Imatges de pàgina
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716 Against oppreffion.

МІСАН.

a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

9 For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerufalem. 10 Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all in the house of Aphrah roll thyfelf in the dust.

11 Pafs ye away, thou inhabitant of, Saphir, having thy fhame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel: he fhall receive of you his ftanding.

12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerufalem.

13 O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: the is the beginning of the fin to the daughter of Zion for the tranfgreffions of Ifrael were found in thee.

14 Therefore shalt thou give prefents to Morefhethgath: the houfes of Achzib fball be a lie to the kings of Ifrael.

15 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Marethah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Ifrael.

16 Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldnefs as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

CHAP. II.

1 Against oppreffion. Alamentation. 7
A reproof of injuftice and idolatry. 12
A promife of restoring Jacob.
WOE to them that devife iniquity, and
work evil upon their beds! when the
morning is light, they practise it, because
it is in the power of their hand.

2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away fo they opprefs a man and his houfe, even a man and his heritage.

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3 Therefore thus faith the LORD, Behold, against this family do I devife an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither hall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.

In that day hall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a dole. ful lamentation, and fay, We be utterly spoiled : he hath changed the portion of my people how bath he removed it from me! turning away, he hath divided our fields.

The cruelty of the princes.

8 Even of late my people is rifen up as an enemy ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averfe from war.

9 The women of my people have ye caft out from their pleafant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.

10 Arife ye, and depart; for this is not your reft. because it is polluted, it thall destroy you, even with a fore destruction. 11 If a man walking in the fpirit and falfehood do lie, faying, I will prophefy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he fhall even be the prophet of this people.

12 I will furely affemble, O Jacob all of thee; I will furely gather the remnant of Ifrael. I will put them together as the heep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they fhall make great noise by reafon of the multitude of men.

13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king fhall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them. CHAP. III.

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AND I faid, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob,and ye princes of the house of Ifrael; Is it not for you to know judgment?

2 Who hate the good,and love the evil; who pluck off their fkin from off them, and their fef from off their bones;

8 Who alfo cat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

5 Thus faith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him:

6 Therefore, night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision: and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the fun thall go down over the proph ets, and the day shall be dark over them, 5 Therefore thou shalt have none that 7 Then hall the feers be afhamed, and fhall cat a cord by lot in the congrega-the diviners confounded: yea, they thail tion of the LORD. all cover their lips; for there is no anfwer of God.

6 Prophefy ye not, fay they to them that prophely: they fhall not prophefy to them that they thall not take haine.

8 But truly I am full of power by the fpirit of the LORD, and of judgraent, ¶ thou that art named the house of and of might, to declare unto Jacob his Jacob, Is the fpirit of the LORD ftraitened? į tranfgreilion, and to Hirael his fin. Are thefe his doings? Do not my words 9 tiear this, I pray you, ye heads of do good to him that walketh uprightly the house of Jacob, and princes of the houfe

The glory, &c. of the church.

Chap. iv. v.

houfe of Ifrael, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerufalem with iniquity.

11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money yet will they lean upon the LORD, and fay, I not the LORD among us? None evil can come upon us.

12 Therefore all Zion for your fake be ploughed as a field, and Jerufalem hall become heaps, and the mountain of the houfe as the high places of the foreft. CHAP. IV.

1 The glory, S peace, 8 kingdom, 11 and victory of the church.

BUT in the last days it all come to pafs, that the mountain of the houfe of the LORD fhall be established in the top of the mountains, and it thall be exalted above the hills; and people thall flow

unto it.

2 And many nations fhall come, and fay, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the houfe of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths for the law thall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerufalem.

S¶ And he thall judge among many people, and rebuke ftrong nations afar off; and they shall beat their fwords into ploughshares, and their fpears into pruninghooks: nation fhall not lift up a fword against nation, neither fhall they learn war any more.

4 But they fhall fit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none hall make them afraid for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

6 In that day, faith the LORD, will affemble her that balteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that i have afflicted.

7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was caft far off a ftrong nation and the LORD hall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth even for ever.

8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the ftrong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee thall it come, even the first dominion ; the kingdom fhall come to the daughter of Jerufalem.

9 Now, Why doft thou cry out aloud Is there no king in thee? Is thy counsellor perished? For pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman

The birth of Cbrift. 717

in travail : for now fhalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon: there fhalt thou be delivered; there the LORD fhall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

11 Now alfo many nations are gathered against thee, that fay, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.

12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel; for he hall gather them as the theaves into the floor.

18 Arife and threth, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brafs and thou thalt beat in pieces many people : and I will confecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their fubftance unto the LORD of the whole earth. CHAP. V.

1

The birth of Chrift. His kingdom. 8 His conqueft NOW gather thy felf in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid fiege against us: they hall fmite the judge of Ifrael with a rod upon the cheek.

2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee thall he come forth unto me tbar is to be ruler in Ifrael; whofe goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

3 Therefore will be give them up, until the time that the which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Ifrael.

And he thall ftand and feed in the ftrength of the LORD, in the majefty of the name of the LORD his God; and they hall abide for now fhall he be great uuto the ends of the earth.

5 And this man fhall be the peace, when the Affyrian fhall come into our land: and when he thall tread in our palaces, then hall we raife against him seven thepherds, and eight principal men.

6 And they shall waste the land of Affyria with the fword,and the landof Nimrod in the entrances thereof; thus hall he deliver us from the Affyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the thowers upon the graís. that tarrieth not for man, waiteth for the fons of men.

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And the remnant of Jacob fall be among the Gentiles in the mitt of many people as a lion among the beafts of the foreft, as a young lion among the flocks of theep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

9 Thine

718 God's controverfy for unkindness, MICAH. ignorance, injuftice, and idolatry.

9 Thine hand fhall be lifted up upon wicked balances, and with the bag of thine adverfaries, and all thine enemies deceitful weights? thall be cut off.

10 And it fhall come to pafs in that day, faith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horfes out of the midft of thee, and I will deftroy thy chariots:

11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy ftrong holds: 12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou fhalt have no more foothfayers:

13 Thy graven images alfo will I cut off, and thy ftanding images out of the midft of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.

14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: fo will I deftroy thy cities.

15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, fuch as they have not heard.

CHAP. VI.

1 God's controverfy for unkindness, 6 for ignorance, 10 for injuftice, 16 and for idolatry.

HEAR ye now what the LORD faith; Arife, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.

2 Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controverfy, and ye ftrong foundations of the earth for the LORD hath a controverfy with his people, and he will plead with Ifrael.

3 O my people, What have I done unto thee? and, Wherein have I wearied thee? Teltify against me.

For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the houte of fervants; and I fent before thee Mofes, Aaron, and Miriam.

5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab confulted, and what| Balaam the fon of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteoufnefs of the LORD.

12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have fpoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

18 Therefore alfo will I make thee fick in fmiting thee, in making thee defolate because of thy fins.

14 Thou shalt eat, but not be fatisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midit of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but halt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the fword.

15 Thou shalt fow, but thou shalt not reap: thou thalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and fweet wine, but fhalt not drink wine.

16 For the ftatutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the houfe of Ahab, and ye walk in their counfels; that Í fhould make thee a defolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hifling: therefore ye thall bear the reproach of my people. CHAP. VII.

1

The church complaining of ber small number, 3 and the general corruption, 5 putteth her confidence in God.

WOE is me! for I am as when they have gathered the fummer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat my foul defired the firit ripe fruit.

2 The good man is perished out of the earth and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge afkeib for a reward; and the great man he uttereth his mifchievous defire: fo they wrap it up.

The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thỳ watchman, and thy vifitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow my felf before the high 5 Truft ye not in a friend, put ye God? Shall I come before him with burnt not confidence in a guide: keep the doors offerings, with calves of a year old? of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy 7 Will the LORD be pleafed with thou-bofom.

fands of rams, or with ten thousands of 6 For the fon difhonoureth the father, rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn the daughter rifeth up against her moth for my tranfgreffion, the fruit of my bo-jer, the daughter in law against her mothdy for the fin of my foul? er in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own houfe.

8 He hath fhewed thee, O man, what is good; and,What doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mer-I cy, and to walk humbly with thy God

9 The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wifdom fhall fee thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. 10 Are there yet the treasures of wickednefs in the house of the wicked, and the fcant measure that is abominable?

11 Shall I count them pure with the

7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD: will wait for the God of my falvation: my God will hear me.

8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I thall arife; when I fit in darknefs, the LORD fhall be a light unto me.

9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, becaute I have finned again!t him, until he plead my caufe, and exc cute judgment for me: he will bring

The church's confidence in God. Chap. i. ii. His goodness to bis people. 719 me forth to the light, and I shall beholding out of the land of Egypt will I shew his righteoufnefs. unto him marvellous things.

10 Then be that is mine enemy fhall fee it, and fhame hall cover her which faid unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? Mine eyes fhall behold her: now Thall he be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

11 In the day that thy walls aretobebuilt, in that day fhall the decree be far removed. 12 In that day alfo he hall come even to thee from Affyria, and from the fortiSed cities, and from the fortrefs even to the river, and from sea to fea, and from mountain to mountain.

18 Notwithstanding, the land fhall be defolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell folitarily in the wood, in the midft of Carmel let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

15 According to the days of thy com

CHAP. I.

NA

16 The nations fhall fee and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears fhall be deaf.

17 They fhall lick the duft like a ferpent, they fhall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and fhall fear because of thee.

18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and paffeth by the tranfgreffion of the remnant of his heritage: he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

19 He will turn again, he will have compaffion upon us; he will fubdue our iniquities; and thou wilt caft all their fins into the depth of the fea.

20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Ja'cob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou haft fworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

HUM.

10 For while they be folden together The majefy of God in goodness to his as thorns, and while they are drunken people, and severity against his ene-as drunkards, they fhall be devoured as ftubble fully dry.

mies.

THE burden of Nineveh. The book of the vifion of Nahum the Elkofhite.

11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wickcounsellor.

2 God is jealous, and the LORD re-ed vengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is 12 Thus faith the LORD, Though they furious; the LORD will take vengeance be quiet, and likewife many, yet thus on his adverfaries, and he referveth wrath for his enemies.

3 The LORD is flow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked the LORD barb his way in the whirlwind and in the ftorm, and the clouds are the duft of his feet.

He rebuketh the fea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bahan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languitheth.

5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his prefence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

6 Who can ftand before his indignation? and, Who can abide in the fiercenefs of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth, them that truft in him.

8 But with an overrunning food he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness fhall purfue his enemies.

hall they be cut down, when he fhall pafs through. Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.

13 For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burft thy bonds in funder.

14 And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be fown out of the houfe of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publifheth peace! O Judah, keep thy folemn feafts, perform thy vows: for the wicked fhall no more pafs through thee; he is utterly cut off.

CHAP. II. The fearful and victorious armies of God against Nineweb.

HE that dalheth in pieces is come up before thy face: keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins ftrong, fortify thy power mightily.

For the LORD hath turned away the 9 What do ye imagine against the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of LORD? he will make an utter end; afflic-Ifrael: for the emptiers have emptied them on thall not rife up the fecond time. out, and marred their vine branches.

720 The armies of God against,

NAHUM. and miferable ruin of, Nineveb.

8 The field of his mighty men is nations through her whoredoms, and fam made red, the valiant men are in fcar-iles through her witchcrafes.

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let the chariots fhall be with flaming 5 Behold, I am against thee, faith the
torches in the day of his preparation, LORD of hofts; and I will difcover thy
and the fir trees fhall be terribly fhaken.fkirts upon thy face and I will thew the
The chariots hall rage in the streets, nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms
they fhall justle one against another in the thy fhame
broad ways: they thall feem like torches,
they hall run like the lightnings.

6 And I will caft abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile. and will fet thee as a gazing flock.

5 He hall recount his worthies: they fhall ftumble in their walk; they fhall 7 And it fhall come to pafs, that all make hafte to the wall thereof, and the they that look upon thee fhall flee from defence shall be prepared. thee, and fay. Nineveh is laid wafte: Who 6 The gates of the rivers fhall be open-will bemoan her? Whence fhall I feek ed, and the palace fhall be diffolved. comforters for thee?

7 And Huzzab fhall be led away cap- 8 Art thou better than populous No, tive, fhe fall be brought up, and her that was fituate among the rivers, that maids fhall lead her as with the voice of, had the waters round about it. whofe doves, tabering upon their breaths. rampart was the fea, and her wall was from the fea

8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water yet they fball flee away. Stand, fand, ball they cry; but none hall look back.

9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her firength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers

9 Take ye the fpoil of filver, take the 10 Yet was the carried away, the went fpoil of gold for there is none end of into captivity: her young children alfo the ftore and glory out of all the pleaf-were dashed in pieces at the top of all the ant furniture. Greets and they caft lots for her honcurable men. and all her great men were bound in chains.

10 She is empty, and void, and wafte: and the heart melteth, and the knees inite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blacknefs.

11 Thou alfo falt be drunken: thou fhait be hid, thou alfo fhalt feek ftrength becaufe of the enemy.

11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, 12 All thy ftrong holds fall be like fig and the feeding place of the young lions, tree, with the first ripe figs: if they be where the lion, even the old lion, walk-maken, they shall even fall into the mouth ed, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?

12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and frangled for his bioneffes, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.

of the eater

13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land fhall be fet wide open unto thine enemies : the fire hall devour thy bars.

14 Draw thee waters for the fiege.fortity 13 Behold, I am against thee, faith the thy ftrong holds: go into clay, and tread LORD of holts, and I will buin her char-the mortar, make strong the brickkiln. iots in the fmoke, and the fword shall devour thy young lions: and I wil! cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy meffengers fhall no more be beard.

CHAP. III.'

The miferable ruin of Nineveh. WOE to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth

not.

15 There hall the fire devour thee; the fword fhall cut thee off, it fhall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thy felf many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the lecufts.

16 Thou haft multiplied thy merchants above the ftars of heaven: the cankerworm fpoileth, and fleeth away.

17 Thy crowned are as the locufts, and thy captains as the great grafshoppers, 2 The noife of a whip, and the noise which camp in the hedges in the celd of the rattling of the wheels, and of the day, but when the fun arifeth they fee prancing horfes, and of the jumping char-away, and their place is not known where they are.

jots.

3 The horsemen lifteth up both the bright fword and the glittering fpear; and there is a multitude of flain, and a great number of carcaffes; and there is none end of their corpfes; they stumble upon their corpies:

4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that felleth

18 Thy hepherds flumber. O king of Affyria: thy nobles fhall dwell in the duß: thy people is feattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

19 There is no healing of thy bruife; thy wound is grievous: all that bear the bruit of thee hall clap the hands over thee: for Upon whom hath not thy wickednets passed continually? HABAKKUK.

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