- And the Lord said to me, Take to thyself
a volume of a great new [a] book, and write in
it with a man's pen concerning the making
a rapid plunder of spoils; for it is near at
hand.
- And make me witnesses of faithful
men, Urias, and Zacharias the son of
Barachias.
- And I went in to the prophetess;
and she conceived, and bore a son.
And the Lord said to me, Call his name,
Spoil quickly, plunder speedily.
- For before
the child shall know how to call his
father or his mother, one shall take the
power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria
before the king of the Assyrians.
- And the Lord spoke to me yet again,
saying,
- Because this people chooses not
the water of Siloam that goes softly, but
wills to have Rassin, and the son of Romelias
to be king over you;
- therefore, behold,
the Lord brings up upon you the
water of the river, strong and abundant,
even the king of the Assyrians, and his
glory: and he shall come up over every
valley of yours, and shall walk over every
wall of yours:
- and he shall take away from
Juda every man who shall be able to lift up
his head, and every one able to accomplish
anything; and his camp shall fill the breadth
of thy land, O [b] God with us.
- Know, ye Gentiles, and be conquered;
hearken ye, even to the extremity of the
earth: be conquered, after ye strengthened
yourselves; for even if ye should again
strengthen yourselves, ye shall again be
conquered.
- And whatsoever counsel ye
shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought;
and whatsoever word ye shall speak, it shall
not stand among you: for God is with us.
- Thus saith the Lord, With a strong hand
they [c] revolt from the course of the way of
this people, saying,
- Let them not say, It
is hard, for whatsoever this people says, is
hard: but fear not ye their fear, neither be
dismayed.
- Sanctify ye the Lord himself;
and [d] he shall be thy fear.
- And if thou
shalt trust in him, he shall be to thee for a
sanctuary; and ye shall not come against
him as against [e] a stumbling-stone, neither
as against the falling of a rock: but the
houses of Jacob are in a snare, and the
dwellers in Jerusalem in a pit.
- Therefore
many among them shall be weak, and fall,
and be crushed; and they shall draw nigh,
and men shall be taken securely.
- Then
shall those who seal themselves that they
may [f] not learn the law be made manifest.
- And one shall say, I will wait for God,
who has turned away his face from the house
of Jacob, and I will trust in him.
- [g] Behold
I and the children which God has
given me: and they shall be for signs and
wonders in the house of Israel from the
Lord of hosts, who dwells in mount Sion.
- And if they should say to you, Seek
[h] those who have in them a divining spirit,
and them that speak out of the earth, them
that speak vain words, who speak out of
their belly: shall not a nation diligently
seek to their God? why do they seek to the
dead concerning the living?
- For he has
given the law for a help, that they should
not speak according to this word, concerning
which there are no [i] gifts to give for it.
- And famine shall come sorely upon you,
and it shall come to pass, that when ye shall
be hungry, ye shall be grieved, and ye shall
speak ill of the prince and your fathers'
ordinances: and they shall look up to heaven
above,
- and they shall look on the
earth below, and behold severe distress, and
darkness, affliction, and [j] anguish, and
darkness so that one cannot see; and he
that is in anguish shall not be distressed
only for a time.
[a] Alex. paper, or, parchment.
[b] Heb. Immanuel.
[c] Gr. disobey.
[d] Or, let him be.
[e] Rom. 9.33.
[f] Alex. -- 'not.'
[g] Heb. 2.13.
[h] Gr. ventriloquists.
[i] See Hebrew.
[j] Or, a strait.
[English translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee
Brenton (1807-1862) originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons,
Ltd., London, 1851]