And the great city became divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Baḇel was remembered before Elohim, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.
And it shall be throughout all the soil,” declares יהוה, “that two thirds therein are cut off and die, and one third is left therein. “And I shall bring the third into fire, and refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My Name, and I shall answer them. I shall say, ‘This is My people,’ while they say, ‘יהוה is my Elohim.’ ”
For Elohim is my Sovereign from of old, Working deliverance in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by Your might; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. You broke the heads of Liwiathan in pieces, You made him food for the people Living in the wilderness. You did cleave open the fountain and the flood, You did dry up mighty rivers.
“Remember the former events of old, for I am Ěl, and there is no one else - Elohim, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from of old that which has not yet been done, saying, ‘My counsel does stand, and all My delight I do,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a distant land. Indeed I have spoken it, I also bring it to pass. I have planned it, I also do it. “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness:
“I have declared the former events from the beginning, and they went forth from My mouth, and I made you hear them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to be. “Because I knew that you were hard, and your neck was an iron sinew, and your forehead bronze, therefore I declared it to you long ago. Before it came I made you hear, lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, and my carved image and my moulded image commanded them.’ “You have heard, look at them all. And do you not declare it? From now on I shall make you hear new ones, even hidden ones, which you have not known. “Now they shall be created and not long ago. And before this day you have not heard them, lest you should say, ‘Look, I knew them.’
“Thus said יהוה, Sovereign of Yisra’ĕl, and his Redeemer, יהוה of hosts, ‘I am the First and I am the Last, besides Me there is no Elohim. And who is like Me? Let him call and declare it, and lay it before Me, since I appointed the everlasting people. And the events that are coming and those that do come, let them declare these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid. Have I not since made you hear, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there an Eloah besides Me? There is no other Rock, I know not one.’ ” Those who make an idol, all of them are emptiness, and their delights do not profit. And they are their own witnesses; they neither see nor know, so that they are put to shame. Who would form a mighty one or cast an idol that is of no value?
“Of what use shall a carved image be? For its maker has carved it: a moulded image and teacher of falsehood! For the maker trusts what he has made: to make dumb idols! “Woe to him who says to wood, ’Awake!' to silent stone, ’Arise!' Is it a teacher? See, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no spirit at all inside it. “But יהוה is in His set-apart Hĕḵal. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”
But יהוה is truly Elohim. He is the living Elohim and the everlasting Sovereign. At His wrath the earth shakes, and nations are unable to stand His displeasure. Say to them this, “The elah that did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.” He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He makes His voice heard, there is a roaring of waters in the heavens. And He makes vapours rise from the ends of the earth. The lightnings for rain He has made, and brings wind from His treasuries. Everyone is brutish in knowledge; every smith is put to shame by his idol. For his moulded image is falsehood, and there is no spirit in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery. In the time of their punishment they perish.
Truly You are Ěl, who hide Yourself, O Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, Saviour! They shall be put to shame, and even be humiliated, all of them - the makers of idols shall go away together in humiliation.
And the messenger who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “I have been jealous for Yerushalayim and for Tsiyon with great jealousy. “And I am very wroth with the nations who are at ease, for when I was a little wroth, they furthered the evil!” Therefore thus said יהוה, “I shall return to Yerushalayim with compassion. My house shall be built in it,” declares יהוה of hosts, “and a surveyor’s line be stretched out over Yerushalayim.” ’ “Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Again My cities shall overflow with goodness. And יהוה shall again comfort Tsiyon, and shall again choose Yerushalayim.” ’ ”
For יהוה has chosen Tsiyon, He has desired it for His dwelling: “This is My place of rest forever; Here I dwell, for I have desired it. “I greatly bless her provision, I satisfy her poor with bread. “And I put deliverance on her priests, And her lovingly-committed ones sing for joy. “There I make the horn of Dawiḏ grow; I shall set up a lamp for My Anointed One.
For this is what יהוה has said to me, “As a lion roars, and a young lion over his prey, though a band of shepherds is called out against him, he is not afraid of their voice nor disturbed by their noise, so יהוה of hosts shall come down to fight upon Mount Tsiyon and upon its hill. “Like hovering birds, so does יהוה of hosts protect Yerushalayim - protecting and delivering, passing over and rescuing.” Turn back to Him from whom the children of Yisra’ĕl have deeply fallen away. For in that day, let each man reject his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made for yourselves, as a sin. “And Ashshur shall fall by a sword not of man, and a sword not of mankind shall devour him. But he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become slave labour, and his strength pass away because of fear, and his commanders shall be afraid of the banner,” declares יהוה, whose light is in Tsiyon and whose furnace is in Yerushalayim.
Woe to the land shadowed with whirring wings, which is beyond the rivers of Kush, which sends envoys by sea, even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying, “Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people dreaded from their beginning onward, a nation mighty and trampling, whose land the rivers divide.” All inhabitants of the world, and you that dwell on the earth: When a banner is lifted up on the mountains, look! And when a shophar is blown, hear!
Who has gone up to the heavens and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name, And what is His Son’s Name, If you know it?
See, יהוה has one who is strong and potent, like a downpour of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who casts down to the earth with the hand.
And I looked and saw in the expanse that was above the head of the keruḇim, like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. And He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in among the wheels, under the keruḇ, and fill your hands with coals of fire from among the keruḇim, and scatter over the city.” And he went in before my eyes.
And Ěliyahu came to all the people, and said, “How long would you keep hopping between two opinions? If יהוה is Elohim, follow Him; and if Baʽal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares יהוה. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so is My Word that goes forth from My mouth - it does not return to Me empty, but shall do what I please, and shall certainly accomplish what I sent it for.
For thus said יהוה, Creator of the heavens, He is Elohim, Former of earth and its Maker, He established it, He did not create it to be empty, He formed it to be inhabited: “I am יהוה, and there is none else. “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I have not said to the seed of Yaʽaqoḇ, ‘Seek Me in vain.’ I am יהוה, speaking righteousness, declaring matters that are straight. “Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. No knowledge have they who are lifting up the wood of their carved image, and pray to a mighty one that does not save. “Declare and bring near, let them even take counsel together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has declared it from that time? Is it not I, יהוה? And there is no mighty one besides Me, a righteous Ěl and a Saviour, there is none besides Me. “Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am Ěl, and there is none else. “I have sworn by Myself, a word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, so that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue swear. “One shall say, ‘Only in יהוה do I have righteousness and strength’ - he comes to Him. And all those displeased with Him shall be put to shame. “In יהוה ALL THE SEED of Yisra’ĕl shall be declared right and boast.”
“But now hear, O Yaʽaqoḇ My servant, and Yisra’ĕl whom I have chosen. Thus said יהוה who made you and formed you from the womb, who helps you, ‘Do not fear, O Yaʽaqoḇ My servant, and Yeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I pour water on the thirsty, and floods on the dry ground. I pour My Spirit on your seed, and My blessing on your offspring, and they shall spring up among the grass like willows by streams of water.’ “One says, ‘I belong to יהוה; another calls himself by the name of Yaʽaqoḇ; another writes with his hand, ‘Unto יהוה,’ and names himself by the name of Yisra’ĕl.
“He who is sowing the good seed is the Son of Aḏam, and the field is the world. And the good seed, these are the sons of the reign, but the darnel are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. And the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the messengers. “As the darnel, then, is gathered and burned in the fire, so it shall be at the end of this age.
Near is He who declares Me right. Who would contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him come near Me. See, the Master יהוה helps Me. Who would declare Me wrong? See, all of them wear out like a garment, a moth eats them. Who among you is fearing יהוה, obeying the voice of His Servant, that has walked in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the Name of יהוה and lean upon his Elohim!
“I was set up ages ago, at the first, Before the earth ever was. “When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no springs heavy with water.
“I, wisdom, have dwelt with insight, And I find knowledge, foresight. “The fear of יהוה is to hate evil. I have hated pride and arrogance, And the evil way, And the perverse mouth.
For the Word of Elohim is living, and working, and sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through even to the dividing of being and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all are naked and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom is our account.
Listen to Me, O coastlands, and hear, you peoples from afar! יהוה has called Me from the womb, from My mother’s belly He has caused My Name to be remembered. And He made My mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand He hid Me, and made Me a polished shaft. In His quiver He hid Me.”
“And you, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands striking. And let the sword come down twice, thrice, the sword for the slain. It is the sword of the slain, the great one, which surrounds them. “I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, to melt the heart and that the overthrown be many. Ah! It is made like lightning, keen for slaughter. “Sharpen yourself on the right, set yourself on the left, wherever your edge is appointed!
“I have declared the former events from the beginning, and they went forth from My mouth, and I made you hear them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to be.
They speak falsehood with each other; They speak with flattering lips, a double heart. יהוה does cut off all flattering lips, A tongue that speaks swelling words, Who have said, “With our tongue we do mightily; Our lips are our own; Who is master over us?”
Who is this rising like a flood, whose waters surge about like the rivers? Mitsrayim rises like a flood, and its waters surge about like the rivers. And he says, ‘Let me rise and cover the earth; let me destroy the city and its inhabitants.’
Thus said the Ěl, יהוה, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: “I, יהוה, have called You in righteousness, and I strengthen Your hand and guard You, and give You for a covenant to a people, for a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. “I am יהוה, that is My Name, and My esteem I do not give to another, nor My praise to idols.
“Also you, because of the blood of your covenant, I shall send your prisoners out of the pit. “Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of the expectation. Even today I declare that I return double to you.
Thus said יהוה, “In a favourable time I shall answer You, and in the day of deliverance I shall help You - and I guard You and give You for a covenant of the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the ruined inheritances, to say to the prisoners, ‘Go out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ Let them feed on the ways, and let their pasture be on all bare hills. “They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither heat or sun strike them, for He who has compassion on them shall lead them, even by fountains of water guide them.
“Comfort, comfort My people!” says your Elohim. “Speak to the heart of Yerushalayim, and cry out to her, that her hard service is completed, that her crookedness is pardoned, that she has received from the hand of יהוה double for all her sins.” The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of יהוה; make straight in the desert a highway for our Elohim. “Let every valley be raised, and every mountain and hill made low. And the steep ground shall become level, and the rough places smooth. “And the esteem of יהוה shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see it. For the mouth of יהוה has spoken.”
For thus said יהוה, “See, I am extending peace to her like a river, and the esteem of the nations like a flowing stream. And you shall feed; you shall be carried on the side, and be fondled on her knees. “As one whom his mother comforts, so I comfort you. And in Yerushalayim you are comforted.” “And you shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones flourish as tender grass.
