Study Desk

Sit silent, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, For no more do they cry to thee, `Mistress of kingdoms.'

I have been wroth against My people, I have polluted Mine inheritance And I give them into thy hand, Thou hast not appointed for them mercies, On the aged thou hast made thy yoke very heavy,

For from the Holy City they have been called, And on the God of Israel been supported, Jehovah of Hosts [is] His name.

Yea, thou hast not heard, Yea, thou hast not known, Yea, from that time not opened hath thine ear, For I have known thou dealest treacherously, And `Transgressor from the belly,' One is crying to thee.

For My name's sake I defer Mine anger, And My praise I restrain for thee, So as not to cut thee off.

For My sake, for Mine own sake, I do [it], For how is it polluted? And Mine honour to another I give not.

And he maketh my mouth as a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He hath hid me, And He maketh me for a clear arrow, In His quiver He hath hid me.

And I said, `For a vain thing I laboured, For emptiness and vanity my power I consumed, But my judgment [is] with Jehovah, And my wage with my God.

And now, said Jehovah, who is forming me from the belly for a servant to Him, To bring back Jacob unto Him, (Though Israel is not gathered, Yet I am honoured in the eyes of Jehovah, And my God hath been my strength.)

And He saith, `It hath been a light thing That thou art to Me for a servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And the preserved of Israel to bring back, And I have given thee for a light of nations, To be My salvation unto the end of the earth.'

Thus said Jehovah, Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, To the despised in soul, To the abominated of a nation, To the servant of rulers: `Kings see, and have risen, princes, and worship, For the sake of Jehovah, who is faithful, The Holy of Israel, and He chooseth thee.'

Thus said Jehovah: `In a time of good pleasure I answered thee, And in a day of salvation I helped thee, And I keep thee, and give thee, For a covenant of the people, To establish the earth, To cause to inherit desolate inheritances.

They do not hunger, nor thirst, Nor smite them doth mirage and sun, For He who is pitying them doth lead them, And by fountains of waters doth tend them.

And I have made all My mountains for a way, And My highways are lifted up.

Sing, O heavens, and joy, O earth, And break forth, O mountains, with singing, For comforted hath Jehovah His people, And His afflicted ones He doth pity.

Again do the sons of thy bereavement say in thine ears: `The place is too strait for me, Come nigh to me -- and I dwell.'

And thou hast said in thy heart: `Who hath begotten for me -- these? And I bereaved and gloomy, A captive, and turned aside, And these -- who hath nourished? Lo, I -- I was left by myself, these -- whence [are] they?

For thus said Jehovah: Even the captive of the mighty is taken, And the prey of the terrible is delivered, And with thy striver I strive, and thy sons I save.

Thus said Jehovah: `Where [is] this -- the bill of your mother's divorce, Whom I sent away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Lo, for your iniquities ye have been sold, And for your transgressions Hath your mother been sent away.

Wherefore have I come, and there is no one? I called, and there is none answering, Hath My hand been at all short of redemption? And is there not in me power to deliver? Lo, by My rebuke I dry up a sea, I make rivers a wilderness, Their fish stinketh, for there is no water, And dieth with thirst.