- Behold now, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will take away from
Jerusalem and from Judea the mighty man and mighty woman, the strength
of bread, and the strength ot water,
- the great and mighty man, the warrior and the judge and the
prophet, and the counsellor, and the elder,
- the captain of fifty also, and the honourable counsellor, and the
wise artificer, and the intelligent hearer.
- And I will make youths their princes, and mockers shall have
dominion over them.
- And the people shall fall, man upon man, and every man
upon his neighbour: the child shall insult the elder man, and the base
the honourable.
- For a man shall lay hold of his brother, as one of his father's
household, saying, Thou hast raiment, be thou our ruler, and let my
meat be under thee.
- And he shall answer in that day, and say, I will not be thy ruler;
for I have no bread in my house, nor raiment: I will not be the ruler
of this people.
- For Jerusalem is [a] ruined, and Judea
has fallen, and their tongues have spoken with iniquity,
disobedient as they are towards the Lord.
- Wherefore now their glory has been brought low, and the shame of
their countenanoe has withstood them, and they have proclaimed their
sin as Sodom, and made it manifest.
- Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil counsel against
themselves, saying against themselves, Let us bind the just, for he is
burdensome to us: therefore shall they eat the fruits of their works.
- Woe to the transgressor! evils shall happen to him according to
the works of his hands.
- O my people, your exactors [b] strip
you, and extortioners rule over you: 0 my people, they that pronounce
you blessed lead you astray, and pervert the path of your feet.
- But now the Lord will stand up for judgment, and will enter into
judgment with his people.
- The Lord himself shall enter into judgment with the elders of the
people, and with their rulers: but why have ye set my vineyard on
fire, and why is the spoil of the poor in your houses?
- Why do ye wrong my people, and shame the face of the poor?
- Thus saith the Lord, Because the daughters of Sion are haughty and
have walked with an outstretched neck, and with winking of the eyes,
and motion of the feet, at the same time drawing their garments in
trains, and at the same time sporting with their feet:
- therefore the Lord will humble the chief daughters of Sion, and
the Lord will expose their form in that day;
- and the Lord will take away the glory of their raiment, the curls
and the fringes, and the crescents,
- and the chains, and the ornaments of their faces,
- and the array of glorious ornaments, and the armlets, and the
bracelets, and the wreathed work, and the finger-rings, and the
ornaments for the right hand,
- and the ear-rings, and the garments with scarlet borders, and the
garments with purple grounds, and the shawls to be worn in the house
and the Spartan transparent dresses, and those made of fine linen, and
the purple ones, and the scarlet ones, and the fine
linen, interwoven with gold and purple, and the light coverings for
couches.
- And there shall be instead of a sweet smell, dust; and instead of
a girdle, thou shalt gird thyself with a rope; and instead of a golden
ornament for the head, thou shalt have baldness on account of thy
works; and instead of a tunic with a scarlet ground, thou shalt gird
thyself with sackcloth.
- And thy most beautiful son whom thou lovest shall fall by the
sword; and your mighty men shall fall by the sword, and shall be
brought low.
- And the [c] stores of your ornaments
shall mourn, and thou shalt be left alone, and shalt be levelled with
the ground.
[a] Or, forsaken, or, let
go.
[b] Gr. glean you.
[c] Gr. cases, or,
repositories.
[English translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee
Brenton (1807-1862) originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons,
Ltd., London, 1851]