5. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith the LORD; I am satiated with burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed

beasts;

6. In the blood of bullocks and of lambs and of goats I have no delight.

7. When ye come to appear before me,

Who hath required this of you, to tread my courts?

8. Bring no more false oblations!

Incense is an abomination to me,

The New-moon also, and the Sabbath, and the calling of the assembly;

Iniquity and festivals I cannot endure.

9. Your new moons and your feasts my soul hateth;

They are a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them,

10. When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine Yea, when ye multiply prayers, I will not hear; Your hands are full of blood!

11. Wash you; make you clean;

eyes from

Put away your evil doings from before mine eyes; 12. Cease to do evil; learn to do well;

Seek justice; relieve the oppressed;

Defend the fatherless; plead for the widow !

13. How is the faithful city become corrupt,

She that was full of equity!

Once justice dwelt in her, but now murderers!

you;

14. Thy silver is become dross; thy wine is adulterated with water. Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves;

Every one of them loveth gifts, and seeketh rewards;

They render not justice to the fatherless,

And the cause of the widow cometh not before them.

15. Wherefore, thus saith the Eternal, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:

Ha! I will ease me of mine adversaries,

And avenge me of mine enemies.

16. And I will again turn my hand toward thee,

And wholly purge away thy dross, and take away all thy alloy.

17. And I will restore thy judges, as at the first,

And thy counsellors, as at the beginning.

Then shalt thou be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.

18. Through justice shall Zion be delivered,

And her reformed ones through righteousness.

(Chap. I; 1-4, 11-17, 21-27.)

II.

Promises of a glorious future for Israel The nations will acknowledge the God of Israel and his laws of righteousness and peace. The young prince, soon to ascend the throne

1.

of David, will govern the people through

justice and equity,

Ir shall come to pass in the last days,

That the mountain of the house of LORD shall be established at the head of the mountains,

And exalted above the hills;

And all nations shall flow unto it.

2. And many kingdoms shall

go,

and shall say,

Come, let us go to the mountain of LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob,

That he may teach us his ways,

And that we may walk in his paths!

For from Zion shall go forth a law,

And the word of LORD from Jerusalem,

3. He shall be a judge of the nations.

And an umpire of many kingdoms;

And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
And their spears into pruning-hooks;

Nations shall not lift up the sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war any more.

4.

O house of Jacob, come ye,

5.

And let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Chapt. II, 1-5.

The people that walk in darkness behold a great light;

They who dwell in the land of death-like shade,

Upon them a light shineth.

6. Thou enlargest the nation; thou increasest their joy; They rejoice before thee with the joy of harvest,

With the joy of those who divide the spoil.

7. For thou breakest their heavy yoke,

And the rod that smote their backs,

And the scourge of the taskmaster, as in the day of Midian. 8. For every warrior's weapon in battle-storm,

g.

And the war-garment rolled in blood,

Shall be burned; yea, it shall be food for the fire.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,

And the government shall be upon his shoulders,

And he shall be called wonderful, counsellor, mighty potentate, Everlasting father, prince of peace;

10. His dominion shall be great,

And peace without end shall be upon the throne of David and his kingdom.

To fix and establish it through justice and equity, henceforth and forever.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Chap. IX; 2-2.

The same subject continued.

from the house of David,

III.

Under the government of a righteous prince Israel will enjoy the fruits of peace; wickedness shall cease; the jealousies between the brother kingdoms shall disappear; the knowl

edge of God will be universal.

1. THEN shall spring forth a shoot from the stem of Jesse, And a sprout grow up from his roots.

2. The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and might,

The spirit of the knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
3. He shall take delight in the fear of the LORD;
He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of his ears.

4. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the afflicted of the land;
He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth;
With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
5. Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
And faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

6. Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

The calf, and the young lion, and the fatling shall be together,
And a little child shall lead them.

7. The cow and the bear shall feed together,
Together shall their young lie down,

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8. The suckling shall play upon the hole of the asp,

And the new-weaned child lay his hand on the hiding place of

the basilisk.

9. They shall not hurt, nor destroy in all my holy mountain; For the land shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD,As the waters cover the depths of the sea.

10. Then shall the jealousy of Ephraim depart,
And the enmity in Judah be at an end;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
And Judah shall not contend with Ephraim.

(Chap. XI; 1-9, 13.)

11.
In that day shall a man have regard to his Maker,
And his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.
12. He shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands,
Nor have respect to that which his fingers have made,
The images of Astarte and the Sun-pillars.

13

(Chap. XVII; 7-8.) In that day shall there be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt,

And the Egytian into Assyria,

And the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians.

14. In that day shall Israel be the third

In connection with Egypt and Assyria,

A blessing in the midst of the earth.

15. The LORD of hosts shall bless them, and
Blessed be Egypt, my people,

And Assyria, the work of my hands,
And Israel, mine inheritance!

say,

(Chap. XIX; 23-25.)

1.

IV.

The parable of the LORD's vineyard.

LET me sing now a song respecting my friend,
A song respecting my friend touching his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill;

2. He digged it, and cleared it of stones,

And planted it with the choicest vine,

And built a tower in the midst of it,
And hewed out a wine-press therein

Then he looked that it should bring forth its grapes,

But it brought forth sour grapes.

3. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah,

Judge ye between me and my vineyard!

4. What could have been done for my vineyard

That I have not done for it?

Why, then, when I looked that it should bring forth its grapes,
Brought it forth sour grapes?

5. But come now, and I will tell

you

What I mean to do with my vineyard.

I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up;

I will break down its wall, and it shall be trodden down;

6. And I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned, nor digged, But shall grow up into thorns and briers;

7.

I will also command the clouds, that they shed no rain upon it.
The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah the plant of his delight.

He looked for justice, and behold, bloodshed!
For righteousness, and behold, outcry!

(Chap. V; 1-7.)

8. Their very countenance witnesseth against them;
They publish their sin like Sodom; they hide it not;
Woe to them, for they bring evil upon themselves!
9. Say ye of the righteous that it shall be well with him,
For he shall eat the fruit of his doings.

10. Woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him,

For the work of his hands shall be repaid him! 11. As for my people, children are their oppressors. And women rule over them.

O my people, thy leaders cause thee to err, And destroy the way in which thou walkest! 12. The LORD standeth up to maintain his cause; He standeth up to judge his people.

13. The LORD entereth into judgment with the elders of his people, and their princes:

"So then ye have consumed the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses! 14. What mean ye, that ye crush my people, And grind the faces of the poor ?" Saith the Eternal, the Lord of hosts.

(Chap. IV; 9-15.)

1.

V.

Woes denounced against hypocrisy, injustice and oppression.

The future of God's vineyard.

THUS saith the LORD,

Since this people draweth near to me with their mouth,

And honoreth me with their lips,

While their heart is far from me,

And their worship of me is according to the commandments of

men,

2. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to deal marvellously with this

people;

Marvellously and wonderfully,