The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Old Testament — Part 2

27:7. And all na­tions shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son: till the time come for his land and him­self: and many na­tions and great kings shall serve him.

His son. . .Viz., Evilmero­dach; and his son’s son, Nabony­dus, or Nabona­dius, the Bal­tas­sar of Daniel, chap. 5., and the last of the Chaldean kings.

27:8. But the na­tion and king­dom that will not serve Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon, and whoso­ev­er will not bend his neck un­der the yoke of the king of Baby­lon: I will vis­it up­on that na­tion with the sword, and with famine, and with pesti­lence, saith the Lord: till I con­sume them by his hand.

27:9. There­fore hear­ken not to your prophets, and di­vin­ers, and dream­ers, and sooth­say­ers, and sor­cer­ers, that say to you: You shall not serve the king of Baby­lon.

27:10. For they proph­esy lies to you: to re­move you far from your coun­try, and cast you out, and to make you per­ish.

27:11. But the na­tion that shall bend down their neck un­der the yoke of the king of Baby­lon, and shall serve him: I will let them re­main in their own land, saith the Lord: and they shall till it, and dwell in it.

27:12. And I spoke to Sede­cias the king of Ju­da ac­cord­ing to all these words, say­ing: Bend down your necks un­der the yoke of the king of Baby­lon, and serve him, and his peo­ple, and you shall live.

27:13. Why will you die, thou and thy peo­ple by the sword, and by famine, and by the pesti­lence, as the Lord hath spo­ken against the na­tion that will not serve the king of Baby­lon?

27:14. Hear­ken not to the words of the prophets that say to you: You shall not serve the king of Baby­lon: for they tell you a lie.

27:15. For I have not sent them, saith the Lord: and they proph­esy in my name false­ly: to drive you out, and that you may per­ish, both you, and the prophets that proph­esy to you.

27:16. I spoke al­so to the priests, and to this peo­ple, say­ing: Thus saith the Lord: Hear­ken not to the words of your prophets, that proph­esy to you, say­ing: Be­hold the ves­sels of the Lord shall now in a short time be brought again from Baby­lon: for they proph­esy a lie un­to you.

27:17. There­fore hear­ken not to them, but serve the king of Baby­lon, that you may live. Why should this city be giv­en up to des­ola­tion?

27:18. But if they be prophets, and the word of the Lord be in them: let them in­ter­pose them­selves be­fore the Lord of hosts, that the ves­sels which were left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Ju­da, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Baby­lon.

27:19. For thus saith the Lord of hosts to the pil­lars, and to the sea, and to the bases, and to the rest of the ves­sels that re­main in this city:

27:20. Which Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon did not take, when he car­ried away Je­cho­nias the son of Joakim the king of Ju­da, from Jerusalem to Baby­lon, and all the great men of Ju­da and Jerusalem.

27:21. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael, to the ves­sels that are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Ju­da and Jerusalem:

27:22. They shall be car­ried to Baby­lon, and there they shall be un­til the day of their vis­ita­tion, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to be brought, and to be re­stored in this place.

Jeremias Chap­ter 28

The false prophe­cy of Hana­nias: he dies that same year, as Jeremias fore­told.

28:1. And it came to pass in that year, in the be­gin­ning of the reign of Sede­cias king of Ju­da, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hana­nias the son of Azur, a prophet of Gabaon spoke to me, in the house of the Lord be­fore the priests, and all the peo­ple, say­ing:

28:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: I have bro­ken the yoke of the king of Baby­lon.

28:3. As yet two years of days, and I will cause all the ves­sels of the house of the Lord to be brought back in­to this place, which Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon took away from this place, and car­ried them to Baby­lon.

28:4. And I will bring back to this place Je­cho­nias the son of Joakim king of Ju­da, and all the cap­tives of Ju­da, that are gone to Baby­lon, saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Baby­lon.

28:5. And Jeremias the prophet said to Hana­nias the prophet in the pres­ence of the priests, and in the pres­ence of all the peo­ple that stood in the house of the Lord:

28:6. And Jeremias the prophet said: Amen, the Lord do so: the Lord per­form thy words, which thou hast proph­esied: that the ves­sels may be brought again in­to the house of the Lord, and all the cap­tives may re­turn out of Baby­lon to this place.

28:7. Nev­er­the­less hear this word that I speak in thy ears, and in the ears of all the peo­ple:

28:8. The prophets that have been be­fore me, and be­fore thee from the be­gin­ning, and have proph­esied con­cern­ing many coun­tries, and con­cern­ing great king­doms, of war, and of af­flic­tion, and of famine.

28:9. The prophet that proph­esied peace: when his word shall come to pass, the prophet shall be known, whom the hath sent in truth.

28:10. And Hana­nias the prophet took the chain from the neck of Jeremias the prophet, and broke it.

28:11. And Hana­nias spoke in the pres­ence of all the peo­ple, say­ing: Thus saith the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon af­ter two full years from off the neck of all the na­tions.

28:12. And Jeremias the prophet went his way. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, af­ter that Hana­nias the prophet had bro­ken the chain from off the neck of Jeremias the prophet, say­ing:

28:13. Go, and tell Hana­nias: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast bro­ken chains of wood, and thou shalt make for them chains of iron.

28:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: I have put a yoke of iron up­on the neck of all these na­tions, to serve Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon, and they shall serve him: more­over al­so I have giv­en him the beasts of the earth.

28:15. And Jeremias the prophet said to Hana­nias the prophet: Hear now, Hana­nias: the Lord hath not sent thee, and thou hast made this peo­ple to trust in a lie.

28:16. There­fore thus saith the Lord: Be­hold I will send thee away from off the face of the earth: this year shalt thou die: for thou hast spo­ken against the Lord.

28:17. And Hana­nias the prophet died in that year, in the sev­enth month.

Jeremias Chap­ter 29

Jeremias writeth to the cap­tives in Baby­lon, ex­hort­ing them to be easy there, and not to hear­ken to false prophets. That they shall be de­liv­ered af­ter sev­en­ty years. But those that re­main in Jerusalem shall per­ish by the sword, famine, and pesti­lence. And that Achab, Sede­cias, and Se­meias, false prophets, shall die mis­er­ably.

29:1. Now these are the words of the let­ter which Jeremias the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the an­cients that were car­ried in­to cap­tiv­ity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the peo­ple, whom Nabu­chodonosor had car­ried away from Jerusalem to Baby­lon:

29:2. Af­ter that Je­cho­nias the king, and the queen, and the eu­nuchs, and the princes of Ju­da, and of Jerusalem, and the crafts­men, and the en­gravers were de­part­ed out of Jerusalem:

29:3. By the hand of Elasa the son of Saphan, and Gamarias the son of Hel­cias, whom Sede­cias king of Ju­da sent to Baby­lon to Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon, say­ing:

29:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael, to all that are car­ried away cap­tives, whom I have caused to be car­ried away from Jerusalem to Baby­lon:

29:5. Build ye hous­es, and dwell in them: and plant or­chards, and eat the fruit of them.

29:6. Take ye wives, and beget sons and daugh­ters: and take wives for your sons, and give your daugh­ters to hus­bands, and let them bear sons and daugh­ters: and be ye mul­ti­plied there, and be not few in num­ber.

29:7. And seek the peace of the city, to which I have caused you to be car­ried away cap­tives; and pray to the Lord for it: for in the peace there­of shall be your peace.

29:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Let not your prophets that are in the midst of you, and your di­vin­ers de­ceive you: and give no heed to your dreams which you dream:

29:9. For they proph­esy false­ly to you in my name: and I have not sent them, saith the Lord.

29:10. For thus saith the Lord: When the sev­en­ty years shall be­gin to be ac­com­plished in Baby­lon, I will vis­it you: and I will per­form my good word in your favour, to bring you again to this place.

29:11. For I know the thoughts that I think to­wards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of af­flic­tion, to give you an end and pa­tience.

29:12. And you shall call up­on me, and you shall go. and you shall pray to me, and I will hear you.

29:13. You shall seek me, and shall find me: when you shall seek me with all your heart.

29:14. And I will be found by you, saith the Lord: and I will bring back your cap­tiv­ity, and I will gath­er you out of all na­tions, and from all the places to which I have driv­en you out, saith the Lord: and I will bring you back from the place to which I caused you to be car­ried away cap­tive.

29:15. Be­cause you have said: The Lord hath raised us up prophets in Baby­lon:

29:16. For thus saith the Lord to the king that sit­teth up­on the throne of David, and to all the peo­ple that dwell in this city, to your brethren that are not gone forth with you in­to cap­tiv­ity.

29:17. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Be­hold I will send up­on them the sword, and the famine, and the pesti­lence: and I will make them like bad figs that can­not be eat­en, be­cause they are very bad.

29:18. And I will per­se­cute them with the sword, and with famine, and with the pesti­lence: and I will give them up un­to af­flic­tion to all the king­doms of the earth: to be a curse, and an as­ton­ish­ment, and a hiss­ing, and a re­proach to all the na­tions to which I have driv­en them out:

29:19. Be­cause they have not hear­kened to my words, saith the Lord: which I sent to them by my ser­vants the prophets, ris­ing by night, and send­ing: and you have not heard, saith the Lord.

29:20. Hear ye there­fore the word of the Lord, all ye of the cap­tiv­ity, whom I have sent out from Jerusalem to Baby­lon.

29:21. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael, to Achab the son of Co­lias, and to Sede­cias the son of Maasias, who proph­esy un­to you in my name false­ly: Be­hold I will de­liv­er them up in­to the hands of Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon: and he shall kill them be­fore your eyes.

29:22. And of them shall be tak­en up a curse by all the cap­tiv­ity of Ju­da, that are in Baby­lon, say­ing: The Lord make thee like Sede­cias, and like Achab, whom the king of Baby­lon fried in the fire:

29:23. Be­cause they have act­ed fol­ly in Is­rael, and have com­mit­ted adul­tery with the wives of their friends, and have spo­ken ly­ing words in my name, which I com­mand­ed them not: I am the judge and the wit­ness, saith the Lord.

29:24. And to Se­meias the Ne­he­lamite thou shalt say:

29:25. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Be­cause thou hast sent let­ters in thy name to all the peo­ple that are in Jerusalem, and to So­pho­nias the son of Maasias the priest, and to all the priests, say­ing:

29:26. The Lord hath made thee priest in­stead of Joia­da the priest, that thou shouldst be ruler in the house of the Lord, over ev­ery man that raveth and proph­esi­eth, to put him in the stocks, and in­to prison.

29:27. And now why hast thou not re­buked Jeremias the Anathoth­ite, who proph­esi­eth to you?

29:28. For he hath al­so sent to us in Baby­lon, say­ing: It is a long time: build ye hous­es, and dwell in them: and plant gar­dens, and eat the fruits of them.

29:29. So So­pho­nias the priest read this let­ter, in the hear­ing of Jeremias the prophet.

29:30. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, say­ing:

29:31. Send to all them of the cap­tiv­ity, say­ing: Thus saith the Lord to Se­meias the Ne­he­lamite: Be­cause Se­meias hath proph­esied to you, and I sent him not: and hath caused you to trust in a lie:

29:32. There­fore thus saith the Lord: be­hold I will vis­it up­on Se­meias the Ne­he­lamite, and up­on his seed: he shall not have a man to sit in the midst of this peo­ple, and he shall not see the good that I will do to my peo­ple, saith the Lord: be­cause he hath spo­ken trea­son against the Lord.

Jeremias Chap­ter 30

God will de­liv­er his peo­ple from their cap­tiv­ity: Christ shall be their king: and his church shall be glo­ri­ous for ev­er.

30:1. This is the word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, say­ing:

30:2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Is­rael, say­ing: Write thee all the words that I have spo­ken to thee, in a book.

30:3. For be­hold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will bring again the cap­tiv­ity of my peo­ple Is­rael and Ju­da, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to re­turn to the land which I gave to their fa­thers, and they shall pos­sess it.

30:4. And these are the words that the Lord hath spo­ken to Is­rael and to Ju­da:

30:5. For thus saith the Lord: We have heard a voice of ter­ror: there is fear and no peace.

30:6. Ask ye, and see if a man bear chil­dren? why then have I seen ev­ery man with his hands on his loins, like a wom­an in labour, and all faces are turned yel­low?

30:7. Alas, for that day is great, nei­ther is there the like to it; and it is the time of tribu­la­tion to Ja­cob, but he shall be saved out of it.

30:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst his bands: and strangers shall no more rule over him:

30:9. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them.

David. . .That is, Christ of the house of David.

30:10. There­fore fear thou not, my ser­vant Ja­cob, saith the Lord, nei­ther be dis­mayed, O Is­rael: for be­hold, I will save thee from a coun­try afar off, and thy seed from the land of their cap­tiv­ity: and Ja­cob shall re­turn, and be at rest, and abound with all good things, and there shall be none whom he may fear:

30:11. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: for I will ut­ter­ly con­sume all the na­tions, among which I have scat­tered thee: but I will not ut­ter­ly con­sume thee: but I will chas­tise thee in judg­ment, that thou mayst not seem to thy­self in­no­cent.

30:12. For thus saith the Lord: Thy bruise is in­cur­able, thy wound is very grievous.

30:13. There is none to judge thy judg­ment to bind it up: thou hast no heal­ing medicines.

30:14. All thy lovers have for­got­ten thee, and will not seek af­ter thee: for I have wound­ed thee with the wound of an en­emy, with cru­el chas­tise­ment: by rea­son of the mul­ti­tude of thy in­iq­ui­ties, thy sins are hard­ened.

30:15. Why criest thou for thy af­flic­tion? thy sor­row is in­cur­able: for the mul­ti­tude of thy in­iq­ui­ty, and for thy hard­ened sins I have done these things to thee.

30:16. There­fore all they that de­vour thee, shall be de­voured: and all thy en­emies shall be car­ried in­to cap­tiv­ity: and they that waste thee shall be wast­ed, and all that prey up­on thee will I give for a prey.

30:17. For I will close up thy scar, and will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord. Be­cause they have called thee, O Sion, an out­cast: This is she that hath none to seek af­ter her.

30:18. Thus saith the Lord: Be­hold I will bring back the cap­tiv­ity of the pavil­ions of Ja­cob, and will have pity on his hous­es, and the city shall be built in her high place, and the tem­ple shall be found­ed ac­cord­ing to the or­der there­of.

30:19. And out of them shall come forth praise, and the voice of them that play: and I will mul­ti­ply them, and they shall not be made few: and I will glo­ri­fy them, and they shall not be less­ened.

30:20. And their chil­dren shall be as from the be­gin­ning, and their as­sem­bly shall be per­ma­nent be­fore me: and I will vis­it against all that af­flict them.

30:21. And their lead­er shall be of them­selves: and their prince shall come forth from the midst of them: and I will bring him near, and he shall come to me: for who is this that set­teth his heart to ap­proach to me, saith the Lord?

30:22. And you shall be my peo­ple: and I will be your God.

30:23. Be­hold the whirl­wind of the Lord, his fury go­ing forth, a vi­olent storm, it shall rest up­on the head of the wicked.

30:24. The Lord will not turn away the wrath of his in­dig­na­tion, till he have ex­ecut­ed and per­formed the thought of his heart: in the lat­ter days you shall un­der­stand these things.

Jeremias Chap­ter 31

The restora­tion of Is­rael. Rachel shall cease from morn­ing. The new covenant. The church shall nev­er fail.

31:1. At that time, saith the Lord, I will be the God of all the fam­ilies of Is­rael, and they shall be my peo­ple.

31:2. Thus saith the Lord: The peo­ple that were left and es­caped from the sword, found grace in the desert: Is­rael shall go to his rest.

31:3. The Lord hath ap­peared from afar to me. Yea I have loved thee with an ev­er­last­ing love, there­fore have I drawn thee, tak­ing pity on thee.

31:4. And I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, O vir­gin of Is­rael: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tim­brels, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make mer­ry.

31:5. Thou shalt yet plant vine­yards in the moun­tains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and they shall not gath­er the vin­tage be­fore the time.

31:6. For there shall be a day, in which the watch­men on mount Ephraim, shall cry: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God.

31:7. For thus saith the Lord: Re­joice ye in the joy of Ja­cob, and neigh be­fore the head of the Gen­tiles: shout ye, and sing, and say: Save, O Lord, thy peo­ple, the rem­nant of Is­rael.

31:8. Be­hold I will bring them from the north coun­try, and will gath­er them from the ends of the earth and among them shall be the blind, and the lame, the wom­an with child, and she that is bring­ing forth, to­geth­er, a great com­pa­ny of them re­turn­ing hith­er.

31:9. They shall come with weep­ing: and I will bring them back in mer­cy: and I will bring them through the tor­rents of wa­ters in a right way, and they shall not stum­ble in it: for I am a fa­ther to Is­rael, and Ephraim is my first­born.

31:10. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye na­tions, and de­clare it in the is­lands that are afar off, and say: He that scat­tered Is­rael will gath­er him: and he will keep him as the shep­herd doth his flock.

31:11. For the Lord hath re­deemed Ja­cob, and de­liv­ered him out of the hand of one that was might­ier than he.

31:12. And they shall come, and shall give praise in mount Sion: and they shall flow to­geth­er to the good things of the Lord, for the corn, and wine, and oil, and the in­crease of cat­tle and herds, and their soul shall be as a wa­tered gar­den, and they shall be hun­gry no more.

31:13. Then shall the vir­gin re­joice in the dance, the young men and old men to­geth­er: and I will turn their mourn­ing in­to joy, and will com­fort them, and make them joy­ful af­ter their sor­row.

31:14. And I will fill the soul of the priests with fat­ness: and my peo­ple shall be filled with my good things, saith the Lord.

31:15. Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamen­ta­tion, of mourn­ing, and weep­ing, of Rachel weep­ing for her chil­dren and re­fus­ing to be com­fort­ed for them, be­cause they are not.

31:16. Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weep­ing, and thy eyes tears: for there is a re­ward for thy work, saith the Lord: and they shall re­turn out of the land of the en­emy.

31:17. And there is hope for thy last end, saith the Lord: and the chil­dren shall re­turn to their own bor­ders.

31:18. Hear­ing I heard Ephraim when he went in­to cap­tiv­ity: thou hast chas­tised me, and I was in­struct­ed, as a young bul­lock un­ac­cus­tomed to the yoke. Con­vert me, and I shall be con­vert­ed, for thou art the Lord my God.

31:19. For af­ter thou didst con­vert me, I did penance: and af­ter thou didst shew un­to me, I struck my thigh: I am con­found­ed and ashamed, be­cause I have borne the re­proach of my youth.

31:20. Sure­ly Ephraim is an hon­ourable son to me, sure­ly he is a ten­der child: for since I spoke of him, I will still re­mem­ber him. There­fore are my bow­els trou­bled for him: pity­ing I will pity him, saith the Lord.

31:21. Set thee up a watch­tow­er, make to thee bit­ter­ness: di­rect thy heart in­to the right way, where­in thou hast walked: re­turn, O vir­gin of Is­rael, re­turn to these thy cities.

31:22. How long wilt thou be dis­so­lute in de­li­cious­ness, O wan­der­ing daugh­ter? for the Lord hath cre­at­ed a new thing up­on the earth: A WOM­AN SHALL COM­PASS A MAN.

31:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Is­rael: As yet shall they say this word in the land of Ju­da, and in the cities there­of, when I shall bring back their cap­tiv­ity: The Lord bless thee, the beau­ty of jus­tice, the holy moun­tain.

31:24. And Ju­da and all his cities shall dwell there­in to­geth­er: the hus­band­man and they that drive the flocks.

31:25. For I have ine­bri­at­ed the weary soul: and I have filled ev­ery hun­gry soul.

31:26. Up­on this I was as it were awaked out of a sleep, and I saw, and my sleep was sweet to me.

31:27. Be­hold the days come, saith the Lord: and I will sow the house of Is­rael and the house of Ju­da with the seed of men, and with the seed of beasts.

31:28. And as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to throw down, and to scat­ter, and de­stroy, and af­flict: so will I watch over them, to build up, and to plant them, saith the Lord.

31:29. In those days they shall say no more: The fa­thers have eat­en a sour grape, and the teeth of the chil­dren are set on edge.

31:30. But ev­ery one shall die for his own in­iq­ui­ty: ev­ery man that shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31:31. Be­hold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Is­rael, and with the house of Ju­da:

31:32. Not ac­cord­ing to the covenant which I made with their fa­thers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, the covenant which they made void, and I had do­min­ion over them, saith the Lord.

31:33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Is­rael, af­ter those days, saith the Lord: I will give my law in their bow­els, and I will write it in their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my peo­ple.

31:34. And they shall teach no more ev­ery man his neigh­bour, and ev­ery man his broth­er, say­ing: Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the least of them even to the great­est, saith the Lord: for I will for­give their in­iq­ui­ty, and I will re­mem­ber their sin no more.

31:35. Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for the light of the day, the or­der of the moon and of the stars, for the light of the night: who stir­reth up the sea, and the waves there­of roar, the Lord of hosts is his name.

31:36. If these or­di­nances shall fail be­fore me, saith the Lord: then al­so the seed of Is­rael shall fail, so as not to be a na­tion be­fore me for ev­er.

31:37. Thus saith the Lord: If the heav­ens above can be mea­sured, and the foun­da­tions of the earth searched out be­neath, I al­so will cast away all the seed of Is­rael, for all that they have done, saith the Lord.

31:38. Be­hold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tow­er of Hanameel even to the gate of the cor­ner.

31:39. And the mea­sur­ing line shall go out far­ther in his sight up­on the hill Gareb: and it shall com­pass Goatha,

31:40. And the whole val­ley of dead bod­ies, and of ash­es, and all the coun­try of death, even to the tor­rent Ce­dron, and to the cor­ner of the horse gate to­wards the east, the Holy of the Lord: it shall not be plucked up, and it shall not be de­stroyed any more for ev­er.

Jeremias Chap­ter 32

Jeremias by God’s com­mand­ment pur­chas­es a field of his kins­man: and proph­esies the re­turn of the peo­ple out of cap­tiv­ity: and the ev­er­last­ing covenant God will make with his church.

32:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the tenth year of Sede­cias king of Ju­da: the same is the eigh­teenth year of Nabu­chodonosor.

32:2. At that time the army of the king of Baby­lon be­sieged Jerusalem: and Jeremias the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the house of the king of Ju­da.

32:3. For Sede­cias king of Ju­da had shut him up, say­ing: Why dost thou proph­esy, say­ing: Thus saith the Lord: Be­hold I will give this city in­to the hand of the king of Baby­lon, and he shall take it?

32:4. And Sede­cias king of Ju­da shall not es­cape out of the hand of the Chaldeans: but he shall be de­liv­ered in­to the hands of the king of Baby­lon: and he shall speak to him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall see his eyes.

32:5. And he shall lead Sede­cias to Baby­lon: and he shall be there till I vis­it him, saith the Lord. But if you will fight against the Chaldeans, you shall have no suc­cess.

32:6. And Jeremias said: The word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

32:7. Be­hold, Hanameel the son of Sel­lum thy cousin shall come to thee, say­ing: Buy thee my field, which is in Anathoth, for it is thy right to buy it, be­ing next akin.

32:8. And Hanameel my un­cle’s son came to me, ac­cord­ing to the word of the Lord, to the en­try of the prison, and said to me: Buy my field, which is in Anathoth in the land of Ben­jamin: for the right of in­her­itance is thine, and thou art next of kin to pos­sess it. And I un­der­stood that this was the word of the Lord.

32:9. And I bought the field of Hanameel my un­cle’s son, that is in Anathoth: and I weighed him the mon­ey, sev­en staters, and ten pieces of sil­ver.

32:10. And I wrote it in a book and sealed it, and took wit­ness­es: and I weighed him the mon­ey in the bal­ances.

32:11. And I took the deed of the pur­chase that was sealed, and the stip­ula­tions, and the rat­ifi­ca­tions with the seals that were on the out­side.

32:12. And I gave the deed of the pur­chase to Baruch the son of Neri the son of Maasias in the sight of Hanameel my un­cle’s son, in the pres­ence of the wit­ness­es that sub­scribed the book of the pur­chase, and be­fore all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.

32:13. And I charged Baruch be­fore them, say­ing:

32:14. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Take these writ­ings, this deed of the pur­chase that is sealed up, and this deed that is open: and put them in an earth­en ves­sel, that they may con­tin­ue many days.

32:15. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Hous­es, and fields, and vine­yards shall be pos­sessed again in this land.

32:16. And af­ter I had de­liv­ered the deed of pur­chase to Baruch the son of Neri, I prayed to the Lord, say­ing:

32:17. Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, be­hold thou hast made heav­en and earth by thy great pow­er, and thy stretched out arm: no word shall be hard to thee:

32:18. Thou shewest mer­cy un­to thou­sands, and re­turnest the in­iq­ui­ty of the fa­thers in­to the bo­som of their chil­dren af­ter them: O most mighty, great, and pow­er­ful, the Lord of hosts is thy name.

32:19. Great in coun­sel, and in­com­pre­hen­si­ble in thought: whose eyes are open up­on all the ways of the chil­dren of Adam, to ren­der un­to ev­ery one ac­cord­ing to his ways, and ac­cord­ing to the fruit of his de­vices.

32:20. Who hast set signs and won­ders in the land of Egypt even un­til this day, and in Is­rael, and amongst men, and hast made thee a name as at this day.

32:21. And hast brought forth thy peo­ple Is­rael, out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with won­ders, and with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm, and with great ter­ror.

32:22. And hast giv­en them this land which thou didst swear to their fa­thers, to give them a land flow­ing with milk and hon­ey.

32:23. And they came in, and pos­sessed it: but they obeyed not thy voice, and they walked not in thy law: and they did not any of those things that thou didst com­mand them to do, and all these evils are come up­on them.

32:24. Be­hold works are built up against the city to take it: and the city is giv­en in­to the hands of the Chaldeans, who fight against it, by the sword, and the famine, and the pesti­lence: and what thou hast spo­ken, is all come to pass, as thou thy­self seest.

32:25. And sayest thou to me, O Lord God: Buy a field for mon­ey, and take wit­ness­es, where­as the city is giv­en in­to the hands of the Chaldeans?

32:26. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, say­ing:

32:27. Be­hold I am the Lord the God of all flesh: shall any thing be hard for me?

32:28. There­fore thus saith the Lord: Be­hold I will de­liv­er this city in­to the hands of the Chaldeans, and in­to the hands of the king of Baby­lon, and they shall take it.

32:29. And the Chaldeans that fight against this city, shall come and set it on fire, and burn it, with the hous­es up­on whose roofs they of­fered sac­ri­fice to Baal, and poured out drink of­fer­ings to strange gods, to pro­voke me to wrath.

32:30. For the chil­dren of Is­rael, and the chil­dren of Ju­da, have con­tin­ual­ly done evil in my eyes from their youth: the chil­dren of Is­rael who even till now pro­voke me with the work of their hands, saith the Lord.

32:31. For this city hath been to me a provo­ca­tion and in­dig­na­tion from the day that they built it, un­til this day, in which it shall be tak­en out of my sight.

32:32. Be­cause of all the evil of the chil­dren of Is­rael, and of the chil­dren of Ju­da, which they have done, pro­vok­ing me to wrath, they and their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, the men of Ju­da, and the in­hab­itants of Jerusalem.

32:33. And they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces: when I taught them ear­ly in the morn­ing, and in­struct­ed them, and they would not hear­ken to re­ceive in­struc­tion.

32:34. And they have set their idols in the house, in which my name is called up­on, to de­file it.

32:35. And they have built the high places of Baal, which are in the val­ley of the son of En­nom, to con­se­crate their sons and their daugh­ters to Moloch: which I com­mand­ed them not, nei­ther en­tered it in­to my heart, that they should do this abom­ina­tion, and cause Ju­da to sin.

32:36. And now, there­fore, thus saith the Lord the God of Is­rael to this city, where­of you say that it shall be de­liv­ered in­to the hands of the king of Baby­lon by the sword, and by famine, and by pesti­lence:

32:37. Be­hold I will gath­er them to­geth­er out of all the lands to which I have cast them out in my anger, and in my wrath, and in my great in­dig­na­tion: and I will bring them again in­to this place, and will cause them to dwell se­cure­ly.

32:38. And they shall be my peo­ple, and I will be their God.

32:39. And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me all days: and that it may be well with them, and with their chil­dren af­ter them.

32:40. And I will make an ev­er­last­ing covenant with them, and will not cease to do them good: and I will give my fear in their heart, that they may not re­volt from me.

32:41. And I will re­joice over them, when I shall do them good: and I will plant them in this land in truth, with my whole heart, and with all my soul.

32:42. For thus saith the Lord: As I have brought up­on this peo­ple all this great evil: so will I bring up­on them all the good that I now speak to them.

32:43. And fields shall be pur­chased in this land: where­of you say that it is des­olate, be­cause there re­maineth nei­ther man nor beast, and it is giv­en in­to the hands of the Chaldeans.

32:44. Fields shall be bought for mon­ey, and deeds shall be writ­ten, and sealed, and wit­ness­es shall be tak­en, in the land of Ben­jamin, and round about Jerusalem, in the cities of Ju­da, and in the cities on the moun­tains, and in the cities of the plains, and in the cities that are to­wards the south: for I will bring back their cap­tiv­ity, saith the Lord.

Jeremias Chap­ter 33

God promis­es re­duc­tion from cap­tiv­ity, and oth­er bless­ings: es­pe­cial­ly the com­ing of Christ, whose reign in his church shall be glo­ri­ous and per­pet­ual.

33:1. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the sec­ond time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, say­ing:

33:2. Thus saith the Lord, who will do, and will form it, and pre­pare it, the Lord is his name.

33:3. Cry to me and I will hear thee: and I will shew thee great things, and sure things which thou know­est not.

33:4. For thus saith the Lord the God of Is­rael to the hous­es of this city, and to the hous­es of the king of Ju­da, which are de­stroyed, and to the bul­warks, and to the sword.

33:5. Of them that come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bod­ies of the men whom I have slain in my wrath, and in my in­dig­na­tion, hid­ing my face from this city be­cause of all their wicked­ness.

33:6. Be­hold I will close their wounds and give them health, and I will cure them: and I will re­veal to them the prayer of peace and truth.

The prayer of peace. . .That is, the peace and wel­fare which they pray for.

33:7. And I will bring back the cap­tiv­ity of Ju­da, and the cap­tiv­ity of Jerusalem: and I will build them as from the be­gin­ning.

33:8. And I will cleanse them from all their in­iq­ui­ty, where­by they have sinned against me: and I will for­give all their in­iq­ui­ties, where­by they have sinned against me, and de­spised me.

33:9. And it shall be to me a name, and a joy, and a praise, and a glad­ness be­fore all the na­tions of the earth, that shall hear of all the good things which I will do to them: and they shall fear and be trou­bled for all the good things, and for all the peace that I will make for them.

33:10. Thus saith the Lord: There shall be heard again in this place (which you say is des­olate, be­cause there is nei­ther man nor beast: in the cities of Ju­da, and with­out Jerusalem, which are des­olate with­out man, and with­out in­hab­itant, and with­out beast)

33:11. The voice of joy and the voice of glad­ness, the voice of the bride­groom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say: Give ye glo­ry to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mer­cy en­dureth for ev­er: and of them that shall bring their vows in­to the house of the Lord: for I will bring back the cap­tiv­ity of the land as at the first, saith the Lord.

33:12. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall be again in this place that is des­olate with­out man, and with­out beast, and in all the cities there­of, an habi­ta­tion of shep­herds caus­ing their flocks to lie down.

33:13. And in the cities on the moun­tains, and in the cities of the plains, and in the cities that are to­wards the south: and in the land of Ben­jamin, and round about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Ju­da shall the flocks pass again un­der the hand of him that num­bereth them, saith the Lord.

33:14. Be­hold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will per­form the good word that I have spo­ken to the house of Is­rael, and to the house of Ju­da.

33:15. In those days, and at that time, I will make the bud of jus­tice to spring forth un­to David, and he shall do judg­ment and jus­tice in the earth.

33:16. In those days shall Ju­da be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell se­cure­ly: and this is the name that they shall call him, The Lord our just one.

33:17. For thus saith the Lord: There shall not be cut off from David a man to sit up­on the throne of the house of Is­rael.

There shall not be cut off from David, etc. . .This was ver­ified in Christ, who is of the house of David; and whose king­dom in his church shall have no end.

33:18. Nei­ther shall there be cut off from the priests and Levites a man be­fore my face to of­fer holo­causts, and to burn sac­ri­fices, and to kill vic­tims con­tin­ual­ly.

Nei­ther shall there be cut off from the priests, etc. . .This promise re­lates to the Chris­tian priest­hood; which shall al­so con­tin­ue for ev­er: the func­tions of which (more es­pe­cial­ly the great sac­ri­fice of the al­tar) are here ex­pressed by the name of holo­causts, and oth­er of­fer­ings of the law, which were so many fig­ures of the Chris­tian sac­ri­fice.

33:19. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, say­ing:

33:20. Thus saith the Lord: if my covenant, with the day can be made void, and my covenant with the night, that there should not be day and night in their sea­son:

33:21. Al­so my covenant with David my ser­vant may be made void, that he should not have a son to reign up­on his throne, and with the Levites and priests my min­is­ters.

33:22. As the stars of heav­en can­not be num­bered, nor the sand of the sea be mea­sured: so will I mul­ti­ply the seed of David my ser­vant, and the Levites my min­is­ters.

33:23. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, say­ing:

33:24. Hast thou not seen what this peo­ple hath spo­ken, say­ing: The two fam­ilies which the Lord had cho­sen, are cast off: and they have de­spised my peo­ple, so that it is no more a na­tion be­fore them?

Two fam­ilies, etc. . .Viz., the fam­ilies of the kings and priests.

33:25. Thus saith the Lord. If I have not set my covenant be­tween day and night, and laws to heav­en and earth:

33:26. Sure­ly I will al­so cast off the seed of Ja­cob, and of David my ser­vant, so as not to take any of his seed to be rulers of the seed of Abra­ham, Isaac, and Ja­cob: for I will bring back their cap­tiv­ity, and will have mer­cy on them.

Jeremias Chap­ter 34

The prophet fore­tells that Sede­cias shall fall in­to the hands of Nabu­chodonosor: God’s sen­tence up­on the princes and peo­ple that had bro­ken his covenant.

34:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, when Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon, and all his army, and all the king­doms of the earth, that were un­der the pow­er of his hand, and all the peo­ple fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities there­of, say­ing:

34:2. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Is­rael: Go, and speak to Sede­cias king of Ju­da, and say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Be­hold I will de­liv­er this city in­to the hands of the king of Baby­lon, and he shall burn it with fire.

34:3. And thou shalt not es­cape out of his hand: but thou shalt sure­ly be tak­en, and thou shalt be de­liv­ered in­to his hand: and thy eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Baby­lon, and his mouth shall speak with thy mouth, and thou shalt go to Baby­lon.

34:4. Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Sede­cias king of Ju­da: Thus saith the Lord to thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword.

34:5. But thou shalt die in peace, and ac­cord­ing to the burn­ings of thy fa­thers, the for­mer kings that were be­fore thee, so shall they burn thee: and they shall mourn for thee, say­ing: Alas, Lord: for I have spo­ken the word, saith the Lord.

Die in peace. . .That is, by a nat­ural death.

34:6. And Jeremias the prophet spoke all these words to Sede­cias the king of Ju­da in Jerusalem.

34:7. And the army of the king of Baby­lon fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Ju­da that were left, against Lachis, and against Azecha: for these re­mained of the cities of Ju­da, fenced cities.

34:8. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, af­ter that king Sede­cias had made a covenant with all the peo­ple in Jerusalem mak­ing a procla­ma­tion:

34:9. That ev­ery man should let his manser­vant, and ev­ery man his maid­ser­vant, be­ing He­brew man or a He­brew wom­an, go free: and that they should not lord it over them, to wit, over the Jews their brethren.

34:10. And all the princes, and all the peo­ple who en­tered in­to the covenant, heard that ev­ery man should let his manser­vant, and ev­ery man his maid­ser­vant go free, and should no more have do­min­ion over them: and they obeyed, and let them go free.

34:11. But af­ter­wards they turned: and brought back again their ser­vants and their hand­maids, whom they had let go free, and brought them in­to sub­jec­tion as menser­vants and maid­ser­vants.

34:12. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias from the Lord, say­ing:

34:13. Thus saith the Lord the God of Is­rael: I made a covenant with your fa­thers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, say­ing:

34:14. At the end of sev­en years, let ye go ev­ery man his broth­er be­ing a He­brew, who hath been sold to thee, so he shall serve thee six years: and thou shalt let him go free from thee: and your fa­thers did not hear­ken to me, nor did they in­cline their ear.

34:15. And you turned to day, and did that which was right in my eyes, in pro­claim­ing lib­er­ty ev­ery one to his broth­er: and you made a covenant in my sight, in the house up­on which my name is in­vo­cat­ed.

34:16. And you are fall­en back, and have de­filed my name: and you have brought back again ev­ery man his manser­vant, and ev­ery man his maid­ser­vant, whom you had let go free, and set at lib­er­ty: and you have brought them in­to sub­jec­tion to be your ser­vants and hand­maids.

34:17. There­fore thus saith the Lord: You have not hear­kened to me, in pro­claim­ing lib­er­ty ev­ery man to his broth­er and ev­ery man to his friend: be­hold I pro­claim a lib­er­ty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pesti­lence, and to the famine: and I will cause you to be re­moved to all the king­doms of the earth.

34:18. And I will give the men that have trans­gressed my covenant, and have not per­formed the words of the covenant which they agreed to in my pres­ence, when they cut the calf in two and passed be­tween the parts there­of:

34:19. The princes of Ju­da, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eu­nuchs, and the priests, and all the peo­ple of the land that passed be­tween the parts of the calf:

34:20. And I will give them in­to the hands of their en­emies, and in­to the hands of them that seek their life: and their dead bod­ies shall be for meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth.

34:21. And Sede­cias the king of Ju­da, and his princes, I will give in­to the hands of their en­emies, and in­to the hands of them that seek their lives, and in­to the hands of the armies of the king of Baby­lon, which are gone from you.

34:22. Be­hold I will com­mand, saith the Lord, and I will bring them again to this city, and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Ju­da a des­ola­tion, with­out an in­hab­itant.

Jeremias Chap­ter 35

The obe­di­ence of the Rech­abites con­demns the dis­obe­di­ence of the Jews. The re­ward of the Rech­abites.

35:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king of Ju­da, say­ing:

35:2. Go to the house of the Rech­abites: and speak to them, and bring them in­to the house of the Lord, in­to one of the cham­bers of the trea­sures, and thou shalt give them wine to drink.

Rech­abites. . .These were of the race of Jethro, fa­ther in law to Moses.

35:3. And I took Je­zo­nias the son of Jeremias the son of Hab­sa­nias, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rech­abites.

35:4. And I brought them in­to the house of the Lord, to the trea­sure house of the sons of Hanan, the son of Jegedelias the man of God, which was by the trea­sure house of the princes, above the trea­sure of Maasias the son of Sel­lum, who was keep­er of the en­try.

35:5. And I set be­fore the sons of the house of the Rech­abites pots full of wine, and cups: and I said to them: Drink ye wine.

35:6. And they an­swered : We will not drink wine: be­cause Jon­adab the son of Rechab, our fa­ther, com­mand­ed us, say­ing: You shall drink no wine, nei­ther you, nor your chil­dren, for ev­er:

35:7. Nei­ther shall ye build hous­es, nor sow reed, nor plant vine­yards, nor have any: but you shall dwell in tents all your days, that you may live many days up­on the face of the earth, in which you are strangers.

35:8. There­fore we have obeyed the voice of Jon­adab the son of Rechab, our fa­ther, in all things that he com­mand­ed us: so as to drink no wine all our days: nei­ther we, nor our wives, nor our sons, nor our daugh­ters:

35:9. Nor to build hous­es to dwell in, nor to have vine­yard, or field, or seed:

35:10. But we have dwelt in tents, and have been obe­di­ent ac­cord­ing to all that Jon­adab our fa­ther com­mand­ed us.

35:11. But when Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon came up to our land, we said: Come, let us go in­to Jerusalem from the face of the army of the Chaldeans, and from the face of the army of Syr­ia: and we have re­mained in Jerusalem.

35:12. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, say­ing:

35:13. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Go, and say to the men of Ju­da, and to the in­hab­itants of Jerusalem: Will you not re­ceive in­struc­tion, to obey my words, saith the Lord?

35:14. The words of Jon­adab the son of Rechab, by which he com­mand­ed his sons not to drink wine, have pre­vailed: and they have drunk none to this day, be­cause they have obeyed the com­mand­ment of their fa­ther: but I have spo­ken to you, ris­ing ear­ly and speak­ing, and you have not obeyed me.

35:15. And I have sent to you all my ser­vants the prophets, ris­ing ear­ly, and send­ing and say­ing: Re­turn ye ev­ery man from his wicked way, and make your ways good: and fol­low not strange gods, nor wor­ship them, and you shall dwell in the land, which I gave you and your fa­thers: and you have not in­clined your ear, nor hear­kened to me.

35:16. So the sons of Jon­adab the son of Rechab have con­stant­ly kept the com­mand­ment of their fa­ther, which he com­mand­ed them: but this peo­ple hath not obeyed me.

35:17. There­fore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Be­hold I will bring up­on Ju­da, and up­on all the in­hab­itants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pro­nounced against them, be­cause I have spo­ken to them, and they have not heard: I have called to them, and they have not an­swered me.

35:18. And Jeremias said to the house of the Rech­abites: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Be­cause you have obeyed the com­mand­ment of Jon­adab your fa­ther, and have kept all his pre­cepts, and have done all that he com­mand­ed you:

35:19. There­fore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: There shall not be want­ing a man of the race of Jon­adab the son of Rechab, stand­ing be­fore me for ev­er.

Jeremias Chap­ter 36

Jeremias sends Baruch to read his prophe­cies in the tem­ple; the book is brought to king Joakim, who burns it. The prophet de­nounces his judg­ment, and caus­es Baruch to write a new copy.

36:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Ju­da, that this word came to Jeremias by the Lord, say­ing:

36:2. Take thee a roll of a book, and thou shalt write in it all the words that I have spo­ken to thee against Is­rael and Ju­da, and against all the na­tions from the day that I spoke to thee, from the days of Josias even to this day.

36:3. If so be, when the house of Ju­da shall hear all the evils that I pur­pose to do un­to them, that they may re­turn ev­ery man from his wicked way: and I will for­give their in­iq­ui­ty, and their sin.

36:4. So Jeremias called Baruch the son of Ne­rias: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the Lord, which he spoke to him, up­on the roll of a book.

36:5. And Jeremias com­mand­ed Baruch, say­ing: I am shut up, and can­not go in­to the house of the Lord.

Shut up. . .Not that the prophet was now in prison; for the con­trary ap­pears from ver. 19, but that he kept him­self shut up, by rea­son of the per­se­cu­tions he had late­ly met with. See chap. 26.

36:6. Go thou in there­fore, and read out of the vol­ume, which thou hast writ­ten from my mouth, the words of the Lord, in the hear­ing of all the peo­ple in the house of the Lord on the fast­ing day: and al­so thou shalt read them in the hear­ing of all Ju­da that come out of their cities:

36:7. If so be they may present their sup­pli­ca­tion be­fore the Lord, and may re­turn ev­ery one from his wicked way: for great is the wrath and in­dig­na­tion which the Lord hath pro­nounced against this peo­ple.

36:8. And Baruch the son of Ne­rias did ac­cord­ing to all that Jeremias the prophet ,had com­mand­ed him, read­ing out of the vol­ume the words of the Lord in the house of the Lord.

36:9. And it came to pass in the fifth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Ju­da, in the ninth month, that they pro­claimed a fast be­fore the Lord to all the peo­ple in Jerusalem, and to all the peo­ple that were come to­geth­er out of the cities of Ju­da to Jerusalem.

36:10. And Baruch read out of the vol­ume the words of Jeremias in the house of the Lord, in the trea­sury of Gamarias the son of Saphan the scribe, in the up­per court, in the en­try of the new gate of the house of the Lord, in the hear­ing of all the peo­ple.

36:11. And when Micheas the son of Gamarias the son of Saphan had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord,

36:12. He went down in­to the king’s house to the sec­re­tary’s cham­ber: and be­hold all the princes sat there, Elisama the scribe, and Dala­ias the son of Se­meias, and El­nathan the son of Acho­bor, and Gamarias the son of Saphan, and Sede­cias the son of Hana­nias, and all the princes.

36:13. And Micheas told them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read out of the vol­ume in the hear­ing of the peo­ple.

36:14. There­fore all the princes sent Ju­di the son of Natha­nias, the son of Se­lemias, the son of Chusi, to Baruch, say­ing: Take in thy hand the vol­ume in which thou hast read in the hear­ing of the peo­ple, and come. So Baruch the son of Ne­rias took the vol­ume in his hand, and came to them.

36:15. And they said to him: Sit down and read these things in our hear­ing. And Baruch read in their hear­ing.

36:16. And when they had heard all the words, they looked up­on one an­oth­er with as­ton­ish­ment, and they said to Baruch: We must tell the king all these words.

36:17. And they asked him, say­ing: Tell us how didst thou write all these words from his mouth.

36:18. And Baruch said to them: With his mouth he pro­nounced all these words as if he were read­ing to me: and I wrote in a vol­ume with ink.

36:19. And the princes said to Baruch: Go, and hide thee, both thou and Jeremias, and let no man know where you are.

36:20. And they went in to the king in­to the court: but they laid up the vol­ume in the cham­ber of Elisama the scribe: and they told all the words in the hear­ing of the king.

36:21. And the king sent Ju­di that he should take the vol­ume: who bring­ing it out of the cham­ber of Elisama the scribe, read it in the hear­ing of the king, and of all the princes that stood about the king.

36:22. Now the king sat in the win­ter house, in the ninth month: and there was a hearth be­fore him full of burn­ing coals.

36:23. And when Ju­di had read three or four pages, he cut it with the penknife, and he cast it in­to the fire, that was up­on the hearth, till all the vol­ume was con­sumed with the fire that was on the hearth.

36:24. And the king and all his ser­vants that heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend their gar­ments.

36:25. But yet El­nathan, and Dala­ias, and Gamarias spoke to the king, not to burn the book: and he heard them not.

36:26. And the king com­mand­ed Jeremiel the son of Am­elech, and Sara­ias the son of Ezriel, and Se­lemias the son of Ab­deel, to take up Baruch the scribe, and Jeremias the prophet: but the Lord hid them.

36:27. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, af­ter that the king had burnt the vol­ume, and the words that Baruch had writ­ten from the mouth of Jeremias, say­ing:

36:28. Take thee again an­oth­er vol­ume: and write in it all the for­mer words that were in the first vol­ume which Joakim the king of Ju­da both burnt.

36:29. And thou shalt say to Joakim the king of Ju­da: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast burnt that vol­ume, say­ing: Why hast thou writ­ten there­in, and said: The king of Baby­lon shall come speed­ily, and shall lay waste this land: and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?

36:30. There­fore thus saith the Lord against Joakim the king of Ju­da: He shall have none to sit up­on the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day, and to the frost by night.

He shall have none, etc. . .Be­cause his son Joachin or Je­cho­nias, with­in three months af­ter the death of his fa­ther, was car­ried away to Baby­lon, so that his reign is not wor­thy of no­tice.

36:31. And I will pun­ish him, and his seed and his ser­vants, for their in­iq­ui­ties, and I will bring up­on them, and up­on the in­hab­itants of Jerusalem, and up­on the men of Ju­da all the evil that I have pro­nounced against them, but they have not heard.

36:32. And Jeremias took an­oth­er vol­ume, and gave it to Baruch the son of Ne­rias the scribe: who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremias all the words of the book which Joakim the king of Ju­da had burnt with fire: and there were added be­sides many more words than had been be­fore.

Jeremias Chap­ter 37

Jeremias proph­esies that the Chaldeans, who had de­part­ed from Jerusalem, would re­turn and burn the city. He is cast in­to prison. His con­fer­ence with Sede­cias.

37:1. Now king Sede­cias the son of Josias reigned in­stead of Je­cho­nias the son of Joakim: whom Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon made king in the land of Ju­da.

37:2. But nei­ther he, nor his ser­vants, nor the peo­ple of the land did obey the words of the Lord, that he spoke in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.

37:3. And king Sede­cias sent Juchal the son of Se­lemias, and So­pho­nias the son of Maasias the priest to Jeremias the prophet, say­ing: Pray to the Lord our God for us.

37:4. Now Jeremias walked freely in the midst of the peo­ple: for they had not as yet cast him in­to prison. And the army of Pharao was come out of Egypt: and the Chaldeans that be­sieged Jerusalem, hear­ing these tid­ings, de­part­ed from Jerusalem.

37:5. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, say­ing:

37:6. Thus saith the Lord the God of Is­rael: Thus shall you say to the king of Ju­da, who sent you to in­quire of me: Be­hold the army of Pharao, which is come forth to help you, shall re­turn in­to their own land, in­to Egypt.

37:7. And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.

37:8. Thus saith the Lord: De­ceive not your souls, say­ing: The Chaldeans shall sure­ly de­part and go away from us: for they shall not go away.

37:9. But if you should even beat all the army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there should be left of them some wound­ed men: they shall rise up, ev­ery man from his heart, and burn this city with fire.

37:10. Now when the army of the Chaldeans was gone away from Jerusalem, be­cause of Pharao’s army,

37:11. Jeremias went forth out of Jerusalem to go in­to the land of Ben­jamin: and to di­vide a pos­ses­sion there in the pres­ence of the cit­izens,

37:12. And when he was come to the gate of Ben­jamin, the cap­tain of the gate, who was there in his turn, was one named Je­rias, the son of Se­lemias, the son of Hana­nias: and he took hold of Jeremias the prophet, say­ing: Thou art flee­ing to the Chaldeans.

37:13. And Jeremias an­swered: It is not so, I am not flee­ing to the Chaldeans. But he hear­kened not to him: so Je­rias took Jeremias and brought him to the princes.

37:14. Where­fore the princes were an­gry with Jeremias, and they beat him, and cast him in­to the prison that was in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for he was chief over the prison.

37:15. So Jeremias went in­to the house of the prison, and in­to the dun­geon: and Jeremias re­mained there many days.

37:16. Then Sede­cias the king, send­ing, took him: and asked him se­cret­ly in his house, and said: Is there, think­est thou, any word from the Lord? And Jeremias said. There is. And he said: Thou shalt be de­liv­ered in­to the hands of the king of Baby­lon.

37:17. And Jeremias said to king Sede­cias: In what have I of­fend­ed against thee, or thy ser­vants, or thy peo­ple, that thou hast cast me in­to prison?

37:18. Where are your prophets that proph­esied to you, and said: The king of Baby­lon shall not come against you, and against this land?

37:19. Now there­fore hear, I be­seech thee, my lord the king: let my pe­ti­tion be ac­cept­ed in thy sight: and send me not back in­to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.

37:20. Then king Sede­cias com­mand­ed that Jeremias should be com­mit­ted in­to the en­try of the prison: and that they should give him dai­ly a piece of bread, be­side broth, till all the bread in the city were spent: and Jeremias re­mained in the en­try of the prison.

Jeremias Chap­ter 38

The prophet at the in­stance of the great men is cast in­to a filthy dun­geon: he is drawn out by Ab­dem­elech, and has an­oth­er con­fer­ence with the king.

38:1. Now Sapha­tias the son of Math­an, and Gedelias the son of Phas­sur, and Juchal the son of Se­lemias, and Phas­sur the son of Melchias heard the words that Jeremias spoke to all the peo­ple, say­ing:

38:2. Thus saith the Lord: Whoso­ev­er shall re­main in this city, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pesti­lence: but he that shall go forth to the Chaldeans, shall live, and his life shall be safe, and he shall live.

38:3. Thus saith the Lord: This city shall sure­ly be de­liv­ered in­to the hand of the army of the king of Baby­lon, and he shall take it.

38:4. And the princes said to the king. We be­seech thee that this man may be put to death: for on pur­pose he weak­eneth the hands of the men of war, that re­main in this city, and the hands of the peo­ple, speak­ing to them ac­cord­ing to these words: for this man seeketh not peace to this peo­ple, but evil.

38:5. And king Sede­cias said: Be­hold he is in your hands: for it is not law­ful for the king to de­ny you any thing.

38:6. Then they took Jeremias and cast him in­to the dun­geon of Melchias the son of Am­elech, which was in the en­try of the prison: and they let down Jeremias by ropes in­to the dun­geon, where­in there was no wa­ter, but mire. And Jeremias sunk in­to the mire.

38:7. Now Ab­dem­elech the Ethiopi­an, an eu­nuch that was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremias in the dun­geon: but the king was sit­ting in the gate of Ben­jamin.

38:8. And Ab­dem­elech went out of the king’s house, and spoke to the king, say­ing:

38:9. My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done against Jeremias the prophet, cast­ing him in­to the dun­geon to die there with hunger, for there is no more bread in the city.

38:10. Then the king com­mand­ed Ab­dem­elech the Ethiopi­an, say­ing: Take from hence thir­ty men with thee, and draw up Jeremias the prophet out of the dun­geon, be­fore he die.

38:11. So Ab­dem­elech tak­ing the men with him, went in­to the king’s house that was un­der the store­house: and he took from thence old rags, and old rot­ten things, and he let them down by cords to Jeremias in­to the dun­geon.

38:12. And Ab­dem­elech the Ethiopi­an said to Jeremias: Put these old rags and these rent and rot­ten things un­der thy arms, and up­on the cords: and Jeremias did so.

38:13. And they drew up Jeremias with the cords, and brought him forth out of the dun­geon. And Jeremias re­mained in the en­try of the prison.

38:14. And king Sede­cias sent, and took Jeremias the prophet to him to the third gate, that was in the house of the Lord: and the king said to Jeremias: I will ask thee a thing, hide noth­ing from me.

38:15. Then Jeremias said to Sede­cias: If I shall de­clare it to thee, wilt thou not put me to death? and if I give thee coun­sel, thou wilt not hear­ken to me.

38:16. Then king Sede­cias swore to Jeremias, in pri­vate, say­ing: As the Lord liveth, that, made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, nor will I de­liv­er thee in­to the hands of these men that seek thy life.

38:17. And Jeremias said to Sede­cias: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: If thou wilt take a res­olu­tion and go out to the princes of the king of Baby­lon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burnt with fire: and thou shalt be safe, and thy house.

38:18. But if thou wilt not go out to the princes of the king of Baby­lon, this city shall be de­liv­ered in­to the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire: and thou shalt not es­cape out of their hand.

38:19. And king Sede­cias said to Jeremias: I am afraid be­cause of the Jews that are fled over to the Chaldeans: lest I should be de­liv­ered in­to their hands, and they should abuse me.

38:20. But Jeremias an­swered: They shall not de­liv­er thee: hear­ken, I be­seech thee, to the word of the Lord, which I speak to the, and it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live.

38:21. But if thou wilt not go forth, this is the word which the Lord hath shewn me:

38:22. Be­hold all the wom­en that are left in the house of the king of Ju­da, shall be brought out to the princes of the king of Baby­lon: and they shall say: Thy men of peace have de­ceived thee, and have pre­vailed against thee, they have plunged thy feet in the mire, and in a slip­pery place and they have de­part­ed from thee.

Thy men of peace. . .Viri paci­fi­ci tui. That is thy false friends promis­ing thee peace and hap­pi­ness, and by their evil coun­sels in­volv­ing thee in mis­ery.

38:23. And all thy wives, and thy chil­dren shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not es­cape their hands, but thou shalt be tak­en by the hand of the king of Baby­lon: and he shall burn this city with fire.

38:24. Then Sede­cias said to Jeremias: Let no man know these words, and thou shalt not die.

38:25. But if the princes shall hear that I have spo­ken with thee, and shall come to thee, and say to thee: Tell us what thou hast said to the king, hide it not from us, and we will not kill thee: and al­so what the king said to thee:

38:26. Thou shalt say to them: I pre­sent­ed my sup­pli­ca­tion be­fore the king, that he would not com­mand me to be car­ried back in­to the house of Jonathan, to die there.

38:27. So all the princes came to Jeremias, and asked him: and he spoke to them ac­cord­ing to all the words that the king had com­mand­ed him: and they left him: for noth­ing had been heard.

38:28. But Jeremias re­mained in the en­try of the prison, un­til the day that Jerusalem was tak­en: and it came to pass that Jerusalem was tak­en.

Jeremias Chap­ter 39

Af­ter two years’ siege Jerusalem is tak­en. Sede­cias is car­ried be­fore Nabu­chodonosor, who kills his sons in his sight, and then puts out his eyes. Jeremias is set at lib­er­ty.

39:1. In the ninth year of Sede­cias king of Ju­da, in the tenth month, came Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon, and all his army to Jerusalem, and they be­sieged it.

39:2. And in the eleventh year of Sede­cias, in the fourth month, the fifth day of the month, the city was opened.

39:3. And all the princes of the king of Baby­lon came in, and sat in the mid­dle gate: Neregel, Sereser, Se­megar­nabu, Sarsachim, Rab­sares, Neregel, Serez­er, Reb­mag, and all the rest of the princes of the king of Baby­lon.

39:4. And when Sede­cias the king of Ju­da and all the men of war saw them, they fled: and they went forth in the night out of the city by the way of the king’s gar­den, and by the gate that was be­tween the two walls, and they went out to the way of the desert.

39:5. But the army of the Chaldeans pur­sued af­ter them: and they took Sede­cias in the plain of the desert of Jeri­cho, and when they had tak­en him, they brought him to Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon to Re­blatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judg­ment up­on him.

39:6. And the king of Baby­lon slew the sons of Sede­cias, in Re­blatha, be­fore his eyes: and the king of Baby­lon slew all the no­bles of Ju­da.

39:7. He al­so put out the eyes of Sede­cias: and bound him with fet­ters, to be car­ried to Baby­lon.

39:8. And the Chaldeans burnt the king’s house, and the hous­es of the peo­ple with fire, and they threw down the wall of Jerusalem.

39:9. And Nabuzardan the gen­er­al of the army car­ried away cap­tive to Baby­lon the rem­nant of the peo­ple that re­mained in the city, and the fugi­tives that had gone over to him, and the rest of the peo­ple that re­mained.

39:10. But Nabuzardan the gen­er­al left some of the poor peo­ple that had noth­ing at all, in the land of Ju­da, and he gave them vine­yards, and cis­terns at that time.

39:11. Now Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon had giv­en charge to Nabuzardan the gen­er­al con­cern­ing Jeremias, say­ing:

39:12. Take him, and set thy eyes up­on him, and do him no harm: but as he hath a mind, so do with him.

39:13. There­fore Nabuzardan the gen­er­al sent, and Nabuzardan, and Rab­sares, and Neregel, and Sereser, and Reb­mag, and all the no­bles of the king of Baby­lon,

39:14. Sent and took Jeremias out of the court of the prison, and com­mit­ted him to Godolias the son of Ahi­cam the son of Saphan, that he might go home, and dwell among the peo­ple.

39:15. But the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, when he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, say­ing: Go, and tell Ab­dem­elech the Ethiopi­an, say­ing:

39:16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Be­hold I will bring my words up­on this city un­to evil, and not un­to good: and they shall be ac­com­plished in thy sight in that day.

39:17. And I will de­liv­er thee in that day, saith the Lord: and thou shalt not be giv­en in­to the hands of the men whom thou fear­est:

39:18. But de­liv­er­ing, I will de­liv­er thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword: but thy life shall be saved for thee, be­cause thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.

Jeremias Chap­ter 40

Jeremias re­mains with Godolias the gov­er­nor; who re­ceives all the Jews that re­sort to him.

40:1. The word that came to Jeremias from the Lord, af­ter that Nabuzardan the gen­er­al had let him go from Ra­ma, when he had tak­en him, be­ing bound with chains, among all them that were car­ried away from Jerusalem and Ju­da, and were car­ried to Baby­lon.

40:2. And the gen­er­al of the army tak­ing Jeremias, said to him: The Lord thy God hath pro­nounced this evil up­on this place,

40:3. And he hath brought it: and the Lord hath done as he hath said: be­cause you have sinned against the Lord, and have not hear­kened to his voice, and this word is come up­on you.

40:4. Now then be­hold I have loosed thee this day from the chains which were up­on thy hands: if it please thee to come with me to Baby­lon, come: and I will set my eyes up­on thee: but if it do not please thee to come with me to Baby­lon, stay here: be­hold all the land is be­fore thee, as thou shalt choose, and whith­er it shall please thee to go, thith­er go.

40:5. And come not with me: but dwell with Godolias the son of Ahi­cam the son of Saphan, whom the king of Baby­lon hath made gov­er­nor over the cities of Ju­da: dwell there­fore with him in the midst of the peo­ple: or whith­er­so­ev­er it shall please thee to go, go. And the gen­er­al of the army gave him vict­uals and presents, and let him go.

40:6. And Jeremias went to Godolias the son of Ahi­cam to Mas­phath: and dwelt with him in the midst of the peo­ple that were left in the land.

40:7. And when all the cap­tains of the army that were scat­tered through the coun­tries, they and their com­pan­ions, had heard that the king of Baby­lon had made Godolias the son of Ahi­cam gov­er­nor of the coun­try, and that he had com­mit­ted un­to him men and wom­en, and chil­dren, and of the poor of the land, them that had not been car­ried away cap­tive to Baby­lon:

40:8. They came to Godolias to Mas­phath: and Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias, and Jo­hanan, and Jonathan, the sons of Ca­ree, and Sar­eas the son of Thane­humeth, and the chil­dren of Ophi, that were of Ne­tophathi, and Je­zo­nias the son of Maachati, they and their men.

40:9. And Godolias the son of Ahi­cam the son of Saphan swore to them and to their com­pan­ions, say­ing: Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Baby­lon, and it shall be well with you.

40:10. Be­hold I dwell in Mas­phath, that I may an­swer the com­mand­ment of the Chaldeans that are sent to us: but as for you, gath­er ye the vin­tage, and the har­vest, and the oil, and lay it up in your ves­sels, and abide in your cities which you hold.

40:11. More­over all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the chil­dren of Am­mon, and in Edom, and in all the coun­tries, when they heard that the king of Baby­lon had left a rem­nant in Judea, and that he had made Godolias the son of Ahi­cam the son of Saphan ruler over them:

40:12. All the Jews, I say, re­turned out of all the places to which they had fled, and they came in­to the land of Ju­da to Godolias to Mas­phath: and they gath­ered wine, and a very great har­vest.

40:13. Then Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, and all the cap­tains of the army, that had been scat­tered about in the coun­tries, came to Godolias to Mas­phath.

40:14. And they said to him: Know that Baalis the king of the chil­dren of Am­mon hath sent Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias to kill thee. And Godolias the son of Ahi­cam be­lieved them not.

40:15. But Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, spoke to Godolias pri­vate­ly in Mas­phath, say­ing: I will go, and I will kill Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias, and no man shall know it, lest he kill thee, and all the Jews be scat­tered, that are gath­ered un­to thee, and the rem­nant of Ju­da per­ish.

40:16. And Godolias the son of Ahi­cam said to Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree: Do not this thing: for what thou sayst of Is­ma­hel is false.

Jeremias Chap­ter 41

Godolias is slain: the Jews that were with him are ap­pre­hen­sive of the Chaldeans.

41:1. And it came to pass in the sev­enth month, that Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias, the son of Elisama of the roy­al blood, and the no­bles of the king, and ten men with him, came to Godolias the son of Ahi­cam in­to Mas­phath: and they ate bread there to­geth­er in Mas­phath.

41:2. And Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias arose, and the ten men that were with him, and they struck Godolias the son of Ahi­cam, the son of Saphan with the sword, and slew him whom the king of Baby­lon had made gov­er­nor over the land.

41:3. Is­ma­hel slew al­so all the Jews that were with Godolias in Mas­phath, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the sol­diers.

41:4. And on the sec­ond day af­ter he had killed Godolias, no man yet know­ing it,

41:5. There came some from Sichem, and from Si­lo, and from Samaria, fourscore men, with their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and mourn­ing: and they had of­fer­ings and in­cense in their hand, to of­fer in the house of the Lord.

41:6. And Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias went forth from Mas­phath to meet them, weep­ing all along as he went: and when he had met them, he said to them: Come to Godolias, the son of Ahi­cam.

41:7. And when they were come to the midst of the city, Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias, slew them, and cast them in­to the midst of the pit, he and the men that were with him.

41:8. But ten men were found among them, that said to Is­ma­hel: Kill us not: for we have stores in the field, of wheat, and bar­ley, and oil, and hon­ey. And he for­bore, and slew them not with their brethren.

41:9. And the pit in­to which Is­ma­hel cast all the dead bod­ies of the men whom he slew be­cause of Godolias, is the same that king Asa made, for fear of Baasa the king of Is­rael: the same did Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias fill with them that were slain.

41:10. Then Is­ma­hel car­ried away cap­tive all the rem­nant of the peo­ple that were in Mas­phath: the king’s daugh­ters, and all the peo­ple that re­mained in Mas­phath: whom Nabuzardan the gen­er­al of the army had com­mit­ted to Godolias the son of Ahi­cam. And Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias took them, and he de­part­ed, to go over to the chil­dren of Am­mon.

41:11. But Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, and all the cap­tains of the fight­ing men that were with him, heard of the evil that Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias had done.

41:12. And tak­ing all the men, they went out to fight against Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias, and they found him by the great wa­ters that are in Gabaon.

41:13. And when all the peo­ple that were with Is­ma­hel, had seen Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, and all the cap­tains of the fight­ing men that were with him, they re­joiced.

41:14. And all the peo­ple whom Is­ma­hel had tak­en, went back to Mas­phath: and they re­turned and went to Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree.

41:15. But Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias fled with eight men, from the face of Jo­hanan, and went to the chil­dren of Am­mon.

41:16. Then Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, and all the cap­tains of the sol­diers that were with him, took all the rem­nant of the peo­ple whom they had re­cov­ered from Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias, from Mas­phath, af­ter that he had slain Godolias the son of Ahi­cam: valiant men for war, and the wom­en, and the chil­dren, and the eu­nuchs whom he had brought back from Gabaon.

41:17. And they de­part­ed, and sat as so­journ­ers in Chamaam, which is near Beth­le­hem: in or­der to go for­ward, and en­ter in­to Egypt,

41:18. From the face of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, be­cause Is­ma­hel the son of Natha­nias had slain Godolias the son of Ahi­cam, whom the king of Baby­lon had made gov­er­nor in the land of Ju­da.

Jeremias Chap­ter 42

Jeremias as­sures the rem­nant of the peo­ple, that if they will stay in Ju­da, they shall be safe; but if they go down in­to Egypt, they shall per­ish.

42:1. Then all the cap­tains of the war­riors, and Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, and Je­zo­nias, the son of Os­aias, and the rest of the peo­ple from the least to the great­est came near:

42:2. And they said to Jeremias the prophet: Let our sup­pli­ca­tion fall be­fore thee: and pray thou for us to the Lord thy God for all this rem­nant, for we are left but a few of many, as thy eyes do be­hold us.

42:3. And let the Lord thy God shew us the way by which we may walk, and the thing that we must do.

42:4. And Jeremias the prophet said to them: I have heard you: be­hold I will pray to the Lord your God ac­cord­ing to your words: and what­so­ev­er thing he shall an­swer me, I will de­clare it to you: and I will hide noth­ing from you.

42:5. And they said to Jeremias: The Lord be wit­ness be­tween us of truth and faith­ful­ness, if we do not ac­cord­ing to ev­ery thing for which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.

42:6. Whether it be good or evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee: that it may be well with us when we shall hear­ken to the voice of the Lord our God.

Good or evil. . .That is, agree­able or dis­agree­able.

42:7. Now af­ter ten days, the word of the Lord came to Jeremias.

42:8. And he called Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, and all the cap­tains of the fight­ing men that were with him, and all the peo­ple from the least to the great­est.

42:9. And he said to them: Thus saith the Lord the God of Is­rael, to whom you sent me, to present your sup­pli­ca­tions be­fore him:

42:10. If you will be qui­et and re­main in this land, I will build you up, and not pull you down: I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for now I am ap­peased for the evil that I have done to you.

I am ap­peased for the evil that I have done to you. . .That is, I am ap­peased, as I have suf­fi­cient­ly pun­ished you, and now I am rec­on­ciled with you.

42:11. Fear not be­cause of the king of Baby­lon, of whom you are great­ly afraid: fear him not, saith the Lord: for I am with you, to save you, and to de­liv­er you from his hand.

42:12. And I will shew mer­cies to you, and will take pity on you, and will cause you to dwell in your own land.

42:13. But if you say: We will not dwell in this land, nei­ther will we hear­ken to the voice of the Lord our God,

42:14. Say­ing: No, but we will go in­to the land of Egypt: where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trum­pet, nor suf­fer hunger: and there we will dwell.

42:15. For this now hear the word of the Lord, ye rem­nant of Ju­da: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Is­rael: If you set your faces to go in­to Egypt, and en­ter in to dwell there:

42:16. The sword which you fear, shall over­take you there in the land of Egypt: and the famine, where­of you are afraid, shall cleave to you in Egypt, and there you shall die.

42:17. And all the men that set their faces to go in­to Egypt, to dwell there, shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pesti­lence: none of them shall re­main, nor es­cape from the face of the evil that I will bring up­on them.

42:18. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Is­rael: As my anger and my in­dig­na­tion hath been kin­dled against the in­hab­itants of Jerusalem: so shall my in­dig­na­tion be kin­dled against you, when you shall en­ter in­to Egypt, and you shall be an ex­ecra­tion, and an as­ton­ish­ment, and a curse, and a re­proach: and you shall see this place no more.

42:19. This is the word of the Lord con­cern­ing you, O ye rem­nant of Ju­da: Go ye not in­to Egypt: know cer­tain­ly that I have ad­jured you this day.

42:20. For you have de­ceived your own souls: for you sent me to the Lord our God, say­ing: Pray for us to the Lord our God, and ac­cord­ing to all that the Lord our God shall say to thee, so de­clare un­to us, and we will do it.

42:21. And now I have de­clared it to you this day, and you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, with re­gard to all the things for which he hath sent me to you.

42:22. Now there­fore know cer­tain­ly that you shall die by the sword, and by famine, and by pesti­lence in the place to which you de­sire to go to dwell there.

Jeremias Chap­ter 43

The Jews, con­trary to the or­ders of God by the prophet, go in­to Egypt, car­ry­ing Jeremias with them. He fore­tells the dev­as­ta­tion of that land by the king of Baby­lon.

43:1. And it came to pass, that when Jeremias had made an end of speak­ing to the peo­ple all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, all these words:

43:2. Azarias the son of Os­aias, and Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, and all the proud men, made an­swer, say­ing to Jeremias: Thou tellest a lie: the Lord our God hath not sent thee, say­ing: Go not in­to Egypt, to dwell there.

43:3. But Baruch the son of Ne­rias set­teth thee on against us, to de­liv­er us in­to the hands of the Chaldeans, to kill us, and to cause us to be car­ried away cap­tives to Baby­lon.

43:4. So Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, and all the cap­tains of the sol­diers, and all the peo­ple, obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to re­main in the land of Ju­da.

43:5. But Jo­hanan the son of Ca­ree, and all the cap­tains of the sol­diers took all the rem­nant of Ju­da, that were re­turned out of all na­tions, to which they had be­fore been scat­tered, to dwell in the land of Ju­da:

43:6. Men, and wom­en, and chil­dren, and the king’s daugh­ters, and ev­ery soul, which Nabuzardan the gen­er­al had left with Godolias the son of Ahi­cam the son of Saphan, and Jeremias the prophet, and Baruch the son of Ne­rias.

43:7. And they went in­to the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: and they came as far as Taph­nis.

43:8. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias in Taph­nis, say­ing:

43:9. Take great stones in thy hand, and thou shalt hide them in the vault that is un­der the brick wall at the gate of Pharao’s house in Taph­nis: in the sight of the men of Ju­da.

43:10. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Be­hold I will send, and take Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon my ser­vant: and I will set his throne over these stones which I have hid, and he shall set his throne over them.

43:11. And he shall come and strike the land of Egypt: such as are for death, to death: and such as are for cap­tiv­ity, to cap­tiv­ity: and such as are for the sword, to the sword.

43:12. And he shall kin­dle a fire in the tem­ples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them, and he shall car­ry them away cap­tives: and he shall ar­ray him­self with the land of Egypt, as a shep­herd put­teth on his gar­ment: and he shall go forth from thence in peace.

43:13. And he shall break the stat­ues of the house of the sun, that are in the land of Egypt; and the tem­ples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.

Jeremias Chap­ter 44

The prophet’s ad­mo­ni­tion to the Jews in Egypt against idol­atry is not re­gard­ed: he de­nounces to them their de­struc­tion.

44:1. The word that came to Jeremias, con­cern­ing all the Jews that dwelt in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Mag­dal, and in Taph­nis, and in Mem­phis, and in the land of Pha­tures, say­ing:

44:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: You have seen all this evil that I have brought up­on Jerusalem, and up­on all the cities of Ju­da: and be­hold they are des­olate this day, and there is not an in­hab­itant in them:

44:3. Be­cause of the wicked­ness which they have com­mit­ted, to pro­voke me to wrath, and to go and of­fer sac­ri­fice, and wor­ship oth­er gods, which nei­ther they, nor you, nor your fa­thers knew.

44:4. And I sent to you all my ser­vants the prophets, ris­ing ear­ly, and send­ing, and say­ing: Do not com­mit this abom­inable thing, which I hate.

44:5. But they heard not, nor in­clined their ear to turn from their evil ways, and not to sac­ri­fice to strange gods.

44:6. Where­fore my in­dig­na­tion and my fury was poured forth, and was kin­dled in the cities of Ju­da, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and they are turned to des­ola­tion and waste, as at this day.

44:7. And now thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Why do you com­mit this great evil against your own souls, that there should die of you man and wom­an, child and suck­ling out of the midst of Ju­da, and no rem­nant should be left you:

44:8. In that you pro­voke me to wrath with the works of your hands, by sac­ri­fic­ing to oth­er gods in the land of Egypt, in­to which you are come to dwell there: and that you should per­ish, and be a curse, and a re­proach to all the na­tions of the earth?

44:9. Have you for­got­ten the evils of your fa­thers, and the evils of the kings of Ju­da, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and the evils of your wives, that they have done in the land of Ju­da, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

44:10. They are not cleansed even to this day: nei­ther have they feared, nor walked in the law of the Lord, nor in my com­mand­ments, which I set be­fore you and your fa­thers.

44:11. There­fore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Be­hold I will set my face up­on you for evil: and I will de­stroy all Ju­da.

44:12. And I will take the rem­nant of Ju­da that have set their faces to go in­to the land of Egypt, and to dwell there; and they shall be all con­sumed in the land of Egypt: they shall fall by the sword, and by the famine: and they shall be con­sumed from the least even to the great­est, by the sword, and by the famine shall they die: and they shall be for an ex­ecra­tion, and for a won­der, and for a curse, and for a re­proach.

44:13. And I will vis­it them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have vis­it­ed Jerusalem by the sword, and by famine and by pesti­lence.

44:14. And there shall be none that shall es­cape, and re­main of the rem­nant of the Jews that are gone to so­journ in the land of Egypt: and that shall re­turn in­to the land of Ju­da, to which they have a de­sire to re­turn to dwell there: there shall none re­turn but they that shall flee.

44:15. Then all the men that knew that their wives sac­ri­ficed to oth­er gods: and all the wom­en of whom there stood by a great mul­ti­tude, and all the peo­ple of them that dwelt in the land of Egypt in Pha­tures, an­swered Jeremias, say­ing:

44:16. As for the word which thou hast spo­ken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hear­ken to thee:

44:17. But we will cer­tain­ly do ev­ery word that shall pro­ceed out of our own mouth, to sac­ri­fice to the queen of heav­en, and to pour out drink of­fer­ings to her, as we and our fa­thers have done, our kings, and our princes in the cities of Ju­da, and in the streets of Jerusalem: and we were filled with bread, and it was well with us, and we saw no evil.

The queen of heav­en. . .The moon, which they wor­shipped un­der this name.

44:18. But since we left off to of­fer sac­ri­fice to the queen of heav­en, and to pour out frank of­fer­ings to her, we have want­ed all things, and have been con­sumed by the sword, and by famine.

44:19. And if we of­fer sac­ri­fice to the queen of heav­en, and pour out drink of­fer­ings to her: did we make cakes to wor­ship her, to pour out drink of­fer­ings to her, with­out our hus­bands?

44:20. And Jeremias spoke to all the peo­ple, to the men, and to the wom­en, and to all the peo­ple which had giv­en him that an­swer, say­ing:

44:21. Was it not the sac­ri­fice that you of­fered in the cities of Ju­da, and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fa­thers, your kings, and your princes, and the peo­ple of the land, which the Lord hath re­mem­bered, and hath it not en­tered in­to his heart?

44:22. So that the Lord could no longer bear, be­cause of the evil of your do­ings, and be­cause of the abom­ina­tions which you have com­mit­ted: there­fore your land is be­come a des­ola­tion, and an as­ton­ish­ment, and a curse, with­out an in­hab­itant, as at this day.

44:23. Be­cause you have sac­ri­ficed to idols, and have sinned against the Lord: and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have not walked in his law, and in his com­mand­ments, and in his tes­ti­monies: there­fore are these evils come up­on you, as at this day.

44:24. And Jeremias said to all the peo­ple and to all the wom­en: Hear ye the word of the Lord, all Ju­da, you that dwell in the land of Egypt:

44:25. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael, say­ing: You and your wives have spo­ken with your mouth, and ful­filled with your hands, say­ing: Let us per­form our vows which we have made, to of­fer sac­ri­fice to the queen of heav­en, and to pour out drink of­fer­ings to her: you have ful­filled your vows, and have per­formed them in­deed.

44:26. There­fore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Ju­da, you that dwell in the land of Egypt: Be­hold I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord: that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Ju­da, in the land of Egypt, say­ing: The Lord God liveth.

44:27. Be­hold I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Ju­da that are in the land of Egypt, shall be con­sumed, by the sword, and by famine, till there be an end of them.

44:28. And a few men that shall flee from the sword, shall re­turn out of the land of Egypt in­to the land of Ju­da: and all the rem­nant of Ju­da that are gone in­to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, or theirs.

44:29. And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I will pun­ish you in this place: that you may know that my words shall be ac­com­plished in­deed against you for evil.

44:30. Thus saith the Lord: Be­hold I will de­liv­er Pharao Nechao king of Egypt in­to the hand of his en­emies, and in­to the hand of them that seek his life: as I de­liv­ered Sede­cias king of Ju­da in­to the land of Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon his en­emy, and that sought his life.

Jeremias Chap­ter 45

The prophet com­forts Baruch in his af­flic­tion.

45:1. The word that Jeremias the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Ne­rias, when he had writ­ten these words in a book, out of the mouth of Jeremias, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Ju­da, say­ing:

45:2. Thus saith the Lord the God of Is­rael to thee, Baruch:

45:3. Thou hast said: Woe is me, wretch that I am, for the Lord hath added sor­row to my sor­row: I am wea­ried with my groans, and I find no rest.

45:4. Thus saith the Lord: Thus shalt thou say to him: Be­hold, them whom I have built, I do de­stroy: and them whom I have plant­ed, I do pluck up, and all this land.

45:5. And dost thou seek great things for thy­self? Seek not: for be­hold I will bring evil up­on all flesh, saith the Lord! but I will give thee thy life, and save thee in all places whith­er­so­ev­er thou shalt go.

Jeremias Chap­ter 46

A prophe­cy against Egypt. The Jews shall re­turn from cap­tiv­ity.

46:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the Gen­tiles,

46:2. Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, which was by the riv­er Eu­phrates in Char­camis, whom Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon de­feat­ed, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Ju­da.

46:3. Pre­pare ye the shield and buck­ler, and go forth to bat­tle.

46:4. Har­ness the hors­es, and get up, ye horse­men: stand forth with hel­mets, fur­bish the spears, put on coats of mail.

46:5. What then? I have seen them dis­mayed, and turn­ing their backs, their valiant ones slain: they fled apace, and they looked not back: ter­ror was round about, saith the Lord.

46:6. Let not the swift flee away, nor the strong think to es­cape: they are over­thrown, and fall­en down, to­wards the north by the riv­er Eu­phrates.

46:7. Who is this that cometh up as a flood: and his streams swell like those of rivers?

46:8. Egypt riseth up like a flood, and the waves there­of shall be moved as rivers, and he shall say: I will go up and will cov­er the earth: I will de­stroy the city, and its in­hab­itants.

46:9. Get ye up on hors­es, and glo­ry in char­iots, and let the valiant men come forth, the Ethiopi­ans, and the Libyans that hold the shield, and the Ly­di­ans that take, and shoot ar­rows.

46:10. For this is the day of the Lord the God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may re­venge him­self of his en­emies: the sword shall de­vour, and shall be filled, and shall be drunk with their blood: for there is a sac­ri­fice of the Lord God of hosts in the north coun­try, by the riv­er Eu­phrates.

46:11. Go up in­to Galaad, and take balm, O vir­gin daugh­ter of Egypt: in vain dost thou mul­ti­ply medicines, there shall be no cure for thee.

46:12. The na­tions have heard of thy dis­grace, and thy howl­ing hath filled the land: for the strong hath stum­bled against the strong, and both are fall­en to­geth­er.

46:13. The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremias the prophet, how Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon should come and strike the land of Egypt:

46:14. De­clare ye to Egypt, and pub­lish it in Mag­dal, and let it be known in Mem­phis, and in Taph­nis: say ye: Stand up, and pre­pare thy­self: for the sword shall de­vour all round about thee.

46:15. Why are thy valiant men come to noth­ing? they stood not: be­cause the Lord hath over­thrown them.

46:16. He hath mul­ti­plied them that fall, and one hath fall­en up­on an­oth­er, and they shall say: Arise, and let us re­turn to our own peo­ple, and to the land of our na­tiv­ity, from the sword of the dove.

The dove. . .See the an­no­ta­tion on chap. 25., ver. 38.

46:17. Call ye the name of Pharao king of Egypt, a tu­mult time hath brought.

46:18. As I live, saith the King, (whose name is the Lord of hosts,) as Tha­bor is among the moun­tains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

46:19. Fur­nish thy­self to go in­to cap­tiv­ity, thou daugh­ter in­hab­itant of Egypt: for Mem­phis shall be made des­olate, and shall be for­sak­en and un­in­hab­it­ed.

46:20. Egypt is like a fair and beau­ti­ful heifer: there shall come from the north one that shall goad her.

46:21. Her hirelings al­so that lived in the midst of her, like fat­ted calves are turned back, and are fled away to­geth­er, and they could not stand, for the day of their slaugh­ter is come up­on them, the time of their vis­ita­tion.

46:22. Her voice shall sound like brass, for they shall has­ten with an army, and with ax­es they shall come against her, as hew­ers of wood.

46:23. They have cut down her for­est, saith the Lord, which can­not be count­ed: they are mul­ti­plied above lo­custs, and are with­out num­ber.

46:24. The daugh­ter of Egypt is con­found­ed, and de­liv­ered in­to the hand of the peo­ple of the north.

46:25. The Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael hath said: Be­hold I will vis­it up­on the tu­mult of Alexan­dria, and up­on Pharao, and up­on Egypt, and up­on her gods, and up­on her kings, and up­on Pharao, and up­on them that trust in him.

Vis­it up­on. . .That is, pun­ish.–Ibid. Alexan­dria. . .In the He­brew, No, which was the an­cient name of the city, to which Alexan­der gave af­ter­wards the name of Alexan­dria.

46:26. And I will de­liv­er them in­to the hand of them that seek their lives, and in­to the hand of Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon, and in­to the hand of his ser­vants: and af­ter­wards it shall be in­hab­it­ed, as in the days of old, saith the Lord.

46:27. And thou my ser­vant Ja­cob, fear not and be not thou dis­mayed, O Is­rael: for be­hold I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed out of the land of thy cap­tiv­ity: and Ja­cob shall re­turn and be at rest, and pros­per: and there shall be none to ter­ri­fy him.

46:28. And thou, my ser­vant Ja­cob, fear not, saith the Lord: be­cause I am with thee, for I will con­sume all the na­tions to which I have cast thee out: but thee I will not con­sume, but I will cor­rect thee in judg­ment, nei­ther will I spare thee as if thou wert in­no­cent.

Jeremias Chap­ter 47

A prophe­cy of the des­ola­tion of the Philistines, of Tyre, Sidon, Gaza, and Ascalon.

47:1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against the peo­ple of Pales­tine, be­fore Pharao took Gaza.

47:2. Thus saith the Lord: Be­hold there come up wa­ters out of the north, and they shall be as an over­flow­ing tor­rent, and they shall cov­er the land, and all that is there­in, the city and the in­hab­itants there­of: then the men shall cry, and all the in­hab­itants of the land shall howl,

47:3. At the noise of the march­ing of arms, and of his sol­diers, at the rush­ing of his char­iots, and the mul­ti­tude of his wheels. The fa­thers have not looked back to the chil­dren, for fee­ble­ness of hands,

47:4. Be­cause of the com­ing of the day, in which all the Philistines shall be laid waste, and Tyre and Sidon shall be de­stroyed, with all the rest of their helpers. For the Lord hath wast­ed the Philistines, the rem­nant of the isle of Cap­pado­cia.

47:5. Bald­ness is come up­on Gaza: Ascalon hath held her peace with the rem­nant of their val­ley: how long shalt thou cut thy­self?

47:6. O thou sword of the Lord, how long wilt thou not be qui­et? Go in­to thy scab­bard, rest, and be still.

47:7. How shall it be qui­et, when the Lord hath giv­en it a charge against Ascalon, and against the coun­tries there­of by the sea side, and there hath made an ap­point­ment for it?

Jeremias Chap­ter 48

A prophe­cy of the des­ola­tion of Moab for their pride: but their cap­tiv­ity shall at last be re­leased.

48:1. Against Moab thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Woe to Nabo, for it is laid waste, and con­found­ed: Cariathaim is tak­en: the strong city is con­found­ed and hath trem­bled.

48:2. There is no more re­joic­ing in Moab over Hes­ebon: they have de­vised evil. Come, and let us cut it off from be­ing a na­tion. There­fore shalt thou in si­lence hold thy peace, and the sword shall fol­low thee.

48:3. A voice of cry­ing from Oron­aim: waste, and great de­struc­tion.

48:4. Moab is de­stroyed: pro­claim a cry for her lit­tle ones.

48:5. For by the as­cent of Luith shall the mourn­er go up with weep­ing: for in the de­scent of Oron­aim the en­emies have heard a howl­ing of de­struc­tion.

48:6. Flee, save your lives: and be as heath in the wilder­ness.

48:7. For be­cause thou hast trust­ed in thy bul­warks, and in thy trea­sures, thou al­so shalt be tak­en: and Chamos shall go in­to cap­tiv­ity, his priests, and his princes to­geth­er.

Chamos. . .The idol of the Moabites.

48:8. And the spoil­er shall come up­on ev­ery city, and no city shall es­cape: and the val­leys shall per­ish, and the plains shall be de­stroyed, for the Lord hath spo­ken:

48:9. Give a flow­er to Moab, for in its flow­er it shall go out: and the cities there­of shall be des­olate, and un­in­hab­it­ed.

48:10. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord de­ceit­ful­ly: and cursed be he that with­hold­eth his sword from blood.

De­ceit­ful­ly. . .In the Greek, neg­li­gent­ly. The work of God here spo­ken of, is the pun­ish­ment of the Moabites.

48:11. Moab hath been fruit­ful from his youth, and hath rest­ed up­on his lees: and hath not been poured out from ves­sel to ves­sel, nor hath gone in­to cap­tiv­ity: there­fore his taste hath re­mained in him, and his scent is not changed.

Moab hath been fruit­ful. . .That is, rich and flour­ish­ing. And hath rest­ed up­on his lees. . .That is, re­mained in its bad morals; as wine not de­cant­ed has its lees mixed and re­mains mud­dy.

48:12. There­fore be­hold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send him men that shall or­der and over­turn his bot­tles, and they shall cast him down, and shall emp­ty his ves­sels, and break their bot­tles one against an­oth­er.

48:13. And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as the house of Is­rael was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trust­ed.

Of Bethel. . .That is, of their gold­en calf which they wor­shipped in Bethel.

48:14. How do you say: We are valiant and stout men in bat­tle?

48:15. Moab is laid waste, and they have cast down her cities: and her choice young men are gone down to the slaugh­ter: saith the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

48:16. The de­struc­tion of Moab is near to come: the calami­ty there­of shall come on ex­ceed­ing swift­ly.

48:17. Com­fort him, all you that are round about him, and all you that know his name, say: How is the strong staff bro­ken, the beau­ti­ful rod?

48:18. Come down from thy glo­ry, and sit in thirst, O dwelling of the daugh­ter of Di­bon: be­cause the spoil­er of Moab is come up to thee, he hath de­stroyed thy bul­warks.

48:19. Stand in the way, and look out, O habi­ta­tion of Aroer: in­quire of him that fleeth: and say to him that hath es­caped: What is done?

48:20. Moab is con­found­ed, be­cause he is over­thrown: howl ye, and cry, tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is wast­ed.

48:21. And judg­ment is come up­on the plain coun­try: up­on Helon, and up­on Jasa, and up­on Mephaath.

48:22. And up­on Di­bon, and up­on Nabo, and up­on the house of De­blath­aim,

48:23. And up­on Cariathaim, and up­on Bethga­mul, and up­on Beth­maon,

48:24. And up­on Car­io­th, and up­on Bosra: and up­on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.

48:25. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is bro­ken, saith the Lord.

The horn of Moab is cut off. . .That is, the strength of Moab is cut off. A metaphor drawn from an­imals whose strength is in their horns.

48:26. Make him drunk, be­cause he lift­ed up him­self against the Lord: and Moab shall dash his hand in his own vom­it, and he al­so shall be in de­ri­sion.

48:27. For Is­rael hath been a de­ri­sion un­to them: as though thou hadst found him amongst thieves: for thy words there­fore, which thou hast spo­ken against him, thou shalt be led away cap­tive.

48:28. Leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, you that dwell in Moab: and be ye like the dove that maketh her nest in the mouth of the hole in the high­est place.

48:29. We have heard the pride of Moab, he is ex­ceed­ing proud: his haugh­ti­ness, and his ar­ro­gan­cy, and his pride, and the lofti­ness of his heart.

48:30. I know, saith the Lord, his boast­ing, and that the strength there­of is not ac­cord­ing to it, nei­ther hath it en­deav­oured to do ac­cord­ing as it was able.

48:31. There­fore will I lament for Moab, and I will cry out to all Moab, for the men of the brick wall that mourn.

48:32. O vine­yard of Saba­ma, I will weep for thee, with the mourn­ing of Jaz­er: thy branch­es are gone over the sea, they are come even to the sea of Jaz­er: the rob­ber hath rushed in up­on thy har­vest and thy vin­tage.

48:33. Joy and glad­ness is tak­en away from Carmel, and from the land of Moab, and I have tak­en away the wine out of the press­es: the tread­er of the grapes shall not sing the ac­cus­tomed cheer­ful tune.

48:34. From the cry of Hes­ebon even to Eleale, and to Jasa, they have ut­tered their voice: from Segor to Oron­aim, as a heifer of three years old: the wa­ters al­so of Nem­rim shall be very bad.

48:35. And I will take away from Moab, saith the Lord, him that of­fer­eth in the high places, and that sac­ri­ficeth to his gods.

48:36. There­fore my heart shall sound for Moab like pipes and my heart shall sound like pipes for the men of the brick wall: be­cause he hath done more than he could, there­fore they have per­ished.

48:37. For ev­ery head shall be bald, and ev­ery beard shall be shaven: all hands shall be tied to­geth­er, and up­on ev­ery back there shall be hair­cloth.

48:38. Up­on all the house­tops of Moab, and in the streets there­of gen­er­al mourn­ing: be­cause I have bro­ken Moab as an use­less ves­sel, saith the Lord.

48:39. How is it over­thrown, and they have howled! How hath Moab bowed down the neck, and is con­found­ed! And Moab shall be a de­ri­sion, and an ex­am­ple to all round about him.

48:40. Thus saith the Lord: Be­hold he shall fly as an ea­gle, and shall stretch forth his wings to Moab.

48:41. Car­io­th is tak­en, and the strongholds are won: and the heart of the valiant men of Moab in that day shall be as the heart of a wom­an in labour.

48:42. And Moab shall cease to be a peo­ple: be­cause he hath glo­ried against the Lord.

48:43. Fear, and the pit, and the snare come up­on thee, O in­hab­itant of Moab, saith the Lord.

Fear. . .That is, the sword of the en­emy. The pit. . .That is, un­fore­seen calami­ties. The snare. . .That is, the am­bush­es laid by the en­emy.

48:44. He that shall flee from the fear, shall fall in­to the pit: and he that shall get up out of the pit, shall be tak­en in the snare: for I will bring up­on Moab the year of their vis­ita­tion, saith the Lord.

48:45. They that fled from the snare stood in the shad­ow of Hes­ebon: but there came a fire out of Hes­ebon, and a flame out of the midst of Seon, and it shall de­vour part of Moab, and the crown of the head of the chil­dren of tu­mult.

48:46. Woe to thee, Moab, thou hast per­sist­ed, O peo­ple of Chamos: for thy sons, and thy daugh­ters are tak­en cap­tives.

48:47. And I will bring back the cap­tiv­ity of Moab in the last days, saith the Lord. Hith­er­to the judg­ments of Moab.

Jeremias Chap­ter 49

The like des­ola­tion of Am­mon, of Idumea, of the Syr­ians, of the Agarenes, and of the Elamites.

49:1. Against the chil­dren of Am­mon. Thus saith the Lord: Hath Is­rael no sons? or hath he no heir? Why then hath Mel­chom in­her­it­ed Gad: and his peo­ple dwelt in his cities?

Mel­chom. . .The idol of the Am­monites.

49:2. There­fore be­hold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will cause the noise of war to be heard in Rab­bath of the chil­dren of Am­mon, and it shall be de­stroyed in­to a heap, and her daugh­ters shall be burnt with fire, and Is­rael shall pos­sess them that have pos­sessed him, saith the Lord.

49:3. Howl, O Hes­ebon, for Hai is wast­ed. Cry, ye daugh­ters of Rab­bath, gird your­selves with hair­cloth: mourn and go about by the hedges: for Mel­chom shall be car­ried in­to cap­tiv­ity, his priests, and his princes to­geth­er.

49:4. Why glo­ri­est thou in the val­leys? thy val­ley hath flowed away, O del­icate daugh­ter, that hast trust­ed in thy trea­sures, and hast said: Who shall come to me?

49:5. Be­hold I will bring a fear up­on thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, from all that are round about thee: and you shall be scat­tered ev­ery one out of one an­oth­er’s sight, nei­ther shall there be any to gath­er to­geth­er them that flee.

49:6. And af­ter­wards I will cause the cap­tives of the chil­dren of Am­mon to re­turn, saith the Lord.

49:7. Against Edom. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Is wis­dom no more in The­man? coun­sel is per­ished from her chil­dren: their wis­dom is be­come un­prof­itable.

49:8. Flee and turn your backs, go down in­to the deep hole, ye in­hab­itants of Dedan: for I have brought the de­struc­tion of Esau up­on him, the time of his vis­ita­tion.

49:9. If grape­gath­er­ers had come to thee, would they not have left a bunch? if thieves in the night, they would have tak­en what was enough for them.

49:10. But I have made Esau bare, I have re­vealed his se­crets, and he can­not be hid: his seed is laid waste, and his brethren, and his neigh­bours, and he shall not be.

49:11. Leave thy fa­ther­less chil­dren: I will make them live: and thy wid­ows shall hope in me.

49:12. For thus saith the Lord: Be­hold they whose judg­ment was not to drink of the cup, shall cer­tain­ly drink: and shalt thou come off as in­no­cent? thou shalt not come off as in­no­cent, but drink­ing thou shalt drink.

49:13. For I have sworn by my­self, saith the Lord, that Bosra shall be­come a des­ola­tion, and a re­proach, and a desert, and a curse: and all her cities shall be ev­er­last­ing wastes.

49:14. I have heard a ru­mour from the Lord, and an am­bas­sador is sent to the na­tions: Gath­er your­selves to­geth­er, and come against her, and let us rise up to bat­tle.

49:15. For be­hold I have made thee a lit­tle one among the na­tions, de­spi­ca­ble among men.

49:16. Thy ar­ro­gan­cy hath de­ceived thee, and the pride of thy heart: O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, and en­deav­ourest to lay hold on the height of the hill: but though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as an ea­gle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord.

49:17. And Edom shall be des­olate: ev­ery one that shall pass by it, shall be as­ton­ished, and shall hiss at all its plagues.

49:18. As Sodom was over­thrown and Go­mor­rha, and the neigh­bours there­of, saith the Lord: there shall not a man dwell there, and there shall no son of man in­hab­it it.

49:19. Be­hold one shall come up as a li­on from the swelling of the Jor­dan, against the strong and beau­ti­ful: for I will make him run sud­den­ly up­on her: and who shall be the cho­sen one whom I may ap­point over her? for who is like to me? and who shall abide me? and who is that shep­herd that can with­stand my coun­te­nance?

49:20. There­fore hear ye the coun­sel of the Lord, which he hath tak­en con­cern­ing Edom: and his thoughts which he hath thought con­cern­ing the in­hab­itants of The­man: sure­ly the lit­tle ones of the flock shall cast them down, of a truth they shall de­stroy them with their habi­ta­tion.

49:21. The earth is moved at the noise of their fall: the cry of their voice is heard in the Red Sea.

49:22. Be­hold he shall come up as an ea­gle, and fly: and he shall spread his wings over Bosra: and in that day the heart of the valiant ones of Edom shall be as the heart of a wom­an in labour.

49:23. Against Dam­as­cus. Emath is con­found­ed and Arphad: for they have heard very bad tid­ings, they are trou­bled as in the sea: through care they could not rest.

49:24. Dam­as­cus is un­done, she is put to flight, trem­bling hath seized on her: an­guish and sor­rows have tak­en her as a wom­an in labour.

49:25. How have they for­sak­en the city of renown, the city of joy!

49:26. There­fore her young men shall fall in her streets: and all the men of war shall be silent in that day, saith the Lord of hosts.

49:27. And I will kin­dle a fire in the wall of Dam­as­cus, and it shall de­vour the strong holds of Be­nadad.

49:28. Against Cedar and against the king­doms of Asor, which Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon de­stroyed. Thus saith the Lord: Arise, and go ye up to Cedar, and waste the chil­dren of the east.

Cedar and Asor. . .Were parts of Ara­bia; which with Moab, Am­mon, Edom, etc., were all brought un­der the yoke of Nabu­chodonosor.

49:29. They shall take their tents, and their flocks: and shall car­ry off for them­selves their cur­tains, and all their ves­sels, and their camels: and they shall call fear up­on them round about.

49:30. Flee ye, get away speed­ily, sit in deep holes, you that in­hab­it Asor, saith the Lord: for Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon hath tak­en coun­sel against you, and hath con­ceived de­signs against you.

49:31. Arise, and go up to a na­tion that is at ease, and that dwelleth se­cure­ly, saith the Lord: they have nei­ther gates, nor bars: they dwell alone.

49:32. And their camels shall be for a spoil and the mul­ti­tude of their cat­tle for a booty, and I will scat­ter in­to ev­ery wind them that have their hair cut round, and I will bring de­struc­tion up­on them from all their con­fines, saith the Lord.

49:33. And Asor shall be a habi­ta­tion for drag­ons, des­olate for ev­er: no man shall abide there, nor son of man in­hab­it it.

49:34. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremias the prophet against Elam, in the be­gin­ning of the reign of Sede­cias king of Ju­da, say­ing:

Elam. . .A part of Per­sia.

49:35. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Be­hold I will break the bow of Elam, and their chief strength.

49:36. And I will bring up­on Elam the four winds from the four quar­ters of heav­en: and I will scat­ter them in­to all these winds: and there shall be no na­tion, to which the fugi­tives of Elam shall not come.

49:37. And I will cause Elam to be afraid be­fore their en­emies, and in the sight of them that seek their life: and I will bring evil up­on them, my fierce wrath, saith the Lord: and I will send the sword af­ter them, till I con­sume them.

49:38. And I will set my throne in Elam, and de­stroy kings and princes from thence, saith the Lord.

49:39. But in the lat­ter days I will cause the cap­tives of Elam, to re­turn, saith the Lord.

Jeremias Chap­ter 50

Baby­lon, which hath af­flict­ed the Is­raelites, af­ter their restora­tion, shall be ut­ter­ly de­stroyed.

50:1. The word that the Lord hath spo­ken against Baby­lon, and against the land of the Chaldeans in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.

50:2. De­clare ye among the na­tions, and pub­lish it, lift up a stan­dard: pro­claim, and con­ceal it not: say: Baby­lon is tak­en, Bel is con­found­ed, Mero­dach is over­thrown, their graven things are con­found­ed, their idols are over­thrown.

Bel, etc. . .Bel and Mero­dach were wor­shipped for gods by the men of Baby­lon.

50:3. For a na­tion is come up against her out of the north, which shall make her land des­olate: and there shall be none to dwell there­in, from man even to beast: yea they are re­moved, and gone away.

A na­tion, etc. . .Viz., the Medes.

50:4. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the chil­dren of Is­rael shall come, they and the chil­dren of Ju­da to­geth­er: go­ing and weep­ing they shall make haste, and shall seek the Lord their God.

50:5. They shall ask the way to Sion, their faces are hith­er­ward. They shall come, and shall be joined to the Lord by an ev­er­last­ing covenant, which shall nev­er be for­got­ten.

50:6. My peo­ple have been a lost flock, their shep­herds have caused them to go astray, and have made them wan­der in the moun­tains: they have gone from moun­tain to hill, they have for­got­ten their rest­ing place.

50:7. All that found them, have de­voured them: and their en­emies said: We have not sinned in so do­ing: be­cause they have sinned against the Lord the beau­ty of jus­tice, and against the Lord the hope of their fa­thers.

50:8. Re­move out of the midst of Baby­lon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans: and be ye as kids at the head of the flock.

50:9. For be­hold I raise up, and will bring against Baby­lon an as­sem­bly of great na­tions from the land of the north: and they shall be pre­pared against her, and from thence she shall be tak­en: their ar­rows, like those of a mighty man, a de­stroy­er, shall not re­turn in vain.

50:10. And Chaldea shall be made a prey: all that waste her shall be filled, saith the Lord.

50:11. Be­cause you re­joice, and speak great things, pil­lag­ing my in­her­itance: be­cause you are spread abroad as calves up­on the grass, and have bel­lowed as bulls.

50:12. Your moth­er is con­found­ed ex­ceed­ing­ly, and she that bore you is made even with the dust: be­hold she shall be the last among the na­tions, a wilder­ness un­pass­able, and dry.

50:13. Be­cause of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be in­hab­it­ed, but shall be whol­ly des­olate: ev­ery one that shall pass by Baby­lon, shall be as­ton­ished, and shall hiss at all her plagues.

50:14. Pre­pare your­selves against Baby­lon round about, all you that bend the bow: fight against her, spare not ar­rows: be­cause she hath sinned against the Lord.

50:15. Shout against her, she hath ev­ery where giv­en her hand, her foun­da­tions are fall­en, her walls are thrown down, for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance up­on her: as she hath done, so do to her.

50:16. De­stroy the sow­er out of Baby­lon, and him that hold­eth the sick­le in the time of har­vest: for fear of the sword of the dove ev­ery man shall re­turn to his peo­ple, and ev­ery one shall flee to his own land.

The dove. . .Or the de­stroy­er; for the He­brew word sig­ni­fies ei­ther the one or the oth­er.

50:17. Is­rael is a scat­tered flock, the li­ons have driv­en him away: first the king of As­syr­ia de­voured him: and last this Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon hath bro­ken his bones.

50:18. There­fore thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: Be­hold I will vis­it the king of Baby­lon and his land, as I have vis­it­ed the king of As­syr­ia.

50:19. And I will bring Is­rael again to his habi­ta­tion: and he shall feed on Carmel, and Ba­son, and his soul shall be sat­is­fied in mount Ephraim, and Galaad.

50:20. In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, the in­iq­ui­ty of Is­rael shall be sought for, and there shall be none: and the sin of Ju­da, and there shall none be found: for I will be mer­ci­ful to them, whom I shall leave.

50:21. Go up against the land of the rulers, and pun­ish the in­hab­itants there­of, waste, and de­stroy all be­hind them, saith the Lord: and do ac­cord­ing to all that I have com­mand­ed thee.

50:22. A noise of war in the land, and a great de­struc­tion.

50:23. How is the ham­mer of the whole earth bro­ken, and de­stroyed! how is Baby­lon turned in­to a desert among the na­tions!

50:24. I have caused thee to fall in­to a snare, and thou art tak­en, O Baby­lon, and thou wast not aware of it: thou art found and caught, be­cause thou hast pro­voked the Lord.

50:25. The Lord hath opened his ar­moury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his wrath: for the Lord the God of hosts hath a work to be done in the land of the Chaldeans.

50:26. Come ye against her from the ut­ter­most bor­ders: open that they may go forth that shall tread her down: take the stones out of the way, and make heaps, and de­stroy her: and let noth­ing of her be left.

50:27. De­stroy all her valiant men, let them go down to the slaugh­ter: woe to them, for their day is come, the time of their vis­ita­tion.

50:28. The voice of them that flee, and of them that have es­caped out of the land of Baby­lon: to de­clare in Sion the re­venge of the Lord our God, the re­venge of his tem­ple.

50:29. De­clare to many against Baby­lon, to all that bend the bow: stand to­geth­er against her round about, and let none es­cape; pay her ac­cord­ing to her work: ac­cord­ing to all that she hath done, do ye to her: for she hath lift­ed up her­self against the Lord, against the Holy One of Is­rael.

50:30. There­fore shall her young men fall in her streets: and all her men of war shall hold their peace in that day, saith the Lord.

50:31. Be­hold I come against thee, O proud one, saith the Lord the God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time of thy vis­ita­tion.

50:32. And the proud one shall fall, he shall fall down, and there shall be none to lift him up: and I will kin­dle a fire in his cities, and it shall de­vour all round about him.

50:33. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The chil­dren of Is­rael, and the chil­dren of Ju­da are op­pressed to­geth­er: all that have tak­en them cap­tives, hold them fast, they will not let them go.

50:34. Their re­deemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name: he will de­fend their cause in judg­ment, to ter­ri­fy the land, and to dis­qui­et the in­hab­itants of Baby­lon.

50:35. A sword is up­on the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and up­on the in­hab­itants of Baby­lon, and up­on her princes, and up­on her wise men.

50:36. A sword up­on her di­vin­ers, and they shall be fool­ish: a sword up­on her valiant ones, and they shall be dis­mayed.

50:37. A sword up­on their hors­es, and up­on their char­iots, and up­on all the peo­ple that are in the midst of her: and they shall be­come as wom­en: a sword up­on her trea­sures, and they shall be made a spoil.

50:38. A drought up­on her wa­ters, and they shall be dried up: be­cause it is a land of idols, and they glo­ry in mon­strous things.

50:39. There­fore shall drag­ons dwell there with the fig fauns: and os­trich­es shall dwell there­in, and it shall be no more in­hab­it­ed for ev­er, nei­ther shall it be built up from gen­er­ation to gen­er­ation.

Fig fauns. . .Mon­sters of the desert, or demons in mon­strous shapes: such as the an­cients called fauns and satyrs; and as they imag­ined them to live up­on wild figs, they called them fau­ni fi­carii or fig fauns.

50:40. As the Lord over­threw Sodom and Go­mor­rha, and their neigh­bour cities, saith the Lord: no man shall dwell there, nei­ther shall the son of man in­hab­it it.

50:41. Be­hold a peo­ple cometh from the north, and a great na­tion, and many kings shall rise from the ends of the earth.

50:42. They shall take the bow and the shield: they are cru­el and un­mer­ci­ful: their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride up­on hors­es: like a man pre­pared for bat­tle against thee, O daugh­ter of Baby­lon.

50:43. The king of Baby­lon hath heard the re­port of them, and his hands are grown fee­ble: an­guish hath tak­en hold of him, pangs as a wom­an in labour.

50:44. Be­hold he shall come up like a li­on from the swelling of the Jor­dan to the strong and beau­ti­ful: for I will make him run sud­den­ly up­on her: and who shall be the cho­sen one whom I may ap­point over her? for who is like to me? and who shall bear up against me? and who is that shep­herd that can with­stand my coun­te­nance?

50:45. There­fore hear ye the coun­sel of the Lord, which he hath tak­en against Baby­lon: and his thoughts which he hath thought against the land of the Chaldeans: sure­ly the lit­tle ones of the flocks shall pull them down, of a truth their habi­ta­tion shall be de­stroyed with them.

50:46. At the noise of the tak­ing of Baby­lon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard amongst the na­tions.

Jeremias Chap­ter 51

The mis­eries that shall fall up­on Baby­lon from the Medes: the de­struc­tion of her idols.

51:1. Thus saith the Lord: Be­hold I will raise up as it were a pesti­len­tial wind against Baby­lon and against the in­hab­itants there­of, who have lift­ed up their heart against me.

51:2. And I will send to Baby­lon fan­ners, and they shall fan her, and shall de­stroy her land: for they are come up­on her on ev­ery side in the day of her af­flic­tion.

51:3. Let not him that ben­deth, bend his bow, and let not him go up that is armed with a coat of mail: spare not her young men, de­stroy all her army.

51:4. And the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the wound­ed in the re­gions there­of.

51:5. For Is­rael and Ju­da have not been for­sak­en by their God the Lord of hosts: but their land hath been filled with sin against the Holy One of Is­rael.

51:6. Flee ye from the midst of Baby­lon, and let ev­ery one save his own life: be not silent up­on her in­iq­ui­ty: for it is the time of re­venge from the Lord, he will ren­der un­to her what she hath de­served.

51:7. Baby­lon hath been a gold­en cup in the hand of the Lord, that made all the earth drunk: the na­tions have drunk of her wine, and there­fore they have stag­gered.

51:8. Baby­lon is sud­den­ly fall­en, and de­stroyed: howl for her, take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed.

51:9. We would have cured Baby­lon, but she is not healed: let us for­sake her, and let us go ev­ery man to his own land: be­cause her judg­ment hath reached even to the heav­ens, and is lift­ed up to the clouds.

51:10. The Lord hath brought forth our jus­tices: Come, and let us de­clare in Sion the work of the Lord our God.

51:11. Sharp­en the ar­rows, fill the quiv­ers, the Lord hath raised up the spir­it of the kings of the Medes: and his mind is against Baby­lon to de­stroy it, be­cause it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his tem­ple.

51:12. Up­on the walls of Baby­lon set up the stan­dard, strength­en the watch: set up the watch­men, pre­pare the am­bush­es: for the Lord hath both pur­posed, and done all that he spoke against the in­hab­itants of Baby­lon.

51:13. O thou that dwellest up­on many wa­ters, rich in trea­sures, thy end is come for thy en­tire de­struc­tion.

51:14. The Lord of hosts hath sworn by him­self, say­ing: I will fill thee with men as with lo­custs, and they shall lift up a joy­ful shout against thee.

51:15. He that made the earth by his pow­er, that hath pre­pared the world by his wis­dom, and stretched out the heav­ens by his un­der­stand­ing.

51:16. When he ut­tereth his voice the wa­ters are mul­ti­plied in heav­en: he lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth, he hath turned light­ning in­to rain: and hath brought forth the wind out of his trea­sures.

51:17. Ev­ery man is be­come fool­ish by his knowl­edge: ev­ery founder is con­found­ed by his idol, for what he hath cast is a lie, and there is no breath in them.

51:18. They are vain works, and wor­thy to be laughed at, in the time of their vis­ita­tion they shall per­ish.

51:19. The por­tion of Ja­cob is not like them: for he that made all things he it is, and Is­rael is the scep­tre of his in­her­itance: the Lord of hosts is his name.

51:20. Thou dash­est to­geth­er for me the weapons of war, and with thee I will dash na­tions to­geth­er, and with thee I will de­stroy king­doms:

51:21. And with thee I will break in pieces the horse, and his rid­er, and with thee I will break in pieces the char­iot, and him that get­teth up in­to it:

51:22. And with thee I will break in pieces man and wom­an, and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the child, and with thee I will break in pieces the young man and the vir­gin:

51:23. And with thee I will break in pieces the shep­herd and his flock, and with thee I will break in pieces the hus­band­man and his yoke of ox­en, and with thee I will break in pieces cap­tains and rulers.

51:24. And I will ren­der to Baby­lon, and to all the in­hab­itants of Chaldea all their evil, that they have done in Sion, be­fore your eyes, saith the Lord.

51:25. Be­hold I come against thee, thou de­stroy­ing moun­tain, saith the Lord, which cor­ruptest the whole earth: and I will stretch out my hand up­on thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt moun­tain.

51:26. And they shall not take of thee a stone for the cor­ner, nor a stone for foun­da­tions, but thou shalt be de­stroyed for ev­er, saith the Lord.

51:27. Set ye up a stan­dard in the land: sound with the trum­pet among the na­tions: pre­pare the na­tions against her: call to­geth­er against her the kings of Ararat, Men­ni, and As­cenez: num­ber Taph­sar against her, bring the horse as the sting­ing lo­cust.

51:28. Pre­pare the na­tions against her, the kings of Me­dia, their cap­tains, and all their rulers, and all the land of their do­min­ion.

51:29. And the land shall be in a com­mo­tion, and shall be trou­bled: for the de­sign of the Lord against Baby­lon shall awake, to make the land of Baby­lon desert and un­in­hab­it­able.

51:30. The valiant men of Baby­lon have for­borne to fight, they have dwelt in holds: their strength hath failed, and they are be­come as wom­en: her dwelling places are burnt, her bars are bro­ken.

51:31. One run­ning post shall meet an­oth­er, and mes­sen­ger shall meet mes­sen­ger: to tell the king of Baby­lon that his city is tak­en from one end to the oth­er:

51:32. And that the fords are tak­en, and the marsh­es are burnt with fire, and the men of war are af­fright­ed.

51:33. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Is­rael: The daugh­ter of Baby­lon is like a thrash­ingfloor, this is the time of her thrash­ing: yet a lit­tle while, and the time of her har­vest shall come.

51:34. Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon hath eat­en me up, he hath de­voured me: he hath made me as an emp­ty ves­sel: he hath swal­lowed me up like a drag­on, he hath filled his bel­ly with my del­icate meats, and he hath cast me out.

51:35. The wrong done to me, and my flesh be up­on Baby­lon, saith the habi­ta­tion of Sion: and my blood up­on the in­hab­itants of Chaldea, saith Jerusalem.

51:36. There­fore thus saith the Lord: Be­hold I will judge thy cause, and will take vengeance for thee, and I will make her sea des­olate, I and will dry up her spring.

51:37. And Baby­lon shall be re­duced to heaps, a dwelling place for drag­ons, an as­ton­ish­ment and a hiss­ing, be­cause there is no in­hab­itant.

51:38. They shall roar to­geth­er like li­ons, they shall shake their manes like young li­ons.

51:39. In their heat I will set them drink: and I will make them drunk, that they may slum­ber, and sleep an ev­er­last­ing sleep, and awake no more, saith the Lord.

51:40. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaugh­ter, and like rams with kids.

51:41. How is Sesach tak­en, and the renowned one of all the earth sur­prised? How is Baby­lon be­come an as­ton­ish­ment among the na­tions?

51:42. The sea is come up over Baby­lon : she is cov­ered with the mul­ti­tude of the waves there­of.

51:43. Her cities are be­come an as­ton­ish­ment, a land un­in­hab­it­ed and des­olate, a land where­in none can dwell, nor son of man pass through it.

51:44. And I will vis­it against Bel in Baby­lon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he had swal­lowed down: and the na­tions shall no more flow to­geth­er to him, for the wall al­so of Baby­lon shall fall.

51:45. Go out of the midst of her, my peo­ple: that ev­ery man may save his life from the fierce wrath of the Lord.

51:46. And lest your hearts faint, and ye fear for the ru­mour that shall be heard in the land: and a ru­mour shall come in one year, and af­ter this year an­oth­er ru­mour: and in­iq­ui­ty in the land, and ruler up­on ruler.

51:47. There­fore be­hold the days come, and I will vis­it the idols of Baby­lon: and her whole land shall be con­found­ed, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

51:48. And the heav­ens and the earth, and all things that are in them shall give praise for Baby­lon: for spoil­ers shall come to her from the north, saith the Lord.

51:49. And as Baby­lon caused that there should fall slain in Is­rael: so of Baby­lon there shall fall slain in all the earth.

51:50. You that have es­caped the sword, come away, stand not still: re­mem­ber the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come in­to your mind.

51:51. We are con­found­ed, be­cause we have heard re­proach: shame hath cov­ered our faces: be­cause strangers are come up­on the sanc­tu­ar­ies of the house of the Lord.

51:52. There­fore be­hold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will vis­it her graven things, and in all her land the wound­ed shall groan:

51:53. If Baby­lon should mount up to heav­en, and es­tab­lish her strength on high: from me there should come spoil­ers up­on her, saith the Lord.

51:54. The noise of a cry from Baby­lon, and great de­struc­tion from the land of the Chaldeans:

51:55. Be­cause the Lord hath laid Baby­lon waste, and de­stroyed out of her the great voice: and their wave shall roar like many wa­ters: their voice hath made a noise:

51:56. Be­cause the spoil­er is come up­on her, that is, up­on Baby­lon, and her valiant men are tak­en, and their bow is weak­ened, be­cause the Lord, who is a strong re­venger, will sure­ly re­pay.

51:57. And I will make her princes drunk, and her wise men, and her cap­tains, and her rulers, and her valiant men: and they shall sleep an ev­er­last­ing sleep, and shall awake no more, saith the king whose name is Lord of hosts.

51:58. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: That broad wall of Baby­lon shall be ut­ter­ly bro­ken down, and her high gates shall be burnt with fire, and the labours of the peo­ple shall come to noth­ing, and of the na­tions shall go to the fire, and shall per­ish.

51:59. The word that Jeremias the prophet com­mand­ed Sara­ias the son of Ne­rias, the son of Maasias, when he went with king Sede­cias to Baby­lon, in the fourth year of his reign: now Sara­ias was chief over the prophe­cy.

51:60. And Jeremias wrote in one book all the evil that was to come up­on Baby­lon: all these words that are writ­ten against Baby­lon.

51:61. And Jeremias said to Sara­ias: When thou shalt come in­to Baby­lon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words,

51:62. Thou shalt say: O Lord, thou hast spo­ken against this place to de­stroy it: so that there should be nei­ther man nor beast to dwell there­in, and that it should be des­olate for ev­er.

51:63. And when thou shalt have made an end of read­ing this book, thou shalt tie a stone to it, and shalt throw it in­to the midst of the Eu­phrates:

51:64. And thou shalt say: Thus shall Baby­lon sink, and she shall not rise up from the af­flic­tion that I will bring up­on her, and she shall be ut­ter­ly de­stroyed. Thus far are the words of Jeremias.

Jeremias Chap­ter 52

A re­ca­pit­ula­tion of the reign of Sede­cias, and the de­struc­tion of Jerusalem. The num­ber of the cap­tives.

52:1. Sede­cias was one and twen­ty years old when he be­gan to reign: and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and the name of his moth­er was Ami­tal, the daugh­ter of Jeremias of Lob­na.

52:2. And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, ac­cord­ing to all that Joakim had done.

52:3. For the wrath of the Lord was against Jerusalem, and against Ju­da, till he cast them out from his pres­ence: and Sede­cias re­volt­ed from the king of Baby­lon.

52:4. And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and they be­sieged it, and built forts against it round about.

52:5. And the city was be­sieged un­til the eleventh year of king Sede­cias.

52:6. And in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a famine over­pow­ered the city: and there was no food for the peo­ple of the land.

52:7. And the city was bro­ken up, and the men of war fled, and went out of the city in the night by the way of the gate that is be­tween the two walls, and lead­eth to the king’s gar­den, (the Chaldeans be­sieg­ing the city round about,) and they went by the way that lead­eth to the wilder­ness.

52:8. But the army of the Chaldeans pur­sued af­ter the king: and they over­took Sede­cias in the desert which is near Jeri­cho: and all his com­pan­ions were scat­tered from him.

52:9. And when they had tak­en the king, they car­ried him to the king of Baby­lon to Re­blatha, which is in the land of Emath: and he gave judg­ment up­on him.

52:10. And the king of Baby­lon slew the sons of Sede­cias be­fore his eyes: and he slew all the princes of Ju­da in Re­blatha.

52:11. And he put out the eyes of Sede­cias, and bound him with fet­ters, and the king of Baby­lon brought him in­to Baby­lon, and he put him in prison till the day of his death.

52:12. And in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, the same is the nine­teenth year of Nabu­chodonosor, king of Baby­lon, came Nabuzardan the gen­er­al of the army, who stood be­fore the king of Baby­lon in Jerusalem.

52:13. And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all the hous­es of Jerusalem, and ev­ery great house he burnt with fire.

52:14. And all the army of the Chaldeans that were with the gen­er­al broke down all the wall of Jerusalem round about.

52:15. But Nabuzardan the gen­er­al car­ried away cap­tives some of the poor peo­ple, and of the rest of the com­mon sort who re­mained in the city, and of the fugi­tives that were fled over to the king of Baby­lon, and the rest of the mul­ti­tude.

52:16. But of the poor of the land, Nabuzardan the gen­er­al left some for vine­dressers, and for hus­band­men.

52:17. The Chaldeans al­so broke in pieces the brazen pil­lars that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass that was in the house of the Lord: and they car­ried all the brass of them to Baby­lon.

52:18. And they took the cal­drons, and the flesh­hooks, and the psalter­ies, and the bowls, and the lit­tle mor­tars, and all the brazen ves­sels that had been used in the min­istry: and

52:19. The gen­er­al took away the pitch­ers, and the censers, and the pots, and the basins, and the can­dle­sticks, and the mor­tars, and the cups: as many as were of gold, in gold: and as many as were of sil­ver, in sil­ver:

52:20. And the two pil­lars, and one sea, and twelve ox­en of brass that were un­der the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord: there was no weight of the brass of all these ves­sels.

52:21. And con­cern­ing the pil­lars, one pil­lar was eigh­teen cu­bits high: and a cord of twelve cu­bits com­passed it about: but the thick­ness there­of was four fin­gers, and it was hol­low with­in.

52:22. And chapiters of brass were up­on both: and the height of one chapiter was five cu­bits: and net­work, and pomegranates were up­on the chapiters round about, all of brass. The same of the sec­ond pil­lar, and the pomegranates.

52:23. And there were nine­ty-​six pomegranates hang­ing down: and the pomegranates be­ing a hun­dred in all, were com­passed with net­work.

52:24. And the gen­er­al took Sara­ias the chief priest, and So­pho­nias the sec­ond priest, and the three keep­ers of the en­try.

52:25. He al­so took out of the city one eu­nuch that was chief over the men of war: and sev­en men of them that were near the king’s per­son, that were found in the city: and a scribe, an of­fi­cer of the army who ex­er­cised the young sol­diers: and three­score men of the peo­ple of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

52:26. And Nabuzardan the gen­er­al took them, and brought them to the king of Baby­lon, to Re­blatha.

52:27. And the king of Baby­lon struck them, and put them to death in Re­blatha, in the land of Emath: and Ju­da was car­ried away cap­tive out of his land.

52:28. This is the peo­ple whom Nabu­chodonosor car­ried away cap­tive: in the sev­enth year, three thou­sand and twen­ty-​three Jews.

52:29. In the eigh­teenth year of Nabu­chodonosor, eight hun­dred and thir­ty-​two souls from Jerusalem.

52:30. In the three and twen­ti­eth year of Nabu­chodonosor, Nabuzardan the gen­er­al car­ried away of the Jews sev­en hun­dred and forty-​five souls. So all the souls were four thou­sand six hun­dred.

52:31. And it came to pass in the sev­en and thir­ti­eth year of the cap­tiv­ity of Joachin king of Ju­da, in the twelfth month, the five and twen­ti­eth day of the month, that Evilmero­dach king of Baby­lon, in the first year of his reign, lift­ed up the head of Joachin king of Ju­da, and brought him forth out of prison.

52:32. And he spoke kind­ly to him, and he set his throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Baby­lon.

52:33. And he changed his prison gar­ments, and he ate bread be­fore him al­ways all the days of his life.

52:34. And for his di­et a con­tin­ual pro­vi­sion was al­lowed him by the king of Baby­lon, ev­ery day a por­tion, un­til the day of his death, all the days of his life.

THE LAMEN­TA­TIONS OF JEREMIAS

In these JEREMIAS laments in a most pa­thet­ical man­ner the mis­eries of his peo­ple, and the de­struc­tion of JERUSALEM and the tem­ple, in He­brew vers­es, be­gin­ning with dif­fer­ent let­ters ac­cord­ing to the or­der of the He­brew al­pha­bet.

Lamen­ta­tions Chap­ter 1

PREF­ACE: And it came to pass, af­ter Is­rael was car­ried in­to cap­tiv­ity, and Jerusalem was des­olate, that Jeremias the prophet sat weep­ing, and mourned with this lamen­ta­tion over Jerusalem, and with a sor­row­ful mind, sigh­ing and moan­ing, he said:

And it came to pass, etc. . .This pref­ace was not writ­ten by Jeremias, but was added by the sev­en­ty in­ter­preters, to give the read­er to un­der­stand up­on what oc­ca­sion the Lamen­ta­tions were pub­lished.

1:1. Aleph. How doth the city sit soli­tary that was full of peo­ple! how is the mis­tress of the Gen­tiles be­come as a wid­ow: the princes of provinces made trib­utary!

1:2. Beth. Weep­ing, she hath wept in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: there is none to com­fort her among all them that were dear to her: all her friends have de­spised her, and are be­come her en­emies.

1:3. Ghimel. Ju­da hath re­moved her dwelling place, be­cause of her af­flic­tion, and the great­ness of her bondage; she hath dwelt among the na­tions, and she hath found no rest; all her per­se­cu­tors have tak­en her in the midst of straits.

1:4. Daleth. The ways of Sion mourn, be­cause there are none that come to the solemn feast: all her gates are bro­ken down; her priests sigh; her vir­gins are in af­flic­tion; and she is op­pressed with bit­ter­ness.

1:5. He. Her ad­ver­saries are be­come her lords; her en­emies are en­riched; be­cause the Lord hath spo­ken against her for the mul­ti­tude of her in­iq­ui­ties; her chil­dren are led in­to cap­tiv­ity, be­fore the face of the op­pres­sor.

1:6. Vau. And from the daugh­ter of Sion, all her beau­ty is de­part­ed; her princes are be­come like rams that find no pas­tures; and they are gone away with­out strength be­fore the face of the pur­suer.

1:7. Zain. Jerusalem hath re­mem­bered the days of her af­flic­tion, and pre­var­ica­tion of all her de­sir­able things which she had from the days of old, when her peo­ple fell in the en­emy’s hand, and there was no helper; the en­emies have seen her, and have mocked at her sab­baths.

1:8. Heth. Jerusalem hath grievous­ly sinned, there­fore is she be­come un­sta­ble; all that hon­oured her, have de­spised her, be­cause they have seen her shame; but she sighed, and turned back­ward.

1:9. Teth. Her filth­iness is on her feet, and she hath not re­mem­bered her end; she is won­der­ful­ly cast down, not hav­ing a com­forter: be­hold, O Lord, my af­flic­tion, be­cause the en­emy is lift­ed up.

1:10. Jod. The en­emy hath put out his hand to all her de­sir­able things: for she hath seen the Gen­tiles en­ter in­to her sanc­tu­ary, of whom thou gavest com­mand­ment that they should not en­ter in­to thy church.

1:11. Caph. All her peo­ple sigh, they seek bread: they have giv­en all their pre­cious things for food to re­lieve the soul: see, O Lord, and con­sid­er, for I am be­come vile.

1:12. Lamed. O all ye that pass by the way, at­tend, and see if there be any sor­row like to my sor­row: for he hath made a vin­tage of me, as the Lord spoke in the day of his fierce anger.

1:13. Mem. From above he hath sent fire in­to my bones, and hath chas­tised me: he hath spread a net for my feet, he hath turned me back: he hath made me des­olate, wast­ed with sor­row all the day long.

1:14. Nun. The yoke of my in­iq­ui­ties hath watched: they are fold­ed to­geth­er in his hand, and put up­on my neck: my strength is weak­ened: the Lord hath de­liv­ered me in­to a hand, out of which I am not able to rise.

1:15. Samech. The Lord hath tak­en away all my mighty men out of the midst of me: he hath called against me the time, to de­stroy my cho­sen men: the Lord hath trod­den the wine­press for the vir­gin daugh­ter of Ju­da.

1:16. Ain. There­fore do I weep, and my eyes run down with wa­ter: be­cause the com­forter, the re­lief of my soul, is far from me: my chil­dren are des­olate be­cause the en­emy hath pre­vailed.

1:17. Phe. Sion hath spread forth her hands, there is none to com­fort her: the Lord hath com­mand­ed against Ja­cob, his en­emies are round about him: Jerusalem is as a men­stru­ous wom­an among them.

1:18. Sade. The Lord is just, for I have pro­voked his mouth to wrath: hear, I pray you, all ye peo­ple, and see my sor­row: my vir­gins, and my young men are gone in­to cap­tiv­ity.

1:19. Coph. I called for my friends, but they de­ceived me: my priests and my an­cients pined away in the city: while they sought their food, to re­lieve their souls.

1:20. Res. Be­hold, O Lord, for I am in dis­tress, my bow­els are trou­bled: my heart is turned with­in me, for I am full of bit­ter­ness: abroad the sword de­stroyeth and at home there is death alike.

1:21. Sin. They have heard that I sigh, and there is none to com­fort me: all my en­emies have heard of my evil, they have re­joiced that thou hast done it: thou hast brought a day of con­so­la­tion, and they shall be like un­to me.

1:22. Thau. Let all their evil be present be­fore thee: and make vin­tage of them, as thou hast made vin­tage of me for all my in­iq­ui­ties: for my sighs are many, and my heart is sor­row­ful.

Lamen­ta­tions Chap­ter 2

2:1. Aleph. How hath the Lord cov­ered with ob­scu­ri­ty the daugh­ter of Sion in his wrath! how hath he cast down from heav­en to the earth the glo­ri­ous one of Is­rael, and hath not re­mem­bered his foot­stool in the day of his anger.

2:2. Beth. The Lord hath cast down head­long, and hath not spared, all that was beau­ti­ful in Ja­cob: he hath de­stroyed in his wrath the strong holds of the vir­gin of Ju­da, and brought them down to the ground: he hath made the king­dom un­clean, and the princes there­of.

2:3. Ghimel. He hath bro­ken in his fierce anger all the horn of Is­rael: he hath drawn back his right hand from be­fore the en­emy: and he hath kin­dled in Ja­cob as it were a flam­ing fire de­vour­ing round about.

2:4. Daleth. He hath bent his bow as an en­emy, he hath fixed his right hand as an ad­ver­sary: and he hath killed all that was fair to be­hold in the taber­na­cle of the daugh­ter of Sion, he hath poured out his in­dig­na­tion like fire.

2:5. He. The Lord is be­come as an en­emy: he hath cast down Is­rael head­long, he hath over­thrown all the walls there­of: he hath de­stroyed his strong holds, and hath mul­ti­plied in the daugh­ter of Ju­da the af­flict­ed, both men and wom­en.

2:6. Vau. And he hath de­stroyed his tent as a gar­den, he hath thrown down his taber­na­cle: the Lord hath caused feasts and sab­baths to be for­got­ten in Sion: and hath de­liv­ered up king and priest to re­proach, and to the in­dig­na­tion of his wrath.

2:7. Zain. The Lord hath cast off his al­tar, he hath cursed his sanc­tu­ary: he hath de­liv­ered the walls of the tow­ers there­of in­to the hand of the en­emy: they have made a noise in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn feast.

He hath cursed his sanc­tu­ary. . .That is, he per­mit­ted his sanc­tu­ary to be de­stroyed, as if it had not been con­se­crat­ed, but ex­ecrable.

2:8. Heth. The Lord hath pur­posed to de­stroy the wall of the daugh­ter of Sion: he hath stretched out his line, and hath not with­drawn his hand from de­stroy­ing: and the bul­wark hath mourned, and the wall hath been de­stroyed to­geth­er.

2:9. Teth. Her gates are sunk in­to the ground: he hath de­stroyed, and bro­ken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gen­tiles: the law is no more, and her prophets have found no vi­sion from the Lord.

2:10. Jod. The an­cients of the daugh­ter of Sion sit up­on the ground, they have held their peace: they have sprin­kled their heads with dust, they are gird­ed with hair­cloth, the vir­gins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

2:11. Caph. My eyes have failed with weep­ing, my bow­els are trou­bled: my liv­er is poured out up­on the earth, for the de­struc­tion of the daugh­ter of my peo­ple, when the chil­dren, and the suck­lings, faint­ed away in the streets of the city.

2:12. Lamed. They said to their moth­ers: Where is corn and wine? when they faint­ed away as the wound­ed in the streets of the city: when they breathed out their souls in the bo­soms of their moth­ers.

2:13. Mem. To what shall I com­pare thee? or to what shall I liken thee, O daugh­ter of Jerusalem? to what shall I equal thee, that I may com­fort thee, O vir­gin daugh­ter of Sion? for great as the sea is thy de­struc­tion: who shall heal thee?

2:14. Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and fool­ish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy in­iq­ui­ty, to ex­cite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false rev­ela­tions and ban­ish­ments.

2:15. Samech. All they that passed by the way have clapped their hands at thee: they have hissed, and wagged their heads at the daugh­ter of Jerusalem, say­ing: Is this the city of per­fect beau­ty, the joy of all the earth?

2:16. Phe. All thy en­emies have opened their month against thee: they have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swal­low her up: lo, this is the day which we looked for: we have found it, we have seen it.

2:17. Ain. The Lord hath done that which he pur­posed, he hath ful­filled his word, which he com­mand­ed in the days of old: he hath de­stroyed, and hath not spared, and he hath caused the en­emy to re­joice over thee, and hath set up the horn of thy ad­ver­saries.

2:18. Sade. Their heart cried to the Lord up­on the walls of the daugh­ter of Sion: Let tears run down like a tor­rent day and night: give thy­self no rest, and let not the ap­ple of thy eye cease.

2:19. Coph. Arise, give praise in the night, in the be­gin­ning of the watch­es: pour out thy heart like wa­ter, be­fore the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands to him for the life of thy lit­tle chil­dren, that have faint­ed for hunger at the top of all the streets.

2:20. Res. Be­hold, O Lord, and con­sid­er whom thou hast thus dealt with: shall wom­en then eat their own fruit, their chil­dren of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanc­tu­ary of the Lord?

2:21. Sin. The child and the old man lie with­out on the ground: my vir­gins and my young men are fall­en by the sword: thou hast slain them in the day of thy wrath: thou hast killed, and shewn them no pity.

2:22. Thau. Thou hast called as to a fes­ti­val, those that should ter­ri­fy me round about, and there was none in the day of the wrath of the Lord that es­caped and was left: those that I brought up, and nour­ished, my en­emy hath con­sumed them.

Lamen­ta­tions Chap­ter 3

3:1. Aleph. I am the man that see my pover­ty by the rod of his in­dig­na­tion.

3:2. Aleph. He hath led me, and brought me in­to dark­ness, and not in­to light.

3:3. Aleph. On­ly against me he hath turned, and turned again his hand all the day.

3:4. Beth. My skin and my flesh he hath made old, he hath bro­ken my bones.

3:5. Beth. He hath built round about me, and he hath com­passed me with gall, and labour.

3:6. Beth. He hath set me in dark places as those that are dead for ev­er.

3:7. Ghimel. He hath built against me round about, that I may not get out: he hath made my fet­ters heavy.

3:8. Ghimel. Yea, and when I cry, and en­treat, he hath shut out my prayer.

3:9. Ghimel. He hath shut up my ways with square stones, he hath turned my paths up­side down.

3:10. Daleth. He is be­come to me as a bear ly­ing in wait: as a li­on in se­cret places.

3:11. Daleth. He hath turned aside my paths, and hath bro­ken me in pieces, he hath made me des­olate.

3:12. Daleth. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for his ar­rows.

3:13. He. He hath shot in­to my reins the daugh­ters of his quiver.

3:14. He. I am made a de­ri­sion to all my peo­ple, their song all the day long.

3:15. He. He hath filled me with bit­ter­ness, he hath ine­bri­at­ed me with worm­wood.

3:16. Vau. And he hath bro­ken my teeth one by one, he hath fed me with ash­es.

3:17. Vau. And my soul is re­moved far off from peace, I have for­got­ten good things.

3:18. Vau. And I said: My end and my hope is per­ished from the Lord.

3:19. Zain. Re­mem­ber my pover­ty, and trans­gres­sion, the worm­wood and the gall.

3:20. Zain. I will be mind­ful and re­mem­ber, and my soul shall lan­guish with­in me.

3:21. Zain. These things I shall think over in my heart, there­fore will I hope.

3:22. Heth. The mer­cies of the Lord that we are not con­sumed: be­cause his com­mis­er­ations have not failed.

3:23. Heth. They are new ev­ery morn­ing, great is thy faith­ful­ness.

3:24. Heth. The Lord is my por­tion, said my soul: there­fore will I wait for him.

3:25. Teth. The Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him.

3:26. Teth. It is good to wait with si­lence for the sal­va­tion of God.

3:27. Teth. It is good for a man, when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.

3:28. Jod. He shall sit soli­tary, and hold his peace: be­cause he hath tak­en it up up­on him­self.

3:29. Jod. He shall put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.

3:30. Jod. He shall give his cheek to him that striketh him, he shall be filled with re­proach­es.

3:31. Caph. For the Lord will not cast off for ev­er.

3:32. Caph. For if he hath cast off, he will al­so have mer­cy, ac­cord­ing to the mul­ti­tude of his mer­cies.

3:33. Caph. For he hath not will­ing­ly af­flict­ed, nor cast off the chil­dren of men.

3:34. Lamed. To crush un­der his feet all the pris­on­ers of the land,

3:35. Lamed. To turn aside the judg­ment of a man be­fore the face of the most High,

3:36. Lamed. To de­stroy a man wrong­ful­ly in his judg­ment, the Lord hath not ap­proved.

3:37. Mem. Who is he that hath com­mand­ed a thing to be done, when the Lord com­man­deth it not?

3:38. Mem. Shall not both evil and good pro­ceed out of the mouth of the High­est?

3:39. Mem. Why hath a liv­ing man mur­mured, man suf­fer­ing for his sins?

3:40. Nun. Let us search our ways, and seek, and re­turn to the Lord.

3:41. Nun. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to the Lord in the heav­ens.

3:42. Nun. We have done wicked­ly, and pro­voked thee to wrath: there­fore thou art in­ex­orable.

3:43. Samech. Thou hast cov­ered in thy wrath, and hast struck us: thou hast killed and hast not spared.

3:44. Samech. Thou hast set a cloud be­fore thee, that our prayer may not pass through.

3:45. Samech. Thou hast made me as an out­cast, and refuse in the midst of the peo­ple.

3:46. Phe. All our en­emies have opened their mouths against us.

3:47. Phe. Prophe­cy is be­come to us a fear, and a snare, and de­struc­tion.

3:48. Phe. My eye hath run down with streams of wa­ter, for the de­struc­tion of the daugh­ter of my peo­ple.

3:49. Ain. My eye is af­flict­ed, and hath not been qui­et, be­cause there was no rest:

3:50. Ain. Till the Lord re­gard­ed and looked down from the heav­ens.

3:51. Ain. My eye hath wast­ed my soul be­cause of all the daugh­ters of my city.

3:52. Sade. My en­emies have chased me and caught me like a bird, with­out cause.

3:53. Sade. My life is fall­en in­to the pit, and they have laid a stone over me.

3:54. Sade. Wa­ters have flowed over my head: I said: I am cut off.

3:55. Coph. I have called up­on thy name, O Lord, from the low­est pit.

3:56. Coph. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my sighs, and cries.

3:57. Coph. Thou drewest near in the day, when I called up­on thee, thou saidst: Fear not.

3:58. Res. Thou hast judged, O Lord, the cause of my soul, thou the Re­deemer of my life.

3:59. Res. Thou hast seen, O Lord, their in­iq­ui­ty against me: judge thou my judg­ment.

3:60. Res. Thou hast seen all their fury, and all their thoughts against me.

3:61. Sin. Thou hast heard their re­proach, O Lord, all their imag­ina­tions against me.

3:62. Sin. The lips of them that rise up against me: and their de­vices against me all the day.

3:63. Sin. Be­hold their sit­ting down, and their ris­ing up, I am their song.

3:64. Thau. Thou shalt ren­der them a rec­om­pense, O Lord, ac­cord­ing to the works of their hands.

3:65. Thau. Thou shalt give them a buck­ler of heart, thy labour.

3:66. Thau. Thou shalt per­se­cute them in anger, and shalt de­stroy them from un­der the heav­ens, O Lord.

Lamen­ta­tions Chap­ter 4

4:1. Aleph. How is the gold be­come dim, the finest colour is changed, the stones of the sanc­tu­ary are scat­tered in the top of ev­ery street?

4:2. Beth. The no­ble sons of Sion, and they that were clothed with the best gold: how are they es­teemed as earth­en ves­sels, the work of the pot­ter’s hands?

4:3. Ghimel. Even the sea mon­sters have drawn out the breast, they have giv­en suck to their young: the daugh­ter of my peo­ple is cru­el, like the os­trich in the desert.

4:4. Daleth. The tongue of the suck­ing child hath stuck to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the lit­tle ones have asked for bread, and there was none to break it un­to them.

4:5. He. They that were fed del­icate­ly have died in the streets: they that were brought up in scar­let have em­braced the dung.

4:6. Vau. And the in­iq­ui­ty of the daugh­ter of my peo­ple is made greater than the sin of Sodom, which was over­thrown in a mo­ment, and hands took noth­ing in her.

4:7. Zain. Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, pur­er than milk, more rud­dy than the old ivory, fair­er than the sap­phire.

4:8. Heth. Their face is now made black­er than coals, and they are not known in the streets: their skin hath stuck to their bones, it is with­ered, and is be­come like wood.

4:9. Teth. It was bet­ter with them that were slain by the sword, than with them that died with hunger: for these pined away be­ing con­sumed for want of the fruits of the earth.

4:10. Jod. The hands of the piti­ful wom­en have sod­den their own chil­dren: they were their meat in the de­struc­tion of the daugh­ter of my peo­ple.

4:11. Caph. The Lord hath ac­com­plished his wrath, he hath poured out his fierce anger: and he hath kin­dled a fire in Sion, and it hath de­voured the foun­da­tions there­of.

4:12. Lamed. The kings of the earth, and all the in­hab­itants of the world would not have be­lieved, that the ad­ver­sary and the en­emy should en­ter in by the gates of Jerusalem.

4:13. Mem. For the sins of her prophets, and the in­iq­ui­ties of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

4:14. Nun. They have wan­dered as blind men in the streets, they were de­filed with blood: and when they could not help walk­ing in it, they held up their skirts.

4:15. Samech. De­part you that are de­filed, they cried out to them: De­part, get ye hence, touch not: for they quar­relled, and be­ing re­moved, they said among the Gen­tiles: He will no more dwell among them.

4:16. Phe. The face of the Lord hath di­vid­ed them, he will no more re­gard them: they re­spect­ed not the per­sons of the priests, nei­ther had they pity on the an­cient.

4:17. Ain. While we were yet stand­ing, our eyes failed, ex­pect­ing help for us in vain, when we looked at­ten­tive­ly to­wards a na­tion that was not able to save.

4:18. Sade. Our steps have slipped in the way of our streets, our end draweth near: our days are ful­filled, for our end is come.

4:19. Coph. Our per­se­cu­tors were swifter than the ea­gles of the air: they pur­sued us up­on the moun­tains, they lay in wait for us in the wilder­ness.

4:20. Res. The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, is tak­en in our sins: to whom we said: Un­der thy shad­ow we shall live among the Gen­tiles.

Christ, etc. . .This, ac­cord­ing to the let­ter, is spo­ken of their king, who is called the Christ, that is, the Anoint­ed of the Lord. But it al­so re­lates, in the spir­itu­al sense, to Christ our Lord, suf­fer­ing for our sins.

4:21. Sin. Re­joice, and be glad, O daugh­ter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Hus: to thee al­so shall the cup come, thou shalt be made drunk, and naked.

4:22. Thau. Thy in­iq­ui­ty is ac­com­plished, O daugh­ter of Sion, he will no more car­ry thee away in­to cap­tiv­ity: he hath vis­it­ed thy in­iq­ui­ty, O daugh­ter of Edom, he hath dis­cov­ered thy sins.

THE PRAYER OF JEREMIAS THE PROPHET

Lamen­ta­tions Chap­ter 5

5:1. Re­mem­ber, O Lord, what is come up­on us: con­sid­er and be­hold our re­proach.

5:2. Our in­her­itance is turned to aliens: our hous­es to strangers.

5:3. We are be­come or­phans with­out a fa­ther: our moth­ers are as wid­ows.

5:4. We have drunk our wa­ter for mon­ey: we have bought our wood.

5:6. We were dragged by the necks, we were weary and no rest was giv­en us.

5:6. We have giv­en our hand to Egypt, and to the As­syr­ians, that we might be sat­is­fied with bread.

5:7. Our fa­thers have sinned, and are not: and we have borne their in­iq­ui­ties.

5:8. Ser­vants have ruled over us: there was none to re­deem us out of their hand.

5:9. We fetched our bread at the per­il of our lives, be­cause of the sword in the desert.

5:10. Our skin was burnt as an oven, by rea­son of the vi­olence of the famine.

5:11. They op­pressed the wom­en in Sion, and the vir­gins in the cities of Ju­da.

5:12. The princes were hanged up by their hand: they did not re­spect the per­sons of the an­cients.

5:13. They abused the young men in­de­cent­ly: and the chil­dren fell un­der the wood.

5:14. The an­cients have ceased from the gates: the young men from the choir of the singers.

5:15. The joy of our heart is ceased, our danc­ing is turned in­to mourn­ing.

5:16. The crown is fall­en from our head: woe to us, be­cause we have sinned.

5:17. There­fore is our heart sor­row­ful, there­fore are our eyes be­come dim.

5:18. For mount Sion, be­cause it is de­stroyed, fox­es have walked up­on it.

5:19. But thou, O Lord, shalt re­main for ev­er, thy throne from gen­er­ation to gen­er­ation.

5:20. Why wilt thou for­get us for ev­er? why wilt thou for­sake us for a long time?

5:21. Con­vert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall be con­vert­ed: re­new our days, as from the be­gin­ning.

5:22. But thou hast ut­ter­ly re­ject­ed us, thou art ex­ceed­ing­ly an­gry with us.

THE PROPHE­CY OF BARUCH

BARUCH was a man of no­ble ex­trac­tion, and learned in the law, sec­re­tary and dis­ci­ple to the prophet JEREMIAS, and a shar­er in his labours and per­se­cu­tions: which is the rea­son why the an­cient fa­thers have con­sid­ered this book as a part of the prophe­cy of JEREMIAS, and have usu­al­ly quot­ed it un­der his name.

Baruch Chap­ter 1

The Jews of Baby­lon send the book of Baruch with mon­ey to Jerusalem, re­quest­ing their brethren there to of­fer sac­ri­fice, and to pray for the king and for them, ac­knowl­edg­ing their man­ifold sins.

1:1. And these are the words of the book, which Baruch the son of Ne­rias, the son of Maasias, the son of Sede­cias, the son of Sedei, the son Hel­cias, wrote in Baby­lo­nia.

1:2. In the fifth year, in the sev­enth day of the month, at the time that the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire.

1:3. And Baruch read the words of this book in the hear­ing of Je­cho­nias the son of Joakim king of Ju­da, and in the hear­ing of all the peo­ple that came to hear the book.

1:4. And in the hear­ing of the no­bles, the sons of the kings, and in the hear­ing of the an­cients, and in the hear­ing of the peo­ple, from the least even to the great­est of them that dwelt in Baby­lo­nia, by the riv­er Se­di.

1:5. And when they heard it they wept, and fast­ed, and prayed be­fore the Lord.

1:6. And they made a col­lec­tion of mon­ey ac­cord­ing to ev­ery man’s pow­er.

1:7. And they sent it to Jerusalem to Joakim the priest, the son of Hel­cias, the son of Sa­lom, and to the priests, and to all the peo­ple, that were found with him in Jerusalem:

1:8. At the time when he re­ceived the ves­sels of the tem­ple of the Lord, which had been tak­en away out of the tem­ple, to re­turn them in­to the land of Ju­da the tenth day of the month Sivan, the sil­ver ves­sels, which Sede­cias the son of Josias king of Ju­da had made,

1:9. Af­ter that Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon had car­ried away Je­cho­nias, and the princes, and all the pow­er­ful men, and the peo­ple of the land from Jerusalem, and brought them bound to Baby­lon.

1:10. And they said: Be­hold we have sent you mon­ey, buy with it holo­causts, and frank­in­cense, and make meat of­fer­ings, and of­fer­ings for sin at the al­tar of the Lord our God:

1:11. And pray ye for the life of Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon, and for the life of Balthasar his son, that their days may be up­on earth as the days of heav­en:

1:12. And that the Lord may give us strength, and en­light­en our eyes, that we may live un­der the shad­ow of Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon, and un­der the shad­ow of Balthasar his son, and may serve them many days, and may find favour in their sight.

1:13. And pray ye for us to the Lord our God: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, and his wrath is not turned away from us even to this day.

1:14. And read ye this book, which we have sent to you to be read in the tem­ple of the Lord, on feasts, and prop­er days.

1:15. And you shall say: To the Lord our God be­longeth jus­tice, but to us con­fu­sion of our face: as it is come to pass at this day to all Ju­da, and to the in­hab­itants of Jerusalem,

1:16. To our kings, and to our princes, and to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fa­thers.

1:17. We have sinned be­fore the Lord our God, and have not be­lieved him, nor put our trust in him:

1:18. And we were not obe­di­ent to him, and we have not hear­kened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his com­mand­ments which he hath giv­en us.

1:19. From the day that he brought our fa­thers out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, we were dis­obe­di­ent to the Lord our God: and go­ing astray we turned away from hear­ing his voice.

1:20. And many evils have cleaved to us, and the curs­es which the Lord fore­told by Moses his ser­vant: who brought our fa­thers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land flow­ing with milk and hon­ey, as at this day.

1:21. And we have not hear­kened to the voice of the Lord our God ac­cord­ing to all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us:

1:22. And we have gone away ev­ery man af­ter the in­cli­na­tions of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

Baruch Chap­ter 2

A fur­ther con­fes­sion of the sins of the peo­ple, and of the jus­tice of God.

2:1. Where­fore the Lord our God hath made good his word, that he spoke to us, and to our judges that have judged Is­rael, and to our kings, and to our princes, and to all Is­rael and Ju­da:

2:2. That the Lord would bring up­on us great evils, such as nev­er hap­pened un­der heav­en, as they have come to pass in Jerusalem, ac­cord­ing to the things that are writ­ten in the law of Moses:

2:3. That a man should eat the flesh of his own son, and the flesh of his own daugh­ter.

2:4. And he hath de­liv­ered them up to be un­der the hand of all the kings that are round about us, to be a re­proach, and des­ola­tion among all the peo­ple, among whom the Lord hath scat­tered us.

2:5. And we are brought un­der, and are not up­per­most: be­cause we have sinned against the Lord our God, by not obey­ing his voice.

2:6. To the Lord our God be­longeth jus­tice: but to us, and to our fa­thers con­fu­sion of face, as at this day.

2:7. For the Lord hath pro­nounced against us all these evils that are come up­on us:

2:8. And we have not en­treat­ed the face of the Lord our God, that we might re­turn ev­ery one of us from our most wicked ways.

2:9. And the Lord hath watched over us for evil, and hath brought it up­on us: for the Lord is just in all his works which he hath com­mand­ed us:

2:10. And we have not hear­kened to his voice to walk in the com­mand­ments of the Lord which he hath set be­fore us.

2:11. And now, O Lord God of Is­rael, who hast brought thy peo­ple out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and with signs, and with won­ders, and with thy great pow­er, and with a mighty arm, and hast made thee a name as at this day,

2:12. We have sinned, we have done wicked­ly, we have act­ed un­just­ly, O Lord our God, against all thy jus­tices.

2:13. Let thy wrath be turned away from us: for we are left a few among the na­tions where thou hast scat­tered us.

2:14. Hear, O Lord, our prayers, and our pe­ti­tions, and de­liv­er us for thy own sake: and grant that we may find favour in the sight of them that have led us away:

2:15. That all the earth may know that thou art the Lord our God, and that thy name is called up­on Is­rael, and up­on his pos­ter­ity.

2:16. Look down up­on us, O Lord, from thy holy house, and in­cline thy ear, and hear us.

2:17. Open thy eyes, and be­hold: for the dead that are in hell, whose spir­it is tak­en away from their bow­els, shall not give glo­ry and jus­tice to the Lord:

Jus­tice, etc. . .They that are in hell shall not give jus­tice to God; that is, they shall not ac­knowl­edge and glo­ri­fy his jus­tice as pen­itent sin­ners do up­on earth.

2:18. But the soul that is sor­row­ful for the great­ness of evil she hath done, and goeth bowed down, and fee­ble, and the eyes that fail, and the hun­gry soul giveth glo­ry and jus­tice to thee the Lord.

2:19. For it is not for the jus­tices of our fa­thers that we pour out our prayers, and beg mer­cy in thy sight, O Lord our God:

2:20. But be­cause thou hast sent out thy wrath, and thy in­dig­na­tion up­on us, as thou hast spo­ken by the hand of thy ser­vants the prophets, say­ing:

2:21. Thus saith the Lord: Bow down your shoul­der, and your neck, and serve the king of Baby­lon: and you shall re­main in the land which I have giv­en to your fa­thers.

2:22. But if you will not hear­ken to the voice of the Lord your God, to serve the king of Baby­lon: I will cause you to de­part out of the cities of Ju­da, and from with­out Jerusalem.

2:23. And I will take away from you the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, and the voice of the bride­groom, and the voice of the bride, and all the land shall be with­out any foot­step of in­hab­itants.

2:24. And they hear­kened not to thy voice, to serve the king of Baby­lon: and thou hast made good thy words, which thou spok­est by the hands of thy ser­vants the prophets, that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fa­thers should be re­moved out of their place:

2:25. And be­hold they are cast out to the heat of the sun, and to the frost of the night: and they have died in grievous pains, by famine, and by the sword, and in ban­ish­ment.

2:26. And thou hast made the tem­ple, in which thy name was called up­on, as it is at this day, for the in­iq­ui­ty of the house of Is­rael, and the house of Ju­da.

2:27. And thou hast dealt with us, O Lord our God, ac­cord­ing to all thy good­ness, and ac­cord­ing to all that great mer­cy of thine:

2:28. As thou spok­est by the hand of thy ser­vant Moses, in the day when thou didst com­mand him to write thy law be­fore the chil­dren of Is­rael,

2:29. Say­ing: If you will not hear my voice, this great mul­ti­tude shall be turned in­to a very small num­ber among the na­tions, where I will scat­ter them:

2:30. For I know that the peo­ple will not hear me, for they are a peo­ple of a stiff neck: but they shall turn to their heart in the land of their cap­tiv­ity:

2:31. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God: and I will give them a heart, and they shall un­der­stand: and ears, and they shall hear.

2:32. And they shall praise me in the land of their cap­tiv­ity, and shall be mind­ful of my name.

2:33. And they shall turn away them­selves from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall re­mem­ber the way of their fa­thers, that sinned against me.

2:34. And I will bring them back again in­to the land which I promised with an oath to their fa­thers, Abra­ham, Isaac, and Ja­cob, and they shall be mas­ters there­of: and I will mul­ti­ply them, and they shall not be di­min­ished.

2:35. And I will make with them an­oth­er covenant that shall be ev­er­last­ing, to be their God, and they shall be my peo­ple: and I will no more re­move my peo­ple, the chil­dren of Is­rael, out of the land that I have giv­en them.

Baruch Chap­ter 3

They pray for mer­cy, ac­knowl­edg­ing that they are just­ly pun­ished for for­sak­ing true wis­dom. A prophe­cy of Christ.

3:1. And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Is­rael, the soul in an­guish, and the trou­bled spir­it cri­eth to thee:

3:2. Hear, O Lord, and have mer­cy, for thou art a mer­ci­ful God, and have pity on us: for we have sinned be­fore thee.

3:3. For thou re­mainest for ev­er, and shall we per­ish ev­er­last­ing­ly?

3:4. O Lord Almighty, the God of Is­rael, hear now the prayer of the dead of Is­rael, and of their chil­dren, that have sinned be­fore thee, and have not hear­kened to the voice of the Lord their God, where­fore evils have cleaved fast to us.

3:5. Re­mem­ber not the in­iq­ui­ties of our fa­thers, but think up­on thy hand, and up­on thy name at this time:

3:6. For thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord:

3:7. Be­cause for this end thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, to the in­tent that we should call up­on thy name, and praise thee in our cap­tiv­ity, for we are con­vert­ed from the in­iq­ui­ty of our fa­thers, who sinned be­fore thee.

3:8. And be­hold we are at this day in our cap­tiv­ity, where­by thou hast scat­tered us to be a re­proach, and a curse, and an of­fence, ac­cord­ing to all the in­iq­ui­ties of our fa­thers, who de­part­ed from thee, O Lord our God.

3:9. Hear, O Is­rael, the com­mand­ments of life: give ear, that thou mayst learn wis­dom.

3:10. How hap­peneth it, O Is­rael, that thou art in thy en­emies’ land?

3:11. Thou art grown old in a strange coun­try, thou art de­filed with the dead: thou art count­ed with them that go down in­to hell.

3:12. Thou hast for­sak­en the foun­tain of wis­dom:

3:13. For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst sure­ly dwelt in peace for ev­er.

3:14. Learn where is wis­dom, where is strength, where is un­der­stand­ing: that thou mayst know al­so where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace.

3:15. Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her trea­sures?

3:16. Where are the princes of the na­tions, and they that rule over the beasts that are up­on the earth?

3:17. That take their di­ver­sion with the birds of the air.

3:18. That hoard up sil­ver and gold, where­in men trust, and there is no end of their get­ting? who work in sil­ver and are so­lic­itous, and their works are un­search­able.

3:19. They are cut off, and are gone down to hell, and oth­ers are risen up in their place.

3:20. Young men have seen the light, and dwelt up­on the earth: but the way of knowl­edge they have not known,

3:21. Nor have they un­der­stood the paths there­of, nei­ther have their chil­dren re­ceived it, it is far from their face.

3:22. It hath not been heard of in the land of Chanaan, nei­ther hath it been seen in The­man.

The­man. . .The cap­ital city of Edom.

3:23. The chil­dren of Agar al­so, that search af­ter the wis­dom that is of the earth, the mer­chants of Mer­rha, and of The­man, and the tellers of fa­bles, and searchers of pru­dence and un­der­stand­ing: but the way of wis­dom they have not known, nei­ther have they re­mem­bered her paths.

Agar. . .The moth­er of the Is­maelites.

3:24. O Is­rael, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his pos­ses­sion!

3:25. It is great, and hath no end: it is high and im­mense.

3:26. There were the gi­ants, those renowned men that were from the be­gin­ning, of great stature, ex­pert in war.

3:27. The Lord chose not them, nei­ther did they find the way of knowl­edge: there­fore did they per­ish.

3:28. And be­cause they had not wis­dom, they per­ished through their fol­ly.

3:29. Who hath gone up in­to heav­en, and tak­en her, and brought her down from the clouds?

3:30. Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her prefer­ably to cho­sen gold?

3:31. There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths:

3:32. But he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, and hath found her out with his un­der­stand­ing: he that pre­pared the earth for ev­er­more, and filled it with cat­tle and four­foot­ed beasts:

3:33. He that sendeth forth the light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trem­bling.

3:34. And the stars have giv­en light in their watch­es, and re­joiced:

3:35. They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheer­ful­ness they have shined forth to him that made them.

3:36. This is our God, and there shall no oth­er be ac­count­ed of in com­par­ison of him.

3:37. He found out all the way of knowl­edge, and gave it to Ja­cob his ser­vant, and to Is­rael his beloved.

3:38. Af­ter­wards he was seen up­on earth, and con­versed with men.

Was seen up­on earth, etc. . .viz., by the mys­tery of the in­car­na­tion, by means of which the son of God came vis­ibly amongst us, and con­versed with men. The prophets of­ten speak of things to come as if they were past, to ex­press the cer­tain­ty of the event of the things fore­told.

Baruch Chap­ter 4

The prophet ex­horts to the keep­ing of the law of wis­dom, and en­cour­ages the peo­ple to be pa­tient, and to hope for their de­liv­er­ance.

4:1. This is the book of the com­mand­ments of God, and the law, that is for ev­er: all they that keep it, shall come to life: but they that have for­sak­en it, to death.

4:2. Re­turn, O Ja­cob, and take hold of it, walk in the way by its bright­ness, in the pres­ence of the light there­of.

4:3. Give not thy hon­our to an­oth­er, nor thy dig­ni­ty to a strange na­tion.

4:4. We are hap­py, O Is­rael: be­cause the things that are pleas­ing to God, are made known to us.

4:5. Be of good com­fort, O peo­ple of God, the memo­ri­al of Is­rael:

4:6. You have been sold to the Gen­tiles, not for your de­struc­tion: but be­cause you pro­voked God to wrath, you are de­liv­ered to your ad­ver­saries.

4:7. For you have pro­voked him who made you, the eter­nal God, of­fer­ing sac­ri­fice to dev­ils, and not to God.

4:8. For you have for­got­ten God, who brought you up, and you have grieved Jerusalem that nursed you.

4:9. For she saw the wrath of God com­ing up­on you, and she said: Give ear, all you that dwell near Sion, for God hath brought up­on me great mourn­ing:

4:10. For I have seen the cap­tiv­ity of my peo­ple, of my sons, and my daugh­ters, which the Eter­nal hath brought up­on them.

4:11. For I nour­ished them with joy: but I sent them away with weep­ing and mourn­ing.

4:12. Let no man re­joice over me, a wid­ow, and des­olate: I am for­sak­en of many for the sins of my chil­dren, be­cause they de­part­ed from the law of God.

4:13. And they have not known his jus­tices, nor walked by the ways of God’s com­mand­ments, nei­ther have they en­tered by the paths of his truth and jus­tice.

4:14. Let them that dwell about Sion come, and re­mem­ber the cap­tiv­ity of my sons and daugh­ters, which the Eter­nal hath brought up­on them.

4:15. For he hath brought a na­tion up­on them from afar, a wicked na­tion, and of a strange tongue:

4:16. Who have nei­ther rev­er­enced the an­cient, nor pitied chil­dren, and have car­ried away the beloved of the wid­ow, and have left me all alone with­out chil­dren.

4:17. But as for me, what help can I give you?

4:18. But he that hath brought the evils up­on you, he will de­liv­er you out of the hands of your en­emies.

4:19. Go your way, my chil­dren, go your way: for I am left alone.

4:20. I have put off the robe of peace, and have put up­on me the sack­cloth of sup­pli­ca­tion, and I will cry to the most High in my days.

4:21. Be of good com­fort, my chil­dren, cry to the Lord, and he will de­liv­er you out of the hand of the princes your en­emies.

4:22. For my hope is in the Eter­nal that he will save you: and joy is come up­on me from the Holy One, be­cause of the mer­cy which shall come to you from our ev­er­last­ing Saviour.

4:23. For I sent you forth with mourn­ing and weep­ing: but the Lord will bring you back to me with joy and glad­ness for ev­er.

4:24. For as the neigh­bours of Sion have now seen your cap­tiv­ity from God: so shall they al­so short­ly see your sal­va­tion from God, which shall come up­on you with great hon­our, and ev­er­last­ing glo­ry.

4:25. My chil­dren, suf­fer pa­tient­ly the wrath that is come up­on you: for thy en­emy hath per­se­cut­ed thee, but thou shalt quick­ly see his de­struc­tion: and thou shalt get up up­on his neck.

4:26. My del­icate ones have walked rough ways, for they were tak­en away as a flock made a prey by the en­emies.

4:27. Be of good com­fort, my chil­dren, and cry to the Lord: for you shall be re­mem­bered by him that hath led you away.

4:28. For as it was your mind to go astray from God; so when you re­turn again you shall seek him ten times as much.

4:29. For he that hath brought evils up­on you, shall bring you ev­er­last­ing joy again with your sal­va­tion.

4:30. Be of good heart, O Jerusalem: for he ex­hort­eth thee, that named thee.

4:31. The wicked that have af­flict­ed thee, shall per­ish: and they that have re­joiced at thy ru­in, shall be pun­ished.

4:32. The cities which thy chil­dren have served, shall be pun­ished: and she that re­ceived thy sons.

She that re­ceived, etc. . .viz., Baby­lon.

4:33. For as she re­joiced at thy ru­in, and was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own des­ola­tion.

4:34. And the joy of her mul­ti­tude shall be cut off: and her glad­ness shall be turned to mourn­ing.

4:35. For fire shall come up­on her from the Eter­nal, long to en­dure, and she shall be in­hab­it­ed by dev­ils for a great time.

4:36. Look about thee, O Jerusalem, to­wards the east, and be­hold the joy that cometh to thee from God.

4:37. For be­hold thy chil­dren come, whom thou sen­test away scat­tered, they come gath­ered to­geth­er from the east even to the west, at the word of the Holy One re­joic­ing for the hon­our of God.

Baruch Chap­ter 5

Jerusalem is in­vit­ed to re­joice and be­hold the re­turn of her chil­dren out of their cap­tiv­ity.

5:1. Put off, O Jerusalem, the gar­ment of thy mourn­ing, and af­flic­tion: and put on the beau­ty, and hon­our of that ev­er­last­ing glo­ry which thou hast from God.

5:2. God will clothe thee with the dou­ble gar­ment of jus­tice, and will set a crown on thy head of ev­er­last­ing hon­our.

5:3. For God will shew his bright­ness in thee, to ev­ery one un­der heav­en.

5:4. For thy name shall be named to thee by God for ev­er: the peace of jus­tice, and hon­our of piety.

5:5. Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high: and look about to­wards the east, and be­hold thy chil­dren gath­ered to­geth­er from the ris­ing to the set­ting sun, by the word of the Holy One re­joic­ing in the re­mem­brance of God.

5:6. For they went out from thee on foot, led by the en­emies: but the Lord will bring them to thee ex­alt­ed with hon­our as chil­dren of the king­dom.

5:7. For God hath ap­point­ed to bring down ev­ery high moun­tain, and the ev­er­last­ing rocks, and to fill up the val­leys to make them even with the ground: that Is­rael may walk dili­gent­ly to the hon­our of God.

5:8. More­over the woods, and ev­ery sweet­smelling tree have over­shad­owed Is­rael by the com­mand­ment of God.

5:9. For God will bring Is­rael with joy in the light of his majesty, with mer­cy, and jus­tice, that cometh from him.

Baruch Chap­ter 6

The epis­tle of Jeremias to the cap­tives, as a preser­va­tive against idol­atry.

A copy of the epis­tle that Jeremias sent to them that were to be led away cap­tives in­to Baby­lon, by the king of Baby­lon, to de­clare to them ac­cord­ing to what was com­mand­ed him by God.

6:1. For the sins that you have com­mit­ted be­fore God, you shall be car­ried away cap­tives in­to Baby­lon by Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon.

6:2. And when you are come in­to Baby­lon, you shall be there many years, and for a long time, even to sev­en gen­er­ations: and af­ter that I will bring you away from thence with peace.

Sev­en gen­er­ations. . .That is, sev­en­ty years.

6:3. But now, you shall see in Baby­lon gods of gold, and of sil­ver, and of stone, and of wood borne up­on shoul­ders, caus­ing fear to the Gen­tiles.

6:4. Be­ware there­fore that you im­itate not the do­ings of oth­ers, and be afraid, and the fear of them should seize up­on you.

6:5. But when you see the mul­ti­tude be­hind, and be­fore, ador­ing them, say you in your hearts: Thou ought­est to be adored, O Lord.

6:6. For my an­gel is with you: And I my­self will de­mand an ac­count of your souls.

6:7. For their tongue that is pol­ished by the crafts­man, and them­selves laid over with gold and sil­ver, are false things, and they can­not speak.

6:8. And as if it were for a maid­en that loveth to go gay: so do they take gold and make them up.

6:9. Their gods have gold­en crowns up­on their heads: where­of the priests se­cret­ly con­vey away from them gold, and sil­ver, and be­stow it on them­selves.

6:10. Yea and they give there­of to pros­ti­tutes, and they dress out har­lots: and again when they re­ceive it of the har­lots, they adorn their gods.

6:11. And these gods can­not de­fend them­selves from the rust, and the moth.

6:12. But when they have cov­ered them with a pur­ple gar­ment, they wipe their face be­cause of the dust of the house, which is very much among them.

6:13. This hold­eth a scep­tre as a man, as a judge of the coun­try, but can­not put to death one that of­fend­eth him.

6:14. And this hath in his hand a sword, or an axe, but can­not save him­self from war, or from rob­bers, where­by be it known to you, that they are not gods.

6:15. There­fore fear them not. For as a ves­sel that a man us­es when it is bro­ken be­cometh use­less, even so are their gods:

6:16. When they are placed in the house, their eyes are full of dust by the feet of them that go in.

6:17. And as the gates are made sure on ev­ery side up­on one that hath of­fend­ed the king, or like a dead man car­ried to the grave, so do the priests se­cure the doors with bars and locks, lest they be stripped by thieves.

6:18. They light can­dles to them, and in great num­ber, of which they can­not see one: but they are like beams in the house.

6:19. And they say that the creep­ing things which are of the earth, gnaw their hearts, while they eat them and their gar­ments, and they feel it not.

6:20. Their faces are black with the smoke that is made in the house.

6:21. Owls, and swal­lows, and oth­er birds fly up­on their bod­ies, and up­on their heads, and cats in like man­ner.

6:22. Where­by you may know that they are no gods. There­fore fear them not.

6:23. The gold al­so which they have, is for shew, but ex­cept a man wipe off the rust, they will not shine: for nei­ther when they were molten, did they feel it.

6:24. Men buy them at a high price, where­as there is no breath in them.

6:25. And hav­ing not the use of feet they are car­ried up­on shoul­ders, declar­ing to men how vile they are. Be they con­found­ed al­so that wor­ship them.

6:26. There­fore if they fall to the ground, they rise not up again of them­selves, nor if a man set them up­right, will they stand by them­selves, but their gifts shall be set be­fore them, as to the dead.

6:27. The things that are sac­ri­ficed to them, their priests sell and abuse: in like man­ner al­so their wives take part of them, but give noth­ing of it ei­ther to the sick, or to the poor.

6:28. The child­bear­ing and men­stru­ous wom­en touch their sac­ri­fices: know­ing, there­fore, by these things that they are not gods, fear them not.

6:29. For how can they be called gods? be­cause wom­en set of­fer­ings be­fore the gods of sil­ver, and of gold, and of wood:

6:30. And priests sit in their tem­ples, hav­ing their gar­ments rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and noth­ing up­on their heads.

6:31. And they roar and cry be­fore their gods, as men do at the feast when one is dead.

6:32. The priests take away their gar­ments, and clothe their wives and their chil­dren.

6:33. And whether it be evil that one doth un­to them, or good, they are not able to rec­om­pense it: nei­ther can they set up a king, nor put him down:

6:34. In like man­ner they can nei­ther give rich­es, nor re­quite evil. If a man make a vow to them, and per­form it not: they can­not re­quire it.

6:35. They can­not de­liv­er a man from death, nor save the weak from the mighty.

6:36. They can­not re­store the blind man to his sight: nor de­liv­er a man from dis­tress.

36:7. They shall not pity the wid­ow, nor do good to the fa­ther­less.

6:38. Their gods, of wood, and of stone, and of gold, and of sil­ver, are like the stones that are hewn out of the moun­tains: and they that wor­ship them shall be con­found­ed.

6:39. How then is it to be sup­posed, or to be said, that they are gods?

6:40. Even the Chaldeans them­selves dis­hon­or them: who when they here of one dumb that can­not speak, they present him to Bel, en­treat­ing him, that he may speak.

6:41. As though they could be sen­si­ble that have no mo­tion them­selves: and they, when they shall per­ceive this, will leave them: for their gods them­selves have no sense.

6:42. The wom­en al­so, with cords about them, sit in the ways, burn­ing olive-​stones.

6:43. And when any one of them, drawn away by some pas­sen­ger, li­eth with him, she up­braideth her neigh­bor, that she was not thought as wor­thy as her­self, nor her cord bro­ken.

6:44. But all things that are done about them, are false: how is it then to be thought, or to be said, that they are gods?

6:45. And they are made by work­men, and by gold­smiths. They shall be noth­ing else but what the priests will have them to be.

6:46. For the ar­ti­fi­cers them­selves that make them, are of no long con­tin­uance. Can those things then that are made by them, be gods?

6:47. But they have left false things and re­proach to them that come af­ter.

6:48. For when war cometh up­on them , or evils: the priests con­sult with them­selves, where they may hide them­selves with them.

6:49. How then can they be thought to be gods, that can nei­ther de­liv­er them­selves from war, nor save them­selves from evils?

6:50. For see­ing they are but of wood, and laid over with gold, and with sil­ver, it shall be known here­after that they are false things, by all na­tions, and kings: and it shall be man­ifest that they are no gods, but the work of men’s hands, and that there is no work of God in them.

6:51. Whence, there­fore, is it known that they are not gods, but the work of men’s hands, and no work of God is in them?

6:52. They can­not set up a king over the land, nor give rain to men.

6:53. They de­ter­mine no caus­es, nor de­liv­er coun­tries from op­pres­sion: be­cause they can do noth­ing, and are as daws be­tween heav­en and earth.

6:54. For when fire shall fall up­on the house of these gods of wood, and of sil­ver, and of gold, their priests in­deed will flee away, and be saved: but they them­selves shall be burnt in the midst like beams.

6:55. And they can­not with­stand a king and war. How then can it be sup­posed, or ad­mit­ted, that they are gods?

6:56. Nei­ther are these gods of wood, and of stone, and laid over with gold, and with sil­ver, able to de­liv­er them­selves from thieves or rob­bers: they that are stronger than them,

They that are stronger than them. . .That is, rob­bers and thieves are stronger than these idols, be­ing things with­out life or mo­tion.

6:57. Shall take from them the gold, and sil­ver, and the rai­ment where­with they are clothed, and shall go their way, nei­ther shall they help them­selves.

6:58. There­fore it is bet­ter to be a king that sheweth his pow­er: or else a prof­itable ves­sel in the house, with which the own­er there­of will be well sat­is­fied: or a door in the house, to keep things safe that are there­in, than such false gods.

6:59. The sun, and the moon, and the stars be­ing bright, and sent forth for prof­itable us­es, are obe­di­ent.

6:60. In like man­ner the light­ning, when it breaketh forth, is easy to be seen: and af­ter the same man­ner the wind bloweth in ev­ery coun­try.

6:61. And the clouds, when God com­man­deth them to go over the whole world, do that which is com­mand­ed them.

6:62. The fire al­so be­ing sent from above to con­sume moun­tains, and woods, doth as it is com­mand­ed. But these nei­ther in shew, nor in pow­er, are alike to any one of them.

6:63. Where­fore it is nei­ther to be thought, nor to be said, that they are gods: since they are nei­ther able to judge caus­es, nor to do any good to men.

6:64. Know­ing, there­fore, that they are not gods, fear them not.

6:65. For nei­ther can they curse kings, nor bless them.

6:66. Nei­ther do they shew signs in the heav­en to the na­tions, nor shine as the sun, nor give light as the moon.

6:67. Beasts are bet­ter than they, which can fly un­der a covert, and help them­selves.

6:68. There­fore there is no man­ner of ap­pear­ance that they are gods: so fear them not.

6:69. For as a scare­crow in a gar­den of cu­cum­bers keep­eth noth­ing, so are their gods of wood, and of sil­ver, and laid over with gold.

6:70. They are no bet­ter than a white thorn in a gar­den, up­on which ev­ery bird sit­teth. In like man­ner al­so their gods of wood, and laid over with gold, and with sil­ver, are like to a dead body cast forth in the dark.

6:71. By the pur­ple al­so and the scar­let which are moth­eat­en up­on them, you shall know that they are not gods. And they them­selves at last are con­sumed, and shall be a re­proach in the coun­try.

6:72. Bet­ter, there­fore, is the just man that hath no idols: for he shall be far from re­proach.

THE PROPHE­CY OF EZECHIEL

EZECHIEL, whose name sig­ni­fies the STRENGTH OF GOD, was of the priest­ly race; and of the num­ber of cap­tives that were car­ried away to Baby­lon with king JOACHIN. He was con­tem­po­rary with JEREMIAS, and proph­esied to the same ef­fect in Baby­lon, as JEREMIAS did in Jerusalem; and is said to have end­ed his days in like man­ner, by mar­tyr­dom.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 1

The time of Ezechiel’s prophe­cy: he sees a glo­ri­ous vi­sion.

1:1. Now it came to pass in the thir­ti­eth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in the midst of the cap­tives by the riv­er Cho­bar, the heav­ens were opened, and I saw the vi­sions of God.

The thir­ti­eth year. . .Ei­ther of the age of Ezechiel; or, as oth­ers will have it, from the solemn covenant made in the eigh­teenth year of the reign of Josias. 4 Kings 23.

1:2. On the fifth day of the month, the same was the fifth year of the cap­tiv­ity of king Joachin,

1:3. The word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the priest the son of Buzi in the land of the Chaldeans, by the riv­er Cho­bar: and the hand of the Lord was there up­on him.

1:4. And I saw, and be­hold a whirl­wind came out of the north: and a great cloud, and a fire in­fold­ing it, and bright­ness was about it: and out of the midst there­of, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it were the re­sem­blance of am­ber:

1:5. And in the midst there­of the like­ness of four liv­ing crea­tures: and this was their ap­pear­ance: there was the like­ness of a man in them.

Liv­ing crea­tures. . .Cheru­bims (as ap­pears from Ec­cle­si­as­ti­cus 49.10) rep­re­sent­ed to the prophet un­der these mys­te­ri­ous shapes, as sup­port­ing the throne of God, and as it were draw­ing his char­iot. All this chap­ter ap­peared so ob­scure, and so full of mys­ter­ies to the an­cient He­brews, that, as we learn from St. Jerome, (Ep. ad Paulin.,) they suf­fered none to read it be­fore they were thir­ty years old.

1:6. Ev­ery one had four faces, and ev­ery one four wings.

1:7. Their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their foot was like the sole of a calf’s foot, and they sparkled like the ap­pear­ance of glow­ing brass.

1:8. And they had the hands of a man un­der their wings on their four sides: and they had faces, and wings on the four sides,

1:9. And the wings of one were joined to the wings of an­oth­er. They turned not when they went: but ev­ery one went straight for­ward.

1:10. And as for the like­ness of their faces: there was the face of a man, and the face of a li­on on the right side of all the four: and the face of an ox, on the left side of all the four: and the face of an ea­gle over all the four.

1:11. And their faces, and their wings were stretched up­ward: two wings of ev­ery one were joined, and two cov­ered their bod­ies:

1:12. And ev­ery one of them went straight for­ward: whith­er the im­pulse of the spir­it was to go, thith­er they went: and they turned not when they went.

1:13. And as for the like­ness of the liv­ing crea­tures, their ap­pear­ance was like that of burn­ing coals of fire, and like the ap­pear­ance of lamps. This was the vi­sion run­ning to and fro in the midst of the liv­ing crea­tures, a bright fire, and light­ning go­ing forth from the fire.

1:14. And the liv­ing crea­tures ran and re­turned like flash­es of light­ning.

1:15. Now as I be­held the liv­ing crea­tures, there ap­peared up­on the earth by the liv­ing crea­tures one wheel with four faces.

1:16. And the ap­pear­ance of the wheels, and the work of them was like the ap­pear­ance of the sea: and the four had all one like­ness: and their ap­pear­ance and their work was as it were a wheel in the midst of a wheel.

1:17. When they went, they went by their four parts: and they turned not when they went.

When they went, they went by their four parts. . .That is, in­dif­fer­ent­ly to any of their sides ei­ther for­ward or back­ward: to the right or to the left.

1:18. The wheels had al­so a size, and a height, and a dread­ful ap­pear­ance: and the whole body was full of eyes round about all the four.

1:19. And, when the liv­ing crea­tures went, the wheels al­so went to­geth­er by them: and when the liv­ing crea­tures were lift­ed up from the earth, the wheels al­so were lift­ed up with them.

1:20. With­er­so­ev­er the spir­it went, thith­er as the spir­it went the wheels al­so were lift­ed up with­al, and fol­lowed it: for the spir­it of life was in the wheels.

1:21. When those went these went, and when those stood these stood, and when those were lift­ed up from the earth, the wheels were lift­ed up to­geth­er, and fol­lowed them: for the spir­it of life was in the wheels.

1:22. And over the heads of the liv­ing crea­tures was the like­ness of the fir­ma­ment, the ap­pear­ance of crys­tal ter­ri­ble to be­hold, and stretched out over their heads above.

1:23. And un­der the fir­ma­ment were their wings straight, the one to­ward the oth­er, ev­ery one with two wings cov­ered his body, and the oth­er was cov­ered in like man­ner.

1:24. And I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many wa­ters, as it were the voice of the most high God: when they walked, it was like the voice of a mul­ti­tude, like the noise of an army, and when they stood, their wings were let down.

1:25. For when a voice came from above the fir­ma­ment, that was over their heads, they stood, and let down their wings.

1:26. And above the fir­ma­ment that was over their heads, was the like­ness of a throne, as the ap­pear­ance of the sap­phire stone, and up­on the like­ness of the throne, was the like­ness of the ap­pear­ance of a man above up­on it.

1:27. And I saw as it were the re­sem­blance of am­ber as the ap­pear­ance of fire with­in it round about: from his loins and up­ward, and from his loins down­ward, I saw as it were the re­sem­blance of fire shin­ing round about.

1:28. As the ap­pear­ance of the rain­bow when it is in a cloud on a rainy day: this was the ap­pear­ance of the bright­ness round about.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 2

The prophet re­ceives his com­mis­sion.

2:1. This was the vi­sion of the like­ness of the glo­ry of the Lord, and I saw, and I fell up­on my face, and I heard the voice of one that spoke, and he said to me: Son of man, stand up­on thy feet, and I will speak to thee.

2:2. And the spir­it en­tered in­to me af­ter that he spoke to me, and he set me up­on my feet: and I heard him speak­ing to me,

2:3. And say­ing: Son of man, I send thee to the chil­dren of Is­rael, to a re­bel­lious peo­ple, that hath re­volt­ed from me, they, and their fa­thers, have trans­gressed my covenant even un­to this day.

2:4. And they to whom I send thee are chil­dren of a hard face, and of an ob­sti­nate heart: and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God:

2:5. If so be they at least will hear, and if so be they will for­bear, for they are a pro­vok­ing house: and they shall know that there hath been a prophet in the midst of them.

2:6. And thou, O son of man, fear not, nei­ther be thou afraid of their words: for thou art among un­be­liev­ers and de­stroy­ers, and thou dwellest with scor­pi­ons. Fear not their words, nei­ther be thou dis­mayed at their looks: for they are a pro­vok­ing house.

2:7. And thou shalt speak my words to them, if per­haps they will hear, and for­bear: for they pro­voke me to anger.

2:8. But thou, O son of man, hear all that I say to thee: and do not thou pro­voke me, as that house pro­voketh me: open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee.

2:9. And I looked, and be­hold, a hand was sent to me, where­in was a book rolled up: and he spread it be­fore me, and it was writ­ten with­in and with­out: and there were writ­ten in it lamen­ta­tions, and can­ti­cles, and woe.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 3

The prophet eats the book, and re­ceives fur­ther in­struc­tions: the of­fice of a watch­man.

3:1. And he said to me: Son of man, eat all that thou shalt find: eat this book, and go speak to the chil­dren of Is­rael.

Eat this book, and go speak to the chil­dren of Is­rael. . .By this eat­ing of the book was sig­ni­fied the dili­gent at­ten­tion and af­fec­tion with which we are to re­ceive, and em­brace the word of God; and to let it, as it were, sink in­to our in­te­ri­or by de­vout med­ita­tion.

3:2. And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that book:

3:3. And he said to me: Son of man, thy bel­ly shall eat, and thy bow­els shall be filled with this book, which I give thee, and I did eat it: and it was sweet as hon­ey in my mouth.

3:4. And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Is­rael, and thou shalt speak my words to them.

3:5. For thou art not sent to a peo­ple of a pro­found speech, and of an un­known tongue, but to the house of Is­rael:

3:6. Nor to many na­tions of a strange speech, and of an un­known tongue, whose words thou canst not un­der­stand: and if thou wert sent to them, they would hear­ken to thee.

3:7. But the house of Is­rael will not hear­ken to thee: be­cause they will not hear­ken to me: for all the house of Is­rael are of a hard fore­head and an ob­sti­nate heart.

3:8. Be­hold I have made thy face stronger than their faces: and thy fore­head hard­er than their fore­heads.

3:9. I have made thy face like an adamant and like flint: fear them not, nei­ther be thou dis­mayed at their pres­ence: for they are a pro­vok­ing house.

3:10. And he said to me: Son of man, re­ceive in thy heart, and hear with thy ears, all the words that I speak to thee:

3:11. And go get thee in to them of the cap­tiv­ity, to the chil­dren of thy peo­ple, and thou shalt speak to them, and shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: If so be they will hear, and will for­bear.

3:12. And the spir­it took me up, and I heard be­hind me the voice of a great com­mo­tion, say­ing: Blessed be the glo­ry of the Lord, from his place.

3:13. The noise of the wings of the liv­ing crea­tures strik­ing one against an­oth­er, and the noise of the wheels fol­low­ing the liv­ing crea­tures, and the noise of a great com­mo­tion.

3:14. The spir­it al­so lift­ed me, and took me up: and I went away in bit­ter­ness in the in­dig­na­tion of my spir­it: for the hand of the Lord was with me, strength­en­ing me.

3:15. And I came to them of the cap­tiv­ity, to the heap of new corn, to them that dwelt by the riv­er Cho­bar, and I sat where they sat: and I re­mained there sev­en days mourn­ing in the midst of them.

The heap of new corn. . .It was the name of a place: in He­brew, tel abib.

3:16. And at the end of sev­en days the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

3:17. Son of man, I have made thee a watch­man to the house of Is­rael: and thou shalt hear the word out of my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.

3:18. If, when I say to the wicked, Thou shalt sure­ly die: thou de­clare it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be con­vert­ed from his wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his in­iq­ui­ty, but I will re­quire his blood at thy hand.

3:19. But if thou give warn­ing to the wicked, and he be not con­vert­ed from his wicked­ness, and from his evil way: he in­deed shall die in his in­iq­ui­ty, but thou hast de­liv­ered thy soul.

3:20. More­over if the just man shall turn away from his jus­tice, and shall com­mit in­iq­ui­ty: I will lay a stum­bling­block be­fore him, he shall die, be­cause thou hast not giv­en him warn­ing: he shall die in his sin, and his jus­tices which he hath done, shall not be re­mem­bered: but I will re­quire his blood at thy hand.

3:21. But if thou warn the just man, that the just may not sin, and he doth not sin: liv­ing he shall live, be­cause thou hast warned him, and thou hast de­liv­ered thy soul.

3:22. And the hand of the Lord was up­on me, and he said to me: Rise and go forth in­to the plain, and there I will speak to thee.

3:23. And I rose up, and went forth in­to the plain: and be­hold the glo­ry of the Lord stood there, like the glo­ry which I saw by the riv­er Cho­bar: and I fell up­on my face.

3:24. And the spir­it en­tered in­to me, and set me up­on my feet: and he spoke to me, and said to me: Go in; and shut thy­self up in the midst of thy house.

3:25. And thou, O son of man, be­hold they shall put bands up­on thee, and they shall bind thee with them: and thou shalt not go forth from the midst of them.

3:26. And I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that re­proveth: be­cause they are a pro­vok­ing house.

3:27. But when I shall speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: He that heareth, let him hear: and he that for­beareth, let him for­bear: for they are a pro­vok­ing house.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 4

A prophet­ic de­scrip­tion of the siege of Jerusalem, and the famine that shall reign there.

4:1. And thou, O son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it be­fore thee: and draw up­on it the plan of the city of Jerusalem.

4:2. And lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast up a mount, and set a camp against it, and place bat­ter­ing rams round about it.

4:3. And take un­to thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron be­tween thee and the city: and set thy face res­olute­ly against it, and it shall be be­sieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it: it is a sign to the house of Is­rael.

4:4. And thou shalt sleep up­on thy left side, and shalt lay the in­iq­ui­ties of the house of Is­rael up­on it, ac­cord­ing to the num­ber of the days that thou shalt sleep up­on it, and thou shalt take up­on thee their in­iq­ui­ty.

4:5. And I have laid up­on thee the years of their in­iq­ui­ty, ac­cord­ing to the num­ber of the days three hun­dred and nine­ty days: and thou shalt bear the in­iq­ui­ty of the house of Is­rael.

4:6. And when thou hast ac­com­plished this, thou shalt sleep again up­on thy right side, and thou shalt take up­on thee the in­iq­ui­ty of the house of Ju­da forty days: a day for a year, yea, a day for a year I have ap­point­ed to thee.

4:7. And thou shalt turn thy face to the siege of Jerusalem and thy arm shall be stretched out: and thou shalt proph­esy against it.

4:8. Be­hold I have en­com­passed thee with bands: and thou shalt not turn thy­self from one side to the oth­er, till thou hast end­ed the days of thy siege.

4:9. And take to thee wheat and bar­ley, and beans, and lentils, and mil­let, and fitch­es, and put them in one ves­sel, and make thee bread there­of ac­cord­ing to the num­ber of the days that thou shalt lie up­on thy side: three hun­dred and nine­ty days shalt thou eat there­of.

4:10. And thy meat that thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twen­ty staters a day: from time to time thou shalt eat it.

4:11. And thou shalt drink wa­ter by mea­sure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time thou shalt drink it,

Hin. . .That is, a mea­sure of liq­uids con­tain­ing about ten pints.

4:12. And thou shalt eat it as bar­ley bread baked un­der the ash­es: and thou shalt cov­er it, in their sight, with the dung that cometh out of a man.

4:13. And the Lord said: So shall the chil­dren of Is­rael eat their bread all filthy among the na­tions whith­er I will cast them out.

4:14. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, be­hold my soul hath not been de­filed, and from my in­fan­cy even till now, I have not eat­en any thing that died of it­self, or was torn by beasts, and no un­clean flesh hath en­tered in­to my mouth.

4:15. And he said to me: Be­hold I have giv­en thee neat’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt make thy bread there­with.

4:16. And he said to me: Son of man: Be­hold, I will break in pieces the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care: and they shall drink wa­ter by mea­sure, and in dis­tress.

4:17. So that when bread and wa­ter fail, ev­ery man may fall against his broth­er, and they may pine away in their in­iq­ui­ties.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 5

The judg­ments of God up­on the Jews are fore­shewn un­der the type of the prophet’s hair.

5:1. And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife that shaveth the hair: and cause it to pass over thy head, and over thy beard: and take thee a bal­ance to weigh in, and di­vide the hair.

5:2. A third part thou shalt burn with fire in the midst of the city, ac­cord­ing to the ful­fill­ing of the days of the siege: and thou shalt take a third part, and cut it in pieces with the knife all round about: and the oth­er third part thou shalt scat­ter in the wind, and I will draw out the sword af­ter them.

5:3. And thou shalt take there­of a small num­ber: and shalt bind them in the skirt of thy cloak.

5:4. And thou shalt take of them again, and shalt cast them in the midst of the fire, and shalt burn them with fire: and out of it shall come forth a fire in­to all the house of Is­rael.

5:5. Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the na­tions, and the coun­tries round about her.

5:6. And she hath de­spised my judg­ments, so as to be more wicked than the Gen­tiles; and my com­mand­ments, more than the coun­tries that are round about her: for they have cast off my judg­ments, and have not walked in my com­mand­ments.

5:7. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause you have sur­passed the Gen­tiles that are round about you, and have not walked in my com­mand­ments, and have not kept my judg­ments, and have not done ac­cord­ing to the judg­ments of the na­tions that are round about you:

5:8. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I come against thee, and I my­self will ex­ecute judg­ments in the midst of thee in the sight of the Gen­tiles.

5:9. And I will do in thee that which I have not done: and the like to which I will do no more, be­cause of all thy abom­ina­tions.

5:10. There­fore the fa­thers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fa­thers: and I will ex­ecute judg­ments in thee, and I will scat­ter thy whole rem­nant in­to ev­ery wind.

5:11. There­fore as I live, saith the Lord God: Be­cause thou hast vi­olat­ed my sanc­tu­ary with all thy of­fences, and with all thy abom­ina­tions: I will al­so break thee in pieces, and my eye shall not spare, and I will not have any pity.

5:12. A third part of thee shall die with the pesti­lence, and shall be con­sumed with famine in the midst of thee: and a third part of thee shall fall by the sword round about thee: and a third part of thee will I scat­ter in­to ev­ery wind, and I will draw out a sword af­ter them.

5:13. And I will ac­com­plish my fury, and will cause my in­dig­na­tion to rest up­on them, and I will be com­fort­ed: and they shall know that I the Lord have spo­ken it in my zeal, when I shall have ac­com­plished my in­dig­na­tion in them.

5:14. And I will make thee des­olate, and a re­proach among the na­tions that are round about thee, in the sight of ev­ery one that pas­seth by.

5:15. And thou shalt be a re­proach, and a scoff, an ex­am­ple, and an as­ton­ish­ment amongst the na­tions that are round about thee, when I shall have ex­ecut­ed judg­ments in thee in anger, and in in­dig­na­tion, and in wrath­ful re­bukes.

5:16. I the Lord have spo­ken it: When I shall send up­on them the grievous ar­rows of famine, which shall bring death, and which I will send to de­stroy you: and I will gath­er to­geth­er famine against you: and I will break among you the staff of bread.

5:17. And I will send in up­on you famine, and evil beasts un­to ut­ter de­struc­tion: and pesti­lence, and blood shall pass through thee, and I will bring in the sword up­on thee. I the Lord have spo­ken it.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 6

The pun­ish­ment of Is­rael for their idol­atry: a rem­nant shall be saved.

6:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

6:2. Son of man set thy face to­wards the moun­tains of Is­rael, and proph­esy against them.

6:3. And say: Ye moun­tains of Is­rael, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God to the moun­tains, and to the hills, and to the rocks, and the val­leys: Be­hold, I will bring up­on you the sword, and I will de­stroy your high places.

6:4. And I will throw down your al­tars, and your idols shall be bro­ken in pieces: and I will cast down your slain be­fore your idols.

6:5. And I will lay the dead car­cass­es of the chil­dren of Is­rael be­fore your idols: and I will scat­ter your bones round about your al­tars,

6:6. In all your dwelling places. The cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be thrown down, and de­stroyed, and your al­tars shall be abol­ished, and shall be bro­ken in pieces: and your idols shall be no more, and your tem­ples shall be de­stroyed, and your works shall be de­faced.

6:7. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

6:8. And I will leave in you some that shall es­cape the sword among the na­tions, when I shall have scat­tered you through the coun­tries.

6:9. And they that are saved of you shall re­mem­ber me amongst the na­tions, to which they are car­ried cap­tives: be­cause I have bro­ken their heart that was faith­less, and re­volt­ed from me: and their eyes that went a for­ni­cat­ing af­ter their idols: and they shall be dis­pleased with them­selves be­cause of the evils which they have com­mit­ted in all their abom­ina­tions.

6:10. And they shall know that I the Lord have not spo­ken in vain that I would do this evil to them.

6:11. Thus saith the Lord God: Strike with thy hand and stamp with thy foot, and say: Alas, for all the abom­ina­tions of the evils of the house of Is­rael: for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pesti­lence.

6:12. He that is far off shall die of the pesti­lence: and he that is near, shall fall by the sword: and he that re­maineth, and is be­sieged, shall die by the famine: and I will ac­com­plish my in­dig­na­tion up­on them.

6:13. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when your slain shall be amongst your idols, round about your al­tars, in ev­ery high hill, and on all the tops of moun­tains, and un­der ev­ery woody tree, and un­der ev­ery thick oak, the place where they burnt sweet smelling frank­in­cense to all their idols.

6:14. And I will stretch forth my hand up­on them: and I will make the land des­olate, and aban­doned from the desert of De­blatha in all their dwelling places: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 7

The fi­nal des­ola­tion of Is­rael: from which few shall es­cape.

7:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

7:2. And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God to the land of Is­rael: The end is come, the end is come up­on the four quar­ters of the land.

7:3. Now is an end come up­on thee, and I will send my wrath up­on thee, and I will judge thee ac­cord­ing to thy ways: and I will set all thy abom­ina­tions against thee.

7:4. And my eye shall not spare thee, and I will shew thee no pity: but I will lay thy ways up­on thee, and thy abom­ina­tions shall be in the midst of thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

7:5. Thus saith the Lord God: One af­flic­tion, be­hold an af­flic­tion is come.

7:6. An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee: be­hold it is come.

7:7. De­struc­tion is come up­on thee that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of slaugh­ter is near, and not of the joy of moun­tains.

7:8. Now very short­ly I will pour out my wrath up­on thee, and I will ac­com­plish my anger in thee: and I will judge thee ac­cord­ing to thy ways, and I will lay up­on thee all thy crimes.

7:9. And my eye shall not spare, nei­ther will I shew mer­cy: but I will lay thy ways up­on thee, and thy abom­ina­tions shall be in the midst of thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord that strike.

7:10. Be­hold the day, be­hold it is come: de­struc­tion is gone forth, the rod hath blos­somed, pride hath bud­ded.

7:11. In­iq­ui­ty is risen up in­to a rod of impi­ety: noth­ing of them shall re­main, nor of their peo­ple, nor of the noise of them: and there shall be no rest among them.

7:12. The time is come, the day is at hand: let not the buy­er re­joice: nor the sell­er mourn: for wrath is up­on all the peo­ple there­of.

7:13. For the sell­er shall not re­turn to that which he hath sold, al­though their life be yet among the liv­ing. For the vi­sion which re­gardeth all the mul­ti­tude there­of, shall not go back: nei­ther shall man be strength­ened in the in­iq­ui­ty of his life.

7:14. Blow the trum­pet, let all be made ready, yet there is none to go to the bat­tle: for my wrath shall be up­on all the peo­ple there­of.

7:15. The sword with­out: and the pesti­lence, and the famine with­in: he that is in the field shall die by the sword: and they that are in the city, shall be de­voured by the pesti­lence, and the famine.

7:16. And such of them as shall flee shall es­cape: and they shall be in the moun­tains like doves of the val­leys, all of them trem­bling, ev­ery one for his in­iq­ui­ty.

7:17. All hands shall be made fee­ble, and all knees shall run with wa­ter.

7:18. And they shall gird them­selves with hair­cloth, and fear shall cov­er them and shame shall be up­on ev­ery face, and bald­ness up­on all their heads.

7:19. Their sil­ver shall be cast forth, and their gold shall be­come a dunghill. Their sil­ver and their gold shall not be able to de­liv­er them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not sat­is­fy their soul, and their bel­lies shall not be filled: be­cause it hath been the stum­bling­block of their in­iq­ui­ty.

7:20. And they have turned the or­na­ment of their jew­els in­to pride, and have made of it the im­ages of their abom­ina­tions, and idols: there­fore I have made it an un­clean­ness to them.

7:21. And I will give it in­to the hands of strangers for spoil, and to the wicked of the earth for a prey, and they shall de­file it.

7:22. And I will turn away my face from them, and they shall vi­olate my se­cret place: and rob­bers shall en­ter in­to it, and de­file it.

Se­cret place, etc. . .Viz., the in­ward sanc­tu­ary, the holy of holies.

7:23. Make a shut­ting up: for the land is full of the judg­ment of blood, and the city is full of in­iq­ui­ty.

Make a shut­ting up. . .In He­brew, a chain, viz., for im­pris­on­ment and cap­tiv­ity.

7:24. And I will bring the worst of the na­tions, and they shall pos­sess their hous­es: and I will make the pride of the mighty to cease, and they shall pos­sess their sanc­tu­ary.

7:25. When dis­tress cometh up­on them, they will seek for peace and there shall be none.

7:26. Trou­ble shall come up­on trou­ble, and ru­mour up­on ru­mour, and they shall seek a vi­sion of the prophet, and the law shall per­ish from the priest, and coun­sel from the an­cients.

7:27. The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with sor­row, and the hands of the peo­ple of the land shall be trou­bled. I will do to them ac­cord­ing to their way, and will judge them ac­cord­ing to their judg­ments: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 8

The prophet sees in a vi­sion the abom­ina­tions com­mit­ted in Jerusalem; which de­ter­mine the Lord to spare them no longer.

8:1. And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the an­cients of Ju­da sat be­fore me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there up­on me.

8:2. And I saw, and be­hold a like­ness as the ap­pear­ance of fire: from the ap­pear­ance of his loins, and down­ward, fire: and from his loins, and up­ward, as the ap­pear­ance of bright­ness, as the ap­pear­ance of am­ber.

8:3. And the like­ness of a hand was put forth and took me by a lock of my head: and the spir­it lift­ed me up be­tween the earth and the heav­en, and brought me in the vi­sion of God in­to Jerusalem, near the in­ner gate, that looked to­ward the north, where was set the idol of jeal­ousy to pro­voke to jeal­ousy.

8:4. And be­hold the glo­ry of the God of Is­rael was there, ac­cord­ing to the vi­sion which I had seen in the plain.

8:5. And he said to me: Son of man, lift up thy eyes to­wards the way of the north, and I lift­ed up my eyes to­wards the way of the north: and be­hold on the north side of the gate of the al­tar the idol of jeal­ousy in the very en­try.

8:6. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou see, think­est thou, what these are do­ing, the great abom­ina­tions that the house of Is­rael com­mit­teth here, that I should de­part far off from my sanc­tu­ary? and turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abom­ina­tions.

8:7. And he brought me in to the door of the court: and I saw, and be­hold a hole in the wall.

8:8. And he said to me: Son of man, dig in the wall, and when I had digged in the wall, be­hold a door.

8:9. And he said to me: Go in, and see the wicked abom­ina­tions which they com­mit here.

8:10. And I went in and saw, and be­hold ev­ery form of creep­ing things, and of liv­ing crea­tures, the abom­ina­tions, and all the idols of the house of Is­rael, were paint­ed on the wall all round about.

8:11. And sev­en­ty men of the an­cients of the house of Is­rael, and Je­zo­nias the son of Saaphan stood in the midst of them, that stood be­fore the pic­tures: and ev­ery one had a censer in his hand: and a cloud of smoke went up from the in­cense.

8:12. And he said to me: Sure­ly thou seest, O son of man, what the an­cients of the house of Is­rael do in the dark, ev­ery one in pri­vate in his cham­ber: for they say: The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath for­sak­en the earth.

8:13. And he said to me: If thou turn thee again, thou shalt see greater abom­ina­tions which these com­mit.

8:14. And he brought me in by the door of the gate of the Lord’s house, which looked to the north: and be­hold wom­en sat there mourn­ing for Ado­nis.

Ado­nis. . .The favourite of Venus, slain by a wild boar, as feigned by the hea­then po­ets, and which be­ing here rep­re­sent­ed by an idol, is lament­ed by the fe­male wor­ship­pers of that god­dess. In the He­brew, the name is Tam­muz.

8:15. And he said to me: Sure­ly thou hast seen, O son of man: but turn thee again, thou shalt see greater abom­ina­tions than these.

8:16. And he brought me in­to the in­ner court of the house of the Lord: and be­hold at the door of the tem­ple of the Lord, be­tween the porch and the al­tar, were about five and twen­ty men hav­ing their backs to­wards the tem­ple of the Lord, in their faces to the east: and they adored to­wards the ris­ing of the sun.

8:17. And he said to me: Sure­ly thou hast seen, O son of man: is this a light thing to the house of Ju­da, that they should com­mit these abom­ina­tions which they have com­mit­ted here: be­cause they have filled the land with in­iq­ui­ty, and have turned to pro­voke me to anger? and be­hold they put a branch to their nose.

8:18. There­fore I al­so will deal with them in my wrath: my eye shall not spare them, nei­ther will I shew mer­cy: and when they shall cry to my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 9

All are or­dered to be de­stroyed that are not marked in their fore­heads. God will not be en­treat­ed for them.

9:1. And he cried in my ears with a loud voice, say­ing: The vis­ita­tions of the city are at hand, and ev­ery one hath a de­stroy­ing weapon in his hand.

9:2. And be­hold six men came from the way of the up­per gate, which looketh to the north: and each one had his weapon of de­struc­tion in his hand: and there was one man in the midst of them clothed with linen, with a writ­er’s inkhorn at his reins: and they went in, and stood by the brazen al­tar.

9:3. And the glo­ry of the Lord of Is­rael went up from the cherub, up­on which he was, to the thresh­old of the house: and he called to the man that was clothed with linen, and had a writ­er’s inkhorn at his loins.

9:4. And the Lord said to him: Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem: and mark Thau up­on the fore­heads of the men that sigh, and mourn for all the abom­ina­tions that are com­mit­ted in the midst there­of.

Mark Thau. . .Thau, or Tau, is the last let­ter in the He­brew al­pha­bet, and sig­ni­fies a sign, or a mark; which is the rea­son why some trans­la­tors ren­der this place set a mark, or mark a mark with­out spec­ify­ing what this mark was. But St. Jerome, and oth­er in­ter­preters, con­clude it was the form of the let­ter Thau, which in the an­cient He­brew char­ac­ter, was the form of a cross.

9:5. And to the oth­ers he said in my hear­ing: Go ye af­ter him through the city, and strike: let not your eyes spare, nor be ye moved with pity.

9:6. Ut­ter­ly de­stroy old and young, maid­ens, chil­dren and wom­en: but up­on whom­so­ev­er you shall see Thau, kill him not, and be­gin ye at my sanc­tu­ary. So they be­gan at the an­cient men who were be­fore the house.

9:7. And he said to them: De­file the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew them that were in the city.

9:8. And the slaugh­ter be­ing end­ed I was left; and I fell up­on my face, and cry­ing, I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, wilt thou then de­stroy all the rem­nant of Is­rael, by pour­ing out thy fury up­on Jerusalem?

9:9. And he said to me: The in­iq­ui­ty of the house of Is­rael, and of Ju­da, is ex­ceed­ing great, and the land is filled with blood, and the city is filled with per­verse­ness: for they have said: The Lord hath for­sak­en the earth, and the Lord seeth not.

9:10. There­fore nei­ther shall my eye spare, nor will I have pity: I will re­quite their way up­on their head.

9:11. And be­hold the man that was clothed with linen, that had the inkhorn at his back, re­turned the word, say­ing: I have done as thou hast com­mand­ed me.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 10

Fire is tak­en from the midst of the wheels un­der the cheru­bims, and scat­tered over the city. A de­scrip­tion of the cheru­bims.

10:1. And I saw and be­hold in the fir­ma­ment that was over the heads of the cheru­bims, there ap­peared over them as it were the sap­phire stone, as the ap­pear­ance of the like­ness of a throne.

10:2. And he spoke to the man, that was clothed with linen, and said: Go in be­tween the wheels that are un­der the cheru­bims and fill thy hand with the coals of fire that are be­tween the cheru­bims, and pour them out up­on the city. And he went in, in my sight:

10:3. And the cheru­bims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in, and a cloud filled the in­ner court.

10:4. And the glo­ry of the Lord was lift­ed up from above the cherub to the thresh­old of the house: and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the bright­ness of the glo­ry of the Lord.

10:5. And the sound of the wings of the cheru­bims was heard even to the out­ward court as the voice of God Almighty speak­ing.

10:6. And when he had com­mand­ed the man that was clothed with linen, say­ing: Take fire from the midst of the wheels that are be­tween the cheru­bims: he went in and stood be­side the wheel.

10:7. And one cherub stretched out his arm from the midst of the cheru­bims to the fire that was be­tween the cheru­bims: and he took, and put it in­to the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it and went forth.

10:8. And there ap­peared in the cheru­bims the like­ness of a man’s hand un­der their wings.

10:9. And I saw, and be­hold there were four wheels by the cheru­bims: one wheel by one cherub, and an­oth­er wheel by an­oth­er cherub: and the ap­pear­ance of the wheels was to the sight like the chryso­lite stone:

10:10. And as to their ap­pear­ance, all four were alike: as if a wheel were in the midst of a wheel.

10:11. And when they went, they went by four ways: and they turned not when they went: but to the place whith­er they first turned, the rest al­so fol­lowed, and did not turn back.

By four ways. . .That is, by any of the four ways, for­ward, back­ward, to the right or to the left.

10:12. And their whole body, and their necks, and their hands, and their wings, and the cir­cles were full of eyes, round about the four wheels.

10:13. And these wheels he called vol­uble, in my hear­ing.

Vol­uble. . .That is, rolling wheels, gal­gal.

10:14. And ev­ery one had four faces: one face was the face of a cherub, and the sec­ond face, the face of a man: and in the third was the face of a li­on: and in the fourth the face of an ea­gle.

10:15. And the cheru­bims were lift­ed up: this is the liv­ing crea­ture that I had seen by the riv­er Cho­bar.

10:16. And when the cheru­bims went, the wheels al­so went by them: and when the cheru­bims lift­ed up their wings, to mount up from the earth, the wheels stayed not be­hind, but were by them.

10:17. When they stood, these stood: and when they were lift­ed up, these were lift­ed up: for the spir­it of life was in them.

10:18. And the glo­ry of the Lord went forth from the thresh­old of the tem­ple: and stood over the cheru­bims.

10:19. And the cheru­bims lift­ing up their wings, were raised from the earth be­fore me: and as they went out, the wheels al­so fol­lowed: and it stood in the en­try of the east gate of the house of the Lord: and the glo­ry of the God of Is­rael was over them.

10:20. This is the liv­ing crea­ture, which I saw un­der the God of Is­rael by the riv­er Cho­bar: and I un­der­stood that they were cheru­bims.

10:21. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings: and the like­ness of a man’s hand was un­der their wings.

10:22. And as to the like­ness of their faces, they were the same faces which I had seen by the riv­er Cho­bar, and their looks, and the im­pulse of ev­ery one to go straight for­ward.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 11

A prophe­cy against the pre­sump­tu­ous as­sur­ance of the great ones. A rem­nant shall be saved, and re­ceive a new spir­it, and a new heart.

11:1. And the spir­it lift­ed me up, and brought me in­to the east gate of the house of the Lord, which looketh to­wards the ris­ing of the sun: and be­hold in the en­try of the gate five and twen­ty men: and I saw in the midst of them Je­zo­nias the son of Azur, and Phel­tias the son of Ba­na­ias, princes of the peo­ple.

11:2. And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men that study in­iq­ui­ty, and frame a wicked coun­sel in this city,

11:3. Say­ing: Were not hous­es late­ly built? This city is the cal­dron, and we the flesh.

Were not hous­es late­ly built, etc. . .These men de­spised the pre­dic­tions and threats of the prophets; who de­clared to them from God, that the city should be de­stroyed, and the in­hab­itants car­ried in­to cap­tiv­ity: and they made use of this kind of ar­gu­ment against the prophets, that the city, so far from be­ing like to be de­stroyed, had late­ly been aug­ment­ed by the build­ing of new hous­es; from whence they fur­ther in­ferred, by way of a proverb, us­ing the simil­itude of a caul­dron, out of which the flesh is not tak­en, till it is thor­ough­ly boiled, and fit to be eat­en, that they should not be car­ried away out of their city, but there end their days in peace.

11:4. There­fore proph­esy against them, proph­esy, thou son of man.

11:5. And the spir­it of the Lord fell up­on me, and said to me: Speak: Thus saith the Lord: Thus have you spo­ken, O house of Is­rael, for I know the thoughts of your heart.

11:6. You have killed a great many in this city, and you have filled the streets there­of with the slain.

11:7. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid in the midst there­of, they are the flesh, all this is the cal­dron: and I will bring you forth out of the midst there­of.

11:8. You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword up­on you, saith the Lord God.

11:9. And I will cast you out of the midst there­of, and I will de­liv­er you in­to the hand of the en­emies, and I will ex­ecute judg­ments up­on you.

11:10. You shall fall by the sword: I will judge you in the bor­ders of Is­rael, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

In the bor­ders of Is­rael. . .They pre­tend­ed that they should die in peace in Jerusalem; God tells them it should not be so; but that they should be judged and con­demned, and fall by the sword in the bor­ders of Is­rael: viz., in Re­blatha in the land of Emath, where all their chief men were put to death by Nabu­chodonosor. 4 Kings 25., and Jer. 52.10, 27.

11:11. This shall not be as a cal­dron to you, and you shall not be as flesh in the midst there­of: I will judge you in the bor­ders of Is­rael.

11:12. And you shall know that I am the Lord: be­cause you have not walked in my com­mand­ments, and have not done my judg­ments, but you have done ac­cord­ing to the judg­ments of the na­tions that are round about you.

11:13. And it came to pass, when I proph­esied, that Phel­tias the son of Ba­na­ias died: and I fell down up­on my face, and I cried with a loud voice: and said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God: wilt thou make an end of all the rem­nant of Is­rael?

11:14. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

11:15. Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy kins­men, and all the house of Is­rael, all they to whom the in­hab­itants of Jerusalem have said: Get ye far from the Lord, the land is giv­en in pos­ses­sion to us.

Thy brethren, etc. . .He speaks of them that had been car­ried away cap­tives be­fore; who were de­spised by them that re­mained in Jerusalem: but as the prophet here de­clares to them from God, should be in a more hap­py con­di­tion than they, and af­ter some time re­turn from their cap­tiv­ity.

11:16. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause I have re­moved them far off among the Gen­tiles, and be­cause I have scat­tered them among the coun­tries: I will be to them a lit­tle sanc­tu­ary in the coun­tries whith­er they are come.

11:17. There­fore speak to them: Thus saith the Lord God: I will gath­er you from among the peo­ples, and as­sem­ble you out of the coun­tries where­in you are scat­tered, and I will give you the land of Is­rael.

11:18. And they shall go in thith­er, and shall take away all the scan­dals, and all the abom­ina­tions there­of from thence.

11:19. And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spir­it in their bow­els: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh:

11:20. That they may walk in my com­mand­ments, and keep my judg­ments, and do them: and that they may be my peo­ple, and I may be their God.

11:21. But as for them whose heart walketh af­ter their scan­dals and abom­ina­tions, I will lay their way up­on their head, saith the Lord God.

11:22. And the cheru­bims lift­ed up their wings, and the wheels with them: and the glo­ry of the God of Is­rael was over them.

11:23. And the glo­ry of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mount that is on the east side of the city.

11:24. And the spir­it lift­ed me up, and brought me in­to Chaldea, to them of the cap­tiv­ity, in vi­sion, by the spir­it of God: and the vi­sion which I had seen was tak­en up from me.

11:25. And I spoke to them of the cap­tiv­ity all the words of the Lord, which he had shewn me.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 12

The prophet for­sheweth, by signs, the cap­tiv­ity of Sede­cias, and the des­ola­tion of the peo­ple: all which shall quick­ly come to pass.

12:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

12:2. Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a pro­vok­ing house: who have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a pro­vok­ing house.

12:3. Thou, there­fore, O son of man, pre­pare thee all nec­es­saries for re­mov­ing, and re­move by day in­to their sight: and thou shalt re­move out of thy place to an­oth­er place in their sight, if so be they will re­gard it: for they are a pro­vok­ing house.

12:4. And thou shalt bring forth thy fur­ni­ture as the fur­ni­ture of one that is re­mov­ing by day in their sight: and thou shalt go forth in the evening in their pres­ence, as one goeth forth that re­moveth his dwelling.

12:5. Dig thee a way through the wall be­fore their eyes: and thou shalt go forth through it.

12:6. In their sight thou shalt be car­ried out up­on men’s shoul­ders, thou shalt be car­ried out in the dark: thou shalt cov­er thy face, and shalt not see the ground: for I have set thee for a sign of things to come to the house of Is­rael.

12:7. I did there­fore as he had com­mand­ed me: I brought forth my goods by day, as the goods of one that re­moveth: and in the evening I digged through the wall with my hand, and I went forth in the dark, and was car­ried on men’s shoul­ders in their sight.

12:8. And the word of the Lord came to me in the morn­ing, say­ing:

12:9. Son of man, hath not the house of Is­rael, the pro­vok­ing house, said to thee: What art thou do­ing?

12:10. Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: This bur­den con­cer­neth my prince that is in Jerusalem, and all the house of Is­rael, that are among them.

12:11. Say: I am a sign of things to come to you: as I have done, so shall it be done to them: they shall be re­moved from their dwellings, and go in­to cap­tiv­ity.

12:12. And the prince that is in the midst of them, shall be car­ried on shoul­ders, he shall go forth in the dark: they shall dig through the wall to bring him out: his face shall be cov­ered, that he may not see the ground with his eyes.

12:13. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be tak­en in my net: and I will bring him in­to Baby­lon, in­to the land of the Chaldeans, and he shall not see it, and there he shall die.

He shall not see it. . .Be­cause his eyes shall be put out by Nabu­chodonosor.

12:14. And all that are about him, his guards, and his troops I will scat­ter in­to ev­ery wind: and I will draw out the sword af­ter them.

12:15. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have dis­persed them among the na­tions, and scat­tered them in the coun­tries.

12:16. And I will leave a few men of them from the sword, and from the famine, and from the pesti­lence: that they may de­clare all their wicked deeds among the na­tions whith­er they shall go: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

12:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

12:18. Son of man, eat thy bread in trou­ble and drink thy wa­ter in hur­ry and sor­row.

12:19. And say to the peo­ple of the land: Thus saith the Lord God to them that dwell in Jerusalem in the land of Is­rael: They shall eat their bread in care, and drink their wa­ter in des­ola­tion: that the land may be­come des­olate from the mul­ti­tude that is there­in, for the in­iq­ui­ty of all that dwell there­in.

12:20. And the cities that are now in­hab­it­ed shall be laid waste, and the land shall be des­olate: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

12:21. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

12:22. Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Is­rael? say­ing: The days shall be pro­longed, and ev­ery vi­sion shall fail.

12:23. Say to them there­fore: Thus saith the Lord God: I will make this proverb to cease, nei­ther shall it be any more a com­mon say­ing in Is­rael: and tell them that the days are at hand, and the ef­fect of ev­ery vi­sion.

12:24. For there shall be no more any vain vi­sions, nor doubt­ful div­ina­tion in the midst of the chil­dren of Is­rael.

12:25. For I the Lord will speak: and what word so­ev­er I shall speak, it shall come to pass, and shall not be pro­longed any more: but in your days, ye pro­vok­ing house, I will speak the word, and will do it, saith the Lord God.

12:26. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

12:27. Son of man, be­hold the house of Is­rael, they that say: The vi­sions that this man seeth, is for many days to come: and this man proph­esi­eth of times afar off.

12:28. There­fore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: not one word of mine shall be pro­longed any more: the word that I shall speak shall be ac­com­plished, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 13

God de­clares against false prophets and prophetess­es, that de­ceive the peo­ple with lies.

13:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

13:2. Son of man, proph­esy thou against the prophets of Is­rael that proph­esy: and thou shalt say to them that proph­esy out of their own heart: Hear ye the word of the Lord:

13:3. Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the fool­ish prophets that fol­low their own spir­it, and see noth­ing.

13:4. Thy prophets, O Is­rael, were like fox­es in the deserts.

13:5. You have not gone up to face the en­emy, nor have you set up a wall for the house of Is­rael, to stand in bat­tle in the day of the Lord.

13:6. They see vain things, and they fore­tell lies, say­ing: The Lord saith: where­as the Lord hath not sent them: and they have per­sist­ed to con­firm what they have said.

13:7. Have you not seen a vain vi­sion and spo­ken a ly­ing div­ina­tion: and you say: The Lord saith: where­as I have not spo­ken.

13:8. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause you have spo­ken vain things, and have seen lies: there­fore be­hold I come against you, saith the Lord God.

13:9. And my hand shall be up­on the prophets that see vain things, and that di­vine lies: they shall not be in the coun­cil of my peo­ple, nor shall they be writ­ten in the writ­ing of the house of Is­rael, nei­ther shall they en­ter in­to the land of Is­rael, and you shall know that I am the Lord God.

13:10. Be­cause they have de­ceived my peo­ple, say­ing: Peace, and there is no peace: and the peo­ple built up a wall, and they daubed it with dirt with­out straw.

13:11. Say to them that daub with­out tem­per­ing, that it shall fall: for there shall be an over­flow­ing show­er, and I will cause great hail­stones to fall vi­olent­ly from above, and a stormy wind to throw it down.

13:12. Be­hold, when the wall is fall­en: shall it not be said to you: Where is the daub­ing where­with you have daubed it?

13:13. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Lo, I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in my in­dig­na­tion, and there shall be an over­flow­ing show­er in my anger: and great hail­stones in my wrath to con­sume.

13:14. And I will break down the wall that you have daubed with un­tem­pered mor­tar: and I will make it even with the ground, and the foun­da­tion there­of shall be laid bare: and it shall fall, and shall be con­sumed in the midst there­of: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

13:15. And I will ac­com­plish my wrath up­on the wall, and up­on them that daub it with­out tem­per­ing the mor­tar, and I will say to you: The wall is no more, and they that daub it are no more.

13:16. Even the prophets of Is­rael that proph­esy to Jerusalem, and that see vi­sions of peace for her: and there is no peace, saith the Lord God.

13:17. And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daugh­ters of thy peo­ple that proph­esy out of their own heart: and do thou proph­esy against them,

13:18. And say: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to them that sew cush­ions un­der ev­ery el­bow: and make pil­lows for the heads of per­sons of ev­ery age to catch souls: and when they caught the souls of my peo­ple, they gave life to their souls.

Sew cush­ions, etc. . .Viz., by mak­ing peo­ple easy in their sins, and promis­ing them im­puni­ty.–Ibid. They gave life to their souls. . .That is, they flat­tered them with promis­es of life, peace, and se­cu­ri­ty.

13:19. And they vi­olat­ed me among my peo­ple, for a hand­ful of bar­ley, and a piece of bread, to kill souls which should not die, and to save souls alive which should not live, telling lies to my peo­ple that be­lieve lies.

Vi­olat­ed me. . .That is, dis­hon­oured and dis­cred­it­ed me. Ibid. To kill souls, etc. . .That is, to sen­tence souls to death, which are not to die; and to promise life to them who are not to live.

13:20. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I de­clare against your cush­ions, where­with you catch fly­ing souls: and I will tear them off from your arms: and I will let go the soul that you catch, the souls that should fly.

13:21. And I will tear your pil­lows, and will de­liv­er my peo­ple out of your hand, nei­ther shall they be any more in your hands to be a prey: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

13:22. Be­cause with lies you have made the heart of the just to mourn, whom I have not made sor­row­ful: and have strength­ened the hands of the wicked, that he should not re­turn from his evil way, and live.

13:23. There­fore you shall not see vain things, nor di­vine div­ina­tions any more, and I will de­liv­er my peo­ple out of your hand: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 14

God suf­fers the wicked to be de­ceived in pun­ish­ment of their wicked­ness. The evils that shall come up­on them for their sins: for which they shall not be de­liv­ered by the prayers of Noe, Daniel, and Job. But a rem­nant shall be pre­served.

14:1. And some of the an­cients of Is­rael came to me, and sat be­fore me.

14:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

14:3. Son of man, these men have placed their un­clean­ness­es in their hearts, and have set up be­fore their face the stum­bling­block of their in­iq­ui­ty: and shall I an­swer when they in­quire of me?

Un­clean­ness. . .That is, their filthy idols, up­on which they have set their hearts: and which are a stum­bling­block to their souls.

14:4. There­fore speak to them, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Man, man of the house of Is­rael that shall place his un­clean­ness­es in his heart, and set up the stum­bling­block of his in­iq­ui­ty be­fore his face, and shall come to the prophet in­quir­ing of me by him: I the Lord will an­swer him ac­cord­ing to the mul­ti­tude of his un­clean­ness­es:

Man, man. . .That is, ev­ery man, an He­brew ex­pres­sion.

14:5. That the house of Is­rael may be caught in their own heart, with which they have de­part­ed from me through all their idols.

14:6. There­fore say to the house of Is­rael: Thus saith the Lord God: Be con­vert­ed, and de­part from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abom­ina­tions.

14:7. For ev­ery man of the house of Is­rael, and ev­ery stranger among the pros­elytes in Is­rael, if he sep­arate him­self from me, and place his idols in his heart, and set the stum­bling­block of his in­iq­ui­ty be­fore his face, and come to the prophet to in­quire of me by him: I the Lord will an­swer him by my­self.

14:8. And I will set my face against that man, and will make him an ex­am­ple, and a proverb, and will cut him off from the midst of my peo­ple: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

14:9. And when the prophet shall err, and speak a word: I the Lord have de­ceived that prophet: and I will stretch forth my hand up­on him, and will cut him off from the midst of my peo­ple Is­rael.

The prophet shall err, etc. . .He speaks of false prophets, an­swer­ing out of their own heads and ac­cord­ing to their own cor­rupt in­cli­na­tions.–Ibid. I have de­ceived that prophet. . .God Almighty de­ceives false prophets, part­ly by with­draw­ing his light from them; and aban­don­ing them to their own cor­rupt in­cli­na­tions, which push them on to proph­esy such things as are agree­able to those who con­sult them: and part­ly by dis­ap­point­ing them, and caus­ing all thing to hap­pen con­trary to what they have said.

14:10. And they shall bear their in­iq­ui­ty: ac­cord­ing to the in­iq­ui­ty of him that in­quireth, so shall the in­iq­ui­ty of the prophet be.

14:11. That the house of Is­rael may go no more astray from me, nor be pol­lut­ed with all their trans­gres­sions: but may be my peo­ple, and I may be their God, saith the Lord of hosts.

14:12. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

14:13. Son of man, when a land shall sin against me, so as to transgress grievous­ly, I will stretch forth my hand up­on it, and will break the staff of the bread there­of: and I will send famine up­on it, and will de­stroy man and beast out of it.

14:14. And if these three men, Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in it: they shall de­liv­er their own souls by their jus­tice, saith the Lord of hosts.

14:15. And if I shall bring mis­chievous beasts al­so up­on the land to waste it, and it be des­olate, so that there is none that can pass be­cause of the beasts:

14:16. If these three men shall be in it, as I live, saith the Lord, they shall de­liv­er nei­ther sons nor daugh­ters: but they on­ly shall be de­liv­ered, and the land shall be made des­olate.

14:17. Or if I bring the sword up­on that land, and say to the sword: Pass through the land: and I de­stroy man and beast out of it:

14:18. And these three men be in the midst there­of: as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall de­liv­er nei­ther sons nor daugh­ters, but they them­selves alone shall be de­liv­ered.

14:19. Or if I al­so send the pesti­lence up­on that land, and pour out my in­dig­na­tion up­on it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

14:20. And Noe, and Daniel, and Job be in the midst there­of: as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall de­liv­er nei­ther son nor daugh­ter: but they shall on­ly de­liv­er their own souls by their jus­tice.

14:21. For thus saith the Lord: Al­though I shall send in up­on Jerusalem my four grievous judg­ments, the sword, and the famine, and the mis­chievous beasts, and the pesti­lence, to de­stroy out of it man and beast,

14:22. Yet there shall be left in it some that shall be saved, who shall bring away their sons and daugh­ters: be­hold they shall come among you, and you shall see their way, and their do­ings: and you shall be com­fort­ed con­cern­ing the evil that I have brought up­on Jerusalem, in all things that I have brought up­on it.

14:23. And they shall com­fort you, when you shall see their ways, and their do­ings: and you shall know that I have not done with­out cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 15

As a vine cut down is fit for noth­ing but the fire; so it shall be with Jerusalem, for her sins.

15:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

15:2. Son of man, what shall be made of the wood of the vine, out of all the trees of the woods that are among the trees of the forests?

15:3. Shall wood be tak­en of it, to do any work, or shall a pin be made of it for any ves­sel to hang there­on?

15:4. Be­hold it is cast in­to the fire for fu­el: the fire hath con­sumed both ends there­of, and the midst there­of is re­duced to ash­es: shall it be use­ful for any work?

15:5. Even when it was whole it was not fit for work: how much less, when the fire hath de­voured and con­sumed it, shall any work be made of it?

15:6. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree among the trees of the forests which I have giv­en to the fire to be con­sumed, so will I de­liv­er up the in­hab­itants of Jerusalem.

15:7. And I will set my face against them: they shall go out from fire, and fire shall con­sume them: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have set my face against them.

15:8. And I shall have made their land a wilder­ness, and des­olate, be­cause they have been trans­gres­sors, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 16

Un­der the fig­ure of an un­faith­ful wife, God up­braids Jerusalem with her in­grat­itude and man­ifold dis­loy­al­ties: but promiseth mer­cy by a new covenant.

16:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

16:2. Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abom­ina­tions.

Make known to Jerusalem. . .That is, by let­ters, for the prophet was then in Baby­lon.

16:3. And thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God to Jerusalem: Thy root, and thy na­tiv­ity is of the land of Chanaan, thy fa­ther was an Am­or­rhite, and thy moth­er a Cethite.

16:4. And when thou wast born, in the day of thy na­tiv­ity thy navel was not cut, nei­ther wast thou washed with wa­ter for thy health, nor salt­ed with salt, nor swad­dled with clouts.

16:5. No eye had pity on thee to do any of these things for thee, out of com­pas­sion to thee: but thou wast cast out up­on the face of the earth in the ab­jec­tion of thy soul, in the day that thou wast born.

16:6. And pass­ing by thee, I saw that thou wast trod­den un­der foot in thy own blood: and I said to thee when thou wast in thy blood: Live: I have said to thee: Live in thy blood.

16:7. I caused thee to mul­ti­ply as the bud of the field: and thou didst in­crease and grow great, and ad­vancedst, and camest to wom­an’s or­na­ment: thy breasts were fash­ioned, and thy hair grew: and thou was naked, and full of con­fu­sion.

16:8. And I passed by thee, and saw thee: and be­hold thy time was the time of lovers: and I spread my gar­ment over thee, and cov­ered thy ig­nominy. and I swore to thee, and I en­tered in­to a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God: and thou be­camest mine.

16:9. And I washed thee with wa­ter, and cleansed away thy blood from thee: and I anoint­ed thee with oil.

16:10. And I clothed thee with em­broi­dery, and shod thee with vi­olet coloured shoes: and I gird­ed thee about with fine linen, and clothed thee with fine gar­ments.

16:11. I decked thee al­so with or­na­ments, and put bracelets on thy hands, and a chain about thy neck.

I decked thee al­so with or­na­ments, etc. . .That is, with spir­itu­al ben­efits, giv­ing you a law with sac­ri­fices, sacra­ments, and oth­er holy rites.

16:12. And I put a jew­el up­on thy fore­head and ear­rings in thy ears, and a beau­ti­ful crown up­on thy head.

16:13. And thou wast adorned with gold, and sil­ver, and wast clothed with fine linen, and em­broi­dered work, and many colours: thou didst eat fine flour, and hon­ey, and oil, and wast made ex­ceed­ing beau­ti­ful: and wast ad­vanced to be a queen.

16:14. And thy renown went forth among the na­tions for thy beau­ty: for thou wast per­fect through my beau­ty, which I had put up­on thee, saith the Lord God.

16:15. But trust­ing in thy beau­ty, thou playedst the har­lot be­cause of thy renown, and thou hast pros­ti­tut­ed thy­self to ev­ery pas­sen­ger, to be his.

16:16. And tak­ing of thy gar­ments thou hast made thee high places sewed to­geth­er on each side: and hast played the har­lot up­on them, as hath not been done be­fore, nor shall be here­after.

16:17. And thou took­est thy beau­ti­ful ves­sels, of my gold, and my sil­ver, which I gave thee, and thou madest thee im­ages of men, and hast com­mit­ted for­ni­ca­tion with them.

16:18. And thou took­est thy gar­ments of divers colours, and cov­eredst them: and settest my oil and my sweet in­cense be­fore them.

16:19. And my bread which I gave thee, the fine flour, and oil, and hon­ey, where­with I fed thee, thou hast set be­fore them for a sweet odour; and it was done, saith the Lord God.

16:20. And thou hast tak­en thy sons, and thy daugh­ters, whom thou hast borne to me: and hast sac­ri­ficed the same to them to be de­voured. Is thy for­ni­ca­tion small?

16:21. Thou hast sac­ri­ficed and giv­en my chil­dren to them, con­se­crat­ing them by fire.

Thou hast sac­ri­ficed, etc. . .As there is noth­ing more base and abom­inable than the crimes men­tioned through­out this chap­ter; so the in­fi­deli­ties of the Is­raelites in for­sak­ing God, and sac­ri­fic­ing even their chil­dren to idols, are strong­ly fig­ured by these al­le­gories.

16:22. And af­ter all thy abom­ina­tions, and for­ni­ca­tions, thou hast not re­mem­bered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked, and full of con­fu­sion, trod­den un­der foot in thy own blood.

16:23. And it came to pass af­ter all thy wicked­ness (woe, woe to thee, saith the Lord God)

16:24. That thou didst al­so build thee a com­mon stew, and madest thee a broth­el house in ev­ery street.

16:25. At ev­ery head of the way thou hast set up a sign of thy pros­ti­tu­tion: and hast made thy beau­ty to be abom­inable: and hast pros­ti­tut­ed thy­self to ev­ery one that passed by, and hast mul­ti­plied thy for­ni­ca­tions.

16:26. And thou hast com­mit­ted for­ni­ca­tion with the Egyp­tians thy neigh­bours, men of large bod­ies, and hast mul­ti­plied thy for­ni­ca­tions to pro­voke me.

16:27. Be­hold, I will stretch out my hand up­on thee, and will take away thy jus­ti­fi­ca­tion: and I will de­liv­er thee up to the will of the daugh­ters of the Philistines that hate thee, that are ashamed of thy wicked way.

16:28. Thou hast al­so com­mit­ted for­ni­ca­tion with the As­syr­ians, be­cause thou wast not yet sat­is­fied: and af­ter thou hadst played the har­lot with them, even so thou wast not con­tent­ed.

16:29. Thou hast al­so mul­ti­plied thy for­ni­ca­tions in the land of Chanaan with the Chaldeans: and nei­ther so wast thou sat­is­fied.

16:30. Where­in shall I cleanse thy heart, saith Lord God: see­ing thou dost all these the works of a shame­less pros­ti­tute?

16:31. Be­cause thou hast built thy broth­el house at the head of ev­ery way, and thou hast made thy high place in ev­ery street: and wast not as a har­lot that by dis­dain en­hanceth her price,

16:32. But is an adul­ter­ess, that bringeth in strangers over her hus­band.

16:33. Gifts are giv­en to all har­lots: but thou hast giv­en hire to all thy lovers, and thou hast giv­en them gifts to come to thee from ev­ery side, to com­mit for­ni­ca­tion with thee.

16:34. And it hath hap­pened in thee con­trary to the cus­tom of wom­en in thy for­ni­ca­tions, and af­ter thee there shall be no such for­ni­ca­tion, for in that thou gavest re­wards, and didst not take re­wards, the con­trary hath been done in thee.

16:35. There­fore, O har­lot, hear the word of the Lord.

16:36. Thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause thy mon­ey hath been poured out, and thy shame dis­cov­ered through thy for­ni­ca­tions with thy lovers, and with the idols of thy abom­ina­tions, by the blood of thy chil­dren whom thou gavest them:

16:37. Be­hold, I will gath­er to­geth­er all thy lovers with whom thou hast tak­en plea­sure, and all whom thou hast loved, with all whom thou hast hat­ed: and I will gath­er them to­geth­er against thee on ev­ery side, and will dis­cov­er thy shame in their sight, and they shall see all thy naked­ness.

16:38. And I will judge thee as adul­ter­ess­es, and they that shed blood are judged: and I will give thee blood in fury and jeal­ousy.

16:39. And I will de­liv­er thee in­to their hands, and they shall de­stroy thy broth­el house, and throw down thy stews: and they shall strip thee of thy gar­ments, and shall take away the ves­sels of thy beau­ty: and leave thee naked, and full of dis­grace.

16:40. And they shall bring up­on thee a mul­ti­tude, and they shall stone thee with stones, and shall slay thee with their swords.

16:41. And they shall burn thy hous­es with fire, and shall ex­ecute judg­ments up­on thee in the sight of many wom­en: and thou shalt cease from for­ni­ca­tion, and shalt give no hire any more.

16:42. And my in­dig­na­tion shall rest in thee: and my jeal­ousy shall de­part from thee, and I will cease and be an­gry no more.

16:43. Be­cause thou hast not re­mem­bered the days of thy youth, but hast pro­voked me in all these things: where­fore I al­so have turned all thy ways up­on thy head, saith the Lord God, and I have not done ac­cord­ing to thy wicked deeds in all thy abom­ina­tions.

16:44. Be­hold ev­ery one that useth a com­mon proverb, shall use this against thee, say­ing: As the moth­er was, so al­so is her daugh­ter.

16:45. Thou art thy moth­er’s daugh­ter, that cast off her hus­band, and her chil­dren: and thou art the sis­ter of thy sis­ters, who cast off their hus­bands, and their chil­dren: your moth­er was a Cethite, and your fa­ther an Am­or­rhite.

16:46. And thy el­der sis­ter is Samaria, she and her daugh­ters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sis­ter that dwelleth at thy right hand is Sodom, and her daugh­ters.

16:47. But nei­ther hast thou walked in their ways, nor hast thou done a lit­tle less than they ac­cord­ing to their wicked­ness­es: thou hast done al­most more wicked things than they in all thy ways.

16:48. As I live, saith the Lord God, thy sis­ter Sodom her­self, and her daugh­ters, have not done as thou hast done, and thy daugh­ters.

16:49. Be­hold this was the in­iq­ui­ty of Sodom thy sis­ter, pride, ful­ness of bread, and abun­dance, and the idle­ness of her, and of her daugh­ters: and they did not put forth their hand to the needy, and the poor.

This was the in­iq­ui­ty of Sodom, etc. . .That is, these were the steps by which the Sodomites came to fall in­to those abom­ina­tions for which they were de­stroyed. For pride, glut­tony, and idle­ness are the high­road to all kinds of lust; es­pe­cial­ly when they are ac­com­pa­nied with a ne­glect of the works of mer­cy.

16:50. And they were lift­ed up, and com­mit­ted abom­ina­tions be­fore me: and I took them away as thou hast seen.

16:51. And Samaria com­mit­ted not half thy sins: but thou hast sur­passed them with thy crimes, and hast jus­ti­fied thy sis­ters by all thy abom­ina­tions which thou hast done.

16:52. There­fore do thou al­so bear thy con­fu­sion, thou that hast sur­passed thy sis­ters with thy sins, do­ing more wicked­ly than they: for they are jus­ti­fied above thee, there­fore be thou al­so con­found­ed, and bear thy shame, thou that hast jus­ti­fied thy sis­ters.

16:53. And I will bring back and re­store them by bring­ing back Sodom, with her daugh­ters, and by bring­ing back Samaria, and her daugh­ters: and I will bring those that re­turn of thee in the midst of them.

I will bring back, etc. . .This re­lates to the con­ver­sion of the Gen­tiles out of all na­tions, and of many of the Jews, to the church of Christ.

16:54. That thou mayest bear thy shame, and mayest be con­found­ed in all that thou hast done, com­fort­ing them.

16:55. And thy sis­ter Sodom and her daugh­ters shall re­turn to their an­cient state: and Samaria and her daugh­ters shall re­turn to their an­cient state: and thou and thy daugh­ters shall re­turn to your an­cient state.

An­cient state. . .That is, to their for­mer state of lib­er­ty, and their an­cient pos­ses­sions. In the spir­itu­al sense, to the true lib­er­ty, and the hap­py in­her­itance of the chil­dren of God, through faith in Christ.

16:56. And Sodom thy sis­ter was not heard of in thy mouth, in the day of thy pride,

16:57. Be­fore thy mal­ice was laid open: as it is at this time, mak­ing thee a re­proach of the daugh­ters of Syr­ia, and of all the daugh­ters of Pales­tine round about thee, that en­com­pass thee on all sides.

16:58. Thou hast borne thy wicked­ness, and thy dis­grace, saith the Lord God.

16:59. For thus saith the Lord God: I will deal with thee, as thou hast de­spised the oath, in break­ing the covenant:

16:60. And I will re­mem­ber my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth: and I will es­tab­lish with thee an ev­er­last­ing covenant.

16:61. And thou shalt re­mem­ber thy ways, and be ashamed: when thou shalt re­ceive thy sis­ters, thy el­der and thy younger: and I will give them to thee for daugh­ters, but not by thy covenant.

16:62. And I will es­tab­lish my covenant with thee: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord,

16:63. That thou mayest re­mem­ber, and be con­found­ed, and mayest no more open thy mouth be­cause of thy con­fu­sion, when I shall be paci­fied to­ward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 17

The para­ble of the two ea­gles and the vine. A promise of the cedar of Christ and his church.

17:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

17:2. Son of man, put forth a rid­dle, and speak a para­ble to the house of Is­rael,

17:3. And say: Thus saith the Lord God; A large ea­gle with great wings, long-​limbed, full of feath­ers, and of va­ri­ety, came to Libanus, and took away the mar­row of the cedar.

A large ea­gle. . .Nabu­chodonosor, king of Baby­lon.–Ibid. Came to Libanus. . .That is, to Jerusalem.–Ibid. Took away the mar­row of the cedar. . .King Je­cho­nias.

17:4. He cropped off the top of the twigs there­of: and car­ried it away in­to the land of Chanaan, and he set it in a city of mer­chants.

Chanaan. . .This name, which sig­ni­fies traf­fic, is not tak­en here for Pales­tine, but for Chaldea: and the city of mer­chants here men­tioned is Baby­lon.

17:5. And he took of the seed of the land, and put it in the ground for seed, that it might take a firm root over many wa­ters: he plant­ed it on the sur­face of the earth.

Of the seed of the land, etc. . .Viz., Sede­cias, whom he made king.

17:6. And it sprung up and grew in­to a spread­ing vine of low stature, and the branch­es there­of looked to­wards him: and the roots there­of were un­der him. So it be­came a vine, and grew in­to branch­es, and shot forth sprigs.

To­wards him. . .Nabu­chodonosor, to whom Sede­cias swore al­le­giance.

17:7. And there was an­oth­er large ea­gle, with great wings, and many feath­ers: and be­hold this vine, bend­ing as it were her roots to­wards him, stretched forth her branch­es to him, that he might wa­ter it by the fur­rows of her plan­ta­tion.

An­oth­er large ea­gle. . .Viz., the king of Egypt.

17:8. It was plant­ed in a good ground up­on many wa­ters, that it might bring forth branch­es, and bear fruit, that it might be­come a large vine.

17:9. Say thou: Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it pros­per then? shall he not pull up the roots there­of, and strip off its fruit, and dry up all the branch­es it hath shot forth, and make it with­er: and this with­out a strong arm, or many peo­ple to pluck it up by the root?

17:10. Be­hold, it is plant­ed: shall it pros­per then? shall it not be dried up when the burn­ing wind shall touch it, and shall it not with­er in the fur­rows where it grew?

17:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

17:12. Say to the pro­vok­ing house: Know you not what these things mean? Tell them: Be­hold the king of Baby­lon cometh to Jerusalem: and he shall take away the king and the princes there­of and car­ry them with him to Baby­lon.

Shall take away. . .Or, hath tak­en away, etc., for all this was now done.

17:13. And he shall take one of the king’s seed, and make a covenant with him, and take an oath of him. Yea, and he shall take away the mighty men of the land,

17:14. That it may be a low king­dom and not lift it­self up, but keep his covenant and ob­serve it.

17:15. But he hath re­volt­ed from him and sent am­bas­sadors to Egypt, that it might give him hors­es, and much peo­ple. And shall he that hath done thus pros­per, or be saved? and shall he es­cape that hath bro­ken the covenant?

17:16. As I live, saith the Lord God: In the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he hath made void, and whose covenant he broke, even in the midst of Baby­lon shall he die.

17:17. And not with a great army, nor with much peo­ple shall Pharao fight against him: when he shall cast up mounts, and build forts, to cut off many souls.

17:18. For he had de­spised the oath, break­ing his covenant, and be­hold he hath giv­en his hand: and hav­ing done all these things, he shall not es­cape.

17:19. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: As I live, I will lay up­on his head the oath he hath de­spised, and the covenant he hath bro­ken.

17:20. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be tak­en in my net: and I will bring him in­to Baby­lon, and will judge him there for the trans­gres­sion by which he hath de­spised me.

17:21. And all his fugi­tives with all his bands shall fall by the sword: and the residue shall be scat­tered in­to ev­ery wind: and you shall know that I the Lord have spo­ken.

17:22. Thus saith the Lord God: I my­self will take of the mar­row of the high cedar, and will set it: I will crop off a ten­der twig from the top of the branch­es there­of, and I will plant it on a moun­tain high and em­inent.

Of the mar­row of the high cedar, etc. . .Of the roy­al stock of David.–Ibid. A ten­der twig. . .Viz., Je­sus Christ, whom God hath plant­ed in mount Sion, that is, the high moun­tain of his church, to which all na­tions flow.

17:23. On the high moun­tains of Is­rael will I plant it, and it shall shoot forth in­to branch­es and shall bear fruit, and it shall be­come a great cedar: and all birds shall dwell un­der it, and ev­ery fowl shall make its nest un­der the shad­ow of the branch­es there­of.

17:24. And all the trees of the coun­try shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, and ex­alt­ed the low tree: and have dried up the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flour­ish. I the Lord have spo­ken and have done it.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 18

One man shall not bear the sins of an­oth­er, but ev­ery one his own; if a wicked man tru­ly re­pent, he shall be saved; and if a just man leave his jus­tice, he shall per­ish.

18:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing: What is the mean­ing?

18:2. That you use among you this para­ble as a proverb in the land of Is­rael, say­ing: The fa­thers have eat­en sour grapes, and the teeth of the chil­dren are set on edge.

18:3. As I live, saith the Lord God, this para­ble shall be no more to you a proverb in Is­rael.

18:4. Be­hold all souls are mine: as the soul of the fa­ther, so al­so the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sin­neth, the same shall die.

18:5. And if a man be just, and do judg­ment and jus­tice,

18:6. And hath not eat­en up­on the moun­tains, nor lift­ed up his eyes to the idols of the house of Is­rael: and hath not de­filed his neigh­bour’s wife, nor come near to a men­stru­ous wom­an:

Not eat­en up­on the moun­tains. . .That is, of the sac­ri­fices there of­fered to idols.

18:7. And hath not wronged any man: but hath re­stored the pledge to the debtor, hath tak­en noth­ing away by vi­olence: hath giv­en his bread to the hun­gry, and hath cov­ered the naked with a gar­ment:

18:8. Hath not lent up­on usury, nor tak­en any in­crease: hath with­drawn his hand from in­iq­ui­ty, and hath ex­ecut­ed true judg­ment be­tween man and man:

18:9. Hath walked in my com­mand­ments, and kept my judg­ments, to do truth: he is just, he shall sure­ly live, saith the Lord God.

To do truth. . .That is, to act ac­cord­ing to truth; for the He­brews called ev­ery­thing that was just, truth.

18:10. And if he beget a son that is a rob­ber, a shed­der of blood, and that hath done some one of these things:

18:11. Though he doth not all these things, but that eateth up­on the moun­tains, and that de­fileth his neigh­bour’s wife:

18:12. That grieveth the needy and the poor, that taketh away by vi­olence, that re­storeth not the pledge, and that lifteth up his eyes to idols, that comit­teth abom­ina­tion:

18:13. That giveth up­on usury, and that taketh an in­crease: shall such a one live? he shall not live. See­ing he hath done all these de­testable things, he shall sure­ly die, his blood shall be up­on him.

18:14. But if he beget a son, who, see­ing all his fa­ther’s sins, which he hath done, is afraid, and shall not do the like to them:

18:15. That hath not eat­en up­on the moun­tains, nor lift­ed up his eyes to the idols of the house of Is­rael, and hath not de­filed his neigh­bour’s wife:

18:16. And hath not grieved any man, nor with­hold­en the pledge, nor tak­en away with vi­olence, but hath giv­en his bread to the hun­gry, and cov­ered the naked with a gar­ment:

18:17. That hath turned away his hand from in­jur­ing the poor, hath not tak­en usury and in­crease, but hath ex­ecut­ed my judg­ments, and hath walked in my com­mand­ments: this man shall not die for the in­iq­ui­ty of his fa­ther, but liv­ing he shall live.

18:18. As for his fa­ther, be­cause he op­pressed and of­fered vi­olence to his broth­er, and wrought evil in the midst of his peo­ple, be­hold he is dead in his own in­iq­ui­ty.

18:19. And you say: Why hath not the son borne the in­iq­ui­ty of his fa­ther? Ver­ily, be­cause the son hath wrought judg­ment and jus­tice, hath kept all my com­mand­ments, and done them, liv­ing, he shall live.

18:20. The soul that sin­neth, the same shall die: the son shall not bear the in­iq­ui­ty of the fa­ther, and the fa­ther shall not bear the in­iq­ui­ty of the son: the jus­tice of the just shall be up­on him, and the wicked­ness of the wicked shall be up­on him.

18:21. But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath com­mit­ted, and keep all my com­mand­ments, and do judg­ment, and jus­tice, liv­ing he shall live, and shall not die.

18:22. I will not re­mem­ber all his in­iq­ui­ties that he hath done: in his jus­tice which he hath wrought, he shall live.

18:23. Is it my will that a sin­ner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be con­vert­ed from his ways, and live?

18:24. But if the just man turn him­self away from his jus­tice, and do in­iq­ui­ty ac­cord­ing to all the abom­ina­tions which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? all his jus­tices which he hath done, shall not be re­mem­bered: in the pre­var­ica­tion, by which he hath pre­var­icat­ed, and in his sin, which he hath com­mit­ted, in them he shall die.

18:25. And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye, there­fore, O house of Is­rael: Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways per­verse?

18:26. For when the just tur­neth him­self away from his jus­tice, and comit­teth in­iq­ui­ty, he shall die there­in: in the in­jus­tice that he hath wrought he shall die.

18:27. And when the wicked tur­neth him­self away from his wicked­ness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judg­ment, and jus­tice: he shall save his soul alive.

18:28. Be­cause he con­sid­ereth and tur­neth away him­self from all his in­iq­ui­ties which he hath wrought, he shall sure­ly live, and not die.

18:29. And the chil­dren of Is­rael say: The way of the Lord is not right. Are not my ways right, O house of Is­rael, and are not rather your ways per­verse?

18:30. There­fore will I judge ev­ery man ac­cord­ing to his ways, O house of Is­rael, saith the Lord God. Be con­vert­ed, and do penance for all your in­iq­ui­ties: and in­iq­ui­ty shall not be your ru­in.

18:31. Cast away from you all your trans­gres­sions, by which you have trans­gressed, and make to your­selves a new heart, and a new spir­it: and why will you die, O house of Is­rael?

18:32. For I de­sire not the death of him that di­eth, saith the Lord God, re­turn ye and live.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 19

The para­ble of the young li­ons, and of the vine­yard that is wast­ed.

19:1. More­over take thou up a lamen­ta­tion for the princes of Is­rael,

19:2. And say: Why did thy moth­er the li­oness lie down among the li­ons, and bring up her whelps in the midst of young li­ons?

Thy moth­er the li­oness. . .Jerusalem.

19:3. And she brought out one of her whelps, and he be­came a li­on: and he learned to catch the prey, and to de­vour men.

One of her whelps. . .Viz., Joac­haz, alias Sel­lum.

19:4. And the na­tions heard of him, and took him, but not with­out re­ceiv­ing wounds: and they brought him in chains in­to the land of Egypt.

19:5. But she see­ing her­self weak­ened, and that her hope was lost, took one of her young li­ons, and set him up for a li­on.

One of her young li­ons. . .Joakim.

19:6. And he went up and down among the li­ons, and be­came a li­on: and he learned to catch the prey, and to de­vour men.

19:7. He learned to make wid­ows, and to lay waste their cities: and the land be­came des­olate, and the ful­ness there­of by the noise of his roar­ing.

19:8. And the na­tions came to­geth­er against him on ev­ery side out of the provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he was tak­en.

19:9. And they put him in­to a cage, they brought him in chains to the king of Baby­lon: and they cast him in­to prison, that his voice should no more be heard up­on the moun­tains of Is­rael.

19:10. Thy moth­er is like a vine in thy blood plant­ed by the wa­ter: her fruit and her branch­es have grown out of many wa­ters.

19:11. And she hath strong rods to make scep­tres for them that bear rule, and her stature was ex­alt­ed among the branch­es: and she saw her height in the mul­ti­tude of her branch­es.

19:12. But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, and the burn­ing wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are with­ered, and dried up: the fire hath de­voured her.

19:13. And now she is trans­plant­ed in­to the desert, in a land not pass­able, and dry.

19:14. And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branch­es, which hath de­voured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a scep­tre of rulers. This is a lamen­ta­tion, and it shall be for a lamen­ta­tion.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 20

God re­fus­es to an­swer the an­cients of Is­rael in­quir­ing by the prophet: but by him set­teth his ben­efits be­fore their eyes, and their heinous sins: threat­en­ing yet greater pun­ish­ments: but still mixed with mer­cy.

20:1. And it came to pass in the sev­enth year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month: there came men of the an­cients of Is­rael to in­quire of the Lord, and they sat be­fore me.

20:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

20:3. Son of man, speak to the an­cients of Is­rael and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Are you come to in­quire of me? As I live, I will not an­swer you, saith the Lord God.

20:4. If thou judgest them, if thou judgest, O son of man, de­clare to them the abom­ina­tions of their fa­thers.

If thou judgest them. . .Or, if thou wilt en­ter in­to the cause and plead against them.

20:5. And say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when I chose Is­rael, and lift­ed up my hand for the race of the house of Ja­cob: and ap­peared to them in the land of Egypt, and lift­ed up my hand for them, say­ing: I am the Lord your God:

20:6. In that day I lift­ed up my hand for them to bring them out of the land of Egypt, in­to a land which I had pro­vid­ed for them, flow­ing with milk and hon­ey, which ex­celled amongst all lands.

20:7. And I said to them: Let ev­ery man cast away the scan­dals of his eyes, and de­file not your­selves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Scan­dals, etc. . .Of­fen­siones. That is, the abom­ina­tions or idols, to the wor­ship of which they were al­lured by their eyes.

20:8. But they pro­voked me, and would not hear­ken to me: they did not ev­ery man cast away the abom­ina­tions of his eyes, nei­ther did they for­sake the idols of Egypt: and I said I would pour out my in­dig­na­tion up­on them, and ac­com­plish my wrath against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

20:9. But I did oth­er­wise for my name’s sake, that it might not be vi­olat­ed be­fore the na­tions, in the midst of whom they were, and among whom I made my­self known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

20:10. There­fore I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought them in­to the desert.

20:11. And I gave them my statutes, and I shewed them my judg­ments, which if a man do, he shall live in them.

20:12. More­over I gave them al­so my sab­baths, to be a sign be­tween me and them: and that they might know that I am the Lord that sanc­ti­fy them.

20:13. But the house of Is­rael pro­voked me in the desert: they walked not in my statutes, and they cast away my judg­ments, which if a man do he shall live in them: and they grievous­ly vi­olat­ed my sab­baths. I said there­fore that I would pour out my in­dig­na­tion up­on them in the desert, and would con­sume them.

20:14. But I spared them for the sake of my name, lest it should be pro­faned be­fore the na­tions, from which I brought them out, in their sight.

20:15. So I lift­ed up my hand over them in the desert, not to bring them in­to the land which I had giv­en them flow­ing with milk and hon­ey, the best of all lands.

20:16. Be­cause they cast off my judg­ments, and walked not in my statutes, and vi­olat­ed my sab­baths: for their heart went af­ter idols.

20:17. Yet my eye spared them, so that I de­stroyed them not: nei­ther did I con­sume them in the desert.

20:18. And I said to their chil­dren in the wilder­ness: Walk not in the statutes of your fa­thers, and ob­serve not their judg­ments, nor be ye de­filed with their idols:

20:19. I am the Lord your God: walk ye in my statutes, and ob­serve my judg­ments, and do them.

20:20. And sanc­ti­fy my sab­baths, that they may be a sign be­tween me and you: and that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

20:21. But their chil­dren pro­voked me, they walked not in my com­mand­ments, nor ob­served my judg­ments to do them: which if a man do, he shall live in them: and they vi­olat­ed my sab­baths: and I threat­ened to pour out my in­dig­na­tion up­on them, and to ac­com­plish my wrath in them in the desert.

20:22. But I turned away my hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it might not be vi­olat­ed be­fore the na­tions, out of which I brought them forth in their sight.

20:23. Again I lift­ed up my hand up­on them in the wilder­ness, to dis­perse them among the na­tions, and scat­ter them through the coun­tries:

20:24. Be­cause they had not done my judg­ments, and had cast off my statutes, and had vi­olat­ed my sab­baths, and their eyes had been af­ter the idols of their fa­thers.

20:25. There­fore I al­so gave them statutes that were not good, and judg­ments, in which they shall not live.

Statutes that were not good, etc. . .Viz., the laws and or­di­nances of their en­emies; or those im­pos­es up­on them by that cru­el tyrant the dev­il, to whose pow­er they were de­liv­ered up for their sins.

20:26. And I pol­lut­ed them in their own gifts, when they of­fered all that opened the womb, for their of­fences: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

I pol­lut­ed them, etc. . .That is, I gave them up to such blind­ness in pun­ish­ment of their of­fences, as to pol­lute them­selves with the blood of all their first­born, whom they of­fered up to their idols in com­pli­ance with their wicked de­vices.

20:27. Where­fore speak to the house of Is­rael, O son of man, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: More­over in this al­so your fa­thers blas­pheme me, when they had de­spised and con­temned me;

20:28. And I had brought them in­to the land, for which I lift­ed up my hand to give it them: they saw ev­ery high hill, and ev­ery shady tree, and there they sac­ri­ficed their vic­tims: and there they pre­sent­ed the provo­ca­tion of their of­fer­ings, and there they set their sweet odours, and poured forth their li­ba­tions.

20:29. And I said to them: What meaneth the high place to which you go? and the name there­of was called High-​place even to this day.

20:30. Where­fore say to the house of Is­rael: Thus saith the Lord God: Ver­ily, you are de­filed in the way of your fa­thers, and you com­mit for­ni­ca­tion with their abom­ina­tions.

20:31. And you de­file your­selves with all your idols un­to this day, in the of­fer­ing of your gifts, when you make your chil­dren pass through the fire: and shall I an­swer you, O house of Is­rael? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not an­swer you.

20:32. Nei­ther shall the thought of your mind come to pass, by which you say: We will be as the Gen­tiles, and as the fam­ilies of the earth, to wor­ship stocks and stones.

20:33. As I live, saith the Lord God, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

20:34. And I will bring you out from the peo­ple, and I will gath­er you out of the coun­tries, in which you are scat­tered, I will reign over you with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

20:35. And I will bring you in­to the wilder­ness of peo­ple, and there will I plead with you face to face.

The wilder­ness of peo­ple. . .That is, a desert in which there are no peo­ple.

20:36. As I plead­ed against your fa­thers in the desert of the land of Egypt; even so will I judge you, saith the Lord God.

20:37. And I will make you sub­ject to my scep­tre, and will bring you in­to the bands of the covenant.

20:38. And I will pick out from among you the trans­gres­sors, and the wicked, and will bring them out of the land where they so­journ, and they shall not en­ter in­to the land of Is­rael: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

20:39. And as for you, O house of Is­rael: thus saith the Lord God: Walk ye ev­ery one af­ter your idols, and serve them. But if in this al­so you hear me not, but de­file my holy name any more with your gifts, and with your idols;

Walk ye ev­ery one, etc. . .It is not an al­lowance, much less a com­mand­ment to serve idols; but a fig­ure of speech, by which God would have them to un­der­stand that if they would walk af­ter their idols, they must not pre­tend to serve him at the same time: for that he would by no means suf­fer such a mix­ture of wor­ship.

20:40. In my holy moun­tain, in the high moun­tain of Is­rael, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Is­rael serve me; all of them I say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there will I re­quire your first­fruits, and the chief of your tithes with all your sanc­ti­fi­ca­tions.

In my holy moun­tain, etc. . .The fore­go­ing verse, to make the sense com­plete, must be un­der­stood so as to con­demn and re­ject that mix­ture of wor­ship which the Jews then fol­lowed. In this verse, God promis­es to the true Is­raelites, es­pe­cial­ly to those of the Chris­tian church, that they shall serve him in an­oth­er man­ner, in his holy moun­tain, the spir­itu­al Sion: and shall by ac­cept­ed of by him.

20:41. I will ac­cept of you for an odour of sweet­ness, when I shall have brought you out from the peo­ple, and shall have gath­ered you out of the lands in­to which you are scat­tered, and I will be sanc­ti­fied in you in the sight of the na­tions.

20:42. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have brought you in­to the land of Is­rael, in­to the land for which I lift­ed up my hand to give it to your fa­thers.

20:43. And there you shall re­mem­ber your ways, and all your wicked do­ings with which you have been de­filed; and you shall be dis­pleased with your­selves in your own sight, for all your wicked deeds which you com­mit­ted.

20:44. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have done well by you for my own name’s sake, and not ac­cord­ing to your evil ways, nor ac­cord­ing to your wicked deeds, O house of Is­rael, saith the Lord God.

20:45. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

20:46. Son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop to­wards the south, and proph­esy against the for­est of the south field.

Of the south. . .Jerusalem lay to­wards the south of Baby­lon, (where the prophet then was,) and is here called the for­est of the south field, and is threat­ened with ut­ter des­ola­tion.

20:47. And say to the south for­est: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I will kin­dle a fire in thee, and will burn in thee ev­ery green tree, and ev­ery dry tree: the flame of the fire shall not be quenched: and ev­ery face shall be burned in it, from the south even to the north.

20:48. And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kin­dled it, and it shall not be quenched.

20:49. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God: they say of me: Doth not this man speak by para­bles?

Ezechiel Chap­ter 21

The de­struc­tion of Jerusalem by the sword is fur­ther de­scribed: the ru­in al­so of the Am­monites is for­shewn. And fi­nal­ly Baby­lon, the de­stroy­er of oth­ers, shall be de­stroyed.

21:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

21:2. Son of man, set thy face to­ward Jerusalem, and let thy speech flow to­wards the holy places, and proph­esy against the land of Is­rael:

21:3. And say to the land of Is­rael, Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked.

21:4. And foras­much as I have cut off in thee the just and the wicked, there­fore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh, from the south even to the north.

21:5. That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of its sheath not to be turned back.

21:6. And thou, son of man, mourn with the break­ing of thy loins, and with bit­ter­ness sigh be­fore them.

21:7. And when they shall say to thee: Why mournest thou? thou shalt say: For that which I hear: be­cause it cometh, and ev­ery heart shall melt, and all hands shall be made fee­ble, and ev­ery spir­it shall faint, and wa­ter shall run down ev­ery knee: be­hold it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord God.

21:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

21:9. Son of man, proph­esy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Say: The sword, the sword is sharp­ened, and fur­bished.

21:10. It is sharp­ened to kill vic­tims: it is fur­bished that it may glit­ter: thou re­movest the scep­tre of my son, thou hast cut down ev­ery tree.

Thou re­movest the scep­tre of my son. . .He speaks (ac­cord­ing to St. Jerome) to the sword of Nabu­chodonosor: which was about to re­move the scep­tre of Is­rael, whom God here calls his son.

21:11. And I have giv­en it to be fur­bished, that it may be han­dled: this sword is sharp­ened, and it is fur­bished, that it may be in the hand of the slay­er.

21:12. Cry, and howl, O son of man, for this sword is up­on my peo­ple, it is up­on all the princes of Is­rael, that are fled: they are de­liv­ered up to the sword with my peo­ple, strike there­fore up­on thy thigh,

21:13. Be­cause it is tried: and that when it shall over­throw the scep­tre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.

21:14. Thou there­fore, O son of man, proph­esy, and strike thy hands to­geth­er, and let the sword be dou­bled, and let the sword of the slain be tripled: this is the sword of a great slaugh­ter, that maketh them stand amazed,

21:15. And lan­guish in heart, and that mul­ti­pli­eth ru­ins. In all their gates I have set the dread of the sharp sword, the sword that is fur­bished to glit­ter, that is made ready for slaugh­ter.

21:16. Be thou sharp­ened, go to the right hand, or to the left, which way so­ev­er thou hast a mind to set thy face.

21:17. And I will clap my hands to­geth­er, and will sat­is­fy my in­dig­na­tion: I the Lord have spo­ken.

21:18. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

21:19. And thou son of man, set thee two ways, for the sword of the king of Baby­lon to come: both shall come forth out of one land: and with his hand he shall draw lots, he shall con­sult at the head of the way of the city.

21:20. Thou shalt make a way that the sword may come to Rab­bath of the chil­dren of Am­mon, and to Ju­da un­to Jerusalem the strong city.

21:21. For the king of Baby­lon stood in the high­way, at the head of two ways, seek­ing div­ina­tion, shuf­fling ar­rows: he in­quired of the idols, and con­sult­ed en­trails.

21:22. On his right hand was the div­ina­tion for Jerusalem, to set bat­ter­ing rams, to open the mouth in slaugh­ter, to lift up the voice in howl­ing, to set en­gines against the gates, to cast up a mount, to build forts.

21:23. And he shall be in their eyes as one con­sult­ing the or­acle in vain, and im­itat­ing the leisure of sab­baths: but he will call to re­mem­brance the in­iq­ui­ty that they may be tak­en.

21:24. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause you have re­mem­bered your in­iq­ui­ty, and have dis­cov­ered your pre­var­ica­tions, and your sins have ap­peared in all your de­vices: be­cause, I say, You have re­mem­bered, you shall be tak­en with the hand.

21:25. But thou pro­fane wicked prince of Is­rael, whose day is come that hath been ap­point­ed in the time of in­iq­ui­ty:

Thou pro­fane, etc. . .He speaks to king Sede­cias, who had bro­ken his oath, and was oth­er­wise a wicked prince.

21:26. Thus saith the Lord God: Re­move the di­adem, take off the crown: is it not this that hath ex­alt­ed the low one, and brought down him that was high?

Is it not this that hath ex­alt­ed the low one. . .The roy­al crown of Ju­da had ex­alt­ed Sede­cias from a pri­vate state and con­di­tion to the sovereign pow­er, as the loss of it had brought down Je­cho­nias, etc.

21:27. I will shew it to be in­iq­ui­ty, in­iq­ui­ty, in­iq­ui­ty: but this was not done till he came to whom judg­ment be­longeth, and I will give it him.

I will shew it to be in­iq­ui­ty, etc. . .Or, I will over­turn it, viz., the crown of Ju­da for the man­ifold in­iq­ui­ties of the kings: but it shall not be ut­ter­ly re­moved, till Christ come whose right it is: and who shall reign in the spir­itu­al house of Ja­cob, that is, in his church, for ev­er­more.

21:28. And thou son of man, proph­esy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God con­cern­ing the chil­dren of Am­mon, and con­cern­ing their re­proach, and thou shalt say: O sword, O sword, come out of the scab­bard to kill, be fur­bished to de­stroy, and to glit­ter,

Con­cern­ing their re­proach. . .By which they had re­proached and in­sult­ed over the Jews, at the time of the de­struc­tion of Jerusalem.

21:29. Whilst they see vain things in thy re­gard, and they di­vine lies: to bring thee up­on the necks of the wicked that are wound­ed, whose ap­point­ed day is come in the time of in­iq­ui­ty.

21:30. Re­turn in­to thy sheath. I will judge thee in the place where­in thou wast cre­at­ed, in the land of thy na­tiv­ity.

Re­turn in­to thy sheath, etc. . .The sword of Baby­lon, af­ter rag­ing against many na­tions, was short­ly to be judged and de­stroyed at home by the Medes and Per­sians.

21:31. And I will pour out up­on thee my in­dig­na­tion: in the fire of my rage will I blow up­on thee, and will give thee in­to the hands of men that are brutish and con­trive thy de­struc­tion.

21:32. Thou shalt be fu­el for the fire, thy blood shall be in the midst of the land, thou shalt be for­got­ten: for I the Lord have spo­ken it.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 22

The gen­er­al cor­rup­tion of the in­hab­itants of Jerusalem: for which God will con­sume them as dross in his fur­nace.

22:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

22:2. And thou son of man, dost thou not judge, dost thou not judge the city of blood?

22:3. And thou shalt shew her all her abom­ina­tions, and shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God: This is the city that shed­deth blood in the midst of her, that her time may come: and that hath made idols against her­self, to de­file her­self.

22:4. Thou art be­come guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed: and thou art de­filed in thy idols which thou hast made: and thou hast made thy days to draw near, and hast brought on the time of thy years: there­fore have I made thee a re­proach to the Gen­tiles, and a mock­ery to all coun­tries.

22:5. Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall tri­umph over thee: thou filthy one, in­fa­mous, great in de­struc­tion.

22:6. Be­hold the princes of Is­rael, ev­ery one hath em­ployed his arm in thee to shed blood.

22:7. They have abused fa­ther and moth­er in thee, they have op­pressed the stranger in the midst of thee, they have grieved the fa­ther­less and wid­ow in thee.

22:8. Thou hast de­spised my sanc­tu­ar­ies, and pro­faned my sab­baths.

22:9. Slan­der­ers have been in thee to shed blood, and they have eat­en up­on the moun­tains in thee, they have com­mit­ted wicked­ness in the midst of thee.

22:10. They have dis­cov­ered the naked­ness of their fa­ther in thee, they have hum­bled the un­clean­ness of the men­stru­ous wom­an in thee.

22:11. And ev­ery one hath com­mit­ted abom­ina­tion with his neigh­bour’s wife, and the fa­ther in law hath wicked­ly de­filed his daugh­ter in law, the broth­er hath op­pressed his sis­ter the daugh­ter of his fa­ther in thee.

22:12. They have tak­en gifts in thee to shed blood: thou hast tak­en usury and in­crease, and hast cov­etous­ly op­pressed thy neigh­bours: and thou hast for­got­ten me, saith the Lord God.

22:13. Be­hold, I have clapped my hands at thy cov­etous­ness, which thou hast ex­er­cised: and at the blood that hath been shed in the midst of thee.

22:14. Shall thy heart en­dure, or shall thy hands pre­vail in the days which I will bring up­on thee: I the Lord have spo­ken, and will do it.

22:15. And I will dis­perse thee in the na­tions, and will scat­ter thee among the coun­tries, and I will put an end to thy un­clean­ness in thee.

22:16. And I will pos­sess thee in the sight of the Gen­tiles, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

22:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

22:18. Son of man, the house of Is­rael is be­come dross to me: all these are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the fur­nace: they are be­come the dross of sil­ver.

22:19. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause you are all turned in­to dross, there­fore be­hold I will gath­er you to­geth­er in the midst of Jerusalem.

22:20. As they gath­er sil­ver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the fur­nace: that I may kin­dle a fire in it to melt it: so will I gath­er you to­geth­er in my fury and in my wrath, and will take my rest, and I will melt you down.

22:21. And will gath­er you to­geth­er, and will burn you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melt­ed in the midst there­of.

22:22. As sil­ver is melt­ed in the midst of the fur­nace, so shall you be in the midst there­of: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have poured out my in­dig­na­tion up­on you.

22:23. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

22:24. Son of man, say to her: Thou art a land that is un­clean, and not rained up­on in the day of wrath.

22:25. There is a con­spir­acy of prophets in the midst there­of: like a li­on that roareth and catch­eth the prey, they have de­voured souls, they have tak­en rich­es and hire, they have made many wid­ows in the midst there­of.

22:26. Her priests have de­spised my law, and have de­filed my sanc­tu­ar­ies: they have put no dif­fer­ence be­tween holy and pro­fane: nor have dis­tin­guished be­tween the pol­lut­ed and the clean: and they have turned away their eyes from my sab­baths, and I was pro­faned in the midst of them.

22:27. Her princes in the midst of her, are like wolves raven­ing the prey to shed blood, and to de­stroy souls, and to run af­ter gains through cov­etous­ness.

22:28. And her prophets have daubed them with­out tem­per­ing the mor­tar, see­ing vain things, and di­vin­ing lies un­to them, say­ing: Thus saith the Lord God: when the Lord hath not spo­ken.

22:29. The peo­ple of the land have used op­pres­sion, and com­mit­ted rob­bery: they af­flict­ed the needy and poor, and they op­pressed the stranger by calum­ny with­out judg­ment.

22:30. And I sought among them for a man that might set up a hedge, and stand in the gap be­fore me in favour of the land, that I might not de­stroy it: and I found none.

22:31. And I poured out my in­dig­na­tion up­on them, in the fire of my wrath I con­sumed them: I have ren­dered their way up­on their own head, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 23

Un­der the names of the two har­lots, Ool­la and Ooli­ba, are de­scribed the man­ifold dis­loy­al­ties of Samaria and Jerusalem, with the pun­ish­ment of them both.

23:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

23:2. Son of man, there were two wom­en, daugh­ters of one moth­er.

23:3. And they com­mit­ted for­ni­ca­tion in Egypt, in their youth they com­mit­ted for­ni­ca­tion: there were their breasts pressed down, and the teats of their vir­gin­ity were bruised.

Com­mit­ted for­ni­ca­tion. . .That is, idol­atry.

23:4. And their names were Ool­la the el­der, and Ooli­ba her younger sis­ter: and I took them, and they bore sons and daugh­ters. Now for their names, Samaria is Ool­la, and Jerusalem is Ooli­ba.

Ool­la and Ooli­ba. . .God calls the king­dom of Is­rael Ool­la, which sig­ni­fies their own habi­ta­tion, be­cause they sep­arat­ed them­selves from his tem­ple: and the king­dom of Ju­da, Ooli­ba, which sig­ni­fies his habi­ta­tion in her, be­cause of his tem­ple among them in Jerusalem.

23:5. And Ool­la com­mit­ted for­ni­ca­tion against me, and dot­ed on her lovers, on the As­syr­ians that came to her,

On the As­syra­ians, etc. . .That is, the idols of the As­syr­ians: for all that is said in this chap­ter of the for­ni­ca­tions of Is­rael and Ju­da, is to be un­der­stood in a spir­itu­al sense, of their dis­loy­al­ty to the Lord, by wor­ship­ping strange gods.

23:6. Who were clothed with blue, princes, and rulers, beau­ti­ful youths, all horse­men, mount­ed up­on hors­es.

23:7. And she com­mit­ted her for­ni­ca­tions with those cho­sen men, all sons of the As­syr­ians: and she de­filed her­self with the un­clean­ness of all them on whom she dot­ed.

23:8. More­over al­so she did not for­sake her for­ni­ca­tions which she had com­mit­ted in Egypt: for they al­so lay with her in her youth, and they bruised the breasts of her vir­gin­ity, and poured out their for­ni­ca­tion up­on her.

23:9. There­fore have I de­liv­ered her in­to the hands of her lovers, in­to the hands of the sons of the As­syr­ians, up­on whose lust she dot­ed.

23:10. They dis­cov­ered her dis­grace, took away her sons and daugh­ters, and slew her with the sword: and they be­came in­fa­mous wom­en, and they ex­ecut­ed judg­ments in her.

23:11. And when her sis­ter Ooli­ba saw this, she was mad with lust more than she: and she car­ried her for­ni­ca­tion be­yond the for­ni­ca­tion of her sis­ter.

23:12. Im­pu­dent­ly pros­ti­tut­ing her­self to the chil­dren of the As­syr­ians, the princes, and rulers that came to her, clothed with divers colours, to the horse­men that rode up­on hors­es, and to young men all of great beau­ty.

23:13. And I saw that she was de­filed, and that they both took one way.

23:14. And she in­creased her for­ni­ca­tions: and when she had seen men paint­ed on the wall, the im­ages of the Chaldeans set forth in colours,

23:15. And gird­ed with gir­dles about their reins, and with dyed tur­bans on their heads, the re­sem­blance of all the cap­tains, the like­ness of the sons of Baby­lon, and of the land of the Chaldeans where­in they were born,

23:16. She dot­ed up­on them with the lust of her eyes, and she sent mes­sen­gers to them in­to Chaldea.

23:17. And when the sons of Baby­lon were come to her to the bed of love, they de­filed her with their for­ni­ca­tions, and she was pol­lut­ed by them, and her soul was glut­ted with them.

23:18. And she dis­cov­ered her for­ni­ca­tions, and dis­cov­ered her dis­grace: and my soul was alien­at­ed from her, as my soul was alien­at­ed from her sis­ter.

23:19. For she mul­ti­plied her for­ni­ca­tions, re­mem­ber­ing the days of her youth, in which she played the har­lot in the land of Egypt.

23:20. And she was mad with lust af­ter ly­ing with them whose flesh is as the flesh of ass­es: and whose is­sue as the is­sue of hors­es.

23:21. And thou hast re­newed the wicked­ness of thy youth, when thy breasts were pressed in Egypt, and the paps of thy vir­gin­ity bro­ken.

23:22. There­fore, Ooli­ba, thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I will raise up against thee all thy lovers with whom thy soul hath been glut­ted: and I will gath­er them to­geth­er against thee round about.

23:23. The chil­dren of Baby­lon, and all the Chaldeans, the no­bles, and the kings, and princes, all the sons of the As­syr­ians, beau­ti­ful young men, all the cap­tains, and rulers, the princes of princes, and the renowned horse­men.

23:24. And they shall come up­on thee well ap­point­ed with char­iot and wheel, a mul­ti­tude of peo­ple: they shall be armed against thee on ev­ery side with breast­plate, and buck­ler, and hel­met: and I will set judg­ment be­fore them, and they shall judge thee by their judg­ments.

23:25. And I will set my jeal­ousy against thee, which they shall ex­ecute up­on thee with fury: they shall cut off thy nose and thy ears: and what re­mains shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons, and thy daugh­ters, and thy residue shall be de­voured by fire.

23:26. And they shall strip thee of thy gar­ments, and take away the in­stru­ments of thy glo­ry.

23:27. And I will put an end to thy wicked­ness in thee, and thy for­ni­ca­tion brought out of the land of Egypt: nei­ther shalt thou lift up thy eyes to them, nor re­mem­ber Egypt any more.

23:28. For thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold, I will de­liv­er thee in­to the hands of them whom thou hat­est, in­to their hands with whom thy soul hath been glut­ted.

23:29. And they shall deal with thee in ha­tred, and they shall take away all thy labours, and shall let thee go naked, and full of dis­grace, and the dis­grace of thy for­ni­ca­tion shall be dis­cov­ered, thy wicked­ness, and thy for­ni­ca­tions.

23:30. They have done these things to thee, be­cause thou hast played the har­lot with the na­tions among which thou wast de­filed with their idols.

23:31. Thou hast walked in the way of thy sis­ter and I will give her cup in­to thy hand.

23:32. Thus saith the Lord God: Thou shalt drink thy sis­ter’s cup, deep and wide: thou shalt be had in de­ri­sion and scorn, which con­taineth very much.

23:33. Thou shalt be filled with drunk­en­ness, and sor­row: with the cup of grief and sad­ness, with the cup of thy sis­ter Samaria.

23:34. And thou shalt drink it, and shalt drink it up even to the dregs, and thou shalt de­vour the frag­ments there­of, thou shalt rend thy breasts: be­cause I have spo­ken it, saith the Lord God.

23:35. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause thou hast for­got­ten me, and hast cast me off be­hind thy back, bear thou al­so thy wicked­ness, and thy for­ni­ca­tions.

23:36. And the Lord spoke to me, say­ing: Son of man, dost thou judge Ool­la, and Ooli­ba, and dost thou de­clare to them their wicked deeds?

23:37. Be­cause they have com­mit­ted adul­tery, and blood is in their hands, and they have com­mit­ted for­ni­ca­tion with their idols: more­over al­so their chil­dren, whom they bore to me, they have of­fered to them to be de­voured.

23:38. Yea, and they have done this to me. They pol­lut­ed my sanc­tu­ary on the same day, and pro­faned my sab­baths.

23:39. And when they sac­ri­ficed their chil­dren to their idols, and went in­to my sanc­tu­ary the same day to pro­fane it: they did these things even in the midst of my house.

23:40. They sent for men com­ing from afar, to whom they had sent a mes­sen­ger: and be­hold they came: for whom thou didst wash thy­self, and didst paint thy eyes, and wast adorned with wom­en’s or­na­ments.

23:41. Thou sat­test on a very fine bed, and a ta­ble was decked be­fore thee: where­upon thou didst set my in­cense, and my oint­ment.

23:42. And there was in her the voice of a mul­ti­tude re­joic­ing: and to some that were brought of the mul­ti­tude of men, and that came from the desert, they put bracelets on their hands, and beau­ti­ful crowns on their heads.

23:43. And I said to her that was worn out in her adul­ter­ies: Now will this wom­an still con­tin­ue in her for­ni­ca­tion.

23:44. And they went in to her, as to a har­lot: so went they in un­to Ool­la, and Ooli­ba, wicked wom­en.

23:45. They there­fore are just men: these shall judge them as adul­ter­ess­es are judged, and as shed­ders of blood are judged: be­cause they are adul­ter­ess­es, and blood is in their hands.

23:46. For thus saith the Lord God: Bring a mul­ti­tude up­on them, and de­liv­er them over to tu­mult and rap­ine:

23:47. And let the peo­ple stone them with stone, and let them be stabbed with their swords: they shall kill their sons and daugh­ters, and their hous­es they shall burn with fire.

23:48. And I will take away wicked­ness out of the land: and all wom­en shall learn, not to do ac­cord­ing to the wicked­ness of them.

23:49. And they shall ren­der your wicked­ness up­on you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 24

Un­der the para­ble of a boil­ing pot is shewn the ut­ter de­struc­tion of Jerusalem: for which the Jews at Baby­lon shall not dare to mourn.

24:1. And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, say­ing:

24:2. Son of man, write thee the name of this day, on which the king of Baby­lon hath set him­self against Jerusalem to day.

24:3. And thou shalt speak by a fig­ure a para­ble to the pro­vok­ing house, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Set on a pot, set it on, I say, and put wa­ter in it.

24:4. Heap to­geth­er in­to it the pieces there­of, ev­ery good piece, the thigh and the shoul­der, choice pieces and full of bones.

24:5. Take the fat­test of the flock, and lay to­geth­er piles of bones un­der it: the seething there­of is boil­ing hot, and the bones there­of are thor­ough­ly sod­den in the midst of it.

24:6. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust is in it, and its rust is not gone out of it: cast it out piece by piece, there hath no lot fall­en up­on it.

24:7. For her blood is in the midst of her, she hath shed it up­on the smooth rock: she hath not shed it up­on the ground, that it might be cov­ered with dust.

24:8. And that I might bring my in­dig­na­tion up­on her, and take my vengeance: I have shed her blood up­on the smooth rock, that it should not be cov­ered.

24:9. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, of which I will make a great bon­fire.

24:10. Heap to­geth­er the bones, which I will burn with fire: the flesh shall be con­sumed, and the whole com­po­si­tion shall be sod­den, and the bones shall be con­sumed.

24:11. Then set it emp­ty up­on burn­ing coals, that it may be hot, and the brass there­of may be melt­ed: and let the filth of it be melt­ed in the midst there­of, and let the rust of it be con­sumed.

24:12. Great pains have been tak­en, and the great rust there­of is not gone out, not even by fire.

24:13. Thy un­clean­ness is ex­ecrable: be­cause I de­sired to cleanse thee, and thou art not cleansed from thy filth­iness: nei­ther shalt thou be cleansed, be­fore I cause my in­dig­na­tion to rest in thee.

24:14. I the Lord have spo­ken: it shall come to pass, and I will do it: I will not pass by, nor spare, nor be paci­fied: I will judge thee ac­cord­ing to thy ways, and ac­cord­ing to thy do­ings, saith the Lord.

24:15. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

24:16. Son of man, be­hold I take from thee the de­sire of thy eyes with a stroke, and thou shall not lament, nor weep; nei­ther shall thy tears run down.

24:17. Sigh in si­lence, make no mourn­ing for the dead: let the tire of thy head be up­on thee, and thy shoes on thy feet, and cov­er not thy face, nor eat the meat of mourn­ers.

24:18. So I spoke to the peo­ple in the morn­ing, and my wife died in the evening: and I did in the morn­ing as he had com­mand­ed me.

24:19. And the peo­ple said to me: Why dost thou not tell us what these things mean that thou doest?

24:20. And I said to them: The word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

24:21. Speak to the house of Is­rael: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I will pro­fane my sanc­tu­ary, the glo­ry of your realm, and the thing that your eyes de­sire, and for which your soul feareth: your sons, and your daugh­ters, whom you have left, shall fall by the sword.

24:22. And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cov­er your faces, nor shall you eat the meat of mourn­ers.

24:23. You shall have crowns on your heads, and shoes on your feet: you shall not lament nor weep, but you shall pine away for your in­iq­ui­ties, and ev­ery one shall sigh with his broth­er.

24:24. And Ezechiel shall be un­to you for a sign of things to come: ac­cord­ing to all that he hath done, so shall you do, when this shall come to pass: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.

24:25. And thou, O son of man, be­hold in the day where­in I will take away from them their strength, and the joy of their glo­ry, and the de­sire of their eyes, up­on which their souls rest, their sons and their daugh­ters.

24:26. In that day when he that es­capeth shall come to thee, to tell thee:

24:27. In that day, I say, shall thy mouth be opened to him that hath es­caped, and thou shalt speak, and shalt be silent no more: and thou shalt be un­to them for a sign of things to come, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 25

A prophe­cy against the Am­monites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines, for their mal­ice against the Is­raelites.

25:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

25:2. Son of man, set thy face against the chil­dren of Am­mon, and thou shalt proph­esy of them.

25:3. And thou shalt say to the chil­dren of Am­mon: Hear ye the word of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause thou hast said: Ha, ha, up­on my sanc­tu­ary, be­cause it was pro­faned: and up­on the land of Is­rael, be­cause it was laid waste: and up­on the house of Ju­da, be­cause they are led in­to cap­tiv­ity:

25:4. There­fore will I de­liv­er thee to the men of the east for an in­her­itance, and they shall place their sheep­cotes in thee, and shall set up their tents in thee: they shall eat thy fruits: and they shall drink thy milk.

25:5. And I will make Rab­bath a sta­ble for camels, and the chil­dren of Am­mon a couch­ing place for flocks: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Rab­bath. . .The cap­ital city of the Am­monites: it was af­ter­wards called Philadel­phia.

25:6. For thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause thou hast clapped thy hands and stamped with thy foot, and hast re­joiced with all thy heart against the land of Is­rael:

25:7. There­fore be­hold I will stretch forth my hand up­on thee, and will de­liv­er thee to be the spoil of na­tions, and will cut thee off from among the peo­ple, and de­stroy thee out of the lands, and break thee in pieces: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

25:8. Thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause Moab and Seir have said: Be­hold the house of Ju­da is like all oth­er na­tions:

25:9. There­fore be­hold I will open the shoul­der of Moab from the cities, from his cities, I say, and his bor­ders, the no­ble cities of the land of Bethies­imoth, and Beelme­on, and Cariathaim,

25:10. To the peo­ple of the east with the chil­dren of Am­mon, and I will give it them for an in­her­itance: that there may be no more any re­mem­brance of the chil­dren of Am­mon among the na­tions.

25:11. And I will ex­ecute judg­ments in Moab: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

25:12. Thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause Edom hath tak­en vengeance to re­venge her­self of the chil­dren of Ju­da, and hath great­ly of­fend­ed, and hath sought re­venge of them:

25:13. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: I will stretch forth my hand up­on Edom, and will take away out of it man and beast, and will make it des­olate from the south: and they that are in Dedan shall fall by the sword.

25:14. And I will lay my vengeance up­on Edom by the hand of my peo­ple Is­rael: and they shall do in Edom ac­cord­ing to my wrath, and my fury: and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.

25:15. Thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause the Philistines have tak­en vengeance, and have re­venged them­selves with all their mind, de­stroy­ing and sat­is­fy­ing old en­mi­ties:

25:16. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I will stretch forth my hand up­on the Philistines, and will kill the killers, and will de­stroy the rem­nant of the sea coast.

25:17. And I will ex­ecute great vengeance up­on them, re­buk­ing them in fury: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance up­on them.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 26

A prophe­cy of the de­struc­tion of the fa­mous city of Tyre by Nabu­chodonosor.

26:1. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

26:2. Son of man, be­cause Tyre hath said of Jerusalem: Aha, the gates of the peo­ple are bro­ken, she is turned to me: I shall be filled, now she is laid waste.

26:3. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I come against thee, O Tyre, and I will cause many na­tions to come up to thee, as the waves of the sea rise up.

26:4. And they shall break down the walls of Tyre, and de­stroy the tow­ers there­of: and I will scrape her dust from her, and make her like a smooth rock.

26:5. She shall be a dry­ing place for nets in the midst of the sea, be­cause I have spo­ken it, saith the Lord God: and she shall be a spoil to the na­tions.

26:6. Her daugh­ters al­so that are in the field, shall be slain by the sword: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

26:7. For thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I will bring against Tyre Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon, the king of kings, from the north, with hors­es, and char­iots, and horse­men, and com­pa­nies, and much peo­ple.

26:8. Thy daugh­ters that are in the field, he shall kill with the sword: and he shall com­pass thee with forts, and shall cast up a mount round about: and he shall lift up the buck­ler against thee.

26:9. And he shall set en­gines of war and bat­ter­ing rams against thy walls, and shall de­stroy thy tow­ers with his arms.

26:10. By rea­son of the mul­ti­tude of his hors­es, their dust shall cov­er thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horse­men, and wheels, and char­iots, when they shall go in at thy gates, as by the en­trance of a city that is de­stroyed.

26:11. With the hoofs of his hors­es he shall tread down all thy streets, thy peo­ple he shall kill with the sword, and thy fa­mous stat­ues shall fall to the ground.

26:12. They shall waste thy rich­es, they shall make a spoil of thy mer­chan­dise: and they shall de­stroy thy walls, and pull down thy fine hous­es: and they shall lay thy stones and thy tim­ber, and thy dust in the midst of the wa­ters.

26:13. And I will make the mul­ti­tude of thy songs to cease, and the sound of thy harps shall be heard no more.

26:14. And I will make thee like a naked rock, thou shalt be a dry­ing place for nets, nei­ther shalt thou be built any more: for I have spo­ken it, saith the Lord God.

26:15. Thus saith the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the is­lands shake at the sound of thy fall, and the groans of thy slain when they shall be killed in the midst of thee?

26:16. Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones: and take off their robes, and cast away their broi­dered gar­ments, and be clothed with as­ton­ish­ment: they shall sit on the ground, and with amaze­ment shall won­der at thy sud­den fall.

26:17. And tak­ing up a lamen­ta­tion over thee, they shall say to thee: How art thou fall­en, that dwellest in the sea, renowned city that wast strong in the sea, with thy in­hab­itants whom all did dread?

26:18. Now shall the ships be as­ton­ished in the day of thy ter­ror: and the is­lands in the sea shall be trou­bled be­cause no one cometh out of thee.

26:19. For thus saith the Lord God: When I shall make thee a des­olate city like the cities that are not in­hab­it­ed: and shall bring the deep up­on thee, and many wa­ters shall cov­er thee:

26:20. And when I shall bring thee down with those that de­scend in­to the pit to the ev­er­last­ing peo­ple, and shall set thee in the low­est parts of the earth, as places des­olate of old, with them that are brought down in­to the pit, that thou be not in­hab­it­ed: and when I shall give glo­ry in the land of the liv­ing,

26:21. I will bring thee to noth­ing, and thou shalt not be, and if thou be sought for, thou shalt not be found any more for ev­er, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 27

A de­scrip­tion of the glo­ry and rich­es of Tyre: and of her ir­recov­er­able fall.

27:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

27:2. Thou there­fore, O son of man, take up a lamen­ta­tion for Tyre:

27:3. And say to Tyre that dwelleth at the en­try of the sea, be­ing the mart of the peo­ple for many is­lands: Thus saith the Lord God: O Tyre, thou hast said: I am of per­fect beau­ty,

27:4. And sit­uate in the heart of the sea. Thy neigh­bours, that built thee, have per­fect­ed thy beau­ty:

27:5. With fir trees of Sanir they have built thee with all sea planks: they have tak­en cedars from Libanus to make thee masts.

Sea planks. . .That is, tim­ber brought by sea to build the city.

27:6. They have cut thy oars out of the oaks of Basan: and they have made thee bench­es of In­di­an ivory and cab­ins with things brought from the is­lands of Italy.

27:7. Fine broi­dered linen from Egypt was wo­ven for thy sail, to be spread on thy mast: blue and pur­ple from the is­lands of Elisa, were made thy cov­er­ing.

27:8. The in­hab­itants of Sidon, and the Ara­bi­ans were thy row­ers: thy wise men, O Tyre, were thy pi­lots.

27:9. The an­cients of Gebal, and the wise men there­of fur­nished mariners for the ser­vice of thy var­ious fur­ni­ture: all the ships of the sea, and their mariners were thy fac­tors.

27:10. The Per­sians, and Ly­di­ans, and the Libyans were thy sol­diers in thy army: they hung up the buck­ler and the hel­met in thee for thy or­na­ment.

27:11. The men of Arad were with thy army up­on thy walls round about: the Pyg­means al­so that were in thy tow­ers, hung up their quiv­ers on thy walls round about: they per­fect­ed thy beau­ty.

Pyg­means. . .That is, strong and valiant men. In He­brew, Gam­madim.

27:12. The Carthagini­ans thy mer­chants sup­plied thy fairs with a mul­ti­tude of all kinds of rich­es, with sil­ver, iron, tin, and lead,

27:13. Greece, Thubal, and Mosoch, they were thy mer­chants, they brought to thy peo­ple slaves and ves­sels of brass.

27:14. From the house of Thogor­ma they brought hors­es, and horse­men, and mules to thy mar­ket.

27:15. The men of Dedan were thy mer­chants: many is­lands were the traf­fic of thy hand, they ex­changed for thy price teeth of ivory and ebony.

27:16. The Syr­ian was thy mer­chant: by rea­son of the mul­ti­tude of thy works, they set forth pre­cious sto­ries, and pur­ple, and broi­dered works, and fine linen, and silk, and chod­chod in thy mar­ket.

Chod­chod. . .It is the He­brew name for some pre­cious stone; but of what kind in par­tic­ular in­ter­preters are not agreed.

27:17. Ju­da and the land of Is­rael, they were thy mer­chants with the best corn: they set forth balm, and hon­ey, and oil and rosin in thy fairs.

27:18. The men of Dam­as­cus were thy mer­chants in the mul­ti­tude of thy works, the mul­ti­tude of divers rich­es, in rich wine, in wool of the best colour.

27:19. Dan, and Greece, and Mosel have set forth in thy marts wrought iron: stacte, and cala­mus were in thy mar­ket.

27:20. The men of Dedan were thy mer­chants in tapestry for seats.

27:21. Ara­bia, and all the princes of Cedar, they were the mer­chants of thy hand: thy mer­chants came to thee with lambs, and rams, and kids.

27:22. The sell­ers of Sa­ba, and Reema, they were thy mer­chants: with all the best spices, and pre­cious stones, and gold, which they set forth in thy mar­ket.

27:23. Ha­ran, and Ch­ene, and Eden were thy mer­chants; Sa­ba, As­sur, and Chel­mad sold to thee.

27:24. They were thy mer­chants in divers man­ners, with bales of blue cloth, and of em­broi­dered work, and of pre­cious rich­es, which were wrapped up and bound with cords: they had cedars al­so in thy mer­chan­dise.

27:25. The ships of the sea, were thy chief in thy mer­chan­dise: and thou wast re­plen­ished, and glo­ri­fied ex­ceed­ing­ly in the heart of the sea.

27:26. Thy row­ers have brought thee in­to great wa­ters: the south wind hath bro­ken thee in the heart of the sea.

27:27. Thy rich­es, and thy trea­sures, and thy man­ifold fur­ni­ture, thy mariners, and thy pi­lots, who kept thy goods, and were chief over thy peo­ple: thy men of war al­so, that were in thee, with all thy mul­ti­tude that is in the midst of thee: shall fall in the heart of the sea in the day of thy ru­in.

27:28. Thy fleets shall be trou­bled at the sound of the cry of thy pi­lots.

27:29. And all that han­dled the oar shall come down from their ships: the mariners, and all the pi­lots of the sea shall stand up­on the land:

27:30. And they shall mourn over thee with a loud voice and shall cry bit­ter­ly: and they shall cast up dust up­on their heads and shall be sprin­kled with ash­es.

27:31. And they shall shave them­selves bald for thee, and shall be gird­ed with hair­cloth: and they shall weep for thee with bit­ter­ness of soul, with most bit­ter weep­ing.

27:32. And they shall take up a mourn­ful song for thee, and shall lament thee: What city is like Tyre, which is be­come silent in the midst of the sea?

27:33. Which by thy mer­chan­dise that went from thee by sea didst fill many peo­ple: which by the mul­ti­tude of thy rich­es, and of thy peo­ple didst en­rich the kings of the earth.

27:34. Now thou art de­stroyed by the sea, thy rich­es are in the bot­tom of the wa­ters, and all the mul­ti­tude that was in the midst of thee is fall­en.

27:35. All the in­hab­itants of the is­lands are as­ton­ished at thee: and all their kings be­ing struck with the storm have changed their coun­te­nance.

27:36. The mer­chants of peo­ple have hissed at thee: thou art brought to noth­ing, and thou shalt nev­er be any more.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 28

The king of Tyre, who af­fect­ed to be like to God, shall fall un­der the like sen­tence with Lu­cifer. The judg­ment of Sidon. The restora­tion of Is­rael.

28:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

28:2. Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause thy heart is lift­ed up, and thou hast said: I am God, and I sit in the chair of God in the heart of the sea: where­as thou art a man, and not God: and hast set thy heart as if it were the heart of God.

28:3. Be­hold thou art wis­er than Daniel: no se­cret is hid from thee.

Thou art wis­er than Daniel. . .Viz., in thy own con­ceit. The wis­dom of Daniel was so much cel­ebrat­ed in his days, that it be­came a proverb amongst the Chaldeans, when any one would ex­press an ex­traor­di­nary wis­dom, to say he was as wise as Daniel.

28:4. In thy wis­dom and thy un­der­stand­ing thou hast made thy­self strong: and hast got­ten gold an sil­ver in­to thy trea­sures.

28:5. By the great­ness of thy wis­dom, and by thy traf­fic thou hast in­creased thy strength: and thy heart is lift­ed up with thy strength.

28:6. There­fore, thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause thy heart is lift­ed up as the heart of God:

28:7. There­fore be­hold, I will bring up­on thee strangers: the strongest of the na­tions: and they shall draw their swords against the beau­ty of thy wis­dom, and they shall de­file thy beau­ty.

28:8. They shall kill thee, and bring thee down: and thou shalt die the death of them that are slain in the heart of the sea.

28:9. Wilt thou yet say be­fore them that slay thee: I am God; where­as thou art a man, and not God, in the hand of them that slay thee?

28:10. Thou shalt die the death of the un­cir­cum­cised by the hand of strangers: for I have spo­ken it, saith the Lord God.

28:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing: Son of man, take up a lamen­ta­tion up­on the king of Tyre:

28:12. And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Thou wast the seal of re­sem­blance, full of wis­dom, and per­fect in beau­ty.

Thou wast the seal of re­sem­blance. . .The king of Tyre, by his dig­ni­ty and his nat­ural per­fec­tions, bore in him­self a cer­tain re­sem­blance to God, by rea­son of which he might be called the seal of re­sem­blance, etc. But what is here said to him is com­mon­ly un­der­stood of Lu­cifer, the king over all the chil­dren of pride.

28:13. Thou wast in the plea­sures of the par­adise of God: ev­ery pre­cious stone was thy cov­er­ing: the sardius, the topaz, and the jasper, the chryso­lite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sap­phire, and the car­bun­cle, and the emer­ald: gold the work of thy beau­ty: and thy pipes were pre­pared in the day that thou wast cre­at­ed.

28:14. Thou a cherub stretched out, and pro­tect­ing, and I set thee in the holy moun­tain of God, thou hast walked in the midst of the stones of fire.

A cherub stretched out. . .That is, thy wings ex­tend­ed. This al­ludes to the fig­ure of the cheru­bims in the sanc­tu­ary, which with stretched out wings cov­ered the ark.–Ibid. The stones of fire. . .That is, bright and pre­cious stones which sparkle like fire.

28:15. Thou wast per­fect in thy ways from the day of thy cre­ation, un­til in­iq­ui­ty was found in thee.

28:16. By the mul­ti­tude of thy mer­chan­dise, thy in­ner parts were filled with in­iq­ui­ty, and thou hast sinned: and I cast thee out from the moun­tain of God, and de­stroyed thee, O cov­er­ing cherub, out of the midst of the stones of fire.

28:17. And thy heart was lift­ed up with thy beau­ty: thou hast lost thy wis­dom in thy beau­ty, I have cast thee to the ground: I have set thee be­fore the face of kings, that they might be­hold thee.

28:18. Thou hast de­filed thy sanc­tu­ar­ies by the mul­ti­tude of thy in­iq­ui­ties, and by the in­iq­ui­ty of thy traf­fic: there­fore I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, to de­vour thee, and I will make thee as ash­es up­on the earth in the sight of all that see thee.

28:19. All that shall see thee among the na­tions, shall be as­ton­ished at thee: thou art brought to noth­ing, and thou shalt nev­er be any more.

28:20. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

28:21. Son of man, set thy face against Sidon: and thou shalt proph­esy of it,

28:22. And shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I come against thee, Sidon, and I will be glo­ri­fied in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall ex­ecute judg­ments in her, and shall be sanc­ti­fied in her.

28:23. And I will send in­to her pesti­lence, and blood in her streets: and they shall fall be­ing slain by the sword on all sides in the midst there­of: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

28:24. And the house of Is­rael shall have no more a stum­bling­block of bit­ter­ness, nor a thorn caus­ing pain on ev­ery side round about them, of them that are against them: and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

28:25. Thus saith the Lord God: When I shall have gath­ered to­geth­er the house of Is­rael out of the peo­ple among whom they are scat­tered: I will be sanc­ti­fied in them be­fore the Gen­tiles: and they shall dwell in their own land, which I gave to my ser­vant Ja­cob.

28:26. And they shall dwell there­in se­cure, and they shall build hous­es, and shall plant vine­yards, and shall dwell with con­fi­dence, when I shall have ex­ecut­ed judg­ments up­on all that are their en­emies round about: and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 29

The king of Egypt shall be over­thrown, and his king­dom wast­ed: it shall be giv­en to Nabu­chodonosor for his ser­vice against Tyre.

29:1. In the tenth year, the tenth month, the eleventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

29:2. Son of man, set thy face against Pharao king of Egypt: and thou shalt proph­esy of him, and of all Egypt:

29:3. Speak, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold, I come against thee, Pharao king of Egypt, thou great drag­on that li­est in the midst of thy rivers, and sayest: The riv­er is mine, and I made my­self.

29:4. But I will put a bri­dle in thy jaws: and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick to thy scales: and I will draw thee out of the midst of thy rivers, and all thy fish shall stick to thy scales.

29:5. And I will cast thee forth in­to the desert, and all the fish of thy riv­er: thou shalt fall up­on the face of the earth, thou shalt not be tak­en up, nor gath­ered to­geth­er: I have giv­en thee for meat to the beasts of the earth, and to the fowls of the air.

29:6. And all the in­hab­itants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord: be­cause thou hast been a staff of a reed to the house of Is­rael.

29:7. When they took hold of thee with the hand thou didst break, and rent all their shoul­der: and when they leaned up­on thee, thou brok­est, and weak­en­est all their loins.

29:8. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold, I will bring the sword up­on thee: and cut off man and beast out of thee.

29:9. And the land of Egypt shall be­come a desert, and a wilder­ness: and they shall know that I am the Lord, be­cause thou hast said: The riv­er is mine, and I made it.

29:10. There­fore, be­hold I come against thee, and thy rivers: and I will make the land of Egypt ut­ter­ly des­olate, and wast­ed by the sword, from the tow­er of Syene, even to the bor­ders of Ethiopia.

29:11. The foot of man shall not pass through it, nei­ther shall the foot of beasts go through it: nor shall it be in­hab­it­ed dur­ing forty years.

29:12. And I will make the land of Egypt des­olate in the midst of the lands that are des­olate, and the cities there­of in the midst of the cites that are de­stroyed, and they shall be des­olate for forty years: and I will scat­ter the Egyp­tians among the na­tions, and will dis­perse them through the coun­tries.

29:13. For thus saith the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will gath­er the Egyp­tians from the peo­ple among whom they had been scat­tered.

29:14. And I will bring back the cap­tiv­ity of Egypt, and will place them in the land of Pha­tures, in the land of their na­tiv­ity, and they shall be there a low king­dom:

29:15. It shall be the low­est among oth­er king­doms, and it shall no more be ex­alt­ed over the na­tions, and I will di­min­ish them that they shall rule no more over the na­tions.

29:16. And they shall be no more a con­fi­dence to the house of Is­rael, teach­ing in­iq­ui­ty, that they may flee, and fol­low them: and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

29:17. And it came to pass in the sev­en and twen­ti­eth year in the first month, in the first of the month: that the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

29:18. Son of man, Nabu­chodonosor king of Baby­lon hath made his army to un­der­go hard ser­vice against Tyre: ev­ery head was made bald, and ev­ery shoul­der was peeled and there hath been no re­ward giv­en him, nor his army for Tyre, for the ser­vice that he ren­dered me against it.

29:19. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold, I will set Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon in the land of Egypt: and he shall take her mul­ti­tude, and take the booty there­of for a prey, and ri­fle the spoils there­of: and it shall be wages for his army.

29:20. And for the ser­vice that he hath done me against it: I have giv­en him the land of Egypt, be­cause he hath laboured for me, saith the Lord God.

29:21. In that day a horn shall bud forth to the house of Is­rael, and I will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 30

The des­ola­tion of Egypt and her helpers: all her cities shall be wast­ed.

30:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

30:2. Son of man proph­esy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Howl ye, Woe, woe to the day:

30:3. For the day is near, yea the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the na­tions.

30:4. And the sword shall come up­on Egypt: and there shall be dread in Ethiopia, when the wound­ed shall fall in Egypt, and the mul­ti­tude there­of shall be tak­en away, and the foun­da­tions there­of shall be de­stroyed.

30:5. Ethiopia, and Libya, and Ly­dia, and all the rest of the crowd, and Chub, and the chil­dren of the land of the covenant, shall fall with them by the sword.

30:6. Thus saith the Lord God: They al­so that up­hold Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her em­pire shall be brought down: from the tow­er of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord the God of hosts.

30:7. And they shall be des­olate in the midst of the lands that are des­olate, and the cities there­of shall be in the midst of the cities that are wast­ed.

30:8. And they shall know that I am the Lord: when I shall have set a fire in Egypt, and all the helpers there­of shall be de­stroyed.

30:9. In that day shall mes­sen­gers go forth from my face in ships to de­stroy the con­fi­dence of Ethiopia, and there shall be dread among them in the day of Egypt: be­cause it shall cer­tain­ly come.

30:10. Thus saith the Lord God: I will make the mul­ti­tude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nabu­chodonosor the king of Baby­lon.

30:11. He and his peo­ple with him, the strongest of na­tions, shall be brought to de­stroy the land: and they shall draw their swords up­on Egypt: and shall fill the land with the slain.

30:12. And I will make the chan­nels of the rivers dry, and will de­liv­er the land in­to the hand of the wicked: and will lay waste the land and all that is there­in by the hands of strangers, I the Lord have spo­ken it.

30:13. Thus saith the Lord God: I will al­so de­stroy the idols, and I will make an end of the idols of Mem­phis: and there shall: be no more a prince of the land of Egypt and I will cause a ter­ror in the land of Egypt.

30:14. And I will de­stroy the land of Pha­tures, and will make a fire in Taph­nis, and will ex­ecute judg­ments in Alexan­dria.

Alexan­dria. . .In the He­brew, No: which was the an­cient name of that city, which was af­ter­wards re­built by Alexan­der the Great, and from his name called Alexan­dria.

30:15. And I will pour out my in­dig­na­tion up­on Pelu­si­um the strength of Egypt, and will cut off the mul­ti­tude of Alexan­dria.

30:16. And I will make a fire in Egypt: Pelu­si­um shall be in pain like a wom­an in labour, and Alexan­dria shall be laid waste, and in Mem­phis there shall be dai­ly dis­tress­es.

30:17. The young men of He­liopo­lis, and of Bubas­tus shall fall by the sword, and they them­selves shall go in­to cap­tiv­ity.

30:18. And in Taph­nis the day shall be dark­ened, when I shall break there the scep­tres of Egypt, and the pride of her pow­er shall cease in her: a cloud shall cov­er her, and her daugh­ters shall be led in­to cap­tiv­ity.

30:19. And I will ex­ecute judg­ments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

30:20. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the sev­enth day of the month, that the word of the Lord came, me, say­ing:

30:21. Son of man, I have bro­ken the arm of Pharao king of Egypt: and be­hold it is not bound up, to be healed, to be tied up with clothes, and swathed with linen, that it might re­cov­er strength, and hold the sword.

30:22. There­fore, thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold, I come against Pharao king of Egypt, and I will break in­to pieces his strong arm, which is al­ready bro­ken: and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand:

30:23. And I will dis­perse Egypt among the na­tions, and scat­ter them through the coun­tries.

30:24. And I will strength­en the arms of the king of Baby­lon, and will put my sword in his hand: and I will break the arms of Pharao, and they shall groan bit­ter­ly be­ing slain be­fore his face.

30:25. And I will strength­en the arms of the king of Baby­lon, and the arms of Pharao shall fall: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have giv­en my sword in­to the hand of the king of Baby­lon, and he shall have stretched it forth up­on the land of Egypt.

30:26. And I will dis­perse Egypt among the na­tions, and will scat­ter them through the coun­tries, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 31

The As­syr­ian em­pire fell for their pride: the Egyp­tian shall fall in like man­ner.

31:1. And it came to pass, in the eleventh year, the third month the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

31:2. Son of man, speak to Pharao king of Egypt, and to his peo­ple: To whom art thou like in thy great­ness?

31:3. Be­hold, the As­syr­ian like a cedar in Libanus, with fair branch­es, and full of leaves, of a high stature, and his top was el­evat­ed among the thick boughs.

31:4. The wa­ters nour­ished him, the deep set him tip on high, the streams there­of ran round about his roots, and it sent, forth its rivulets to all the trees of the coun­try.

31:5. There­fore was his height ex­alt­ed above all the trees of the coun­try and his branch­es were mul­ti­plied, and his boughs were el­evat­ed be­cause of many wa­ters.

31:6. And when he had spread forth his shad­ow, all the fowls of the air made their nests in his boughs, and all the beasts of the for­est brought forth their young un­der his branch­es, and the as­sem­bly of many na­tions dwelt un­der his shad­ow.

31:7. And he was most beau­ti­ful for his great­ness, and for the spread­ing of his branch­es: for his root was near great wa­ters.

31:8. The cedars in the par­adise of God were not high­er than he, the fir trees did not equal his top, nei­ther were the plane trees to be com­pared with him for branch­es: no tree in the par­adise of God was like him in his beau­ty.

31:9. For I made him beau­ti­ful and thick set with many branch­es: and all the trees of plea­sure, that were in the par­adise of God, en­vied him.

31:10. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause he was ex­alt­ed in height, and shot up his top green and thick, and his heart was lift­ed up in his height:

31:11. I have de­liv­ered him in­to the hands of the mighty one of the na­tions, he shall deal with him: I have cast him out ac­cord­ing to his wicked­ness.

I have de­liv­ered. . .Here the time past is put for the fu­ture, i. e., I shall de­liv­er.–Ibid. The mighty one, etc. . .Viz., Nabu­chodonosor, who con­quered both the As­syr­ians and Egyp­tians.

31:12. And strangers, and the most cru­el of the na­tions shall cut him down, and cast him away up­on the moun­tains, and his boughs shall fall in ev­ery val­ley, and his branch­es shall be bro­ken on ev­ery rock of the coun­try: and all the peo­ple of the earth shall de­part from his shad­ow, and leave him.

31:13. All the fowls of the air dwelt up­on his ru­ins, and all the beasts of the field were among his branch­es.

31:14. For which cause none of the trees by the wa­ters shall ex­alt them­selves for their height: nor shoot up their tops among the thick branch­es and leaves, nei­ther shall any of them that are wa­tered stand up in their height: for they are all de­liv­ered un­to death to the low­est parts of the earth, in the midst of the chil­dren of men, with them that go down in­to the pit.

31:15. Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when he went down to hell, I brought in mourn­ing, I cov­ered him with the deep: and I with­held its rivers, and re­strained the many wa­ters: Libanus grieved for him, and all the trees of the field trem­bled.

31:16. I shook the na­tions with the sound of his fall, when I brought him down to hell with them that de­scend in­to the pit: and all the trees of plea­sure, the choice and best in Libanus, all that were moist­ened with wa­ters, were com­fort­ed in the low­est parts of the earth.

31:17. For they al­so shall go down with him to hell to them that are slain by the sword; and the arm of ev­ery one shall sit down un­der his shad­ow in the midst of the na­tions.

31:18. To whom art thou like, O thou that art fa­mous and lofty among the trees of plea­sure? Be­hold, thou art brought down with the trees of plea­sure to the low­est parts of the earth: thou shalt sleep in the midst of the un­cir­cum­cised, with them that are slain by the sword: this is Pharao, and all his mul­ti­tude, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 32

The prophet’s lamen­ta­tion for the king of Egypt.

32:1. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

32:2. Son of man, take up a lamen­ta­tion for Pharao the king of Egypt, and say to him: Thou art like the li­on of the na­tions, and the drag­on that is in the sea: and thou didst push with the horn in thy rivers, and didst trou­ble the wa­ters with thy feet, and didst tram­ple up­on their streams.

32:3. There­fore, thus saith the Lord God: I will spread out my net over thee with the mul­ti­tude of many peo­ple, and I will draw thee up in my net.

32:4. And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away in­to the open field and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell up­on thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with thee.

32:5. And I will lay thy flesh up­on the moun­tains, and will fill thy hills with thy cor­rup­tion,

32:6. And I will wa­ter the earth with thy stink­ing blood up­on the moun­tains, and the val­leys shall be filled with thee.

32:7. And I will cov­er the heav­ens, when thou shalt be put out, and I will make the stars there­of dark: I will cov­er the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

32:8. I will make all the lights of heav­en to mourn over thee and I will cause dark­ness up­on thy land, saith the Lord God, when thy wound­ed shall fall in the midst of the land, saith the Lord God.

32:9. And I shall pro­voke to anger the heart of many peo­ple, when I shall have brought in thy de­struc­tion among the na­tions up­on the lands, which thou know­est not.

32:10. And I will make many peo­ple to be amazed at thee, and their kings shall be hor­ri­bly afraid for thee, when my sword shall be­gin to fly up­on their faces: and they shall be as­ton­ished on a sud­den, ev­ery one for his own life, in the day of their ru­in.

32:11. For thus saith the Lord God: The sword of the king of Baby­lon shall come up­on thee,

32:12. By the swords of the mighty I will over­throw thy mul­ti­tude: all these na­tions are in­vin­ci­ble: and they shall waste the pride of Egypt, and the mul­ti­tude there­of shall be de­stroyed.

32:13. I will de­stroy al­so all the beasts there­of that were be­side the great wa­ters: and the foot of man shall trou­ble them no more, nei­ther shall the hoof of beasts trou­ble them.

32:14. Then will I make their wa­ters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God:

32:15. When I shall have made the land of Egypt des­olate: and the land shall be des­ti­tute of her ful­ness, when I shall have struck all the in­hab­itants there­of and they shall know that I am the Lord.

32:16. This is the lamen­ta­tion, and they shall lament there­with: the daugh­ters of the na­tions shall lament there­with for Egypt, and for the mul­ti­tude there­of they shall lament there­with, saith the Lord God.

32:17. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fif­teenth day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me say­ing:

32:18. Son of man, sing a mourn­ful song for the mul­ti­tude of Egypt: and cast her down, both her, and the daugh­ters of the mighty na­tions to the low­est part of the earth, with them that go down in­to the pit.

32:19. Whom dost thou ex­cel in beau­ty? go down and sleep with the un­cir­cum­cised.

32:20. They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain with the sword: the sword is giv­en, they have drawn her down, and all her peo­ple.

32:21. The most mighty among the strong ones shall speak to him from the midst of hell, they that went down with his helpers and slept un­cir­cum­cised, slain by the sword.

32:22. As­sur is there, and all his mul­ti­tude: their graves are round about him, all of them slain, and that fell by the sword.

32:23. Whose graves are set in the low­est parts of the pit: and his mul­ti­tude lay round about his grave: all of them slain, and fall­en by the sword, they that hereto­fore spread ter­ror in the land of the liv­ing.

32:24. There is Elam and all his mul­ti­tude round about his grave, all of them slain, and fall­en by the sword; that went down un­cir­cum­cised to the low­est parts of the earth: that caused their ter­ror in the land of the liv­ing, and they have borne their shame with them that go down in­to the pit.

32:25. In the midst of the slain they have set him a bed among all his peo­ple: their graves are round about him: all these are un­cir­cum­cised, and slain by the sword: for they spread their ter­ror in the land of the liv­ing, and have borne their shame with them that de­scend in­to the pit: they are laid in the midst of the slain.

32:26. There is Mosoch, and Thubal, and all their mul­ti­tude: their graves are round about him: all of them un­cir­cum­cised and slain, and fall­en by the sword: though they spread their ter­ror in the land of the liv­ing.

32:27. And they shall not sleep with the brave, and with them that fell un­cir­cum­cised, that went down to hell with their weapons, and laid their swords un­der their heads, and their in­iq­ui­ties were in their bones, be­cause they were the ter­ror of the mighty in the land of the liv­ing.

32:28. So thou al­so shalt be bro­ken in the midst of the un­cir­cum­cised, and shalt sleep with them that are slain by the sword.

32:29. There is Edom, and her kings, and all her princes, who with their army are joined with them that are slain by the sword: and have slept with the un­cir­cum­cised, and with them that go down in­to the pit.

32:30. There are all the princes of the north, and all the hunters: who were brought down with the slain, fear­ing, and con­found­ed in their strength: who slept un­cir­cum­cised with them that are slain by the sword, and have borne their shame with them that go down in­to the pit.

32:31. Pharao saw them, and he was com­fort­ed con­cern­ing all his mul­ti­tude, which was slain by the sword: Pharao, and all his army, saith the Lord God:

32:32. Be­cause I have spread my ter­ror in the land of the liv­ing, and he hath slept in the midst of the un­cir­cum­cised with them that are slain by the sword: Pharao and all his mul­ti­tude, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 33

The du­ty of the watch­man ap­point­ed by God: the jus­tice of God’s ways: his judg­ments up­on the Jews.

33:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

33:2. Son of man, speak to the chil­dren of thy peo­ple, and say to them: When I bring the sword up­on a land, if the peo­ple of the land take a man, one of their mean­est, and make him a watch­man over them:

33:3. And he sees the sword com­ing up­on the land, and sound the trum­pet, and tell the peo­ple:

33:4. Then he that heareth the sound of the trum­pet, whoso­ev­er he be, and doth not look to him­self, if the sword come, and cut him off: his blood shall be up­on his own head.

33:5. He heard the sound of the trum­pet, and did not look to him­self, his blood shall be up­on him: but if he look to him­self, he shall save his life.

33:6. And if the watch­man see the sword com­ing, and sound not the trum­pet: and the peo­ple look not to them­selves, and the sword come, and cut off a soul from among them: he in­deed is tak­en away in his in­iq­ui­ty, but I will re­quire his blood at the hand of the watch­man.

33:7. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watch­man to the house of Is­rael: there­fore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.

33:8. When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt sure­ly die: if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way: that wicked man shall die in his in­iq­ui­ty, but I will re­quire his blood at thy hand.

33:9. But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be con­vert­ed from his ways, and he be not con­vert­ed from his way he shall die in his in­iq­ui­ty: but thou hast de­liv­ered thy soul.

33:10. Thou there­fore, O son of man, say to the house of Is­rael: Thus you have spo­ken, say­ing: Our in­iq­ui­ties, and our sins are up­on us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?

33:11. Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I de­sire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Is­rael?

33:12. Thou there­fore, O son of man, say to the chil­dren of thy peo­ple: The jus­tice of the just shall not de­liv­er him, in what day so­ev­er he shall sin: and the wicked­ness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day so­ev­er he shall turn from his wicked­ness: and the just shall not be able to live in his jus­tice, in what day so­ev­er he shall sin.

33:13. Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall sure­ly live, and he, trust­ing in his jus­tice, com­mit in­iq­ui­ty: all his jus­tices shall be for­got­ten, and his in­iq­ui­ty, which he hath com­mit­ted, in the same shall he die.

33:14. And it I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt sure­ly die: and he do penance for his sin, and do judg­ment and jus­tice,

33:15. And if that wicked man re­store the pledge, and ren­der what he had robbed, and walk in the com­mand­ments of life, and do no un­just thing: he shall sure­ly live, and shall not die.

33:16. None of his sins, which he hath com­mit­ted, shall be im­put­ed to him: he hath done judg­ment and jus­tice, he shall sure­ly live.

33:17. And the chil­dren of thy peo­ple have said: The way of the Lord is not eq­ui­table: where­as their own way is un­just.

33:18. For when the just shall de­part from his jus­tice, and com­mit in­iq­ui­ties, he shall die in them.

33:19. And when the wicked shall de­part from his wicked­ness, and shall do judg­ments, and jus­tice, he shall live in them.

33:20. And you say: The way of the Lord is not right, I will judge ev­ery one of you ac­cord­ing to his ways, O house of Is­rael.

33:21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our cap­tiv­ity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that there came to me one that was fled from Jerusalem, say­ing: The city is laid waste.

33:22. And the hand of the Lord had been up­on me in the evening, be­fore he that was fled came: and he opened my mouth till he came to me in the morn­ing, and my mouth be­ing opened, I was silent no more.

33:23. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

33:24. Son of man, they that dwell in these ru­inous places in the land of Is­rael, speak, say­ing: Abra­ham was one, and he in­her­it­ed the land, but we are many, the land is giv­en us in pos­ses­sion.

33:25. There­fore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: You that eat with the blood and lift up your eyes to your un­clean­ness­es, and that shed blood: shall you pos­sess the land by in­her­itance?

33:26. You stood on your swords, you have com­mit­ted abom­ina­tions, and ev­ery one hath de­filed his neigh­bours wife; and shall you pos­sess the land by in­her­itance?

33:27. Say thou thus to them: Thus saith the Lord God: As I live, they that dwell in the ru­inous places, shall fall by the sword: and he that is in the field, shall be giv­en to the beasts to be de­voured: and they that are in holds, and caves, shall die of the pesti­lence.

33:28. And I will make the land a wilder­ness, and a desert, and the proud strength there­of shall fail, and the moun­tains of Is­rael shall be des­olate, be­cause there is none to pass by them,

33:29. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have made their land waste and des­olate, for all their abom­ina­tions which they have com­mit­ted.

33:30. And thou son of man: the chil­dren of thy peo­ple, that talk of thee by the walls, and in the doors of the hous­es, and speak one to an­oth­er each man to his neigh­bour, say­ing: Come, and let us hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.

33:31. And they come to thee, as if peo­ple were com­ing in, and my peo­ple sit be­fore thee: and hear thy words, and do them not: for they turn them in­to a song of their mouth, and their heart goeth af­ter their cov­etous­ness.

33:32. And thou art to them as a mu­si­cal song which is sung with a sweet and agree­able voice: and they hear thy words, and do them not.

33:33. And when that which was fore­told shall come to pass, for be­hold it is com­ing, then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 34

Evil pas­tors are re­proved. Christ the true pas­tor shall come, and gath­er to­geth­er his flock from all parts of the earth, and pre­serve it for ev­er.

34:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, it say­ing:

34:2. Son of man, proph­esy con­cern­ing the shep­herds of Is­rael: proph­esy, and say to the shep­herds: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the shep­herds of Is­rael, that fed them­selves: should not the flocks be fed by the shep­herds?

Shep­herds. . .That is, princes, mag­is­trates, chief priests, and scribes.

34:3. You ate the milk, and you clothed your­selves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat: but my flock you did not feed.

34:4. The weak you have not strength­ened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was bro­ken you have not bound up, and that which was driv­en away you have not brought again, nei­ther have you sought that which was lost: but you ruled over them with rigour, and with a high hand.

34:5. And my sheep were scat­tered, be­cause there was no shep­herd and they be­came the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scat­tered.

34:6. My sheep have wan­dered in ev­ery moun­tain, and in ev­ery high hill: and my flocks were scat­tered up­on the face of the earth, and there was none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them.

34:7. There­fore, ye shep­herds, hear the word of the Lord:

34:8. As I live, saith the Lord God, foras­much as my flocks have been made a spoil, and my sheep are be­come a prey to all the beasts of the field, be­cause there was no shep­herd: for my shep­herds did not seek af­ter my flock, but the shep­herds fed them­selves, and fed not my flocks:

34:9. There­fore, ye shep­herds, hear the word of the Lord:

34:10. Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I my­self come up­on the shep­herds, I will re­quire my flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feed­ing the flock any more, nei­ther shall the shep­herds feed them­selves any more: and I will de­liv­er my flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them.

34:11. For thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I my­self will seek my sheep, and will vis­it them.

34:12. As the shep­herd vis­iteth his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scat­tered, so will I vis­it my sheep, and will de­liv­er them out of all the places where they have been scat­tered in the cloudy and dark day.

34:13. And I will bring them out from the peo­ples, and will gath­er them out of the coun­tries, and will bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the moun­tains of Is­rael, by the rivers, and in all the habi­ta­tions of the land.

34:14. I will feed them in the most fruit­ful pas­tures, and their pas­tures shall be in the high moun­tains of Is­rael: there shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pas­tures up­on the moun­tains of Is­rael.

34:15. I will feed my sheep: and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.

34:16. I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driv­en away, I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was bro­ken, and I will strength­en that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will pre­serve, and I will feed them in judg­ment.

34:17. And as for you, O my flocks, thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I judge be­tween cat­tle and cat­tle, of rams and of he goats.

34:18. Was it not enough for you to feed up­on good pas­tures? but you must al­so tread down with your feet the residue of your pas­tures: and when you drank the clear­est wa­ter, you trou­bled the rest with your feet.

34:19. And my sheep were fed with that which you had trod­den with your feet: and they drank what your feet had trou­bled.

34:20. There­fore thus saith the Lord God to you: Be­hold, I my­self will judge be­tween the fat cat­tle and the lean.

34:21. Be­cause you thrust­ed with sides and shoul­ders, and struck all the weak cat­tle with your horns, till they were scat­tered abroad:

34:22. I will save my flock, and it shall be no more a spoil, and I will judge be­tween cat­tle and cat­tle.

34:23. And I WILL SET UP ONE SHEP­HERD OVER THEM, and he shall feed them, even my ser­vant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shep­herd.

David. . .Christ, who is of the house of David.

34:24. And I the Lord will be their God: and my ser­vant David the prince in the midst of them: I the Lord have spo­ken it.

34:25. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they that dwell in the wilder­ness shall sleep se­cure in the forests.

34:26. And I will make them a bless­ing round about my hill: and I will send down the rain in its sea­son, there shall be show­ers of bless­ing.

34:27. And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her in­crease, and they shall be in their land with­out fear: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have bro­ken the bonds of their yoke, and shall have de­liv­ered them out of the hand of those that rule over them.

34:28. And they shall be no more for a spoil to the na­tions, nei­ther shall the beasts of the earth de­vour them: but they shall dwell se­cure­ly with­out, any ter­ror.

34:29. And I will raise up for them a bud of renown: and they shall be no more con­sumed with famine in the land, nei­ther shall they bear any more the re­proach of the Gen­tiles.

A bud of renown. . .Ger­men nom­ina­tum. He speaks of Christ our Lord, the il­lus­tri­ous bud of the house of David, renowned over all the earth. See Jer. 33.15.

34:30. And they shall know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they are my peo­ple the house of Is­rael: saith the Lord God.

34:31. And you my flocks, the flocks of my pas­ture are men: and I am the Lord your God, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 35

The judg­ment of mount Seir, for their ha­tred of Is­rael.

35:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

35:2. Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and proph­esy con­cern­ing it, and say to it:

35:3. Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I come against thee, mount Seir, and I will stretch forth my hand up­on thee, and I will make thee des­olate and waste.

35:4. I will de­stroy thy cities, and thou shalt be des­olate: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

35:5. Be­cause thou hast been an ev­er­last­ing en­emy, and hast shut up the chil­dren of Is­rael in the hands of the sword in the time of their af­flic­tion, in the time of their last in­iq­ui­ty.

35:6. There­fore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will de­liv­er thee up to blood, and blood shall pur­sue thee: and where­as thou hast hat­ed blood, blood shall pur­sue thee.

35:7. And I will make mount Seir waste and des­olate: and I will take away from it him that goeth and him that re­tur­neth.

35:8. And I will fill his moun­tains with his men that are slain: in thy hills, and in thy val­leys, and in thy tor­rents they shall fall that are slain with the sword.

35:9. I will make thee ev­er­last­ing des­ola­tions, and thy cities shall not be in­hab­it­ed: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord God.

35:10. Be­cause thou hast said: The two na­tions, and the two lands shall be mine, and I will pos­sess them by in­her­itance: where­as the Lord was there.

35:11. There­fore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will do ac­cord­ing to thy wrath, and ac­cord­ing to thy en­vy, which thou hast ex­er­cised in ha­tred to them: and I will be made known by them, when I shall have judged thee.

35:12. And thou shalt know that I the Lord have heard all thy re­proach­es, that thou hast spo­ken against the moun­tains of Is­rael, say­ing. They are des­olate, they are giv­en to us to con­sume.

35:13. And you rose up against me with your mouth, and have dero­gat­ed from me by your words: I have heard them.

35:14. Thus saith the Lord God: When the whole earth shall re­joice, I will make thee a wilder­ness.

35:15. As thou hast re­joiced over the in­her­itance of the house of Is­rael, be­cause it was laid waste, so will I do to thee: thou shalt be laid waste, O mount Seir, and all Idumea: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 36

The restora­tion of Is­rael, not for their mer­its, but by God’s spe­cial grace. Christ’s bap­tism.

36:1. And thou son of man, proph­esy to the moun­tains of Is­rael, and say: Ye moun­tains of Is­rael, hear the word of the Lord:

36:2. Thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause the en­emy hath said to you: Aha, the ev­er­last­ing heights are giv­en to us for an in­her­itance.

36:3. There­fore proph­esy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause you have been des­olate, and trod­den un­der foot on ev­ery side, and made an in­her­itance to the rest of the na­tions, and are be­come the sub­ject of the talk, and the re­proach of the peo­ple:

36:4. There­fore, ye moun­tains of Is­rael, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God to the moun­tains, and to the hills, to the brooks, and to the val­leys, and to des­olate places, and ru­inous walls, and to the cities that are for­sak­en, that are spoiled, and de­rid­ed by the rest of the na­tions round about.

36:5. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: In the fire of my zeal I have spo­ken of the rest of the na­tions, and of all Edom, who have tak­en my land to them­selves, for an in­her­itance with joy, and with all the heart, and with the mind: and have cast it out to lay it waste.

36:6. Proph­esy there­fore con­cern­ing the land of Is­rael, and say to the moun­tains, and to the hills, to the ridges, and to the val­leys: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I have spo­ken in my zeal, and in my in­dig­na­tion, be­cause you have borne the shame of the Gen­tiles.

36:7. There­fore thus saith the Lord God: I have lift­ed up my hand, that the Gen­tiles who are round about you, shall them­selves bear their shame.

36:8. But as for you, O moun­tains of Is­rael, shoot ye forth your branch­es, and yield your fruit to my peo­ple of Is­rael: for they are at hand to come.

36:9. For I, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be ploughed and sown.

36:10. And I will mul­ti­ply men up­on you, and all the house of Is­rael: and the cities ball be in­hab­it­ed, and the ru­inous places shall be re­paired.

36:11. And I will make you abound with men and with beasts: and they shall be mul­ti­plied, and in­creased: and I will set­tle you as from the be­gin­ning, and will give you greater gifts, than you had from the be­gin­ning: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

36:12. And I will bring men up­on you, my peo­ple Is­rael, and they shall pos­sess thee for their in­her­itance: and thou shalt be their in­her­itance, and shalt no more hence­forth be with­out them.

36:13. Thus saith the Lord God: Be­cause thy say of you: Thou art a de­vour­er of men, and one that suf­fo­cat­est thy na­tion:

36:14. There­fore thou shalt de­vour men no more nor de­stroy thy na­tion any more, saith the Lord God.

36:15. Nei­ther will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the na­tions any more, nor shalt thou bear the re­proach of the peo­ple, nor lose thy na­tion any more, saith the Lord God.

Nor lose thy na­tion any more. . .This whole promise prin­ci­pal­ly re­lates to the church of Christ, and God’s per­pet­ual pro­tec­tion of her: for as the car­nal Jews, they have been re­moved out of their land these six­teen hun­dred years.

36:16. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

36:17. Son of man, when the house of Is­rael dwelt in their own land, they de­filed it with their ways, and with their do­ings: their way was be­fore me like the un­clean­ness of a men­stru­ous wom­an.

36:18. And I poured out my in­dig­na­tion up­on them for the blood which they had shed up­on the land, and with their idols they de­filed it.

36:19. And I scat­tered them among the na­tions, and they are dis­persed through the coun­tries: I have judged them ac­cord­ing to their ways, and their de­vices.

36:20. And when they en­tered among the na­tions whith­er they went, they pro­faned my holy name, when it was said of them: This is the peo­ple of the Lord, and they are come forth out of his land.

36:21. And I have re­gard­ed my own holy name, which the house of Is­rael hath pro­faned among the na­tions to which they went in.

36:22. There­fore thou shalt say to the house of Is­rael: Thus saith the Lord God: It is not for your sake that I will do this, O house of Is­rael, but for my holy name’s sake, which you have pro­faned among the na­tions whith­er you went.

36:23. And I will sanc­ti­fy my great name, which was pro­faned among the Gen­tiles, which you have pro­faned in the midst of them: that the Gen­tiles may know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord of hosts, when I shall be sanc­ti­fied in you be­fore their eyes.

36:24. For I will take you from among the Gen­tiles, and will gath­er you to­geth­er out of all the coun­tries, and will bring you in­to your own land.

36:25. And I will pour up­on you clean wa­ter, and you shall be cleansed from all your filth­iness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols.

36:26. And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spir­it with­in you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh.

36:27. And I will put my spir­it in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my com­mand­ments, and to keep my judg­ments, and do them.

36:28. And you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fa­thers, and you shall be my peo­ple, and I will be your God.

36:29. And I will save you from all your un­clean­ness­es: and I will call for corn, and will mul­ti­ply it, and will lay no famine up­on you.

36:30. And I will mul­ti­ply the fruit of the tree, and the in­crease of the field, that you bear no more the re­proach of famine among the na­tions.

36:31. And you shall re­mem­ber your wicked ways, and your do­ings that were not good: and your in­iq­ui­ties, and your wicked deeds shall dis­please you.

36:32. It is not for your sakes that I will do this, saith the Lord God, be it known to you: be con­found­ed, and ashamed at your own ways, O house of Is­rael.

36:33. Thus saith the Lord God: In the day that I shall cleanse you from all your in­iq­ui­ties, and shall cause the cities to be in­hab­it­ed, and shall re­pair the ru­inous places,

36:34. And the des­olate land shall be tilled, which be­fore was waste in the sight of all that passed by,

36:35. They shall say: This land that was un­tilled is be­come as a gar­den of plea­sure: and the cities that were aban­doned, and des­olate, and de­stroyed, are peo­pled and fenced.

36:36. And the na­tions, that shall be left round about you, shall know that I the Lord have built up what was de­stroyed, and plant­ed what was des­olate, that I the Lord have spo­ken and done it.

36:37. Thus saith the Lord God: More­over in this shall the house of Is­rael find me, that I will do it for them: I will mul­ti­ply them as a flock of men,

36:38. As a holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts: so shall the waste cities be full of flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 37

A vi­sion of the res­ur­rec­tion of dry bones, fore­shew­ing the de­liv­er­ance of the peo­ple from their cap­tiv­ity. Ju­da and Is­rael shall be all one king­dom un­der Christ. God’s ev­er­last­ing covenant with the church.

37:1. The hand of the Lord was up­on me, and brought me forth in the spir­it of the Lord: and set me down in the midst of a plain that was full of bones.

37:2. And he led me about through them on ev­ery side: now they were very many up­on the face of the plain, and they were ex­ceed­ing dry.

37:3. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou think these bones shall live and I an­swered: O Lord God, thou know­est.

37:4. And he said to me: Proph­esy con­cern­ing these bones; and say to them: Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

37:5. Thus saith the Lord God to these bones: Be­hold, I will send spir­it in­to you, and you shall live.

Spir­it. . .That is, soul, life, and breath.

37:6. And I will lay sinews up­on you, and will cause flesh to grow over you, and will cov­er you with skin: and I will give you spir­it and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

37:7. And I proph­esied as he had com­mand­ed me: and as I proph­esied there was a noise, and be­hold a com­mo­tion: and the bones came to­geth­er, each one, its joint.

37:8. And I saw, and be­hold the sinews, and the flesh came up up­on them: and the skin was stretched out over them, but there was no spir­it in them.

37:9. And he said to me: Proph­esy to the spir­it, proph­esy, O son of man, and say to the spir­it: Thus saith the Lord God: Come, spir­it, from the four winds, and blow up­on these slain, and let them live again.

37:10. And I proph­esied as he had com­mand­ed me: and the spir­it came in­to them, and they lived: and they stood up up­on their feet, an ex­ceed­ing great army.

37:11. And he said to me: Son of man: All these bones are the house of Is­rael: they say: Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost, and we are cut off.

37:12. There­fore proph­esy, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sepul­chres, O my peo­ple: and will bring you in­to the land of Is­rael.

37:13. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have opened your sepul­chres, and shall have brought you out of your graves, O my peo­ple:

37:14. And shall have put my spir­it in you, and you shall live, and I shall make you rest up­on your own land: and you shall know that I the Lord have spo­ken, and done it, saith the Lord God:

37:15. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

37:16. And thou son of man, take thee a stick: and write up­on it: Of Ju­da, and of the chil­dren of Is­rael his as­so­ciates: and take an­oth­er stick and write up­on it: For Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Is­rael, and of his as­so­ciates.

37:17. And join them one to the oth­er in­to one stick, and they shall be­come one in thy hand.

37:18. And when the chil­dren of thy peo­ple shall speak to thee, say­ing: Wilt thou not tell us what thou mean­est by this?

37:19. Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Is­rael that are as­so­ci­at­ed with him, and I will put them to­geth­er with the stick of Ju­da, and will make them one stick: and they shall be one in his hand.

37:20. And the sticks where­on thou hast writ­ten, shall be in thy hand, be­fore their eyes.

37:21. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold, I will take of the chil­dren of Is­rael from the midst of the na­tions whith­er they are gone: and I will gath­er them on ev­ery side, and will bring them to their own land.

37:22. And I will make them one na­tion in the land on the moun­tains of Is­rael, and one king shall be king over them all: and they shall no more be two na­tions, nei­ther shall they be di­vid­ed any more in­to two king­doms.

37:23. Nor shall they be de­filed any more with their idols, nor with their abom­ina­tions, nor with all their in­iq­ui­ties: and I will save them out of all the places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them: and they shall be my peo­ple, and I will be their God.

37:24. And my ser­vant David shall be king over them, and they shall have one shep­herd: they shall walk in my judg­ments, and shall keep my com­mand­ments, and shall do them.

37:25. And they shall dwell in the land which I gave to my ser­vant Ja­cob, where­in your fa­thers dwelt, and they shall dwell in it, they and their chil­dren, and their chil­dren’s chil­dren, for ev­er: and David my ser­vant shall be their prince for ev­er.

37:26. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an ev­er­last­ing covenant with them: and I will es­tab­lish them, and will mul­ti­ply them, and will set my sanc­tu­ary in the midst of them for ev­er.

37:27. And my taber­na­cle shall be with them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my peo­ple.

37:28. And the na­tions shall know that I am the Lord the sanc­ti­fi­er of Is­rael, when my sanc­tu­ary shall be in the midst of them for ev­er.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 38

Gog shall per­se­cute the church in the lat­ter days. He shall be over­thrown.

38:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, say­ing:

38:2. Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Ma­gog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal: and proph­esy of him,

Gog. . .This name, which sig­ni­fies hid­den or cov­ered, is tak­en in this place, ei­ther for the per­se­cu­tors of the church of God in gen­er­al, or some arch-​per­se­cu­tor in par­tic­ular: such as An­tichrist shall be in the lat­ter days. See Apoc. 20.8. And what is said of the pun­ish­ment of Gog, is ver­ified by the un­hap­py ends of per­se­cu­tors.–Ibid. Ma­gog. . .Scythia or Tar­tary, from whence the Turks, and oth­er en­emies of the church of Christ, orig­inal­ly sprung.

38:3. And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold, I come against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal.

38:4. And I will turn thee about, and I will put a bit in thy jaws: and I will bring thee forth, and all thy army, hors­es and horse­men all clothed with coats of mail, a great mul­ti­tude, armed with spears and shields and swords.

38:5. The Per­sians, Ethiopi­ans, and Libyans with them, all with shields and hel­mets.

38:6. Gomer, and all his bands, the house of Thogor­ma, the north­ern parts and all his strength, and many peo­ples with thee.

38:7. Pre­pare and make thy­self ready, and all thy mul­ti­tude that is as­sem­bled about thee, and be thou com­man­der over them.

38:8. Af­ter many days thou shalt be vis­it­ed: at the end of years thou shalt come to the land that is re­turned from the sword, and is gath­ered out of many na­tions, to the moun­tains of Is­rael which have been con­tin­ual­ly waste: but it hath been brought forth out of the na­tions, and they shall all of them dwell se­cure­ly in it.

38:9. And thou shalt go up and come like a storm, and like a cloud to cov­er the land, thou and all thy bands and many peo­ple with thee.

38:10. Thus saith the Lord God: In that day projects shall en­ter in­to thy heart, and thou shalt con­ceive a mis­chievous de­sign.

38:11. And thou shalt say: I will go up to the land which is with­out a wall, I will come to them that are at rest, and dwell se­cure­ly: all these dwell with­out a wall, they have no bars nor gates:

38:12. To take spoils, and lay hold on the prey, to lay thy hand up­on them that had been wast­ed, and af­ter­wards re­stored, and up­on the peo­ple that is gath­ered to­geth­er out of the na­tions, which hath be­gun to pos­sess and to dwell in the midst of the earth.

38:13. Sa­ba, and Dedan, and the mer­chants of Thar­sis, and all the li­ons there­of shall say to thee: Art thou come to take spoils? be­hold, thou hast gath­ered thy mul­ti­tude to take a prey, to take sil­ver, and gold, and to car­ry away goods and sub­stance, and to take rich spoils.

38:14. There­fore, thou son of man, proph­esy and say to Gog: Thus saith the Lord God: Shalt thou not know, in that day, when my peo­ple of Is­rael shall dwell se­cure­ly?

38:15. And thou shalt come out of thy place from the north­ern parts, thou and many peo­ple with thee, all of them rid­ing up­on hors­es, a great com­pa­ny and a mighty army.

38:16. And thou shalt come up­on my peo­ple of Is­rael like a cloud, to cov­er the earth. Thou shalt be in the lat­ter days, and I will bring thee up­on my land: that the na­tions may know me, when I shall be sanc­ti­fied in thee, O Gog, be­fore their eyes.

38:17. Thus saith the Lord God: Thou then art he, of whom I have spo­ken in the days of old, by my ser­vants the prophets of Is­rael, who proph­esied in the days of those times that I would bring thee up­on them.

38:18. And it shall come to pass in that day, in the day of the com­ing of Gog up­on the land of Is­rael, saith the Lord God, that my in­dig­na­tion shall come up in my wrath.

38:19. And I have spo­ken in my zeal, and in the fire of my anger, that in that day there shall be a great com­mo­tion up­on the land of Is­rael:

38:20. So that the fish­es of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and ev­ery creep­ing thing that creep­eth up­on the ground, and all men that are up­on the face of the earth, shall be moved at my pres­ence: and the moun­tains shall be thrown down, and the hedges shall fall, and ev­ery wall shall fall to the ground.

38:21. And I will call in the sword against him in all my moun­tains, saith the Lord God: ev­ery man’s sword shall be point­ed against his broth­er.

38:22. And I will judge him with pesti­lence, and with blood, and with vi­olent rain, and vast hail­stones: I will rain fire and brim­stone up­on him, and up­on his army, and up­on the many na­tions that are with him.

38:23. And I will be mag­ni­fied, and I will be sanc­ti­fied: and I will be known in the eyes of many na­tions and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 39

God’s judg­ments up­on Gog. God’s peo­ple were pun­ished for their sins: but shall be favoured with ev­er­last­ing kind­ness.

39:1. And thou, son of man, proph­esy against Gog, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Be­hold, I come against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Mosoch and Thubal.

39:2. And I will turn thee round, and I will lead thee out, and will make thee go up from the north­ern parts: and will bring thee up­on the moun­tains of Is­rael.

39:3. And I will break thy bow in thy left hand, and I will cause thy ar­rows to fall out of thy right hand.

39:4. Thou shalt fall up­on the moun­tains of Is­rael, thou and all thy bands, and thy na­tions that are with thee: I have giv­en thee to the wild beasts, to the birds, and to ev­ery fowl, and to the beasts of the earth to be de­voured.

39:5. Thou shalt fall up­on the face of the field: for I have spo­ken it, saith the Lord God.

39:6. And I will send a fire on Ma­gog, and on them that dwell con­fi­dent­ly in the is­lands: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

39:7. And I will make my holy name known in the midst of my peo­ple Is­rael, and my holy name shall be pro­faned no more: and the Gen­tiles shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Is­rael.

39:8. Be­hold it cometh, and it is done, saith the Lord God: this is the day where­of I have spo­ken.

39:9. And the in­hab­itants shall go forth of the cities of Is­rael, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, the shields, and the spears, the bows and the ar­rows, and the hand­staves and the pikes: and they shall burn them with fire sev­en years.

39:10. And they shall not bring wood out of the coun­tries, nor cut down out of the forests: for they shall burn the weapons with fire, and shall make a prey of them to whom they had been a prey, and they shall rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God.

39:11. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give Gog a not­ed place for a sepul­chre in Is­rael: the val­ley of the pas­sen­gers on the east of the sea, which shall cause as­ton­ish­ment in them that pass by: and there shall they bury Gog, and all his mul­ti­tude, and it shall be called the val­ley of the mul­ti­tude of Gog.

39:12. And the house of Is­rael shall bury them for sev­en months to cleanse the land.

39:13. And all the peo­ple of the land shall bury him, and it shall be un­to them a not­ed day, where­in I was glo­ri­fied, saith the Lord God.

39:14. And they shall ap­point men to go con­tin­ual­ly about the land, to bury and to seek out them that were re­main­ing up­on the face of the earth, that they may cleanse it: and af­ter sev­en months they shall be­gin to seek.

39:15. And they shall go about pass­ing through the land: and when they shall see the bone of a man, they shall set up sign by it, till the buri­ers bury it in the val­ley, of the mul­ti­tude of Gog.

39:16. And the name of the city shall be Amona, and they shall cleanse the land.

39:17. And thou, O son of man, saith the Lord God, say to ev­ery fowl, and to all the birds, and to all the beasts of the field: As­sem­ble your­selves, make haste, come to­geth­er from ev­ery side to my vic­tim, which I slay for you, a great vic­tim up­on the moun­tains of Is­rael: to eat flesh, and drink blood.

39:18. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and you shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, and of lambs, and of he goats, and bul­locks, and of all that are well fed and fat.

39:19. And you shall eat the fat till you be full, and shall drink blood till you be drunk of the vic­tim which I shall slay for you.

39:20. And you shall be filled at my ta­ble with hors­es, and mighty horse­men, and all the men of war, saith the Lord God.

39:21. And I will set my glo­ry among the na­tions: and all na­tions shall see my judg­ment that I have ex­ecut­ed, and my hand that I have laid up­on them.

39:22. And the house of Is­rael shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and for­ward.

39:23. And the na­tions shall know that the house of Is­rael were made cap­tives for their in­iq­ui­ty, be­cause they for­sook me, and I hid my face from them: and I de­liv­ered them in­to the hands of their en­emies, and they fell all by the sword.

39:24. I have dealt with them ac­cord­ing to their un­clean­ness, and wicked­ness, and hid my face from them.

39:25. There­fore, thus saith the Lord God: Now will I bring back the cap­tiv­ity of Ja­cob, and will have mer­cy on all the house of Is­rael and I will be jeal­ous for my holy name.

39:26. And they shall bear their con­fu­sion, and all the trans­gres­sions where­with they have trans­gressed against me, when they shall dwell in their land se­cure­ly fear­ing no man:

39:27. And I shall have brought them back from among the na­tions, and shall have gath­ered them to­geth­er out of the lands of their en­emies, and shall be sanc­ti­fied in them, in the sight of many na­tions.

39:28. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, be­cause I caused them to be car­ried away among the na­tions; and I have gath­ered them to­geth­er un­to their own land, and have not left any of them there.

39:29. And I will hide my face no more from them, for I have poured out my spir­it up­on all the house of Is­rael, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 40

The prophet sees in a vi­sion the re­build­ing of the tem­ple: the di­men­sions of sev­er­al parts there­of.

40:1. In the five and twen­ti­eth year of our cap­tiv­ity, in the be­gin­ning of the year, the tenth day of the month, the four­teenth year af­ter the city was de­stroyed: in the self­same day the hand of the Lord was up­on me, and he brought me thith­er.

40:2. In the vi­sions of God he brought me in­to the land of Is­rael, and set me up­on a very high moun­tain: up­on which there was as the build­ing of a city, bend­ing to­wards the south.

40:3. And he brought me in thith­er, and be­hold a man, whose ap­pear­ance was like the ap­pear­ance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a mea­sur­ing reed in his hand, and he stood in the gate.

40:4. And this man said to me: Son of man, see with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears, and set thy heart up­on all that I shall shew thee: for thou art brought hith­er that they may be shewn to thee: de­clare all that thou seest, to the house of Is­rael.

40:5. And be­hold there was a wall on the out­side of the house round about, and in the man’s hand a mea­sur­ing reed of six cu­bits and a hand­breadth: and he mea­sured the breadth of the build­ing one reed, and the height one reed.

40:6. And he came to the gate that looked to­ward the east, and he went up the steps there­of: and he mea­sured the breadth of the thresh­old of the gate one reed, that is, one thresh­old was one reed broad;

40:7. And ev­ery lit­tle cham­ber was one reed long, and one reed broad: and be­tween the lit­tle cham­bers were five cu­bits:

40:8. And the thresh­old of the gate by the porch of the gate with­in, was one reed.

40:9. And he mea­sured the porch of the gate eight cu­bits, and the front there­of two cu­bits: and the porch of the gate was in­ward.

40:10. And the lit­tle cham­bers of the gate that looked east­ward were three on this side, and three on that side: all three were of one mea­sure, and the fronts of one mea­sure, on both parts.

40:11. And he mea­sured the breadth of the thresh­old of the gate ten cu­bits: and the length of the gate thir­teen cu­bits:

40:12. And the bor­der be­fore the lit­tle cham­bers one cu­bit: and one cu­bit was the bor­der on both sides: and the lit­tle cham­bers were six cu­bits on this side and that side.

40:13. And he mea­sured the gate from the roof of one lit­tle cham­ber to the roof of an­oth­er, in breadth five and twen­ty cu­bits: door against door.

40:14. He made al­so fronts of six­ty cu­bits: and to the front the court of the gate on ev­ery side round about.

40:15. And be­fore the face of the gate which reached even to the face of the porch of the in­ner gate, fifty cu­bits.

40:16. And slant­ing win­dows in the lit­tle cham­bers, and in their fronts, which were with­in the gate on ev­ery side round about: and in like man­ner there were al­so in the porch­es win­dows round about with­in, and be­fore the fronts the rep­re­sen­ta­tion of palm trees.

40:17. And he brought me in­to the out­ward court, and be­hold there were cham­bers, and a pave­ment of stone in the court round about: thir­ty cham­bers en­com­passed the pave­ment.

There were cham­bers. . .Gazo­phy­la­cia, so called, be­cause the priests and Levites kept in them the stores and ves­sels that be­longed to the tem­ple.

40:18. And the pave­ment in the front of the gates ac­cord­ing to the length of the gates was low­er.

40:19. And he mea­sured the breadth from the face of the low­er gate to the front of the in­ner court with­out, a hun­dred cu­bits to the east, and to the north.

40:20. He mea­sured al­so both the length and the breadth of the gate of the out­ward court, which looked north­ward.

40:21. And the lit­tle cham­bers there­of three on this side, and three on that side: and the front there­of, and the porch there­of ac­cord­ing to the mea­sure of the for­mer gate, fifty cu­bits long, and five and twen­ty cu­bits broad.

40:22. And the win­dows there­of, and the porch, and the grav­ings ac­cord­ing to the mea­sure of the gate that looked to the east, and they went up to it by sev­en steps, and a porch was be­fore it.

40:23. And the gate of the in­ner court was over against the gate of the north, and that of the east: and he mea­sured from gate to gate a hun­dred cu­bits.

40:24. And he brought me out to the way of the south, and be­hold the gate that looked to the south: and he mea­sured the front there­of, and the porch there­of ac­cord­ing to the for­mer mea­sures.

40:25. And the win­dows there­of, and the porch­es round about, as the oth­er win­dows: the length was fifty cu­bits, and the breadth five and twen­ty cu­bits.

40:26. And there were sev­en steps to go up to it: and a porch be­fore the doors there­of: and there were graven palm trees, one on this side, and an­oth­er on that side in the front there­of.

40:27. And there was a gate of the in­ner court to­wards the south: and he mea­sured from gate to gate to­wards the south, a hun­dred cu­bits.

40:28. And he brought me in­to the in­ner court at the south gate: and he mea­sured the gate ac­cord­ing to the for­mer mea­sures.

40:29. The lit­tle cham­ber there­of, and the front there­of, and the porch there­of with the same mea­sures: and the win­dows there­of, and the porch there­of round about it was fifty cu­bits in length, and five and twen­ty cu­bits in breadth.

40:30. And the porch round about was five and twen­ty cu­bits long, and five cu­bits broad.

40:31. And the porch there­of to the out­ward court, and the palm trees there­of in the front: and there were eight steps to go up to it.

40:32. And he brought me in­to the in­ner court by the way of the east: and he mea­sured the gate ac­cord­ing to the for­mer mea­sures.

40:33. The lit­tle cham­ber there­of, and the front there­of, and the porch there­of as be­fore: and the win­dows there­of, and the porch­es there­of round about it was fifty cu­bits long, and five and twen­ty cu­bits broad.

40:34. And the porch there­of, that is, of the out­ward court: and the graven palm trees in the front there­of on this side and on that side: and the go­ing up there­of was by eight steps.

40:35. And he brought me in­to the gate that looked to the north: and he mea­sured ac­cord­ing to the for­mer mea­sures.

40:36. The lit­tle cham­ber there­of, and the front there­of, and the porch there­of, and the win­dows there­of round about it was fifty cu­bits long, and five and twen­ty cu­bits broad.

40:37. And the porch there­of looked to the out­ward court: and the grav­ing of palm trees in the front there­of was on this side and on that side: and the go­ing up to it was by eight steps.

40:38. And at ev­ery cham­ber was a door in the fore­fronts of the gates: there they washed the holo­caust.

40:39. And in the porch of the gate were two ta­bles on this side, and two ta­bles on that side: that the holo­caust, and the sin of­fer­ing, and the tres­pass of­fer­ing might be slain there­on.

40:40. And on the out­ward side, which goeth up to the en­try of the gate that looketh to­ward the north, were two ta­bles: and at the oth­er side be­fore the porch of the gate were two ta­bles,

40:41. Four ta­bles were on this side, and four ta­bles on that side at the sides of the gate were eight ta­bles, up­on which they slew the vic­tims.

40:42. And the four ta­bles for the holo­causts were made of square stones: one cu­bit and a half long, and one cu­bit and a half broad, and one cu­bit high: to lay the ves­sels up­on, in which the holo­caust and the vic­tim is slain.

40:43. And the bor­ders of them were of one hand­breadth, turned in­wards round about: and up­on the ta­bles was the flesh of the of­fer­ing.

40:44. And with­out the in­ner gate were the cham­bers of the singing men in the in­ner court, which was on the side of the gate that looketh to the north: and their prospect was to­wards the south, one at the side of the east gate, which looketh to­ward the north.

40:45. And he said to me: This cham­ber, which looketh to­ward the south shall be for the priests that watch in the wards of the tem­ple.

40:46. But the cham­ber that looketh to­wards the north shall be for the priests that watch over the min­istry of the al­tar. These are the sons of Sadoc, who among the sons of Levi, come near to the Lord, to min­is­ter to him.

40:47. And he mea­sured the court a hun­dred cu­bits long, and a hun­dred cu­bits broad foursquare: and the al­tar that was be­fore the face of the tem­ple.

40:48. And he brought me in­to the porch of the tem­ple: and he mea­sured the porch five cu­bits on this side, and five cu­bits on that side: and the breadth of the gate three cu­bits on this side, and three cu­bits on that side.

40:49. And the length of the porch was twen­ty cu­bits, and the breadth eleven cu­bits, and there were eight steps to go up to it. And there were pil­lars in the fronts: one on this side, and an­oth­er on that side.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 41

A de­scrip­tion of the tem­ple, and of all the parts of it.

41:1. And he brought me in­to the tem­ple, and he mea­sured the fronts six cu­bits broad on this side, and six cu­bits on that side, the breadth of the taber­na­cle.

The tem­ple. . .This plan of a tem­ple, which was here shewn to the prophet in a vi­sion, part­ly had re­la­tion to the ma­te­ri­al tem­ple, which was to be re­built: and part­ly, in a mys­ti­cal sense, to the spir­itu­al tem­ple of God, the church of Christ.

41:2. And the breadth of the gate was ten cu­bits: and the sides of the gate five cu­bits on this side, and five cu­bits on that side: and he mea­sured the length there­of forty cu­bits, and the breadth twen­ty cu­bits.

41:3. Then go­ing in­ward he mea­sured the front of the gate two cu­bits: and the gate six cu­bits, and the breadth of the gate sev­en cu­bits.

41:4. And he mea­sured the length there­of twen­ty cu­bits, and the breadth twen­ty cu­bits, be­fore the face of the tem­ple: and he said to me: This is the holy of holies.

41:5. And he mea­sured the wall of the house six cu­bits: and the breadth of ev­ery side cham­ber four cu­bits round about the house on ev­ery side.

41:6. And the side cham­bers one by an­oth­er, were twice thir­ty-​three: and they bore out­wards, that they might en­ter in through the wall of the house in the sides round about, to hold in, and not to touch the wall of the tem­ple.

One by an­oth­er. . .Or one over an­oth­er; lit­er­al­ly, side to side, or side up­on side.

41:7. And there was a broad pas­sage round about, go­ing up by wind­ing stairs, and it led in­to the up­per loft of the tem­ple all round: there­fore was the tem­ple broad­er in the high­er parts: and so from the low­er parts they went to the high­er by the midst.

41:8. And I saw in the house the height round about, the foun­da­tions of the side cham­bers which were the mea­sure of a reed the space of six cu­bits:

41:9. And the thick­ness of the wall for the side cham­ber with­out, which was five cu­bits: and the in­ner house was with­in the side cham­bers of the house,

And the in­ner house was with­in the side cham­bers of the house. . .Be­cause these side cham­bers were in the very walls of the tem­ple all round. Or, it may al­so be ren­dered (more agree­ably to the He­brew) so as to sig­ni­fy that the thick­ness of the wall for the side cham­ber with­in, was the same as that of the wall with­out; that is, equal­ly five cu­bits.

41:10. And be­tween the cham­bers was the breadth of twen­ty cu­bits round about the house on ev­ery side.

41:11. And the door of the side cham­bers was turned to­wards the place of prayer: one door was to­ward the north, and an­oth­er door was to­ward the south: and the breadth of the place for prayer, was five cu­bits round about.

41:12. And the build­ing that was sep­arate, and turned to the way that looked to­ward the sea, was sev­en­ty cu­bits broad and the wall of the build­ing, five cu­bits thick round about: and nine­ty cu­bits long.

41:13. And he mea­sured the length of the house, a hun­dred cu­bits: and the sep­arate build­ing, and the walls there­of, a hun­dred cu­bits in length.

41:14. And the breadth be­fore the face of the house, and of the sep­arate place to­ward the east, a hun­dred cu­bits.

41:15. And he mea­sured the length of the build­ing over against it, which was sep­arat­ed at the back of it: and the gal­leries on both sides a hun­dred cu­bits: and the in­ner tem­ple, and the porch­es of the court.

41:16. The thresh­olds, and the oblique win­dows, and the gal­leries round about on three sides, over against the thresh­old of ev­ery one, and floored with wood all round about: and the ground was up to the win­dows, and the win­dows were shut over the doors.

41:17. And even to the in­ner house, and with­out all the wall round about with­in and with­out, by mea­sure.

41:18. And there were cheru­bims and palm trees wrought, so that a palm tree was be­tween a cherub and a cherub, and ev­ery cherub had two faces.

41:19. The face of a man was to­ward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a li­on was to­ward the palm tree on the oth­er side: set forth through all the house round about.

41:20. From the ground even to the up­per parts of the gate, were cheru­bims and palm trees wrought in the wall of the tem­ple.

41:21. The thresh­old was foursquare, and the face of the sanc­tu­ary sight to sight.

The thresh­old was foursquare. . .That is, the gate of the tem­ple was foursquare: and so placed as to an­swer the gate of the sanc­tu­ary with­in.

41:22. The al­tar of wood was three cu­bits high: and the length there­of was two cu­bits: and the cor­ners there­of, aid the length there­of, and the walls there­of, were of wood. And he said to me: This is the ta­ble be­fore the Lord.

41:23. And there were two doors in the tem­ple, and in the sanc­tu­ary.

41:24. And in the two doors on both sides were two lit­tle doors, which were fold­ed with­in each oth­er: for there were two wick­ets on both sides of the doors.

41:25. And there were cheru­bims al­so wrought in the doors of the tem­ple, and the fig­ures of palm trees, like as were made on the walls: for which cause al­so the planks were thick­er in the front of the porch with­out.

41:26. Up­on which were the oblique win­dows, and the rep­re­sen­ta­tion of palm trees on this side, and on that side in the sides of the porch, ac­cord­ing to the sides of the house, and the breadth of the walls.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 42

A de­scrip­tion of the courts, cham­bers, and oth­er places be­long­ing to the tem­ple.

42:1. And he brought me forth in­to the out­ward court by the way that lead­eth to the north, and he brought me in­to the cham­ber that was over against the sep­arate build­ing, and over against the house to­ward the north.

42:2. In the face of the north door was the length of hun­dred cu­bits, and the breadth of fifty cu­bits.

42:3. Over against the twen­ty cu­bits of the in­ner court, and over against the pave­ment of the out­ward court that was paved with stone, where there was a gallery joined to a triple gallery.

42:4. And be­fore the cham­bers was a walk ten cu­bits broad, look­ing to the in­ner parts of a way of one cu­bit. And their doors were to­ward the north.

42:5. Where were the store cham­bers low­er above: be­cause they bore up the gal­leries, which ap­peared above out of them from he low­er parts, and from the midst of the build­ing.

42:6. For they were of three sto­ries, and had not pil­lars, as the pil­lars of the courts: there­fore did they ap­pear above out of the low­er places, and out of the mid­dle places, fifty cu­bits from the ground.

42:7. And the out­ward wall that went about by the cham­bers, which were to­wards the out­ward court on the forepart of the cham­bers, was fifty cu­bits long.

42:8. For the length of the cham­bers of the out­ward court was fifty cu­bits: and the length be­fore the face of the tem­ple, a hun­dred cu­bits.

42:9. And there was un­der these cham­bers, an en­trance from the east, for them that went in­to them out of the out­ward court.

42:10. In the breadth of the out­ward wall of the court that was to­ward the east, over against the sep­arate build­ing, and there were cham­bers be­fore the build­ing.

42:11. And the way be­fore them was like the cham­bers which were to­ward the north: they were as long as they, and as broad as they: and all the go­ing in to them, and their fash­ions, and their doors were alike.

42:12. Ac­cord­ing to the doors of the cham­bers that were to­wards the south: there was a door in the head of the way, which way was be­fore the porch, sep­arat­ed to­wards the east as one en­tereth in.

42:13. And he said to me: The cham­bers of the north, and the cham­bers of the south, which are be­fore the sep­arate build­ing: they are holy cham­bers, in which the priests shall eat, that ap­proach to the Lord in­to the holy of holies: there they shall lay the most holy things, and the of­fer­ing for sin, and for tres­pass: for it is a holy place.

42:14. And when the priests shall have en­tered in, they shall not go out of the holy places in­to the out­ward court: but there they shall lay their vest­ments, where­in they min­is­ter, for they are holy: and they shall put on oth­er gar­ments, and so they shall go forth to the peo­ple.

42:15. Now when he had made an end of mea­sur­ing the in­ner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate that looked to­ward the east: and he mea­sured it on ev­ery side round about.

42:16. And he mea­sured to­ward the east with the mea­sur­ing reed, five hun­dred reeds with the mea­sur­ing reed round about.

42:17. And he mea­sured to­ward the north five hun­dred reeds with the mea­sur­ing reed round about.

42:18. And to­wards the south he mea­sured five hun­dred reeds with the mea­sur­ing reed round about.

42:19. And to­ward the west he mea­sured five hun­dred reeds, with the mea­sur­ing reed.

42:20. By the four winds he mea­sured the wall there­of on ev­ery side round about, five hun­dred cu­bits and five hun­dred cu­bits broad, mak­ing a sep­ara­tion be­tween the sanc­tu­ary and the place of the peo­ple.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 43

The glo­ry of God re­turns to the new tem­ple. The Is­raelites shall no more pro­fane God’s name by idol­atry: the prophet is com­mand­ed to shew them the di­men­sions, and form of the tem­ple, and of the al­tar, with the sac­ri­fices to be of­fered there­on.

43:1. And he brought me to the gate that looked to­wards the east.

43:2. And be­hold the glo­ry of the God of Is­rael came in by the way of the east: and his voice was like the noise of many wa­ters, and the earth shone with his majesty.

43:3. And I saw the vi­sion ac­cord­ing to the ap­pear­ance which I had seen when he came to de­stroy the city: and the ap­pear­ance was ac­cord­ing to the vi­sion which I had seen by the riv­er Cho­bar: and I fell up­on my face.

43:4. And the majesty of the Lord went in­to the tem­ple by the way of the gate that looked to the east.

43:5. And the spir­it lift­ed me up and brought me in­to the in­ner court: and be­hold the house was filled with the glo­ry of the Lord.

43:6. And I heard one speak­ing to me out of the house, and the man that stood by me,

43:7. Said to me: Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I dwell in the midst of the chil­dren of Is­rael for ev­er: and the house of Is­rael shall no more pro­fane my holy name, they and their kings by their for­ni­ca­tions, and by the car­cass­es of their kings, and by the high places.

43:8. They who have set their thresh­old by my thresh­old, and their posts by my posts: and there was but a wall be­tween me, and them: and they pro­faned my holy name by the abom­ina­tions which they com­mit­ted: for which rea­son I con­sumed them in my wrath.

43:9. Now there­fore let them put away their for­ni­ca­tions, and the car­cass­es of their kings far from me: and I will dwell in the midst of them for ev­er.

43:10. But thou, son of man, shew to the house of Is­rael the tem­ple, and let them be ashamed of their in­iq­ui­ties, and let them mea­sure the build­ing:

43:11. And be ashamed of all that they have done. Shew them the form of the house, and of the fash­ion there­of, the go­ings out and the com­ings in, and the whole plan there­of, and all its or­di­nances, and all its or­der, and all its laws, and thou shalt write it in their sight: that they may keep the whole form there­of, and its or­di­nances, and do them.

43:12. This is the law of the house up­on the top of the moun­tain: All its bor­der round about; most holy: this then is the law of the house.

43:13. And these are the mea­sures of the al­tar by the truest cu­bit, which is a cu­bit and a hand­breadth: the bot­tom there­of was a cu­bit, and the breadth a cu­bit: and the bor­der there­of un­to its edge, and round about, one hand­breadth: and this was the trench of the al­tar.

43:14. And from the bot­tom of the ground to the low­est brim two cu­bits, and the breadth of one cu­bit: and from the less­er brim to the greater brim four cu­bits, and the breadth of one cu­bit.

43:15. And the Ariel it­self was four cu­bits: and from the Ariel up­ward were four horns.

The Ariel. . .That is, the al­tar it­self, or rather the high­est part of it, up­on which the burnt of­fer­ings were laid. In the He­brew it is Harel, that is, the moun­tain of God: but in the fol­low­ing verse Haariel, that is, the li­on of God; a fig­ure, from its con­sum­ing, and as it were de­vour­ing the sac­ri­fices, as a li­on de­vours its prey.

43:16. And the Ariel was twelve cu­bits long, and twelve cu­bits broad, foursquare, with equal sides.

43:17. And the brim was four­teen cu­bits long, and four­teen cu­bits broad in the four cor­ners there­of: and the crown round about it was half a cu­bit, and the bot­tom of it one cu­bit round about: and its steps turned to­ward the east.

43:18. And he said to me: Son of man, thus saith the Lord God: These are the cer­emonies of the al­tar, in what day so­ev­er it shall be made: that holo­causts may be of­fered up­on it, and blood poured out.

43:19. And thou shalt give to the priests, and the Levites, that are of the race of Sadoc, who ap­proach to me, saith the Lord God, to of­fer to me a calf of the herd for sin.

43:20. And thou shalt take of his blood, and shalt put it up­on the four horns there­of, and up­on the four cor­ners of the brim, and up­on the crown round about: and thou shalt cleanse, and ex­pi­ate it.

43:21. And thou shalt take the calf, that is of­fered for sin: and thou shalt burn him in a sep­arate place of the house with­out the sanc­tu­ary.

43:22. And in the sec­ond day thou shalt of­fer a he goat with­out blem­ish for sin: and they shall ex­pi­ate the al­tar, as they ex­pi­at­ed it with the calf.

43:23. And when thou shalt have made an end of the ex­pi­ation there­of, thou shalt of­fer a calf of the herd with­out blem­ish, and a ram of the flock with­out blem­ish.

43:24. And thou shalt of­fer them in the sight of the Lord, and the priests shall put salt up­on them, and shall of­fer them a holo­caust to the Lord.

43:25. Sev­en days shalt thou of­fer a he goat for sin dai­ly: they shall of­fer al­so a calf of the herd, and a ram of the flock with­out blem­ish.

43:26. Sev­en days shall they ex­pi­ate the al­tar, and shall cleanse it: and they shall con­se­crate it.

Con­se­crate it. . .Lit­er­al­ly, fill its hand, that is, ded­icate and ap­ply it to holy ser­vice.

43:27. And the days be­ing ex­pired, on the eighth day and thence­for­ward, the priests shall of­fer your holo­causts up­on the al­tar, and the peace of­fer­ings: and I will be paci­fied to­wards you, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 44

The east gate of the sanc­tu­ary shall be al­ways shut. The un­cir­cum­cised shall not en­ter in­to the sanc­tu­ary: nor the Levites that have served idols: but the sons of Sadoc shall do the priest­ly func­tions, who stood firm in the worst of times.

44:1. And he brought me back to the way of the gate of the out­ward sanc­tu­ary, which looked to­wards the east: and it was shut.

44:2. And the Lord said to me: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it: be­cause the Lord the God of Is­rael hath en­tered in by it, and it shall be shut

44:3. For the prince. The prince him­self shall sit in it, to eat bread be­fore the Lord: he shall en­ter in by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the same way.

44:4. And he brought me by the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house: and I saw, and be­hold the glo­ry of the Lord filled the house of the Lord: and I fell on my face.

44:5. And the Lord said to me: Son of man, at­tend with thy heart and be­hold with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears, all that I say to thee con­cern­ing all the cer­emonies of the house of the Lord, and con­cern­ing all the laws there­of: and mark well the ways of the tem­ple, with all the go­ings out of the sanc­tu­ary.

44:6. And thou shalt say to the house of Is­rael that pro­voketh me: Thus saith the Lord God: Let all your wicked do­ings suf­fice you, O house of Is­rael:

44:7. In that you have brought in strangers un­cir­cum­cised in heart, and un­cir­cum­cised in flesh, to be in my sanc­tu­ary, and to de­file my house: and you of­fer my bread, the fat, and the blood: and you have bro­ken my covenant by all your wicked do­ings.

44:8. And you have not kept the or­di­nances of my sanc­tu­ary: but you have set keep­ers of my charge in my sanc­tu­ary for your­selves.

44:9. Thus saith the Lord God: No stranger un­cir­cum­cised in heart, and un­cir­cum­cised in flesh, shall en­ter in­to my sanc­tu­ary, no stranger that is in the midst of the chil­dren of Is­rael.

44:10. More­over the Levites that went away far from me, when the chil­dren of Is­rael went astray, and have wan­dered from me af­ter their idols, and have borne their in­iq­ui­ty:

44:11. They shall be of­fi­cers in my sanc­tu­ary, and door­keep­ers of the gates of the house, and min­is­ters to the house: they shall slay the holo­causts, and the vic­tims of the peo­ple: and they shall stand in their sight, to min­is­ter to them.

44:12. Be­cause they min­is­tered to them be­fore their idols, and were a stum­bling­block of in­iq­ui­ty to the house of Is­rael: there­fore have I lift­ed up my hand against them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their in­iq­ui­ty:

44:13. And they shall not come near to me, to do the of­fice of priest to me, nei­ther shall they come near to any of my holy things that are by the holy of holies: but they shall bear their shame, and their wicked­ness­es which they have com­mit­ted.

44:14. And I will make them door­keep­ers of the house, for all the ser­vice there­of, and for all that shall be done there­in.

44:15. But the priests, and Levites, the sons of Sadoc, who kept the cer­emonies of my sanc­tu­ary, when the chil­dren of Is­rael went astray from me, they shall come near to me, to min­is­ter to me: and they shall stand be­fore me, to of­fer me the fat, and the blood, saith the Lord God.

44:16. They shall en­ter in­to my sanc­tu­ary, and they shall come near to my ta­ble, to min­is­ter un­to me, and to keep my cer­emonies.

44:17. And when they shall en­ter in at the gates of the in­ner court, they shall be clothed with linen gar­ments: nei­ther shall any woollen come up­on them, when they min­is­ter in the gates of the in­ner court and with­in.

44:18. They shall have linen mitres on their heads, and linen breech­es on their loins, and they shall not be gird­ed with any thing that causeth sweat.

44:19. And when they shall go forth to the out­ward court to the peo­ple, they shall put off their gar­ments where­in they min­is­tered, and lay them up in the store cham­ber of the sanc­tu­ary, and they shall clothe them­selves with oth­er gar­ments: and they shall not sanc­ti­fy the peo­ple with their vest­ments.

Shall not sanc­ti­fy the peo­ple with their vest­ments. . .By ex­pos­ing them to the dan­ger of touch­ing the sa­cred vest­ments, which none were to touch but they that were sanc­ti­fied.

44:20. Nei­ther shall they shave their heads, nor wear long hair: but they shall on­ly poll their heads.

44:21. And no priest shall drink wine when he is to go in­to the in­ner court.

44:22. Nei­ther shall they take to wife a wid­ow, nor one that is di­vorced, but they shall take vir­gins of the seed of the house of Is­rael: but they may take a wid­ow al­so, that is, the wid­ow of a priest.

44:23. And they shall teach my peo­ple the dif­fer­ence be­tween holy and pro­fane, and shew them how to dis­cern be­tween clean and un­clean.

44:24. And when there shall be a con­tro­ver­sy, they shall stand in my judg­ments, and shall judge: they shall keep my laws, and my or­di­nances in all my solem­ni­ties, and sanc­ti­fy my sab­baths.

44:25. And they shall come near no dead per­son, lest they be de­filed, on­ly their fa­ther and moth­er, and son and daugh­ter, and broth­er and sis­ter, that hath not had an­oth­er hus­band: for whom they may be­come un­clean.

44:26. And af­ter one is cleansed, they shall reck­on un­to him sev­en days.

44:27. And in the day that he goeth in­to the sanc­tu­ary, to the in­ner court, to min­is­ter un­to me in the sanc­tu­ary, he shall of­fer for his sin, saith the Lord God.

44:28. And they shall have no in­her­itance, I am their in­her­itance: nei­ther shall you give them any pos­ses­sion in Is­rael, for I am their pos­ses­sion.

44:29. They shall eat the vic­tim both for sin and for tres­pass: and ev­ery vowed thing in Is­rael shall be theirs.

30. And the first­fruits of all the first­born, and all the li­ba­tions of all things that are of­fered, shall be the priest’s: and you shall give the first­fruits of your meats to the priest, that he may re­turn a bless­ing up­on thy house.

44:31. The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of it­self or caught by a beast, whether it be fowl or cat­tle.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 45

Por­tions of land for the sanc­tu­ary, for the city, and for the prince. Or­di­nances for the prince.

45:1. And when you shall be­gin to di­vide the land by lot, sep­arate ye first­fruits to the Lord, a por­tion of the land to be holy, in length twen­ty-​five thou­sand and in breadth ten thou­sand: it shall be holy in all the bor­ders there­of round about.

Twen­ty-​five thou­sand. . .Viz., reeds or cu­bits.

45:2. And there shall be for the sanc­tu­ary on ev­ery side five hun­dred by five hun­dred, foursquare round about: and fifty cu­bits for the sub­urbs there­of round about.

45:3. And with this mea­sure thou shalt mea­sure the length of five and twen­ty thou­sand, and the breadth of ten thou­sand, and in it shall be the tem­ple and the holy of holies.

45:4. The holy por­tion of the land shall be for the priests the min­is­ters of the sanc­tu­ary, who come near to the min­istry of the Lord: and it shall be a place for their hous­es, and for the holy place of the sanc­tu­ary.

45:5. And five and twen­ty thou­sand of length, and ten thou­sand of breadth shall be for the Levites, that min­is­ter in the house: they shall pos­sess twen­ty store cham­bers.

45:6. And you shall ap­point the pos­ses­sion of the city five thou­sand broad, and five and twen­ty thou­sand long, ac­cord­ing to the sep­ara­tion of the sanc­tu­ary, for the whole house of Is­rael.

45:7. For the prince al­so on the one side and on the oth­er side, ac­cord­ing to the sep­ara­tion of the sanc­tu­ary, and ac­cord­ing to the pos­ses­sion of the city, over against the sep­ara­tion of the sanc­tu­ary, and over against the pos­ses­sion of the city: from the side of the sea even to the sea, and from the side of the east even to the east. And the length ac­cord­ing to ev­ery part from the west bor­der to the east bor­der.

45:8. He shall have a por­tion of the land in Is­rael: and the princes shall no more rob my peo­ple: but they shall give the land to the house of Is­rael ac­cord­ing to their tribes:

45:9. Thus saith the Lord God: Let it suf­fice you, O princes of Is­rael: cease from in­iq­ui­ty and rob­beries, and ex­ecute judg­ment and jus­tice, sep­arate your con­fines from my peo­ple, saith the Lord God.

45:10. You shall have just bal­ances, and a just ephi, and a just bate.

45:11. The ephi and the bate shall be equal, and of one mea­sure: that the bate may con­tain the tenth part of a core, and the ephi the tenth part of a core: their weight shall be equal ac­cord­ing to the mea­sure of a core.

The ephi and the bate. . .These mea­sures were of equal ca­pac­ity, but the bate served for liq­uids, and the ephi for dry things.

45:12. And the sicle hath twen­ty obols. Now twen­ty sicles, and five and twen­ty sicles, and fif­teen sicles, make a mna,

45:13. And these are the first­fruits, which you shall take: the sixth part of an ephi of a core of wheat, and the sixth part of an ephi of a core of bar­ley.

45:14. The mea­sure of oil al­so, a bate of oil is the tenth part of a core: and ten bates make a core: for ten bates fill a core.

45:15. And one ram out of a flock of two hun­dred, of those that Is­rael feedeth for sac­ri­fice, and for holo­causts, and for peace of­fer­ings, to make atone­ment for them, saith the Lord God.

45:16. All the peo­ple of the land shall be bound to these first­fruits for the prince in Is­rael.

45:17. And the prince shall give the holo­caust, and the sac­ri­fice, and the li­ba­tions on the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the sab­baths, and on all the solem­ni­ties of the house of Is­rael: he shall of­fer the sac­ri­fice for sin, and the holo­caust, and the peace of­fer­ings to make ex­pi­ation for the house of Is­rael.

45:18. Thus saith the Lord God: In the first month, the first of the month, thou shalt take a calf of the herd with­out blem­ish, and thou shalt ex­pi­ate the sanc­tu­ary.

45:19. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin of­fer­ing: and he shall put it on the posts of the house, and on the four cor­ners of the brim of the al­tar, and oil the posts of the gate of the in­ner court.

45:20. And so shalt thou do in the sev­enth day of the month, for ev­ery one that hath been ig­no­rant, and hath been de­ceived by er­ror, and thou shalt make ex­pi­ation for the house.

45:21. In the first month, the four­teenth day of the month, you shall ob­serve the solem­ni­ty of the pasch: sev­en days un­leav­ened bread shall be eat­en.

45:22. And the prince on that day shall of­fer for him­self, and for all the peo­ple of the land, a calf for sin.

45:23. And in the solem­ni­ty of the sev­en days he shall of­fer for a holo­caust to the Lord, sev­en calves, and sev­en rams with­out blem­ish dai­ly for sev­en days: and for sin a he goat dai­ly.

45:24. And he shall of­fer the sac­ri­fice of an ephi for ev­ery calf, and an ephi for ev­ery ram: and a hin of oil for ev­ery ephi.

45:25. In the sev­enth month, in the fif­teenth day of the month, in the solemn feast, he shall do the like for the sev­en days: as well in re­gard to the sin of­fer­ing, as to the holo­caust, and the sac­ri­fice, and the oil.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 46

Oth­er or­di­nances for the prince and for the sac­ri­fices.

46:1. Thus saith the Lord God: The gate of the in­ner court that looketh to­ward the east, shall be shut the six days, on which work is done; but on the sab­bath day it shall be opened, yea and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

46:2. And the prince shall en­ter by the way of the porch of the gate from with­out, and he shall stand at the thresh­old of the gate: and the priests shall of­fer his holo­caust, and his peace of­fer­ings: and he shall adore up­on the thresh­old of the gate, and shall go out: but the gate shall not be shut till the evening.

46:3. And the peo­ple of the land shall adore at the door of that gate be­fore the Lord on the sab­baths, and on the new moons.

46:4. And the holo­caust that the prince shall of­fer to the Lord on the sab­bath day, shall be six lambs with­out blem­ish, and a ram with­out blem­ish.

46:5. And the sac­ri­fice of all ephi for a ram: but for the lambs what sac­ri­fice his hand shall al­low: and a hin of oil for ev­ery ephi.

46:6. And on the day of the new moon a calf of the herd with­out blem­ish: and the six lambs, and the rams shall be with­out blem­ish.

46:7. And he shall of­fer in sac­ri­fice an ephi for calf, an ephi al­so for a ram: but for the lambs, as his hand shall find: and a hin of oil for ev­ery ephi.

46:8. And when the prince is to go in, let him go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and let him go out the same way.

46:9. But when the peo­ple of the land shall go in be­fore the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that goeth in by the north gate to adore, shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that goeth in by the way of the south gate, shall go out by the way of the north gate: he shall not re­turn by the way of the gate where­by he came in, but shall go out at that over against it.

46:10. And the prince in the midst of them, shall go in when they go in, and go out when they go out.

46:11. And in the fairs, and in the solem­ni­ties there shall be the sac­ri­fice of an ephi to a calf, and an ephi to a ram: and to the lambs, the sac­ri­fice shall be as his hand shall find: and a hin of oil to ev­ery ephi.

46:12. But when the prince shall of­fer a vol­un­tary holo­caust, or vol­un­tary peace of­fer­ing to the Lord: the gate that looketh to­wards the east shall be opened to him, and he shall of­fer his holo­caust, and his peace of­fer­ings, as it is wont to be done on the sab­bath day: and he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut af­ter he is gone forth.

46:13. And he shall of­fer ev­ery day for a holo­caust to the Lord, a lamb of the same year with­out blem­ish: he shall of­fer it al­ways in the morn­ing.

46:14. And he shall of­fer the sac­ri­fice for it morn­ing by morn­ing, the sixth part of an ephi: and the third part of a hin of oil to be min­gled with the fine flour: a sac­ri­fice to the Lord by or­di­nance con­tin­ual and ev­er­last­ing.

46:15. He shall of­fer the lamb, and the sac­ri­fice, and the oil morn­ing by morn­ing: an ev­er­last­ing holo­caust.

46:16. Thus saith the Lord God: If the prince give a gift to any of his sons: the in­her­itance of it shall go to his chil­dren, they shall pos­sess it by in­her­itance.

46:17. But if he give a lega­cy out of his in­her­itance to one of his ser­vants, it shall be his un­til the year of re­lease, and it shall re­turn to the prince: but his in­her­itance shall go to his sons.

46:18. And the prince shall not take of the peo­ple’s in­her­itance by vi­olence, nor of their pos­ses­sion: but out of his own pos­ses­sion he shall give an in­her­itance to his sons: that my peo­ple be not dis­persed ev­ery man from his pos­ses­sion.

46:19. And he brought me in by the en­try that was at the side of the gate, in­to the cham­bers of the sanc­tu­ary that were for the priests, which looked to­ward the north. And there was a place bend­ing to the west.

46:20. And he said to me: This is the place where the priests shall boil the sin of­fer­ing, and the tres­pass of­fer­ing: where they shall dress the sac­ri­fice, that they may not bring it out in­to the out­ward court, and the peo­ple be sanc­ti­fied.

46:21. And he brought me in­to the out­ward court, and he led me about by the four cor­ners of the court: and be­hold there was a lit­tle court in the cor­ner of the court, to ev­ery cor­ner of the court there was a lit­tle court.

46:22. In the four cor­ners of the court were lit­tle courts dis­posed, forty cu­bits long, and thir­ty broad, all the four were of one mea­sure.

46:23. And there was a wall round about com­pass­ing the four lit­tle courts, and there were kitchens built un­der the rows round about.

46:24. And he said to me: This is the house of the kitchens where­in the min­is­ters of the house of the Lord shall boil the vic­tims of the peo­ple.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 47

The vi­sion of the holy wa­ters is­su­ing out from un­der the tem­ple: the bor­ders of the land to be di­vid­ed among the twelve tribes.

47:1. And he brought me again to the gate of the house, and be­hold wa­ters is­sued out from un­der the thresh­old of the house to­ward the east: for the fore­front of the house looked to­ward the east: but the wa­ters came down to the right side of the tem­ple to the south part of the al­tar.

Wa­ters. . .These wa­ters are not to be un­der­stood lit­er­al­ly (for there were none such that flowed from the tem­ple); but mys­ti­cal­ly, of the bap­tism of Christ, and of his doc­trine and his grace: the trees that grow on the banks are Chris­tian virtues: the fish­es are Chris­tians, that spir­itu­al­ly live in and by these holy wa­ters, the fish­er­men are the apos­tles, and apos­tolic preach­ers: the fen­ny places, where there is no health, are such as by be­ing out of the church are sep­arat­ed from these wa­ters of life.

47:2. And he led me out by the way of the north gate, and he caused me to turn to the way with­out the out­ward gate to the way that looked to­ward the east: and be­hold there ran out wa­ters on the right side.

47:3. And when the man that had the line in his hand went out to­wards the east, he mea­sured a thou­sand cu­bits: and he brought me through the wa­ter up to the an­kles.

47:4. And again he mea­sured a thou­sand, and he brought me through the wa­ter up to the knees.

47:5. And he mea­sured a thou­sand, and he brought me through the wa­ter up to the loins. And he mea­sured a thou­sand, and it was a tor­rent, which I could not pass over: for the wa­ters were risen so as to make a deep tor­rent, which could not be passed over.

47:6. And he said to me: Sure­ly thou hast seen, O son of man. And he brought me out, and he caused me to turn to the bank of the tor­rent.

47:7. And when I had turned my­self, be­hold on the bank of the tor­rent were very many trees on both sides.

47:8. And he said to me: These wa­ters that is­sue forth to­ward the hillocks of sand to the east, and go down to the plains of the desert, shall go in­to the sea, and shall go out, and the wa­ters shall be healed.

47:9. And ev­ery liv­ing crea­ture that creep­eth whith­er­so­ev­er the tor­rent shall come, shall live: and there shall be fish­es in abun­dance af­ter these wa­ters shall come thith­er, and they shall be healed, and all things shall live to which the tor­rent shall come.

47:10. And the fish­ers shall stand over these wa­ters, from En­gad­di even to En­gal­lim there shall be dry­ing of nets: there shall be many sorts of the fish­es there­of, as the fish­es of the great sea, a very great mul­ti­tude:

47:11. But on the shore there­of, and in the fen­ny places they shall not be healed, be­cause they shall be turned in­to salt­pits.

47:12. And by the tor­rent on the banks there­of on both sides shall grow all trees that bear fruit: their leaf shall not fall off, and their fruit shall not fail: ev­ery month shall they bring forth first­fruits, be­cause the wa­ters there­of shall is­sue out of the sanc­tu­ary: and the fruits there­of shall be for food, and the leaves there­of for medicine.

47:13. Thus saith the Lord God: This is the bor­der, by which you shall pos­sess the land ac­cord­ing to the twelve tribes of Is­rael: for Joseph hath a dou­ble por­tion.

47:14. And you shall pos­sess it, ev­ery man in like man­ner as his broth­er: con­cern­ing which I lift­ed up my hand to give it to your fa­thers: and this land shall fall un­to you for a pos­ses­sion.

47:15. And this is the bor­der of the land: to­ward the north side, from the great sea by the way of Het­halon, as men go to Seda­da,

47:16. Emath, Berotha, Sabarim, which is be­tween the bor­der of Dam­as­cus and the bor­der of Emath the house of Ti­chon, which is by the bor­der of Au­ran.

47:17. And the bor­der from the sea even to the court of Enan, shall be the bor­der of Dam­as­cus, and from the north to the north: the bor­der of Emath, this is the north side.

47:18. And the east side is from the midst of Au­ran, and from the midst of Dam­as­cus, and from the midst of Galaad, and from the midst of the land of Is­rael, Jor­dan mak­ing the bound to the east sea, and thus you shall mea­sure the east side.

47:19. And the south side south­ward is, from Thamar even to the wa­ters of con­tra­dic­tion of Cades: and, the tor­rent even to the great sea: and this is the south side south­ward.

47:20. And the side to­ward the sea, is the great sea from the bor­ders straight on, till thou come to Emath: this is the side of the sea.

47:21. And you shall di­vide this land un­to you by the tribes of Is­rael:

47:22. And you shall di­vide it by lot for an in­her­itance to you, and to the strangers that shall come over to you, that shall beget chil­dren among you: and they shall be un­to you as men of the same coun­try born among the chil­dren of Is­rael: they shall di­vide the pos­ses­sion with you in the midst of the tribes of Is­rael.

47:23. And in what tribe so­ev­er the stranger shall be, there shall you give him pos­ses­sion, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chap­ter 48

The por­tions of the twelve tribes, of the sanc­tu­ary, of the city, and of the prince. The di­men­sions and gates of the city.

48:1. And these are the names of the tribes from the bor­ders of the north, by the way of Het­halon, as they go to Emath, the court of Enan the bor­der of Dam­as­cus north­ward, by the way off Emath. And from the east side there­of to the sea shall be one por­tion for Dan.

48:2. And by the bor­der of Dan, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one por­tion for As­er:

48:3. And by the bor­der of As­er, from the east side even to the side of the sea one por­tion for Neph­thali.

48:4. And by the bor­der of Neph­thali, from the east side even to the side of the one por­tion for Man­ass­es.

48:5. And by the bor­der of Man­ass­es, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one por­tion for Ephraim.

48:6. And by the bor­der of Ephraim, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one por­tion for Ruben.

48:7. And by the bor­der of Ruben, from the east side even to the side of the sea, one por­tion for Ju­da.

48:8. And by the bor­der of Ju­da, from the east side even to the side of the sea, shall be the first­fruits which you shall set apart, five and twen­ty thou­sand in breadth, and length, as ev­ery one of the por­tions from the east side to the side of the sea: and the sanc­tu­ary shall be in the midst there­of.

48:9. The first­fruits which you shall set apart for the Lord will be the length of five and twen­ty thou­sand, and the breadth of ten thou­sand.

48:10. And these shall be the first­fruits of the sanc­tu­ary for the priests: to­ward the north five and twen­ty thou­sand in length, and to­ward the sea ten thou­sand in breadth, and to­ward the east al­so ten thou­sand in breadth, and to­ward the south five and twen­ty thou­sand in length: and the sanc­tu­ary of the Lord shall be in the midst there­of.

48:11. The sanc­tu­ary shall be for the priests of the sons of Sadoc, who kept my cer­emonies, and went not astray when the chil­dren of Is­rael went astray, as the Levites al­so went astray.

48:12. And for them shall be the first­fruits of the first­fruits of the land holy of holies, by the bor­der of the Levites,

48:13. And the Levites in like man­ner shall have by the bor­ders of the priests five and twen­ty thou­sand in length, and ten thou­sand in breadth. All the length shall be five and twen­ty thou­sand, and the breadth ten thou­sand.

48:14. And they shall not sell there­of, nor ex­change, nei­ther shall the first­fruits of the land be alien­at­ed, be­cause they are sanc­ti­fied to the Lord.

48:15. But the five thou­sand that re­main in the breadth over against the five and twen­ty thou­sand, shall be a pro­fane place for the city for dwelling, and for sub­urbs and the city shall be in the midst there­of.

48:16. And these are the mea­sures there­of: on the north side four thou­sand and five hun­dred: and on the south side four thou­sand and five hun­dred: and on the east side four thou­sand and five hun­dred: and on the west side four thou­sand and five hun­dred.

48:17. And the sub­urbs of the city shall be to the north two hun­dred and fifty, and the south two hun­dred and fifty, and to the east two hun­dred and fifty, and to the sea two hun­dred and fifty.

48:18. And the residue in length by the first­fruits of the sanc­tu­ary, ten thou­sand to­ward the east, and ten thou­sand to­ward the west, shall be as the first­fruits of the sanc­tu­ary: and the fruit there­of shall be for bread to them that serve the city.

48:19. And they that serve the city, shall serve it out of all the tribes of Is­rael.

48:20. All the first­fruits, of five and twen­ty thou­sand, by five and twen­ty thou­sand foursquare, shall be set apart for the first­fruits of the sanc­tu­ary, and for the pos­ses­sion of the city.

48:21. And the residue shall be for the prince on ev­ery side of the first­fruits of the sanc­tu­ary, and of the pos­ses­sion of the city over against the five and twen­ty thou­sand of the first­fruits un­to the east bor­der: to­ward the sea al­so over against the five and twen­ty thou­sand, un­to the bor­der of the sea, shall like­wise be the por­tion of the prince: and the first­fruits of the sanc­tu­ary, and the sanc­tu­ary of the tem­ple shall be in the midst there­of.

48:22. And from the pos­ses­sion of the Levites, and from the pos­ses­sion of the city which are in the midst of the prince’s por­tions: what shall be to the bor­der of Ju­da, and to the bor­der of Ben­jamin, shall al­so be­long to the prince.

48:23. And for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side, one por­tion for Ben­jamin.

48:24. And over against the bor­der of Ben­jamin, from the east side to the west side, one por­tion for Sime­on.

48:25. And by the bor­der of Sime­on, from the east side to the west side, one por­tion for Is­sachar.

48:26. And by the bor­der of Is­sachar, from the east side to the west side, one por­tion for Zab­ulon.

48:27. And by the bor­der of Zab­ulon, from the east side to the side of the sea, one por­tion for Gad.

48:28. And by the bor­der of Gad, the south side south­ward: and the bor­der shall be from Thamar, even to the wa­ters of con­tra­dic­tion of Cades, the in­her­itance over against the great sea.

48:29. This is the land which you shall di­vide by lot to the tribes of Is­rael: and these are the por­tions of them, saith the Lord God.

48:30. And these are the go­ings out of the city: on the north side thou shalt mea­sure four thou­sand and five hun­dred.

48:31. And the gates of the city ac­cord­ing to the names of the tribes of Is­rael, three gates on the north side, the gate of Ruben one, the gate of Ju­da one, the gate of Levi one.

48:32. And at the east side, four thou­sand and five hun­dred: and three gates, the gate of Joseph one, the gate of Ben­jamin one, the gate of Dan one.

48:33. And at the south side, thou shalt mea­sure four thou­sand and five hun­dred: and three gates, the gate of Sime­on one, the gate of Is­sachar one, the gate of Zab­ulon one.

48:34. And at the west side, four thou­sand and five hun­dred, and their three gates, the gate of Gad one, the gate of As­er one, the gate of Neph­thali one.

48:35. Its cir­cum­fer­ence was eigh­teen thou­sand: and the name of the city from that day, The Lord is there.

The Lord is there. . . This name is here giv­en to the city, that is, to the church of Christ: be­cause the Lord is al­ways with her till the end of the world. Matt. 28.20.

THE PROPHE­CY OF DANIEL

DANIEL, whose name sig­ni­fies THE JUDG­MENT OF GOD, was of the roy­al blood of the kings of Ju­da: and one of those that were first of all car­ried away in­to cap­tiv­ity. He was so renowned for wis­dom and knowl­edge, that it be­came a proverb among the Baby­lo­ni­ans, AS WISE AS DANIEL (Ezech. 28.3). And his ho­li­ness was so great from his very child­hood, that at the time when he was as yet but a young man, he is joined by the SPIR­IT of GOD with NOE and JOB, as three per­sons most em­inent for virtue and sanc­ti­ty, Ezech. 14. He is not com­mon­ly num­bered by the He­brews among THE PROPHETS: be­cause he lived at court, and in high sta­tion in the world: but if we con­sid­er his many clear pre­dic­tions of things to come, we shall find that no one bet­ter de­serves the name and ti­tle of A PROPHET: which al­so has been giv­en him by the SON of GOD him­self, Matt. 24, Mark 13., Luke 21.

Daniel Chap­ter 1

Daniel and his com­pan­ions are tak­en in­to the palace of the king of Baby­lon: they ab­stain from his meat and wine, and suc­ceed bet­ter with pulse and wa­ter. Their ex­cel­lence and wis­dom.

1:1. In the third year of the reign of Joakim, king of Ju­da, Nabu­chodonosor, king of Baby­lon, came to Jerusalem, and be­seiged it.

1:2. And the Lord de­liv­ered in­to his hands Joakim, the king of Ju­da, and part of the ves­sels of the house of God: and he car­ried them away in­to the land of Sen­naar, to the house of his god, and the ves­sels he brought in­to the trea­sure house of his god.

His god. . .Bel or Belus, the prin­ci­pal idol of the Chaldeans.

1:3. And the king spoke to As­phenez, the mas­ter of the eu­nuchs, that he should bring in some of the chil­dren of Is­rael, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes,

1:4. Chil­dren in whom there was no blem­ish, well favoured, and skil­ful in all wis­dom, acute in knowl­edge, and in­struct­ed in sci­ence, and such as might stand in the king’s palace, that he might teach them the learn­ing, and tongue of the Chaldeans.

1:5. And the king ap­point­ed them a dai­ly pro­vi­sion, of his own meat, and of the wine of which he drank him­self, that be­ing nour­ished three years, af­ter­wards they might stand be­fore the king.

1:6. Now there was among them of the chil­dren of Ju­da, Daniel, Ana­nias, Mis­ael, and Azarias.

1:7. And the mas­ter of the eu­nuchs gave them names: to Daniel, Bal­tas­sar: to Ana­nias, Sidrach: to Mis­ael, Mis­ach: and to Azarias, Ab­de­na­go.

1:8. But Daniel pur­posed in his heart that he would not be de­filed with the king’s ta­ble, nor with the wine which he drank: and he re­quest­ed the mas­ter of the eu­nuchs that he might not be de­filed.

Be de­filed, etc. . .Viz., ei­ther by eat­ing meat for­bid­den by the law, or which had be­fore been of­fered to idols.

1:9. And God gave to Daniel grace and mer­cy in the sight of the prince of the eu­nuchs.

1:10. And the prince of the eu­nuchs said to Daniel: I fear my lord, the king, who hath ap­point­ed you meat and drink: who if he should see your faces lean­er than those of the oth­er youths, your equals, you shall en­dan­ger my head to the king.

1:11. And Daniel said to Malasar, whom the prince of the eu­nuchs had ap­point­ed over Daniel, Ana­nias, Mis­ael, and Azarias:

1:12. Try, I be­seech thee, thy ser­vants for ten days, and let pulse be giv­en us to eat, and wa­ter to drink:

Pulse. . .That is, pease, beans, and such like.

1:13. And look up­on our faces, and the faces of the chil­dren that eat of the king’s meat: and as thou shalt see, deal with thy ser­vants.

1:14. And when he had heard these words, he tried them for ten days.

1:15. And af­ter ten days, their faces ap­peared fair­er and fat­ter than all the chil­dren that ate of the king’s meat.

1:16. So Malasar took their por­tions, and the wine that they should drink: and he gave them pulse.

1:17. And to these chil­dren God gave knowl­edge, and un­der­stand­ing in ev­ery book, and wis­dom: but to Daniel the un­der­stand­ing al­so of all vi­sions and dreams.

1:18. And when the days were end­ed, af­ter which the king had or­dered they should be brought in: the prince of the eu­nuchs brought them in be­fore Nabu­chodonosor.

1:19. And when the king had spo­ken to them, there were not found among them all such as Daniel, Ana­nias, Mis­ael, and Azarias: and they stood in the king’s pres­ence.

1:20. And in all mat­ters of wis­dom and un­der­stand­ing, that the king en­quired of them, he found them ten times bet­ter than all the di­vin­ers, and wise men, that were in all his king­dom.

1:21. And Daniel con­tin­ued even to the first year of king Cyrus.

Daniel Chap­ter 2

Daniel, by di­vine rev­ela­tion, de­clares the dream of Nabu­chodonosor, and the in­ter­pre­ta­tion of it. He is high­ly hon­oured by the king.

2:1. In the sec­ond year of the reign of Nabu­chodonosor, Nabu­chodonosor had a dream, and his spir­it was ter­ri­fied, and his dream went out of his mind.

The sec­ond year. . .Viz., from the death of his fa­ther Nabopo­las­sar; for he had reigned be­fore as part­ner with his fa­ther in the em­pire.

2:2. Then the king com­mand­ed to call to­geth­er the di­vin­ers and the wise men, and the ma­gi­cians, and the Chaldeans: to de­clare to the king his dreams: so they came and stood be­fore the king.

The Chaldeeans. . .That is, the as­trologers, that pre­tend­ed to di­vine by stars.

2:3. And the king said to them: I saw a dream: and be­ing trou­bled in mind I know not what I saw.

2:4. And the Chaldeans an­swered the king in Syr­iac: O king, live for ev­er: tell to thy ser­vants thy dream, and we will de­clare the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of.

2:5. And the king, an­swer­ing, said to the Chaldeans: The thing is gone out of my mind: un­less you tell me the dream, and the mean­ing there­of, you shall be put to death, and your hous­es shall be con­fis­cat­ed.

2:6. but if you tell the dream, and the mean­ing of it, you shall re­ceive of me re­wards, and gifts, and great hon­our: there­fore, tell me the dream, and the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of.

2:7. They an­swered again and said: Let the king tell his ser­vants the dream, and we will de­clare the in­ter­pre­ta­tion of it.

2:8. The king an­swered and said: I know for cer­tain, that you seek to gain time, since you know that the thing is gone from me.

2:9. If, there­fore, you tell me not the dream, there is one sen­tence con­cern­ing you, that you have al­so framed a ly­ing in­ter­pre­ta­tion, and full of de­ceit, to speak be­fore me till the time pass away. Tell me, there­fore, the dream, that I may know that you al­so give a true in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of.

2:10. Then the Chaldeans an­swered be­fore the king, and said: There is no man up­on earth, that can ac­com­plish thy word, O king; nei­ther doth any king, though great and mighty, ask such a thing of any di­vin­er, or wise man, or Chaldean.

2:11. For the thing that thou as­keth, O king, is dif­fi­cult: nor can any one be found that can shew it be­fore the king, ex­cept the gods, whose con­ver­sa­tion is not with men.

2:12. Up­on hear­ing this, the king in fury, and in great wrath, com­mand­ed that all the wise men of Baby­lon should be put to death.

2:13. And the de­cree be­ing gone forth, the wise men were slain: and Daniel and his com­pan­ions were sought for, to be put to death.

2:14. Then Daniel in­quired con­cern­ing the law and the sen­tence, of Ar­ioch, the gen­er­al of the king’s army, who was gone forth to kill the wise men of Baby­lon.

2:15. And he asked him that had re­ceived the or­ders of the king, why so cru­el a sen­tence was gone forth from the face of the king. And when Ar­ioch had told the mat­ter to Daniel,

2:16. Daniel went in, and de­sired of the king, that he would give him time to re­solve the ques­tion, and de­clare it to the king.

2:17. And he went in­to his house, and told the mat­ter to Ana­nias, and Mis­ael, and Azarias, his com­pan­ions:

2:18. To the end that they should ask mer­cy at the face of the God of heav­en, con­cern­ing this se­cret, and that Daniel and his com­pan­ions might not per­ish with the rest of the wise men of Baby­lon.

2:19. Then was the mys­tery re­vealed to Daniel by a vi­sion in the night: and Daniel blessed the God of heav­en,

2:20. And speak­ing, he said: Blessed be the name of the Lord from eter­ni­ty and for ev­er­more: for wis­dom and for­ti­tude are his.

2:21. And he changeth times and ages: taketh away king­doms, and es­tab­lisheth them: giveth wis­dom to the wise, and knowl­edge to them that have un­der­stand­ing:

2:22. He re­vealeth deep and hid­den things, and knoweth what is in dark­ness: and light is with him.

2:23. To thee, O God of our fa­thers, I give thanks, and I praise thee: be­cause thou hast giv­en me wis­dom and strength: and now thou hast shewn me what we de­sired of thee, for thou hast made known to us the king’s dis­course.

2:24. Af­ter this Daniel went in to Ar­ioch, to whom the king had giv­en or­ders to de­stroy the wise men of Baby­lon, and he spoke thus to him: De­stroy not the wise men of Baby­lon: bring me in be­fore the king, and I will tell the so­lu­tion to the king.

2:25. Then Ar­ioch in haste brought in Daniel to the king, and said to him: I have found a man of the chil­dren of the cap­tiv­ity of Ju­da, that will re­solve the ques­tion to the king.

2:26. The king an­swered, and said to Daniel, whose name was Bal­tas­sar: Think­est thou in­deed that thou canst tell me the dream that I saw, and the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of?

2:27. And Daniel made an­swer be­fore the king, and said: The se­cret that the king de­sireth to know, none of the wise men, or the philoso­phers, or the di­vin­ers, or the sooth­say­ers, can de­clare to the king.

2:28. But there is a God in heav­en that re­vealeth mys­ter­ies, who hath shewn to thee, O king Nabu­chodonosor, what is to come to pass in the lat­ter times. Thy dream, and the vi­sions of thy head up­on thy bed, are these:

2:29. Thou, O king, didst be­gin to think in thy bed, what should come to pass here­after: and he that re­vealeth mys­ter­ies shewed thee what shall come to pass.

2:30. To me al­so this se­cret is re­vealed, not by any wis­dom that I have more than all men alive: but that the in­ter­pre­ta­tion might be made man­ifest to the king, and thou might­est know the thought of thy mind.

2:31. Thou, O king, sawest, and be­hold there was as it were a great stat­ue: this stat­ue, which was great and high, tall of stature, stood be­fore thee, and the look there­of was ter­ri­ble.

2:32. The head of this stat­ue was of fine gold, but the breast and the arms of sil­ver, and the bel­ly and the thighs of brass.

2:33. And the legs of iron, the feet part of iron and part of clay.

2:34. Thus thou sawest, till a stone was cut out of a moun­tain with­out hands: and it struck the stat­ue up­on the feet there­of that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

2:35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the sil­ver, and the gold bro­ken to pieces to­geth­er, and be­came like the chaff of a sum­mer’s thresh­ing floor, and they were car­ried away by the wind: and there was no place found for them: but the stone that struck the stat­ue be­came a great moun­tain, and filled the whole earth.

2:36. This is the dream: we will al­so tell the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of be­fore thee, O king.

2:37. Thou art a king of kings: and the God of heav­en hath giv­en thee a king­dom, and strength, and pow­er, and glo­ry:

2:38. And all places where­in the chil­dren of men, and the beasts of the field do dwell: he hath al­so giv­en the birds of the air in­to thy hand, and hath put all things un­der thy pow­er: thou, there­fore, art the head of gold.

2:39. And af­ter thee shall rise up an­oth­er king­dom, in­fe­ri­or to thee, of sil­ver: and an­oth­er third king­dom of brass, which shall rule over all the world.

An­oth­er king­dom. . .Viz., that of the Medes and Per­sians. Ibid. Third king­dom. . .Viz., that of Alexan­der the Great.

2:40. And the fourth king­dom shall be as iron. As iron breaketh in­to pieces, and sub­dueth all things, so shall that break, and de­stroy all these.

The fourth king­dom, etc. . .Some un­der­stand this of the suc­ces­sors of Alexan­der, the kings of Syr­ia and Egypt, oth­ers of the Ro­man em­pire, and its civ­il wars.

2:41. And where­as thou sawest the feet, and the toes, part of pot­ter’s clay, and part of iron: the king­dom shall be di­vid­ed, but yet it shall take its ori­gin from the iron, ac­cord­ing as thou sawest the iron mixed with the miry clay.

2:42. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay: the king­dom shall be part­ly strong, and part­ly bro­ken.

2:43. And where­as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall be min­gled in­deed to­geth­er with the seed of man, but they shall not stick fast one to an­oth­er, as iron can­not be mixed with clay.

2:44. But in the days of those king­doms, the God of heav­en will set up a king­dom that shall nev­er by de­stroyed, and his king­dom shall not be de­liv­ered up to an­oth­er peo­ple: and it shall break in pieces, and shall con­sume all these king­doms: and it­self shall stand for ev­er.

A king­dom. . .Viz., the king­dom of Christ in the Catholic Church which can­not be de­stroyed.

2:45. Ac­cord­ing as thou sawest, that the stone was cut out of the moun­tain with­out hands, and broke in pieces the clay and the iron, and the brass, and the sil­ver, and the gold, the great God hath shewn the king what shall come to pass here­after, and the dream is true, and the in­ter­pre­ta­tion there­of is faith­ful.

2:46. Then king Nabu­chodonosor fell on his face, and wor­shipped Daniel, and com­mand­ed that they should of­fer in sac­ri­fice to him vic­tims and in­cense.

2:47. And the king spoke to Daniel, and said: Ver­ily, your God is the God of gods, and Lord of kings, and a re­veal­er of hid­den things: see­ing thou couldst dis­cov­er this se­cret.

2:48. Then the king ad­vanced Daniel to a high sta­tion, and gave him many and great gifts: and he made him gov­er­nor over all the provinces of Baby­lon: and chief of the mag­is­trates over all the wise men of Baby­lon.

2:49. And Daniel re­quest­ed of the king, and he ap­point­ed Sidrach, Mis­ach, and Ab­de­na­go, over the works of the province of Baby­lon: but Daniel him­self was in the king’s palace.

Daniel Chap­ter 3

Nabu­chodonosor set up a gold­en stat­ue; which he com­mands all to adore: the three chil­dren for re­fus­ing to do it are cast in­to the fiery fur­nace; but are not hurt by the flames. Their prayer and can­ti­cle of praise.

3:1. King Nabu­chodonosor made a stat­ue of gold, of six­ty cu­bits high, and six cu­bits broad, and he set it up in the plain of Du­ra, of the province of Baby­lon.

3:2. Then Nabu­chodonosor, the king, sent to call to­geth­er the no­bles, the mag­is­trates, and the judges, the cap­tains, the rulers, and gov­er­nors, and all the chief men of the provinces, to come to the ded­ica­tion of the stat­ue which king Nabu­chodonosor had set up.

3:3. Then the no­bles, the mag­is­trates, and the judges, the cap­tains, and rulers, and the great men that were placed in au­thor­ity, and all the princes of the provinces, were gath­ered to­geth­er to come to the ded­ica­tion of the stat­ue, which king Nabu­chodonosor had set up. And they stood be­fore the stat­ue which king Nabu­chodonosor had set up.

3:4. Then a her­ald cried with a strong voice: To you it is com­mand­ed, O na­tions, tribes and lan­guages:

3:5. That in the hour that you shall hear the sound of the trum­pet, and of the flute, and of the harp, of the sack­but, and of the psaltery, and of the sym­pho­ny, and of all kind of mu­sic, ye fall down and adore the gold­en stat­ue which king Nabu­chodonosor hath set up.

3:6. But if any man shall not fall down and adore, he shall the same hour be cast in­to a fur­nace of burn­ing fire.

3:7. Up­on this, there­fore, at the time when all the peo­ple heard the sound of the trum­pet, the flute, and the harp, of the sack­but, and the psaltery, of the sym­pho­ny, and of all kind of mu­sic, all the na­tions, tribes, and lan­guages fell down and adored the gold­en stat­ue which king Nabu­chodonosor had set up.

3:8. And present­ly at that very time some Chaldeans came and ac­cused the Jews,

3:9. And said to king Nabu­chodonosor: O king, live for ev­er:

3:10. Thou, O king, hast made a de­cree, that ev­ery man that shall hear the sound of the trum­pet, the flute, and the harp, of the sack­but, and the psaltery, of the sym­pho­ny, and of all kind of mu­sic, shall pros­trate him­self, and adore the gold­en stat­ue:

3:11. And that if any man shall not fall down and adore, he should be cast in­to a fur­nace of burn­ing fire.

3:12. Now there are cer­tain Jews, whom thou hast set over the works of the province of Baby­lon, Sidrach, Mis­ach, and Ab­de­na­go: these men, O king, have slight­ed thy de­cree: they wor­ship not thy gods, nor do they adore the gold­en stat­ue which thou hast set up.

3:13. Then Nabu­chodonosor in fury, and in wrath, com­mand­ed that Sidrach, Mis­ach, ad Ab­de­na­go should be brought: who im­me­di­ate­ly were brought be­fore the king.

3:14. And Nabu­chodonosor, the king, spoke to them, and said: Is it true, O Sidrach, Mis­ach, and Ab­de­na­go, that you do not wor­ship my gods, nor adore the gold­en stat­ue that I have set up?

3:15. Now, there­fore, if you be ready, at what hour so­ev­er, you shall hear the sound of the trum­pet, flute, harp, sack­but, and psaltery, and sym­pho­ny, and of all kind of mu­sic, pros­trate your­selves, and adore the stat­ue which I have made: but if you do not adore, you shall be cast the same hour in­to the fur­nace of burn­ing fire: and who is the God that shall de­liv­er you out of my hand?

3:16. Sidrach, Mis­ach, and Ab­de­na­go, an­swered, and said to king Nabu­chodonosor: We have no oc­ca­sion to an­swer thee con­cern­ing this mat­ter.

3:17. For be­hold our God, whom we wor­ship, is able to save us from the fur­nace of burn­ing fire, and to de­liv­er us out of thy hands, O king.

3:18. But if he will not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not wor­ship thy gods, nor adore the gold­en stat­ue which thou hast set up.

3:19. Then was Nabu­chodonosor filled with fury: and the coun­te­nance of his face was changed against Sidrach, Mis­ach, and Ab­de­na­go, and he com­mand­ed that the fur­nace should be heat­ed sev­en times more than it had been ac­cus­tomed to be heat­ed.

3:20. And he com­mand­ed the strongest men that were in his army, to bind the feet of Sidrach, Mis­ach, and Ab­de­na­go, and to cast them in­to the fur­nace of burn­ing fire.

3:21. And im­me­di­ate­ly these men were bound, and were cast in­to the fur­nace of burn­ing fire, with their coats, and their caps, and their shoes, and their gar­ments.

3:22. For the king’s com­mand­ment was ur­gent, and the fur­nace was heat­ed ex­ceed­ing­ly. And the flame of the fire slew those men that had cast in Sidrach, Mis­ach, and Ab­de­na­go.

3:23. But these three men, that is, Sidrach, Mis­ach, and Ab­de­na­go, fell down bound in the midst of the fur­nace of burn­ing fire.

3:24. And they walked in the midst of the flame, prais­ing God, and bless­ing the Lord.

And they walked, etc. . .Here St. Jerome takes no­tice, that from this verse, to ver. 91, was not in the He­brew in his time. But as it was in all the Greek Bibles, (which were orig­inal­ly trans­lat­ed from the He­brew,) it is more than prob­able that it had been for­mer­ly in the He­brew or rather in the Chal­da­ic, in which the book of Daniel was writ­ten. But this is cer­tain: that it is, and has been of old, re­ceived by the church, and read as canon­ical scrip­ture in her litur­gy, and di­vine of­fices.

3:25. Then Azarias stand­ing up, prayed in this man­ner, and open­ing his mouth in the midst of the fire, he said:

3:26. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our fa­thers, and thy name is wor­thy of praise, and glo­ri­ous for ev­er:

3:27. For thou art just in all that thou hast done to us, and all thy works are true, and thy ways right, and all thy judg­ments true.

3:28. For thou hast ex­ecut­ed true judg­ments in all the things that thou hast brought up­on us, and up­on Jerusalem, the holy city of our fa­thers: for ac­cord­ing to truth and judg­ment, thou hast brought all these things up­on us for our sins.

3:29. For we have sinned, and com­mit­ted in­iq­ui­ty, de­part­ing from thee: and we have tres­passed in all things:

3:30. And we have not hear­kened to thy com­mand­ments, nor have we ob­served nor done as thou hadst com­mand­ed us, that it might go well with us.

3:31. Where­fore, all that thou hast brought up­on us, and ev­ery thing that thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true judg­ment:

3:32. And thou hast de­liv­ered us in­to the hands of our en­emies that are un­just, and most wicked, and pre­var­ica­tors, and to a king un­just, and most wicked be­yond all that are up­on the earth.

3:33. And now we can­not open our mouths: we are be­come a shame, and a re­proach to thy ser­vants, and to them that wor­ship thee.

3:34. De­liv­er us not up for ev­er, we be­seech thee, for thy name’s sake, and abol­ish not thy covenant.

3:35. And take not away thy mer­cy from us, for the sake of Abra­ham, thy beloved, and Isaac, thy ser­vant, and Is­rael, thy holy one:

3:36. To whom thou hast spo­ken, promis­ing that thou wouldst mul­ti­ply their seed as the stars of heav­en, and as the sand that is on the sea shore.

3:37. For we, O Lord, are di­min­ished more than any na­tion, and are brought low in all the earth this day for our sins.

3:38. Nei­ther is there at this time prince, or lead­er, or prophet, or holo­caust, or sac­ri­fice, or obla­tion, or in­cense, or place of first fruits be­fore thee,

3:39. That we may find thy mer­cy: nev­er­the­less, in a con­trite heart and hum­ble spir­it let us be ac­cept­ed.

3:40. As in holo­causts of rams, and bul­locks, and as in thou­sands of fat lambs: so let our sac­ri­fice be made in thy sight this day, that it may please thee: for there is no con­fu­sion to them that trust in thee.

3:41. And now we fol­low thee with all our heart, and we fear thee, and seek thy face.

3:42. Put us not to con­fu­sion, but deal with us ac­cord­ing to thy meek­ness, and ac­cord­ing to the mul­ti­tude of thy mer­cies.

3:43. And de­liv­er us, ac­cord­ing to thy won­der­ful works, and give glo­ry to thy name, O Lord:

3:44. And let all them be con­found­ed that shew evils to thy ser­vants, let them be con­found­ed in all thy might, and let their strength be bro­ken:

3:45. And let them know that thou art the Lord, the on­ly God, and glo­ri­ous over all the world.

3:46. Now the king’s ser­vants that had cast them in, ceased not to heat the fur­nace with brim­stone and tow, and pitch, and dry sticks,

3:47. And the flame mount­ed up above the fur­nace nine and forth cu­bits:

3:48. And it broke forth, and burnt such of the Chaldeans as it found near the fur­nace.

3:49. But the an­gel of the Lord went down with Azarias and his com­pan­ions in­to the fur­nace: and he drove the flame of the fire out of the fur­nace,

3:50. And made the midst of the fur­nace like the blow­ing of a wind bring­ing dew, and the fire touched them not at all, nor trou­bled them, nor did them any harm.

3:51. Then these three, as with one mouth, praised and glo­ri­fied and blessed God, in the fur­nace, say­ing:

3:52. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our fa­thers; and wor­thy to be praised, and glo­ri­fied, and ex­alt­ed above all for ev­er: and blessed is the holy name of thy glo­ry: and wor­thy to be praised and ex­alt­ed above all, in all ages.

3:53. Blessed art thou in the holy tem­ple of thy glo­ry: and ex­ceed­ing­ly to be praised and ex­alt­ed above all for ev­er.

3:54 Blessed art thou on the throne of thy king­dom, and ex­ceed­ing­ly to be praised, and ex­alt­ed above all for­ev­er.

3:55. Blessed art thou that be­hold­est the depths, and sittest up­on the cheru­bims: and wor­thy to be praised and ex­alt­ed above all for ev­er.

3:56. Blessed art thou in the fir­ma­ment of heav­en: and wor­thy of praise, and glo­ri­ous for ev­er.

3:57. All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:58. O ye an­gels of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:59. O ye heav­ens, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:60. O all ye wa­ters that are above the heav­ens, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:61. O all ye pow­ers of the Lord, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:62. O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:63. O ye stars of heav­en, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:64. O ev­ery show­er and dew, bless ye the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:65. O all ye spir­its of God, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:66. O ye fire and heat, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:67. O ye cold and heat, bless the Lord, praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:68. O ye dews and hoar frost, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:69. O ye frost and cold, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:70. O ye ice and snow, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:71. O ye nights and days, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:72. O ye light and dark­ness, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:73. O ye light­nings and clouds, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:74. O let the earth bless the Lord: let it praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:75 O ye moun­tains and hills, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:76. O all ye things that spring up in the earth, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:77. O ye foun­tains, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:78. O ye seas and rivers, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:79. O ye whales, and all that move in the wa­ters, bless the Lord: praise and ex­alt him above all for ev­er.

3:80. O all ye fowls of the