Chapter 64

¹ If thou wouldest open the heaven, trembling will take hold upon the mountains from thee, and they shall melt, ² as wax melts before the fire; and fire shall burn up the enemies, and thy name shall be manifest among the adversaries: at thy presence the nations shall be troubled, ³ whenever thou shalt work gloriously; trembling from thee shall take hold upon the mountains.

⁴ From of old ¹we have not heard, neither have our eyes seen a God beside thee, and thy works which thou wilt perform to them that wait for mercy. ⁵ For these blessings shall happen to them that work righteousness, and they shall remember thy ways: behold, thou wast angry and we have sinned; therefore we have erred, ⁶ and we are all become as unclean, and all our righteousness as a filthy rag: and we have ²fallen as leaves because of our iniquities; thus the wind shall carry us away. ⁷ And there is none that calls upon thy name, or that remembers to take hold on thee: for thou hast turned thy face away from us, and hast delivered us up because of our sins.

⁸ And now, O Lord, thou art our Father, and we are clay, all of us the work of thine hands. ⁹ Be not very wroth with us, and remember not our sins ³for ever; but now look on us, for we are all thy people. ¹⁰ The city of thy holiness has become desolate, Sion has become as a wilderness, Jerusalem a curse. ¹¹ The house, our sanctuary, and the glory which our fathers blessed, has been burnt with fire: and all our glorious things have gone to ruin. ¹² And for all

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these things thou, O Lord, has withholden, thyself, and been silent, and hast brought us very low.

Chapter 65

^{1 4}I became manifest to them that asked not for me; I was found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold, I am here, to a nation, who called not on my name. ² I have stretched forth my hands all day to a disobedient and gainsaying people, to them that walked in a way that was not good, but after their sins. ³ This is the people that provokes me continually in my presence; they offer sacrifices in gardens, and burn incense on bricks to devils, which exist not. ⁴ They lie down to sleep in the tombs and in the caves for the sake of dreams, even they that eat swine's flesh, and the broth of their sacrifices: all their vessels are defiled: ⁵ who say, Depart from me, draw not nigh to me, for I am pure.

This is the smoke of my wrath, a fire burns with it continually. ⁶ Behold, it is written before me: I will not be silent until I have recompensed into their bosom, ⁷ their sins and the sins of their fathers, saith the Lord, who have burnt incense on the mountains, and reproached me on the hills: I will recompense their works into their bosom.

⁸ Thus saith the Lord, As a grape-stone shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for the sake of him that serves me, for his sake I will not destroy them all. ⁹ And I will lead forth the seed that came of Jacob and of Juda, and they shall inherit my holy mountain: and mine elect and my servants shall inherit it, and shall dwell there. ¹⁰ And there shall be in the forest folds of flocks, and the valley of Achor shall be for a resting-place of herds for my people, who have sought me.

¹¹ But ye are they that have left me, and forget my holy mountain, and prepare a table for the devil, and fill up the ⁵drink-offering to Fortune. ¹² I will deliver you up to the sword, ye shall all fall by slaughter: for I called you, and ye hearkened not; I spoke, and ye refused to hear; and ye did evil in my sight, and chose the things wherein I delighted not. ¹³ Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall hunger: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall thirst: behold my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: ¹⁴ behold, my servants shall exult with joy, but ye shall cry for the sorrow of your heart, and shall howl for the vexation of your spirit. ¹⁵ For ye shall leave your name for a loathing to my chosen, and the Lord shall destroy you: but my servants shall be called by a new name, ¹⁶ which shall be blessed on the earth; for they shall bless the true God: and they that swear upon the earth shall swear by the true God; for they shall forget the former affliction, it shall not come into their mind.

¹⁷ For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth: and they shall not at all remember the former, neither shall they at all come into their mind. ¹⁸ But they shall find in her joy and exultation; for, behold,

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I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people a joy. ¹⁹ And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and will be glad in my people: and there shall no more be heard in her the voice of weeping, or the voice of crying. ²⁰ Neither shall there be there any more a child that dies untimely, or an old man who shall not complete his time: for the youth shall be a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies at a hundred years shall also be accursed: ²¹ and they shall build houses, and themselves shall dwell in them; and they shall plant vineyards, and themselves shall eat the fruit thereof. ²² They shall by no means build, and others inhabit; and they shall by no means plant, and others eat: for as the days of the tree of life shall be the days of my people, they shall long enjoy the fruits of their labours. ²³ My chosen shall not toil in vain, neither shall they beget children to be cursed; for they are a seed blessed of God, and their offspring with them.

²⁴ And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hearken to them; while they are yet speaking, I will say, What is it? ²⁵ Then wolves and lambs shall feed together, and the lion shall eat chaff like the ox, and the serpent earth as bread. They shall not injure nor destroy in my holy mountain, saith the Lord.