Appoint not me ruler of the people.

8 For Jerusalem tottereth, and Judah falleth;

Because their tongues, and their hands, are against JEHOVAH;
To provoke by their disobedience the cloud of his glory.

9 The stedfastness of their countenance witnesseth against them; For their sin, like Sodom, they publish, they hide it not :

Wo to their souls! for upon themselves have they brought down evil.

10 Pronounce ye a blessing on the just: verily good [shall be to

him ;]

For the fruit of his deeds shall he eat.

11 Wo to the wicked: evil [shall be his portion ;]

For the work of his hands shall be repaid unto him. 12 As for my people, children are their oppressors; And women bear rule over them.

13

O my people, thy leaders cause thee to err;
And pervert the way of thy paths.

JEHOVAH ariseth to plead his cause;
He standeth up to contend with his people.
14 JEHOVAH will meet in judgement,

The elders of his people, and their princes:
As for you, ye have consumed my vineyard:
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
15 What mean ye, that ye crush my people;
And grind the faces of the poor?
Saith JEHOVAH, the Lord of Hosts.

16

Moreover JEHOVAH hath said:
Because the daughters of Sion are haughty ;
And walk d playing the neck,

And falsely setting off their eyes with paint;
Mincing their steps as they go,

And with their feet lightly tripping along.

17 Therefore will the Lord humble the head of the daughters of

Sion;

And JEHOVAH will expose their nakedness.

18 In that day will the Lord take from them the ornaments, Of the feet-rings, and the net-works, and the crescents;

19 The pendents, and the bracelets, and the thin vails; 20 The tires, and the fetters, and the zones,

And the perfume-boxes, and the amulets ; 21 The rings, and the jewels of the nostril; 22 The embroidered robes, and the tunics; And the cloaks, and the little purses;

23 The transparent garments, and the fine linen vests; And the turbans, and the mantles:

24 And there shall be, instead of perfume, a putrid ulcer
And, instead of well-girt raiment, rags;

And, instead of high-dressed hair, baldness;
And, instead of a zone, a girdle of sackcloth:
A sun-burnt skin, instead of beauty.

25 Thy people shall fall by the sword;
And thy mighty men in the battle.

26 And her doors shall lament and mourn; And desolate shall she sit on the ground.

f

CHAP. IV. 1 And seven women shall lay hold on one man in that day, saying:

2

Our own bread will we eat,

And with our own garments will we be clothed;

Only let us be called by thy name;

Take away our reproach.

In that day shall the branch of JEHOVAH

Become glorious and honourable;

And the produce of the land excellent and beautiful,

For the escaped of the house of Israel.

3 And it shall come to pass, whosoever is left in Sion, And remaineth in Jerusalem,

Holy shall he be called;

Every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem.

4 When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daugh

ters of Sion;

And the blood of Jerusalem shall have removed from the midst

of her,

By a spirit of judgement, and by a spirit of burning:

5 Then shall JEHOVAH create upon the station of mount Sion, And upon all her holy assemblies,

A cloud by day, and smoke;

And the brightness of a flaming fire by night:

Yea, over all shall the glory be a covering.

I

6 And a tabernacle it shall be, for shade by day from the heat; And for a covert, and a refuge, from storm and rain.

CHAP. V. 1 LET me sing now a song to my beloved;
A song of loves concerning his vineyard.

My beloved had a vineyard,

On a high and fruitful hill :

2 And he fenced it round, and he cleared it from the stones,
And he planted it with the vine of Sorek;

And he built a tower in the midst of it,
And he hewed out also a lake therein :

And he expected, that it should bring forth grapes,

But it brought forth poisonous berries.

3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Judah, Judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard:

4 What could have been done more to my vineyard,
Than I have done unto it ?

Why, when I expected that it should bring forth grapes,
Brought it forth poisonous berries?

5 But come now, and I will make known unto you,
What I purpose to do to my vineyard :

To remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;
To destroy its fence, and it shall be trodden down.

6 And I will make it a desolation;

It shall not be pruned, neither shall it be digged;
But the brier and the thorn shall spring up in it;
And I will command the clouds,

That they shed no rain upon it.

7 Verily, the vineyard of JEHOVAH God of Hosts is the house of

8

Israel;

And the men of Judah the plant of his delight:

And he looked for judgement, but behold tyranny :

And for righteousness, but behold the cry of the oppressed.

Wo unto you, who join house to house;

Who lay field unto field together;

Until there be no place, and ye have your dwelling,

Alone to yourselves in the midst of the land.

To mine ear hath JEHOVAH God of Hosts revealed it:
Surely many houses shall become a desolation;

The great and the fair ones, without an inhabitant.

10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield a single bath of wine, And a chomer of seed shall produce an ephah.

11 Wo unto them, who rise early in the morning, to follow strong drink;

Who sit late in the evening, that wine may inflame them : 12 And the lyre, and the harp, the tabor, and the pipe,

And wine, are their entertainments;

But the work of JEHOVAH they regard not;

And the operation of his hands they do not perceive.

13 Therefore my people goeth into captivity for want of knowledge; And their nobles have died with hunger;

And their plebeians are parched up with thirst.

14 Therefore Hades hath enlarged his appetite;

And hath stretched open his mouth without measure:

And down go her nobility, and her populace ;

And her busy throng, and all that exult in her.

15 And the mean man shall be bowed down, and the great man shall be brought low;

And the eyes of the haughty shall be humbled :

16 And JEHOVAH God of Hosts shall be exalted in judgement; And God the Holy One shall be sanctified by displaying his righteousness.

17 Then shall the sheep feed without restraint;

18

And the kids shall depasture the desolate fields of the luxurious.

Wo unto them, who draw out iniquity, as a long cable; And sin, as the thick traces of a wain:

19 Who say, Let him make speed then, let him hasten His work, that we may see it;

And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel

Draw and come to near, pass, that we may know it. 20 Wo unto them who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. 21 Wo unto them who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own conceit.

22 Wo unto them, who are powerful to drink wine; And men of might to mingle strong drink :

23 Who justify the guilty for reward,

And take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.

24 Therefore as the tongue of fire licketh up the stubble, And as the flame dissolveth the chaff';

25

So shall their root become like touch-wood,

And their blossom shall go up like the dust:

Because they have despised the law of JEHOVAH God of Hosts; And scornfully rejected the word of the Holy One of Israel. Wherefore the anger of JEHOVAH is kindled against his people;

And he hath stretched out his hand against them:

And he smote them; and the mountains trembled ;

And their carcasses became as the dung in the midst of the streets.

For all this his anger is not turned away;

But still is his hand stretched out.

26 And he will erect a standard for the nations afar off:

And he will hist every one of them from the ends of the earth;

And behold, with speed swiftly shall they come,

27 None among them is faint, and none stumbleth;

None shall slumber, nor sleep:

Nor shall the girdle of their loins be loosed;

Nor shall the latchet of their shoes be unbound.

28 Whose arrows are sharpened;

And all their bows are bent:

The hoofs of their horses shall be counted as adamant ;

And their wheels as a whirlwind.

29 Their growling is like the growling of the lioness; Like the young lions shall they growl:

They shall roar, and shall seize the prey;

And they shall bear it away, and none shall rescue it.

30 In that day, shall they roar against them, like the roaring of

the sea;

And these shall look to the heaven upward, and down to the

earth;

And lo! darkness, distress!

And the light is obscured by the gloomy vapour.

CHAP. VI. 1 IN the year, in which Uzziah the king died, I saw JEHOVAH sitting on a throne high and lofty; and the train of 2 his robe filled the temple. one of them had six wings:

Above him stood seraphim: each with two of them he covereth his