shame may be exposed, and that thy dishonour may be seen. I will be avenged, and no man shall abate me.

Our Redeemer, which is called the LORD of hosts, the Holy One of Israel, doeth these things.

Sit thou in silence, go into darkness, thou daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called Woman over Kingdoms.

For when I was wroth with my people, and profaned my inheritance, I delivered them into thine hand: but thou showedst them no mercy; neither didst thou make thy yoke too heavy upon the aged.

and thought: I am a queen for ever. Thou hast not yet laid these things to thine heart, nor thought how it shall be with them hereafter.

Hear now this, thou that livest in lust, and sittest so secure, and sayest in thine heart, I am, and no more; I will not be a widow, nor barren.

And they shall both come upon thee suddenly in one day, and thou shalt be a widow, and barren: yea, they shall come upon thee abundantly, because of the multitude of thy sorcerers, and because of thy conjurors, of whom there is a great multitude with thee.

For thou hast trusted in thine own wickedness, when thou thoughtest: I am not seen: thy wisdom and thy art have overthrown thee, saying in thine heart, It is I, and none else.

Therefore there shall come upon thee a calamity which thou knewest not when it brake, and an accident shall fall upon thee which thou canst not atone for: for there shall come upon thee a sudden tempest which thou knewest not.

Stand therefore with thy conjurors, and with the multitude of thy sorcerers, among whom thou hast laboured from thy youth, whether thou wouldest counsel thyself, whether thou wouldest strengthen thyself.

For thou art weary before the multitude of thy counsels. Let the masters of the course of the heavens stand and help thee, and the stargazers that reckon by the moons what shall come upon thee.

Behold, they are as stubble which the fire burneth up; they cannot save their lives from the flame: for there shall not be an ember to warm them, nor a fire to sit by.

So they among whom thou hast laboured are thy servants from thy youth: every one shall go his way hither and thither, and have no helper.
(Isaiah)
Chapter 48
The people’s sin is punished, God’s glory is praised.

Hear this, ye of the house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are flowed out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and remember God in Israel, but not in truth nor righteousness.

For they call themselves of the holy city, and defy the God of Israel, which is called the LORD
of hosts:

I have declared these things before: they are come out of my mouth, and I have spoken them: I do it suddenly that they come.

For I know that thou art hard; and thy neck is a vein of iron, and thy forehead is a vein of steel.

I told thee before, and I sent word unto thee before it came, lest thou shouldest say, My idol hath done it, and my image and my god hath commanded it.

These things thou hearest, and seest, and hast not declared. For I have told thee new things before, and hidden things, which thou knewest not.

But now is it created, and not then; and thou hast not heard of it a day before, lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew it.

For thou heardest not, neither knewest, neither was thine ear open at that time: but I knew that thou wouldest despise, and be called a transgressor from thy mother’s womb.

Therefore I am patient for my name’s sake, and for my glory’s sake will I forbear thee, that thou be not cut off.

Behold, I will purify thee, but not as silver; but I will make thee choice in the furnace of affliction.

For mine own sake, yea, for mine own sake will I do it, that I be not blasphemed: for I will not leave mine honour to another.

Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and thou, O Israel, my called: I am he, I am the first, and also the last.

My hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath compassed the heavens: whatsoever I call, there standeth.

Gather yourselves together, all of you, and hear: Who is there among these that can declare these things? The LORD loveth him: therefore will he prove his will against Babylon, and his arm against the Chaldeans.

I, even I, have said it, I have called him; I will also cause him to come, and his way shall prosper him.

Come near unto me, and hear these things: I have not spoken them before in secret. From the time that it is spoken, I am there: and now the Lord GOD and his Spirit send me.

Thus saith the LORD thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God, which teach thee that which is good, and guide thee in the way that thou goest.

O that thou wouldest hearken unto my commandments! Then thy peace shall be as a river of water, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea,

And thy seed shall be as the sand, and the increase of thy body as the gravel thereof; whose name shall not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.

Go ye out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans with a joyful noise; proclaim and let it be heard; bring it forth unto the end of the world. Say, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

They thirsted not, when he led them in the wilderness; he caused water to flow out of the rock for them; he rent the rock, and water ran out.

But the wicked, saith the LORD, have no peace.
(Isaiah)
Chapter 49
Christ never forgets his church.

Hearken unto me, ye isles, and ye nations afar off, take heed. The LORD hath called unto me from my mother’s womb: he hath remembered my name, while I was yet in my mother’s womb,

And hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; with the shadow of his hand hath he covered me. He hath made me a pure arrow; he hath put me in his quiver.

And saith unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, by whom I will be glorified.

But I thought that I labored in vain, and that I spent my strength in vain, though my cause was the Lord’s, and my ministry my God’s.

And now thus saith the LORD, which hath prepared me from my mother’s womb to be his servant, that I should turn Jacob unto him, that Israel should not be taken away: therefore am I glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is my strength.

Saying, It is a small thing that thou art my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring again that which was desolate in Israel: but I have made thee also the light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be my salvation unto the end of the world.

Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, unto the despised soul, unto the people that are abominable, unto the servant that is among tyrants; Kings shall see and arise, and princes shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, because of the Holy One that is in Israel, who hath chosen thee.

Thus saith the LORD; I have heard thee in a good time, and have helped thee in the day of salvation; and have kept thee, and have set thee for a covenant among the people, to raise up the land, and to take the inheritance that was spoiled,

To say unto the captives: Come forth; and to them that are in darkness, Come forth; that they may feed by the way, and have their pasture upon every hill.

They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun sting them: for their Beneficent God shall lead them, and shall guide them unto the springs of waters.

I will make all my mountains paths, and my ways shall be made plain.

Behold, these shall come from afar, and, lo, that midnight, and that from the sea, and that from the land of Sinnig.

Rejoice, ye heavens; be glad, O earth: praise ye mountains with singing. For the LORD hath comforted his people, and hath had mercy upon his afflicted.

And Zion saith, The LORD hath forsaken me, the LORD hath forgotten me.

Can a woman forget her child, that she have not compassion on the son of her womb?
Though she forget him, yet will I not forget thee;

Behold, in my hands have I drawn thee. Thy walls are before me for ever.

Thy builders shall haste, but thy breakers and thy destroyers shall depart.

Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold! All these come gathered unto thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and shalt put them about thee as a bride.

For thy land, which is desolate, and broken down, shall be too strait for thee to dwell in, when thy destroyers are come far from thee,

That the children of thy barrenness may continue to say in thine ears: The space is too narrow for me; move, that I may dwell with thee.

But thou shalt say in thine heart, Who begat me these? I am barren, solitary, driven out, and cast down. Who brought up these unto me? Behold, I was left alone; where then were these?

Thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I will lift up mine hand unto the