Day 49 of 90

¹I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. Lover

²As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. Beloved

³As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste.

⁴He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love.

⁵Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am faint with love.

⁶His left hand is under my head. His right hand embraces me.

⁷I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.

⁸The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills.

⁹My beloved is like a roe or a young hart. Behold, he stands behind our wall! He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice.

¹⁰My beloved spoke, and said to me, "Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

¹¹For, behold, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone.

¹²The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

¹³The fig tree ripens her green figs. The vines are in blossom. They give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away." Lover

¹⁴My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

¹⁵Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom. Beloved

¹⁶My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies.

¹⁷Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Bether.

¹By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.

²I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.

³The watchmen who go about the city found me; "Have you seen him whom my soul loves?"

⁴I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, into the chamber of her who conceived me.

⁵I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.

⁶Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?

⁷Behold, it is Solomon's carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel.

⁸They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night.

⁹King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon.

¹⁰He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, its midst being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.

¹¹Go forth, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart. Lover

¹Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is as a flock of goats, that descend from Mount Gilead.

²Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock, which have come up from the washing, where every one of them has twins. None is bereaved among them.

³Your lips are like scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

⁴Your neck is like David's tower built for an armory, whereon a thousand shields hang, all the shields of the mighty men.

⁵Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.

⁶Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.

⁷You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.

⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

⁹You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.

¹⁰How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine! The fragrance of your perfumes than all manner of spices!

¹¹Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

¹²A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.

¹³Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits: henna with spikenard plants,

¹⁴spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,

¹⁵a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon. Beloved

¹⁶Awake, north wind; and come, you south! Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and taste his precious fruits. Lover

¹I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. Beloved

²I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night."

³I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on? I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?

⁴My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him.

⁵I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock.

⁶I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left; and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I did not find him. I called him, but he did not answer.

⁷The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.

⁸I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love. Friends

⁹How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us? Beloved

¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand.

¹¹His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, washed with milk, mounted like jewels.

¹³His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

¹⁴His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.

¹⁵His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

¹⁶His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem. Friends

¹Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? Beloved

²My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

³I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies,

⁴You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.

⁵Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead.

⁶Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing; of which every one has twins; none is bereaved among them.

⁷Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

⁸There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number.

⁹My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother's only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

¹⁰Who is she who looks forth as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?

¹¹I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.

¹²Without realizing it, my desire set me with my royal people's chariots. Friends

¹³Return, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. Lover Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?

¹How beautiful are your feet in sandals, prince's daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful workman.

²Your body is like a round goblet, no mixed wine is wanting. Your waist is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.

³Your two breasts are like two fawns, that are twins of a roe.

⁴Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.

⁵Your head on you is like Carmel. The hair of your head like purple. The king is held captive in its tresses.

⁶How beautiful and how pleasant you are, love, for delights!

⁷This, your stature, is like a palm tree, your breasts like its fruit.

⁸I said, "I will climb up into the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit." Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the smell of your breath like apples, Beloved

⁹Your mouth like the best wine, that goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding through the lips of those who are asleep.

¹⁰I am my beloved's. His desire is toward me.

¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field. Let us lodge in the villages.

¹²Let's go early up to the vineyards. Let's see whether the vine has budded, its blossom is open, and the pomegranates are in flower. There I will give you my love.

¹³The mandrakes give forth fragrance. At our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old, which I have stored up for you, my beloved.

¹Oh that you were like my brother, who sucked the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me.

²I would lead you, bringing you into my mother's house, who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.

³His left hand would be under my head. His right hand would embrace me.

⁴I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. Friends

⁵Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.

⁶Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yah.

⁷Many waters can't quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned. Friends

⁸We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. Beloved

¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found peace.

¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He leased out the vineyard to keepers. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.

¹²My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon; two hundred for those who tend its fruit. Lover

¹³You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice! Beloved

¹⁴Come away, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!

¹The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

²Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for the Lord has spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

³The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; but Israel doesn't know, my people do not consider.

⁴Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.

⁵Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

⁶From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven't been closed, neither bandaged, neither soothed with oil.

⁷Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

⁸The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a besieged city.

⁹Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom; we would have been like Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹"What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?," says the Lord. "I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.

¹²When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts?

¹³Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies.

¹⁴My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

¹⁶Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.

¹⁷Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow."

¹⁸"Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

¹⁹If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;

²⁰but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it."

²¹How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

²²Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.

²³Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, says: "Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself of my enemies;

²⁵and I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin.

²⁶I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called 'The city of righteousness, a faithful town.'

²⁷Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.

²⁸But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

²⁹For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.

³⁰For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.

³¹The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them."

¹This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

²It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.

³Many peoples shall go and say, "Come, let's go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

⁴He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

⁵House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

⁶For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled from the east, with those who practice divination like the Philistines, and they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.

⁷Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.

⁸Their land also is full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

⁹Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore do not forgive them.

¹⁰Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty.

¹¹The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

¹²For there will be a day of the Lord of hosts for all that is proud and haughty, and for all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low:

¹³For all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan,

¹⁴For all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up,

¹⁵For every lofty tower, for every fortified wall,

¹⁶For all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery.

¹⁷The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

¹⁸The idols shall utterly pass away.

¹⁹Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

²⁰In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

²¹To go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

²²Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?

¹For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water;

²the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder,

³the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter.

⁴I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them.

⁵The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable.

⁶Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, "You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand."

⁷In that day he will cry out, saying, I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing. You shall not make me ruler of the people.

⁸For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

⁹The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.

¹⁰Tell the righteous "Good!" For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.

¹²As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.

¹³The Lord stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples.

¹⁴The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and their leaders: "It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The spoil of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?" says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

¹⁶Moreover the Lord said, "Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, walking to trip as they go, jingling ornaments on their feet;

¹⁷therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion, and the Lord will make their scalps bald."

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces,

¹⁹the earrings, the bracelets, the veils,

²⁰the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume bottles, the charms,

²¹the signet rings, the nose rings,

²²the fine robes, the capes, the cloaks, the purses,

²³the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls.

²⁴It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.

²⁵Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war.

²⁶Her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit on the ground.

¹Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing: only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach."

²In that day, the Lord's branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel.

³It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem;

⁴when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning.

⁵The Lord will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy.

⁶There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.

¹Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

²He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

³"Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

⁴What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

⁵Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down.

⁶I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it."

⁷For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

⁸Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

⁹In my ears, the Lord of hosts says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.

¹⁰For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."

¹¹Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

¹²The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the Lord, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

¹³Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

¹⁴Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.

¹⁵So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;

¹⁶but the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.

¹⁷Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

¹⁸Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;

¹⁹Who say, "Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!"

²⁰Woe to those 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!

²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

²²Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!

²⁴Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵Therefore the Lord's anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.

²⁶He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.

²⁷None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

²⁸whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

²⁹Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver.

³⁰They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.

¹In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.

²Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.

³One called to another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of his glory!"

⁴The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.

⁷He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven."

⁸I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!"

⁹He said, "Go, and tell this people, 'You hear indeed, but do not understand; and you see indeed, but do not perceive.'

¹⁰Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed."

¹¹Then I said, "Lord, how long?" He answered, "Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,

¹²And the Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.

¹³If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."

¹It happened in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

²It was told the house of David, saying, "Syria is allied with Ephraim." His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.

³Then the Lord said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field.

⁴Tell him, 'Be careful, and keep calm. Do not be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

⁵Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying,

⁶"Let's go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let's divide it among ourselves, and set up a king in its midst, even the son of Tabeel."

⁷This is what the Lord God says: "It shall not stand, neither shall it happen."

⁸For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people;

⁹and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.'"

¹⁰The Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,

¹¹"Ask a sign of the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above."

¹²But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord."

¹³He said, "Listen now, house of David: Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?

¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

¹⁵He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

¹⁶For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.

¹⁷The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.

¹⁸It will happen in that day that the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

¹⁹They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures.

²⁰In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.

²¹It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;

²²and it shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter: for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left in the midst of the land.

²³It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns.

²⁴People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns.

²⁵All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep."