the Lord.

37:35. And I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake,
and for the sake of David my servant.

37:36. And the angel of the Lord went out and slew in the camp of the
Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And they arose in the
morning, and behold they were all dead corpses.

37:37. And Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians went out and departed,
and returned, and dwelt in Ninive.

37:38. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of
Nesroch his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar his sons slew him with the
sword: and they fled into the land of Ararat, and Asarhaddon his son
reigned in his stead.



Isaias Chapter 38


Ezechias being advertised that he shall die, obtains by prayer a
prolongation of his life: in confirmation of which the sun goes back.
The canticle of Ezechias.

38:1. In those days Ezechias was sick even to death, and Isaias the son
of Amos the prophet cane unto him, and said to him: Thus saith the
Lord: Take order with thy house, for thou shalt die, and not live.

38:2. And Ezechias turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the
Lord,

38:3. And said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember how I have walked
before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that
which is good in thy sight. And Ezechias wept with great weeping.

38:4. And the word of the Lord came to Isaias, saying:

38:5. Go and say to Ezechias: Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy
father: I have heard thy prayer, and I have seen thy tears: behold I
will add to thy days fifteen years:

38:6. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king
of the Assyrians, and I will protect it.

38:7. And this shall be a sign to thee from the Lord, that the Lord
will do this word which he hath spoken:

38:8. Behold I will bring again the shadow of the lines, by which it is
now gone down in the sun dial of Achaz with the sun, ten lines
backward. And the sun returned ten lines by the degrees by which it was
gone down.

38:9. The writing of Ezechias king of Juda, when he had been sick, and
was recovered of his sickness.

38:10. I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell:
I sought for the residue of my years.

Hell. . .Sheol, or Hades, the region of the dead.

38:11. I said: I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living.
I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest.

38:12. My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me, as a
shepherd's tent. My life is cut off, as by a weaver: whilst I was yet
but beginning, he cut me off: from morning even to night thou wilt make
an end of me.

38:13. I hoped till morning, as a lion so hath he broken all my bones:
from morning even to night thou wilt make an end of me.

38:14. I will cry like a young swallow, I will meditate like a dove: my
eyes are weakened looking upward: Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou
for me.

38:15. What shall I say, or what shall he answer for me, whereas he
himself hath done it? I will recount to thee all my years in the
bitterness of my soul.

38:16. O Lord, if man's life be such, and the life of my spirit be in
such things as these, thou shalt correct me, and make me to live.

38:17. Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter: but thou hast
delivered my soul that it should not perish, thou hast cast all my sins
behind thy back.

38:18. For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise
thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for thy truth.

38:19. The living, the living, he shall give praise to thee, as I do
this day: the father shall make the truth known to the children.

38:20. O Lord, save me, and we will sing our psalms all the days of our
life in the house of the Lord.

38:21. Now Isaias had ordered that they should take a lump of figs, and
lay it as a plaster upon the wound, and that he should be healed.

38:22. And Ezechias had said: What shall be the sign that I shall go up
to the house of the Lord?



Isaias Chapter 39


Ezechias shews all his treasures to the ambassadors of Babylon: upon
which Isaias foretells the Babylonish captivity.

39:1. At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan king of
Babylon, sent letters and presents to Ezechias: for he had heard that
he had been sick and was recovered.

39:2. And Ezechias rejoiced at their coming, and he shewed them the
storehouses of his aromatical spices, and of the silver, and of the
gold, and of the sweet odours, and of the precious ointment, and all
the storehouses of his furniture, and all things that were found in his
treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion that
Ezechias shewed them not.

39:3. Then Isaias the prophet came to king Ezechias, and said to him:
What said these men, and from whence came they to thee? And Ezechias
said: From a far country they came to me, from Babylon.

39:4. And he said: What saw they in thy house? And Ezechias said: All
things that are in my house have they seen, there was not any thing
which I have not shewn them in my treasures.

39:5. And Isaias said to Ezechias: Hear the word of the Lord of hosts.

39:6. Behold the days shall come that all that is in thy house, and
that thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried
away into Babylon: there shall not any thing be left, saith the Lord.

39:7. And of thy children, that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt
beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of
the king of Babylon.

39:8. And Ezechias said to Isaias: The word of the Lord, which he hath
spoken, is good. And he said: Only let peace and truth be in my days.



Isaias Chapter 40


The prophet comforts the people with the promise of the coming of
Christ to forgive their sins. God's almighty power and majesty.

40:1. Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.

40:2. Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil
is come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the
hand of the Lord double for all her sins.

40:3. The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.

40:4. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall
be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways
plain.

40:5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
together shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.

40:6. The voice of one, saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry?
All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field.

40:7. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the
spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass:

40:8. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen: but the word of
our Lord endureth for ever.

40:9. Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings
to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good
tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda:
Behold your God:

40:10. Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall
rule: Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him.

40:11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather
together the lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom,
and he himself shall carry them that are with young.

40:12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and
weighed the heavens with his palm? who hath poised with three fingers
the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the
hills in a balance?

40:13. Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord? or who hath been his
counsellor, and hath taught him?

40:14. With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and
taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed
him the way of understanding?

40:15. Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted
as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little
dust.

40:16. And Libanus shall not be enough to burn, nor the beasts thereof
sufficient for a burnt offering.

40:17. All nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and
are counted to him as nothing, and vanity.

40:18. To whom then have you likened God? or what image will you make
for him?

40:19. Hath the workman cast a graven statue? or hath the goldsmith
formed it with gold, or the silversmith with plates of silver?

40:20. He hath chosen strong wood, and that will not rot: the skilful
workman seeketh how he may set up an idol that may not be moved.

40:21. Do you not know? hath it not been heard? hath it not been told
you from the beginning? have you not understood the foundations of the
earth?

40:22. It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens
as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.

40:23. He that bringeth the searchers of secrets to nothing, that hath
made the judges of the earth as vanity.

40:24. And surely their stock was neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted
in the earth: suddenly he hath blown upon them, and they are withered,
and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

40:25. And to whom have ye likened me, or made me equal, saith the Holy
One?

40:26. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these
things: who bringeth out their host by number, and calleth them all by
their names: by the greatness of his might, and strength, and power,
not one of them was missing.

40:27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel: My way is hid
from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

40:28. Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the
everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not
faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom.

40:29. It is he that giveth strength to the weary, and increaseth force
and might to them that are not.

40:30. You shall faint, and labour, and young men shall fall by
infirmity.

40:31. But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they
shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall
walk and not faint.



Isaias Chapter 41


The reign of the just one: the vanity of idols.

41:1. Let the islands keep silence before me, and the nations take new
strength: let them come near, and then speak, let us come near to
judgment together.

41:2. Who hath raised up the just one from the east, hath called him to
follow him? he shall give the nations in his sight, and he shall rule
over kings: he shall give them as the dust to his sword, as stubble
driven by the wind, to his bow.

41:3. He shall pursue them, he shall pass in peace, no path shall
appear after his feet.

41:4. Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the generations
from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the first and the last.

41:5. The islands saw it, and feared, the ends of the earth were
astonished, they drew near, and came.

41:6. Every one shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother:
Be of good courage.

41:7. The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him that
forged at that time, saying: It is ready for soldering: and he
strengthened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

41:8. But thou Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the
seed of Abraham my friend:

41:9. In whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from
the remote parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art
my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not cast thee away.

41:10. Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God:
I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of
my just one hath upheld thee.

41:11. Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and
ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that strive
against thee.

41:12. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that resist
thee: they shall be as nothing: and as a thing consumed the men that
war against thee.

41:13. For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to
thee: Fear not, I have helped thee.

41:14. Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I
have helped thee, saith the Lord: and thy Redeemer the Holy One of
Israel.

41:15. I have made thee as a new thrashing wain, with teeth like a saw:
thou shalt thrash the mountains, and break them in pieces: and shalt
make the hills as chaff.

41:16. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the
whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in
the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful.

41:17. The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none:
their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear them, I
the God of Israel will not forsake them.

41:18. I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst
of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the
impassable land into streams of waters.

41:19. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn, and the
myrtle, and the olive tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, the
elm, and the box tree together:

The thorn. . .In Hebrew, the shitta, or setim, a tree resembling the
white thorn.

41:20. That they may see and know, and consider, and understand
together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of
Israel hath created it.

41:21. Bring your cause near, saith the Lord: bring hither, if you have
any thing to allege, saith the King of Jacob.

41:22. Let them come, and tell us all things that are to come: tell us
the former things what they were: and we will set our heart upon them
and shall know the latter end of them, and tell us the things that are
to come.

41:23. Shew the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know
that ye are gods. Do ye also good or evil, if you can: and let us
speak, and see together.

41:24. Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which hath no
being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination.

41:25. I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the
rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and he shall make
princes to be as dirt, and as the potter treading clay.

41:26. Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know: and from
time of old, that we may say: Thou art just. There is none that
sheweth, nor that foretelleth, nor that heareth your words.

41:27. The first shall say to Sion: Behold they are here, and to
Jerusalem I will give an evangelist.

41:28. And I saw, and there was no one even among them to consult, or
who, when I asked, could answer a word.

41:29. Behold they are all in the wrong, and their works are vain:
their idols are wind and vanity.



Isaias Chapter 42


The office of Christ. The preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. The
blindness and reprobation of the Jews.

42:1. Behold my servant, I will uphold him: my elect, my soul
delighteth in him: I have given my spirit upon him, he shall bring
forth judgment to the Gentiles.

My servant. . .Christ, who according to his humanity, is the servant of
God.

42:2. He shall not cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall his
voice be heard abroad.

42:3. The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall
not quench, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

42:4. He shall not be sad, nor troublesome, till he set judgment in the
earth, and the islands shall wait for his law.

42:5. Thus saith the Lord God that created the heavens, and stretched
them out: that established the earth, and the things that spring out of
it: that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that
tread thereon.

42:6. I the Lord have called thee in justice, and taken thee by the
hand, and preserved thee. And I have given thee for a covenant of the
people, for a light of the Gentiles:

42:7. That thou mightest open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth
the prisoner out of prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the
prison house.

42:8. I the Lord, this is my name: I will not give my glory to another,
nor my praise to graven things.

42:9. The things that were first, behold they are come: and new things
do I declare: before they spring forth, I will make you hear them.

42:10. Sing ye to the Lord a new song, his praise is from the ends of
the earth: you that go down to the sea, and all that are therein: ye
islands, and ye inhabitants of them.

42:11. Let the desert and the cities thereof be exalted: Cedar shall
dwell in houses: ye inhabitants of Petra, give praise, they shall cry
from the top of the mountains.

Petra. . .A city that gives name to Arabia Petraea.

42:12. They shall give glory to the Lord, and shall declare his praise
in the islands.

42:13. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war shall
he stir up zeal: he shall shout and cry: he shall prevail against his
enemies.

42:14. I have always held my peace, I have kept silence, I have been
patient, I will speak now as a woman in labour: I will destroy, and
swallow up at once.

42:15. I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and will make all
their grass to wither: and I will turn rivers into islands, and will
dry up the standing pools.

42:16. And I will lead the blind into the way which they know not: and
in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk: I will
make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these
things have I done to them, and have not forsaken them.

42:17. They are turned back: let them be greatly confounded, that trust
in a graven thing, that say to a molten thing: You are our god.

42:18. Hear, ye deaf, and, ye blind, behold that you may see.

42:19. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, but he to whom I have
sent my messengers? Who is blind, but he that is sold? or who is blind,
but the servant of the Lord?

42:20. Thou that seest many things, wilt thou not observe them? thou
that hast ears open, wilt thou not hear?

42:21. And the Lord was willing to sanctify him, and to magnify the
law, and exalt it.

42:22. But this is a people that is robbed and wasted: they are all the
snare of young men, and they are hid in the houses of prisons: they are
made a prey, and there is none to deliver them: a spoil, and there is
none that saith: Restore.

42:23. Who is there among you that will give ear to this, that will
attend and hearken for times to come?

42:24. Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to robbers? hath
not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned? And they would not
walk in his ways, and they have not hearkened to his law.

42:25. And he hath poured out upon him the indignation of his fury, and
a strong battle, and hath burnt him round about, and he knew not: and
set him on fire, and he understood not.



Isaias Chapter 43


God comforts his church, promising to protect her for ever: he
expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude.

43:1. And now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and
formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, and called
thee by thy name: thou art mine.

43:2. When thou shalt pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and
the rivers shall not cover thee: when thou shalt walk in the fire, thou
shalt not be burnt, and the flames shall not burn in thee:

43:3. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I
have given Egypt for thy atonement, Ethiopia and Saba for thee.

43:4. Since thou becamest honourable in my eyes, thou art glorious: I
have loved thee, and I will give men for thee, and people for thy life.

43:5. Fear not, for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the
east, and gather thee from the west.

43:6. I will say to the north: Give up: and to the south: Keep not
back: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the
earth.

43:7. And every one that calleth upon my name, I have created him for
my glory. I have formed him, and made him.

43:8. Bring forth the people that are blind, and have eyes: that are
deaf, and have ears.

43:9. All the nations are assembled together, and the tribes are
gathered: who among you can declare this, and shall make us hear the
former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, let them be
justified, and hear, and say: It is truth.

43:10. You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have
chosen: that you may know, and believe me, and understand that I myself
am. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there shall be
none.

43:11. I am, I am the Lord: and there is no saviour besides me.

43:12. I have declared, and have saved. I have made it heard, and there
was no strange one among you. You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and
I am God.

43:13. And from the beginning I am the same, and there is none that can
deliver out of my hind: I will work, and who shall turn it away?

43:14. Thus saith the Lord your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For
your sake I sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their bars, and
the Chaldeans glorying in their ships.

43:15. I am the Lord your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.

43:16. Thus saith the Lord, who made a way in the sea, and a path in
the mighty waters.

43:17. Who brought forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the
strong: they lay down to sleep together, and they shall not rise again:
they are broken as flax, and are extinct.

43:18. Remember not former things, and look not on things of old.

43:19. Behold I do new things, and now they shall spring forth, verily
you shall know them: I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in
the desert.

43:20. The beast of the field shall glorify me, the dragons and the
ostriches: because I have given waters in the wilderness, rivers in the
desert, to give drink to my people, to my chosen.

43:21. This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my
praise.

43:22. But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob, neither hast thou
laboured about me, O Israel.

43:23. Thou hast not offered me the ram of thy holocaust, nor hast thou
glorified me with thy victims: I have not caused thee to serve with
oblations, nor wearied thee with incense.

43:24. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou
filled me with the fat of thy victims. But thou hast made me to serve
with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thy iniquities.

43:25. I am, I am he that blot out thy iniquities for my own sake, and
I will not remember thy sins.

43:26. Put me in remembrance, and let us plead together: tell if thou
hast any thing to justify thyself.

43:27. Thy first father sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed
against me.

43:28. And I have profaned the holy princes, I have given Jacob to
slaughter, and Israel to reproach.



Isaias Chapter 44


God's favour to his church. The folly of idolatry. The people shall be
delivered from captivity.

44:1. And now hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen.

44:2. Thus saith the Lord that made and formed thee, thy helper from
the womb: Fear not, O my servant Jacob, and thou most righteous whom I
have chosen.

44:3. For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams
upon the dry land: I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and my
blessing upon thy stock.

44:4. And they shall spring up among the herbs, as willows beside the
running waters.

44:5. One shall say: I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by
the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand, To the
Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

44:6. Thus saith the Lord the king of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord
of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no
God.

44:7. Who is like to me? let him call and declare: and let him set
before me the order, since I appointed the ancient people: and the
things to come, and that shall be hereafter, let them shew unto them.

44:8. Fear ye not, neither be ye troubled from that time I have made
thee to hear, and have declared: you are my witnesses. Is there a God
besides me, a maker, whom I have not known?

44:9. The makers of idols are all of them nothing, and their best
beloved things shall not profit them. They are their witnesses, that
they do not see, nor understand, that they may be ashamed.

44:10. Who hath formed a god, and made a graven thing that is
profitable for nothing?

44:11. Behold, all the partakers thereof shall be confounded: for the
makers are men: they shall all assemble together, they shall stand and
fear, and shall be confounded together.

44:12. The smith hath wrought with his file, with coals, and with
hammers he hath formed it, and hath wrought with the strength of his
arm: he shall hunger and faint, he shall drink no water, and shall be
weary.

44:13. The carpenter hath stretched out his rule, he hath formed it
with a plane: he hath made it with corners, and hath fashioned it round
with the compass: and he hath made the image of a man as it were a
beautiful man dwelling in a house.

44:14. He hath cut down cedars, taken the holm, and the oak that stood
among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine tree, which the
rain hath nourished.

44:15. And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed
himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a
god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it.

44:16. Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed
his meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said:
Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.

44:17. But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for
himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth unto it,
saying: Deliver me, for thou art my God.

44:18. They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered
that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their
heart.

44:19. They do not consider in their mind, nor know, nor have the
thought to say: I have burnt part of it in the fire, and I have baked
bread upon the coals thereof: I have broiled flesh and have eaten, and
of the residue thereof shall I make an idol? shall I fall down before
the stock of a tree?

44:20. Part thereof is ashes: his foolish heart adoreth it, and he will
not save his soul, nor say: Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand.

44:21. Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for thou art my
servant. I have formed thee, thou art my servant, O Israel, forget me
not.

44:22. I have blotted out thy iniquities as a cloud, and thy sins as a
mist: return to me, for I have redeemed thee.

44:23. Give praise, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath shewn mercy: shout
with joy, ye ends of the earth: ye mountains, resound with praise,
thou, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed
Jacob, and Israel shall be glorified.

44:24. Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, and thy maker, from the womb:
I am the Lord, that make all things, that alone stretch out the
heavens, that established the earth, and there is none with me.

44:25. That make void the tokens of diviners, and make the soothsayers
mad. That turn the wise backward, and that make their knowledge
foolish.

44:26. That raise up the word of my servant and perform the counsel of
my messengers, who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be inhabited: and to
the cities of Juda: You shall be built, and I will raise up the wastes
thereof.

44:27. Who say to the deep: Be thou desolate, and I will dry up thy
rivers.

44:28. Who say to Cyrus: Thou art my shepherd, and thou shalt perform
all my pleasure. Who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be built: and to the
temple: Thy foundations shall be laid.



Isaias Chapter 45


A prophecy of Cyrus, as a figure of Christ, the great deliverer of
God's people.

45:1. Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have
taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs
of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be
shut.

45:2. I will go before thee, and will humble the great ones of the
earth: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and will burst the
bars of iron.

45:3. And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the concealed riches
of secret places: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call
thee by thy name, the God of Israel.

45:4. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my elect, I have
even called thee by thy name: I have made a likeness of thee, and thou
hast not known me.

45:5. I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God besides
me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me:

45:6. That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they
who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord,
and there is none else:

45:7. I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create
evil: I the Lord that do all these things.

Create evil, etc. . .The evils of afflictions and punishments, but not
the evil of sin.

45:8. Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain
the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let
justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him.

45:9. Woe to him that gainsayeth his maker, a sherd of the earthen
pots: shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it: What art thou
making, and thy work is without hands?

45:10. Woe to him that saith to his father: Why begettest thou? and to
the woman: Why dost thou bring forth?

45:11. Thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel, his maker: Ask me of
things to come, concerning my children, and concerning the work of my
hands give ye charge to me.

45:12. I made the earth: and I created man upon it: my hand stretched
forth the heavens, and I have commanded all their host.

45:13. I have raised him up to justice, and I will direct all his ways:
he shall build my city, and let go my captives, not for ransom, nor for
presents, saith the Lord the God of hosts.

45:14. Thus saith the Lord: The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of
Ethiopia, and of Sabaim, men of stature shall come over to thee, and
shall be thine: they shall walk after thee, they shall go bound with
manacles: and they shall worship thee, and shall make supplication to
thee: only in thee is God, and there is no God besides thee.

45:15. Verily thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel the saviour.

45:16. They are all confounded and ashamed: the forgers of errors are
gone together into confusion.

45:17. Israel is saved in the Lord with an eternal salvation: you shall
not be confounded, and you shall not be ashamed for ever and ever.

45:18. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself
that formed the earth, and made it, the very maker thereof: he did not
create it in vain: he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and
there is no other.

45:19. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I
have not said to the seed of Jacob: Seek me in vain. I am the Lord that
speak justice, that declare right things.

45:20. Assemble yourselves, and come, and draw near together, ye that
are saved of the Gentiles: they have no knowledge that set up the wood
of their graven work, and pray to a god that cannot save.

45:21. Tell ye, and come, and consult together: who hath declared this
from the beginning, who hath foretold this from that time? Have not I
the Lord, and there is no God else besides me? A just God and a
saviour, there is none besides me.

45:22. Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the
earth: for I am God, and there is no other.

45:23. I have sworn by myself, the word of justice shall go out of my
mouth, and shall not return:

45:24. For every knee shall be bowed to me, and every tongue shall
swear.

45:25. Therefore shall he say: In the Lord are my justices and empire:
they shall come to him, and all that resist him shall be confounded.

45:26. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and
praised.



Isaias Chapter 46


The idols of Babylon shall be destroyed. Salvation is promised through
Christ.

46:1. Bel is broken, Nebo is destroyed: their idols are put upon beasts
and cattle, your burdens of heavy weight even unto weariness.

46:2. They are consumed, and are broken together: they could not save
him that carried them, and they themselves shall go into captivity.

46:3. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house
of Israel who are carried by my bowels, are borne up by my womb.

46:4. Even to your old age I am the same, and to your grey hairs I will
carry you: I have made you, and I will bear: I will carry and will
save.

46:5. To whom have you likened me, and made me equal, and compared me,
and made me like?

46:6. You that contribute gold out of the bag, and weigh out silver in
the scales: and hire a goldsmith to make a god: and they fall down and
worship.

46:7. They bear him on their shoulders and carry him, and set him in
his place, and he shall stand, and shall not stir out of his place.
Yea, when they shall cry also unto him, he shall not hear: he shall not
save them from tribulation.

46:8. Remember this, and be ashamed: return, ye transgressors, to the
heart.

46:9. Remember the former age, for I am God, and there is no God
beside, neither is there the like to me:

46:10. Who shew from the beginning the things that shall be at last,
and from ancient times the things that as yet are not done, saying: My
counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done:

46:11. Who call a bird from the east, and from a far country the man of
my own will, and I have spoken, and will bring it to pass: I have
created, and I will do it. Hear me, O ye hardhearted, who are far from
justice.

46:12. I have brought my justice near, it shall not be afar off: and my
salvation shall not tarry. I will give salvation in Sion, and my glory
in Israel.



Isaias Chapter 47


God's judgment upon Babylon.

47:1. Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on
the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for
thou shalt no more be called delicate and tender.

47:2. Take a millstone and grind meal: uncover thy shame, strip thy
shoulder, make bare thy legs, pass over the rivers.

47:3. Thy nakedness shall be discovered, and thy shame shall be seen: I
will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me.

47:4. Our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of
Israel.

47:5. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the
Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms.

47:6. I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and
have given them into thy hand: thou hast shewn no mercy to them: upon
the ancient thou hast laid thy yoke exceeding heavy.

47:7. And thou hast said: I shall be a lady for ever: thou hast not
laid these things to thy heart, neither hast thou remembered thy latter
end.

47:8. And now hear these things, thou that art delicate, and dwellest
confidently, that sayest in thy heart: I am, and there is none else
besides me: I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know
barrenness.

47:9. These two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day,
barrenness and widowhood. All things are come upon thee, because of the
multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great hardness of thy
enchanters.

47:10. And thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and hast said: There is
none that seeth me. Thy wisdom, and, thy knowledge, this hath deceived
thee. And thou hast said in thy heart: I am, and besides me there is no
other.

47:11. Evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising
thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon thee, which thou canst
not keep off: misery shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt
not know.

47:12. Stand now with thy enchanters, and with the multitude of thy
sorceries, in which thou hast laboured from thy youth, if so be it may
profit thee any thing, or if thou mayst become stronger.

47:13. Thou hast failed in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the
astrologers stand and save thee, they that gazed at the stars, and
counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that
shall come to thee.

47:14. Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burnt them, they shall not
deliver themselves from the power of the flames: there are no coals
wherewith they may be warmed, nor fire, that they may sit thereat.

47:15. Such are all the things become to thee, in which thou hast
laboured: thy merchants from thy youth, every one hath erred in his own
way, there is none that can save thee.



Isaias Chapter 48


He reproaches the Jews for their obstinacy: he will deliver them out of
their captivity, for his own name's sake.

48:1. Hear ye these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by
the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Juda, you
who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of
Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice.

48:2. For they are called of the holy city, and are established upon
the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name.

48:3. The former things of old, I have declared, and they went forth
out of my mouth, and I have made them to be heard: I did them suddenly
and they came to pass.

48:4. For I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is as an iron
sinew, and thy forehead as brass.

48:5. I foretold thee of old, before they came to pass I told thee,
lest thou shouldst say: My idols have done these things, and my graven
and molten things have commanded them.

48:6. See now all the things which thou hast heard: but have you
declared them? I have shewn thee new things from that time, and things
are kept which thou knowest not:

48:7. They are created now, and not of old: and before the day, when
thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldst say: Behold I knew them.

48:8. Thou hast neither heard, nor known, neither was thy ear opened of
old. For I know that transgressing thou wilt transgress, and I have
called thee a transgressor from the womb.

48:9. For my name's sake I will remove my wrath far off: and for my
praise I will bridle thee, lest thou shouldst perish.

48:10. Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen
thee in the furnace of poverty.

48:11. For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be
blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another.

48:12. Hearken to me, O Jacob, and thou Israel whom I call: I am he, I
am the first, and I am the last.

48:13. My hand also hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath
measured the heavens: I shall call them, and they shall stand together.

48:14. Assemble yourselves together, all you, and hear: who among them
hath declared these things? the Lord hath loved him, he will do his
pleasure in Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

48:15. I, even I have spoken and called him: I have brought him, and
his way is made prosperous.

48:16. Come ye near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret
from the beginning: from the time before it was done, I was there, and
now the Lord God hath sent me, and his spirit.

48:17. Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am
the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in
the way that thou walkest.

48:18. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had
been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea,

48:19. And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy
bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor
have been destroyed from before my face.

48:20. Come forth out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, declare
it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even
to the ends of the earth. Say: The Lord hath redeemed his servant
Jacob.

48:21. They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he
brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock,
and the waters gushed out.

48:22. There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.



Isaias Chapter 49


Christ shall bring the Gentiles to salvation. God's love to his church
is perpetual.

49:1. Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord
hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he hath been
mindful of my name.

49:2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of
his hand he hath protected me, and hath made me as a chosen arrow: in
his quiver he hath hidden me.

49:3. And he said to me: Thou art my servant Israel, for in thee will I
glory.

49:4. And I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength
without cause and in vain: therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and
my work with my God.

49:5. And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his
servant, that I may bring back Jacob unto him, and Israel will not be
gathered together: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my
God is made my strength.

49:6. And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel.
Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou
mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.

49:7. Thus saith the Lord the redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to the
soul that is despised, to the nation that is abhorred, to the servant
of rulers: Kings shall see, and princes shall rise up, and adore for
the Lord's sake, because he is faithful, and for the Holy One of
Israel, who hath chosen thee.

49:8. Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and
in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee,
and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise
up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed:

49:9. That thou mightest say to them that are bound: Come forth: and to
them that are in darkness: Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the
ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain.

49:10. They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor
the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their
shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink.

49:11. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be
exalted.

49:12. Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the
north and from the sea, and these from the south country.

49:13. Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains,
give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his
people, and will have mercy on his poor ones.

49:14. And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath
forgotten me.

49:15. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son
of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee.

49:16. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always
before my eyes.

49:17. Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee
waste shall go out of thee.

49:18. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered
together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be
clothed with all these as with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt
put them about thee.

49:19. For thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy
destruction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and
they that swallowed thee up shall be chased far away.

49:20. The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The
place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in.

49:21. And thou shalt say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these? I was
barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive: and who hath
brought up these? I was destitute and alone: and these, where were
they?

49:22. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lift up my hand to the
Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the people. And they shall
bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their
shoulders.

49:23. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses:
they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and they
shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the
Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him.

49:24. Shall the prey be taken from the strong? or can that which was
taken by the mighty, be delivered?

49:25. For thus saith the Lord: Yea verily, even the captivity shall be
taken away from the strong: and that which was taken by the mighty,
shall be delivered. But I will judge those that have judged thee, and
thy children I will save.

49:26. And I will feed thy enemies with their own flesh: and they shall
be made drunk with their own blood, as with new wine: and all flesh
shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, and thy Redeemer the
Mighty One of Jacob.



Isaias Chapter 50


The synagogue shall be divorced for her iniquities. Christ for her sake
will endure ignominious afflictions.

50:1. Thus saith the Lord: What is this bill of the divorce of your
mother, with which I have put her away? or who is my creditor, to whom
I sold you: behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your
wicked deeds have I put your mother away.

50:2. Because I came, and there was not a man: I called, and there was
none that would hear. Is my hand shortened and become little, that I
cannot redeem? or is there no strength in me to deliver? Behold at my
rebuke I will make the sea a desert, I will turn the rivers into dry
land: the fishes shall rot for want of water, and shall die for thirst.

50:3. I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth
their covering.

50:4. The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how
to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakeneth in the morning, in the
morning he wakeneth my ear, that I may hear him as a master.

50:5. The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I do not resist: I have not
gone back.

50:6. I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that
plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me,
and spit upon me.

50:7. The Lord God is my helper, therefore am I not confounded:
therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I
shall not be confounded.

50:8. He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me? let us
stand together, who is my adversary? let him come near to me.

50:9. Behold the Lord God is my helper: who is he that shall condemn
me? Lo, they shall all be destroyed as a garment, the moth shall eat
them up.

50:10. Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that heareth the
voice of his servant, that hath walked in darkness, and hath no light?
let him hope in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God.

50:11. Behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with flames, walk
in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled:
this is done to you by my hand, you shall sleep in sorrows.



Isaias Chapter 51


An exhortation to trust in Christ. He shall protect the children of his
church.

51:1. Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that
seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole
of the pit from which you are dug out.

51:2. Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you: for I
called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him.

51:3. The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the
ruins thereof: and he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and
her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be
found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise.

51:4. Hearken unto me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my tribes:
for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest to be a
light of the nations.

51:5. My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth, and my
arms shall judge the people: the islands shall look for me, and shall
patiently wait for my arm.

51:6. Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth beneath:
for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall be worn
away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like
manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not
fail.

51:7. Hearken to me, you that know what is just, my people who have my
law in your heart: fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid
of their blasphemies.

51:8. For the worm shall eat them up as a garment: and the moth shall
consume them as wool: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my
justice from generation to generation.

51:9. Arise, arise, put on strength, O thou arm of the Lord, arise as
in the days of old, in the ancient generations. Hast not thou struck
the proud one, and wounded the dragon?

51:10. Hast not thou dried up the sea, the water of the mighty deep,
who madest the depth of the sea a way, that the delivered might pass
over?

51:11. And now they that are redeemed by the Lord, shall return, and
shall come into Sion singing praises, and joy everlasting shall be upon
their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning
shall flee away.

51:12. I myself will comfort you: who art thou, that thou shouldst be
afraid of a mortal man, and of the son of man, who shall wither away
like grass?

51:13. And thou hast forgotten the Lord thy maker, who stretched out
the heavens, and founded the earth: and thou hast been afraid
continually all the day at the presence of his fury who afflicted thee,
and had prepared himself to destroy thee: where is now the fury of the
oppressor?

51:14. He shall quickly come that is going to open unto you, and he
shall not kill unto utter destruction, neither shall his bread fail.

51:15. But I am the Lord thy God, who trouble the sea, and the waves
thereof swell: the Lord of hosts is my name.

51:16. I have put my words in thy mouth, and have protected thee in the
shadow of my hand, that thou mightest plant the heavens, and found the
earth: and mightest say to Sion: Thou art my people.

51:17. Arise, arise, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the
hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk even to the
bottom of the cup of dead sleep, and thou hast drunk even to the dregs.

51:18. There is none that can uphold her among all the children that
she hath brought forth: and there is none that taketh her by the hand
among all the children that she hath brought up.

51:19. There are two things that have happened to thee: who shall be
sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the
sword, who shall comfort thee?

51:20. Thy children are cast forth, they have slept at the head of all
the ways, and the wild ox that is snared: full of the indignation of
the Lord, of the rebuke of thy God.

51:21. Therefore hear this, thou poor little one, and thou that art
drunk but not with wine.

51:22. Thus saith thy Sovereign the Lord, and thy God, who will fight
for his people: Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of dead
sleep, the dregs of the cup of my indignation, thou shalt not drink it
again any more.

51:23. And I will put it in the hand of them that have oppressed thee,
and have said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast
laid thy body as the ground, and as a way to them that went over.



Isaias Chapter 52


Under the figure of the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, the
church is invited to rejoice for her redemption from sin. Christ's
kingdom shall be exalted.

52:1. Arise, arise, put on thy strength, O Sion, put on the garments of
thy glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One: for henceforth the
uncircumcised, and unclean shall no more pass through thee.

52:2. Shake thyself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem: loose
the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion.

52:3. For thus saith the Lord: You were sold gratis, and you shall be
redeemed, without money.

52:4. For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down into Egypt at
the beginning to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them
without any cause at all.

52:5. And now what have I here, saith the Lord: for my people is taken
away gratis. They that rule over them treat them unjustly, saith the
Lord, and my name is continually blasphemed all the day long.

52:6. Therefore my people shall know my name in that day: for I myself
that spoke, behold I am here.

52:7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that
bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: of him that sheweth
forth good, that preacheth salvation, that saith to Sion: Thy God shall
reign!

52:8. The voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they
shall praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord
shall convert Sion.

52:9. Rejoice, and give praise together, O ye deserts of Jerusalem: for
the Lord hath comforted his people: he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

52:10. The Lord hath prepared his holy arm in the sight of all the
Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our
God.

52:11. Depart, depart, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing:
go out of the midst of her, be ye clean, you that carry the vessels of
the Lord.

52:12. For you shall not go out in a tumult, neither shall you make
haste by flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel
will gather you together.

52:13. Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted, and
extolled, and shall be exceeding high.

52:14. As many have been astonished at thee, so shall his visage be
inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men.

52:15. He shall sprinkle many nations, kings shall shut their mouth at
him: for they to whom it was not told of him, have seen: and they that
heard not, have beheld.



Isaias Chapter 53


A prophecy of the passion of Christ.

53:1. Who a hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed?

53:2. And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root
out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and
we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be
desirous of him:

53:3. Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and
despised, whereupon we esteemed him not.

53:4. Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and
we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and
afflicted.

53:5. But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our
sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we
are healed.

53:6. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside
into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

53:7. He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his
mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb
as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth.

53:8. He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall
declare his generation? because he is cut off out of the land of the
living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him.

53:9. And he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for
his death: because he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit
in his mouth.

53:10. And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall
lay down his life for sin, he shall see a longlived seed, and the will
of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand.

53:11. Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by
his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall
bear their iniquities.

53:12. Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall
divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul
unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins
of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors.



Isaias Chapter 54


The Gentiles, who were barren before, shall multiply in the church of
Christ: from which God's mercy shall never depart.

54:1. Give praise, O thou barren, that bearest not: sing forth praise,
and make a joyful noise, thou that didst not travail with child: for
many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a
husband, saith the Lord.

54:2. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy
tabernacles, spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.

54:3. For thou shalt pass on to the right hand, and to the left: and
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and shall inhabit the desolate
cities.

54:4. Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded, nor blush: for thou
shalt not be put to shame, because thou shalt forget the shame of thy
youth, and shalt remember no more the reproach of thy widowhood.

54:5. For he that made thee shall rule over thee, the Lord of hosts is
his name: and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the
God of all the earth.

54:6. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and mourning in
spirit, and as a wife cast off from her youth, said thy God.

54:7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies
will I gather thee.

54:8. In a moment of indignation have I hid my face a little while from
thee, but with everlasting kindness have I had mercy on thee, said the
Lord thy Redeemer.

54:9. This thing is to me as in the days of Noe, to whom I swore, that
I would no more bring in the waters of Noe upon the earth: so have I
sworn not to be angry with thee, and not to rebuke thee.

54:10. For the mountains shall be moved, and the hills shall tremble;
but my mercy shall not depart from thee, and the covenant of my peace
shall not be moved: said the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

54:11. O poor little one, tossed with tempest, without all comfort,
behold I will lay thy stones in order, and will lay thy foundations
with sapphires,

54:12. And I will make thy bulwarks of jasper: and thy gates of graven
stones, and all thy borders of desirable stones.

54:13. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord: and great shall be
the peace of thy children.

54:14. And thou shalt be founded in justice: depart far from
oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not
come near thee.

54:15. Behold, an inhabitant shall come, who was not with me, he that
was a stranger to thee before, shall be joined to thee.

54:16. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the
fire, and bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created
the killer to destroy.

54:17. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper: and every
tongue that resisteth thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. This is the
inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their justice with me,
saith the Lord.



Isaias Chapter 55


God promises abundance of spiritual graces to the faithful, that shall
believe in Christ out of all nations, and sincerely serve him.

55:1. All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no
money make haste, buy, and eat: come ye, buy wine and milk without
money, and without any price.

55:2. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your


 


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