of Israel, a snare and a trial unto the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 15. That many of them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be entangled, and be taken.

Bind up the testimony, seal the law unto my disciples.

For I hope in the LORD, which hid his face from the house of Jacob: but I wait for him.

Behold, here am I, and the children which the LORD hath given me, for a sign and for a wonder in Israel, from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

And when they say unto you, Ye must ask the diviners and the interpreters of signs, which prate and debate; say ye, Shall not a people ask their God? or shall the dead be asked for the living?

Yea, according to the law and testimony. If they will not say this, they will not have the dawn,

But shall go about in the land smitten hard, and hungry. And when they are hungry, they shall be wroth, and curse their king, and their God.

And they shall look upon the earth above them, and shall look upon the earth beneath them, and shall find nothing but gloom and darkness: for they are weary with fear, and go astray in darkness.
Ch. 9, v. 1: For there shall be another trouble that troubleth them, as in the days of old, when it was easy in the land of Zebulun, and in the land of Naphtali; and afterward it was hard by the way of the sea, on this side Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles.
(Isaiah)
Chapter 9
The Messiah’s birth, name and kingdom.
(Epistle on Christmas Day.)

The people that walk in darkness behold a great light; and upon them that dwell in the land of darkness it shineth brightly.

Thou makest the heathen much; thou makest not much joy. But before thee shall men rejoice, as one rejoiceth in harvest, as one rejoiceth when he divideth the spoil.

For thou hast broken the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the staff of their driver, as in the days of Midian.

For all warfare with tumult and bloody raiment shall be burned up, and consumed with fire.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, whose dominion is upon his shoulder: and his name is Wonderful, Counsellor, Strength, Hero, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, 7. That his dominion might be great, and that there should be no end of peace in the throne of David, and in his kingdom; that he might establish it, and strengthen it with judgment and righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

The LORD sent a word in Jacob, and fell in Israel,

That all the people of Ephraim, and the inhabitants of Samaria, which say in pride and loftiness of mind, may be brought to remembrance:

Bricks are fallen, but we will build it again with pieces: they have cut down mulberry trees,
and we will put cedars in their place.

For the LORD will raise up the armies of Rezin against them, and will cut off their enemies in multitude:

The Syrians in the front, and the Philistines in the rear, shall devour Israel with their mouths.
In all this his anger is not yet abated; his hand is yet stretched out.

Neither do the people turn unto him that smiteth them, nor inquire of the LORD of hosts.

Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both branch and stump, in one day.

The old men of truth are the head: but the prophets that teach falsely are the tail.

For the leaders of this people are deceivers, and they that are led are lost.

Therefore the LORD cannot rejoice over their young men, neither have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for they are all hypocrites and wicked, and their mouth speaketh folly.
In all this his wrath is not yet abated; his hand is yet stretched out.

For the ungodly is kindled like fire, and devoureth thorns and hedges, and burneth as in a thick forest, and giveth great smoke.

For in the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is darkened, and the people are as meat of fire: they spare not one another.

If they rob on the right hand, they hunger: if they eat on the left hand, they are not satisfied.
Every man eateth the flesh of his own arm:

Manasseh against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, and they together against Judah.
In all this his anger is not abated; his hand is stretched out.
(Isaiah)
Chapter 10
Punishment of injustice. Downfall of the Assyrians.

Woe unto the scribes that make unrighteous laws, and that write unrighteous judgments, 2. That they may plead the cause of the poor, and do violence in the judgment of the wretched among my people, that widows may be their spoil, and fatherless their prey.

What will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the day of calamity that cometh from afar? To whom will ye flee for help, and where will ye leave your honour?

That it be not bowed down among the captives, and fall among them that are slain? In all this his anger is not abated; his hand is yet stretched out.

O woe unto Assyria, which is the rod of mine anger, and her hand the staff of my fury!

And I will send him against a hypocritical people, and will command him against the people of mine anger, to spoil them, and to divide them, and to tread them down as the dung of the street,

Though he mean not so, neither think so in his heart; but his heart is to destroy and to cut off not a few nations.

For he saith, Are not all my princes kings?

Is not Kalno like Karchemis? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

As mine hand hath found the kingdoms of idols, though their idols were stronger than those that are in Jerusalem and Samaria:

Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols, as I did to Samaria and her idols?

And it shall come to pass, when the LORD hath finished all his work in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, that I will punish the fruit of the proud king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty eyes,

Because he saith, I have wrought it out by the power of mine hands, and by my wisdom; for I am wise: I have divided the countries in other ways, and have spoiled their revenue, and have cast down the inhabitants to the ground like a mighty man,

And mine hand hath found the nations like a bird’s nest; and I have gathered all the countries together, as one gathereth up eggs that are left, when no man stirreth up a feather, or openeth his beak, or hisseth.

May an axe boast against him that heweth therewith, or a saw defy him that cutteth therewith, as he that leadeth the rod, and lifteth it up, and leadeth it as lightly as if it were not wood?

Therefore the LORD of hosts will send drought among his fat ones, and he will kindle his glory, and it shall burn as the fire.

And the light of Israel shall be a fire, and his holy one shall be a flame, and shall kindle his thorns and his hedges, and consume them in one day.

And the glory of his forest and of his field shall be destroyed from the souls even to the flesh, and shall perish and vanish away,

That the rest of the trees of his forest may be numbered, and a lad may mark them.

In that day the remnant of Israel, and they that are saved of the house of Jacob, shall no more rely upon him that smiteth them; but they shall rely upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

The remnant shall be converted, even the remnant in Jacob, unto GOD the strong.

For though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, yet the remnant of them shall be converted. For when destruction is prevented, righteousness cometh abundantly.

For the LORD of hosts shall cause destruction to come, and shall bring it upon all the earth.

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Fear not, my people that dwell in Zion, before Assyria. He shall smite thee with a rod, and lift up his staff against thee, as it was in Egypt.

For there is yet but a little to be done, and there shall be an end of iniquity, and of mine anger against their iniquity.

Then shall the LORD of hosts raise up a scourge upon him, as in the battle of Midian upon the rock Oreb; and he shall lift up his rod, which he used by the sea, as in Egypt.

In that day shall his burden depart from thy shoulder, and his yoke from thy neck: for the yoke shall rot before the fatness.

He cometh (let it be) to Ajath; he passeth through Migron; he musteth his stuff to Michmash.

They pass over Geba before our camp: Ramah is afraid, Gibeath of Saul is afraid.

Thou daughter of Gallim, cry aloud; take heed, Laishah, thou wretched Anathoth!

Madmena gives way; the citizens of Gebim strengthen themselves.

For it may be that he will tarry a day at Nob; and he will lift up his hand against the mountain of the daughter of Zion, and against the hill of Jerusalem.

But, behold, the LORD of hosts shall hew down the boughs with power, and shall shorten the things that are lifted up, that the high places may be humbled.

And the thick forest shall be hewn down with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by the mighty.
(Isaiah)
Chapter 11
Christ and his gospel