1Alas! for sons who are rebellious, Declareth Yahweh. Executing a purpose, but not from me, And pouring out a libation but not from my spirit,—That they may add sin to sin:
2Who are setting out to go down to Egypt, But at my mouth, have not asked,—Betaking them to the protection of Pharaoh And seeking refuge under the shadow of Egypt.
3Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh become to you a shame, And, the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, an insult;
4For their princes have been, in Zoan,—And, their messengers unto Hanes, would draw near.
5Every one, hath felt ashamed of a people that could not serve them,—Neither with help, nor with service, But they are a shame, yea even a reproach.
6The Oracle on the Beasts of the South,—Through a land of distress and oppression—Lioness and lion coming therefrom, Viper and fiery flying serpent, They would carry, on the shoulders of young asses their wealth And on the humps of camels their treasures Unto a people that cannot serve them.
7But, the Egyptians, with vanity and emptiness, would help,—Therefore have I proclaimed concerning this, Insolent, they sit still!
8Now, enter—Write it upon a tablet before them And upon a scroll, inscribe it,—That it may serve for a later day, For futurity, unto times age-abiding:—
9That it is, a rebellious people, Sons apt at deceiving,—Sons unwilling to hear the law of Yahweh:
10Who have said to the seers, Ye must not see! To the prophets, Ye must not prophesy to us reproofs! Speak to us smooth things, Prophesy delusions:
11Depart ye from the way, Turn aside from the path,—Desist from setting before us the Holy One of Israel.
12Therefore—Thus, saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye have rejected this word,—And have trusted in oppression and perverseness, And have relied thereon,
13Therefore, shall this iniquity become to you As a breach ready to fall, A bulging in a high wall,—Whose breaking down cometh, suddenly in a twinkling.
14Yea he will break it—as the breaking of the pitcher of a potter, crushed, he will not spare; So that there shall not be found when it is smashed, A sherd wherewith to snatch fire from a hearth, Or to skim off water out of a cistern.
15For thus, said my Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel—By returning and resting, shall ye be saved, In keeping quiet and trusting, shall be your strength,—Howbeit ye would not!
16But ye said,—Nay! but on horses, will we flee For this cause, shall ye indeed flee,—And on the swift, will we ride, For this cause, swift, shall be your pursuers:
17One thousand, before the war-cry of one—before the war-cry of five, shall ye flee,—Until ye have been left, As a pole on the top of a mountain, And as an ensign upon a hill.
18And, therefore, will Yahweh wait, That he may grant you favour, And, therefore, will he lift himself up, That he may show you compassion,—For A God of justice, is, Yahweh, How happy all they who are waiting for him
19For, a people, In Zion, shall dwell, In Jerusalem,—As for weeping, thou shalt not weep! As for favour, he will grant thee favour, at the sound of thine outcry,—As soon as he heareth, he hath answered thee!
20Though My Lord, should give you bread in short measure and water in scant allowance Yet will thy Teacher not hide himself any more, But thine eyes shall ever be looking on thy Teacher.
21So shall, thine own ears, hear a word from behind thee saying,—This, is the way, walk ye therein, When ye would turn to the right hand Or when ye would turn to the left.
22Then will ye defile—The overlaying of thy graven images of silver, And the coating of thy molten image, of gold,—Thou wilt cash them away, as a woman the token of her sickness, Begone! shalt thou say thereto,
23Then will he give—Rain for thy seed—wherewith thou shalt sow thy ground and Bread as the increase of thy ground, which shall be fertile and fat,—Thy cattle, in that day, shall feed in broad pasture:
24And the oxen and the young asses that till the ground, salted provender, shall eat, which hath been winnowed with shovel or fan.
25Then shall there be, On every lofty mountain and On every lifted hill, Channels, Conduits of water,—In the great day of slaughter, When the towers fall.
26Then shall the light of the moon, be as the light of the sun, And, the light of the sun, shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days,—In the day—When Yahweh, bindeth up, the laceration of his people, and When the severe wound caused by smiting them, he healeth.
27Lo! the Name of Yahweh, coming in from afar, His anger kindling, A heavy storm,—His lips, are full of indignation, And, his tongue, is like a fire that devoureth;
28And, his breath like an overflowing torrent, even unto the neck, doth reach, To sift nations with a sieve of calamity,—A bridle leading to ruin, being upon the jaws of the peoples.
29A song, shall ye have, As in the night of hallowing a festival,—And gladness of heart, As when one goeth with the flute to enter Into the mountain of Yahweh Unto the Rock of Israel.
30Then will Yahweh cause to be heard—the resounding of his voice And the bringing down of his arm, shall be seen, In a rage of anger, And with the flame of a devouring fire,—A burst and a downpour, and a hailstone!
31For at the voice of Yahweh, shall Assyria be crushed,—With his rod, will he smite.
32And it shall come to pass,—that, every stroke of the staff of doom which Yahweh shall lay upon him, shall be with timbrels and with lyres,—when, with battles of brandished weapons, he hath fought against them.
33For there hath been set in order, beforehand a Topheth, Yea, the same, for the king, hath been prepared He hath made it deep—made it large,—The circumference thereof is for fire and wood in abundance, the breath of Yahweh, like a torrent of brimstone, is ready to kindle it.