mourn, and to be weighed down, and to put on sackcloth.

But now, behold, it is joy and gladness to kill oxen, and to slaughter sheep, and to eat flesh, and to drink wine, saying, Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

These things are manifest in the ears of the LORD of hosts. What matter if this iniquity be
forgiven you until ye die? saith the LORD of hosts.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Go in unto Sebna the treasurer, the keeper of the horses, and say unto him:

What hast thou here? to whom dost thou belong, to hew thee a grave here, as he that heweth his grave on high, and as he that maketh his dwelling in the rock?

Behold, the LORD shall cast thee away, as a strong man casteth one away, and shall shut thee up,

And he shall compass thee about as an orb upon a far country: there shalt thou die, there shall thy precious chariots abide with reproach of the house of thy Lord.

And I will cast thee down from thy station, and from thy office will I set thee.

And in that day will I call unto my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21. And I will put thy robe upon him, and gird him with thy girdle, and put thy power into his hand; and he shall be the father of them that dwell at Jerusalem, and of the house of Judah.

And I will put the keys of the house of David upon his shoulder, that he may open, and that no man may shut, and that he may shut, and that no man may open.

And he shall put it for a nail in a strong place, and shall have the throne of honour in his father’s house,

That all the glory of his father’s house should be hanged upon him; his children, and his children’s children, and all the little vessels, and the drinking vessels, and all manner of stringed instruments.

In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, the nail that is in the strong place shall be taken away, that it may break, and fall, and that the burden thereof may perish. For the LORD saith.
(Isaiah)
Chapter 23
Destruction and rebuilding of Tyre.

This is the burden of Tyre: Hie ye down, ye ships of the sea: for it is destroyed; there is no house, neither doth any man go thither. They shall know it out of the land of Chittim.

The inhabitants of the isles have become quiet. The merchants of Zidon, which passed through the sea, filled thee.

And the fruit that grew by Sihor, and the corn that grew by the waters, were brought in unto her by great waters: and thou wast the market of the heathen.

Thou shalt be afraid, O Zidon. For the sea, even the firmament of the sea, saith, I am no more with child, I bear no more: so I raise no young men, neither bring up virgins.

As men were afraid when they heard of Egypt, so shall they be afraid when they hear of Tyre.

Go ye to the sea; howl, ye inhabitants of the isles.

Is this your joyful city, which boasted of her age? Her feet shall lead her afar off to wander.

Who would have thought that it should be so with Tyre the crown, when her merchants are princes, and her merchants the chiefest in the land?

Thus hath the LORD of hosts purposed, that he might diminish all the glory of the goodly city, and bring into contempt all the glories of the land.

Pass through thy land like a river, thou daughter of the sea: there is no more girdle.

He stretcheth out his hand over the sea, and terrifieth the kingdoms. The LORD hath commanded Canaan to destroy her mighty ones,

And saith, Thou shalt not rejoice any more, thou violated virgin, thou daughter of Zidon. O
Chittim, arise, and depart: for thou shalt not abide there,

But in the land of the Chaldeans, which was not a nation, but Assyria hath prepared it for ships, and have set up strong towers within, and built palaces. But it is set to be pulled down.

Hail, ye ships of the sea: for your power is destroyed.

In that day shall Tyre be forgotten seventy years, as long as a king may live. But after seventy years they will sing of Tyre a harlot’s song:

Take the harp, go about in the city, thou forgotten harlot: play well upon the strings, and sing with confidence, that thou mayest be remembered.

For after threescore and ten years the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall return to the wages
of her harlotry, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the earth.

But their merchandise and their wages shall be holy unto the LORD. They shall not be treasured, neither shall they be hid: but they that dwell before the LORD shall have their merchandise, that they may eat, and be full, and be well clothed.
(Isaiah)
Chapter 24
Devastation of the Jewish land.

Behold, the LORD maketh the land empty and desolate, and overthroweth that which is therein, and scattereth the inhabitants thereof.

And go ye to the priest as well as to the people, to the lord as well as to the servant, to the woman as well as to the maid, to the seller as well as to the buyer, to the borrower as well as to the borrower, to the admonisher as well as to the debtor.

For the land shall be empty and despoiled: for the LORD hath spoken these things.

The land is desolate and corrupt, the ground is wasted and corrupt; the chief of the people of the land are wasted.

The land is polluted of her inhabitants: for they have transgressed the law, and changed the commandments, and forsaken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore the curse devoureth the land: for they that dwell therein are in debt. Therefore the inhabitants of the land wither, and few remain.

The must is gone, the vine languisheth, and all that were glad of heart groan.

The joy of the timbrel celebrates, the rejoicing of the joyful is ended, and the joy of the harps is ended.

Sing not while drinking wine: and good drink is bitter to them that drink it.

The empty city is broken up; all the houses are shut up, that no man may enter in.

They lament wine in the streets, that all joy is gone, all the delight of the land is gone.

Vain desolation is left in the city, and the gates stand desolate.

For there is a prayer in the land and among the people, as when an olive tree is plucked up, as when the vintage is over.

These lift up their voice, and shout, and shout from the sea, for the glory of the LORD: 15. Now therefore praise ye the LORD in the foundations, in the isles of the sea, the name of the LORD God of Israel.

We hear songs of praise from the end of the earth in honor of the righteous. And I must say: How thin I am! How thin I am! Woe is me; for the despisers despise, even the despisers despise.

Therefore terror, pit, and stroke, come upon you, ye inhabitants of the land.

Though a man escape from the cry of the terror, yet shall he fall into the pit; though he come out of the pit, yet shall he be taken in a snare. For the windows of the high places are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.

The land shall be evil, and shall not prosper, and shall fall away.

The land shall stagger like a drunken man, and be carried away like a hovel: for her iniquity oppresseth her, that she must fall, and cannot stand.

In that day shall the LORD visit the high knights that are in high places, and the kings of the earth that are on the earth,

That they should be gathered into a bundle to the pit, and be shut up in the dungeon, and after a long time be visited again.

And the moon shall be ashamed, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall be king in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients in glory.
Chapter 25
Thanksgiving for the procreation of Christ’s kingdom.

O LORD, thou art my God: I praise thee. I praise thy name, for thou doest wonders. Thy precepts of old are faithful and true.

For thou hast made the city a heap of stones, the strong city to lie in a heap, the palace of the strangers, that there shall be no more city, neither shall there be any more building.

Therefore a mighty nation honoureth thee: the cities of mighty nations fear thee.

For thou art the strength of the lowly, the strength of the poor in affliction, a fine refuge from the tempest, a shade from the heat when tyrants rage, as a tempest against a wall.

Thou hast humbled the stranger’s fierceness, as the heat in a dry place; that the heat may destroy the vine of the tyrant, and the cloud may give shade.

And the LORD of hosts shall make all nations a fat banquet in this mountain, a banquet of pure wine, of fat, of marrow, of wine, wherein is no yeast.

And he shall put away the covering upon this mountain, that all nations may be covered; and the covering, that all the heathen may be covered.

For he shall swallow up death for ever. And the LORD GOD shall wipe away the tears from off all faces, and shall lift up the reproach of his people throughout all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

In that day it shall be said, Behold, this is our God,