mighty shall be taken away, and the booty of the terrible shall be delivered; for I myself will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I myself will save thy children. And them that oppress thee I will feed 26 with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with grape juice; and all flesh shall know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

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Thus saith Jehovah, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, with which I have put her away ? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye been sold, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. Why, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand at all shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers to be a desert. Their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst. I clothe the heavens with 3 blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

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THE LORD JEHOVAH HATH GIVEN ME the tongue of a scholar, that I should know how to help the weary with a word. He wakeneth me morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as a scholar. The Lord 5 Jehovah opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I have not hidden my face from insult and spitting. For the Lord Jehovah will help me; therefore shall I not be insulted; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me ? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall all wear out like a garment; the moth shall eat them up. Whosoever among you feareth Jehovah, let him 1o

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L. Hath given me the tongue.] The prophet speaks in his own name.

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hearken to the voice of his servant. He that yet walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him, trust in the name of Jehovah, and lean upon his God. 11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves. with burning darts; walk ye in the light of your fire, and in the burning darts that ye have heated. This shall ye have from my hand, that ye shall lie down in

sorrow.

HEARKEN TO ME, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah. Look to the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the quarry whence ye 2 were digged. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bare you; for when he was but one I called 3 him, and I blessed him, and made him many. For Jehovah will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her desert like Eden, and her barren valley like the garden of Jehovah ; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

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Attend to me, my people; and give ear to me, O my nation; for a law shall proceed from me, and I will 5 establish my judgment as a light of the peoples. My righteousness is at hand; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the peoples; the isles shall 6 wait upon me, and for mine arm shall they hope. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look down upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall melt away like smoke, and the earth shall wear out like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die like a gnat; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

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Hearken to me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. 8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the

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LI. Abraham your father.] Those writers only who take a wide enlightened view of the nation's interests thus quote Abraham, as his children were not all included within the narrow limits of Israel.

grub shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation for generations of generations.

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'AWAKE, AWAKE, clothe thyself in strength, O arm of 'Jehovah; awake, as in the ancient days, in the genera'tions of old. Art thou not He that hewed down the Boaster [or Egypt], and wounded the dragon [or 'crocodile]? Art thou not he that dried up the sea, 'the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of 'the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? And " 'the redeemed of Jehovah shall return, and shall come 'to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be " upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and sighing shall flee away.'

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I, even I, am he that comforteth you; who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of a son of Adam that shall be made as the grass? And dost thou forget Jehovah, thy maker, who stretched' forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? And dost thou fear continually every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? The dejected 14 one hasteneth to be loosed, and that he die not in the dungeon-pit, nor that his bread should fail. And I am Jehovah thy God, that stilleth the sea, when its waves roar; Jehovah of hosts is his name. And I will put 16 my words in thy mouth, and I will cover thee with the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘Thou 'art my people.'

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ROUSE THYSELF, ROUSE THYSELF, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk to the bottom of the cup of staggering; thou hast drunk the dregs. She hath no guide among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. These two things 19

9 He that hewed down the Boaster.] Isaiah gives this name to Egypt in chap. xxx. 7.

are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; 20 how shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets as a deer in a net; they are full of the wrath of Jehovah, of the rebuke of thy God.

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Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted one, and 22 drunken, but not with wine; thus saith thy Lord Jehovah and thy God that pleadeth for his people, Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering, the bottom of the cup of my wrath; thou shalt no more drink it again, and I have put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; who have said to thy soul, 'Bow thyself down, that we may go over thee;' and thou hast laid down thy body as the ground, and as the -street, to them that went over.

Awake, awake; clothe thyself in thy strength, O Zion; clothe thyself in thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit up, O Jerusalem; loosen thyself from the fetters of thy neck, 3 O captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith Jehovah, Ye were sold for nought; and ye shall be redeemed 1 without money. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, My people went down at first into Lower Egypt to sojourn there; and then the Assyrian oppressed them without 5 cause. Now, therefore, what have I here, Jehovah hath said it, that my people were taken away for nought? They that rule over them shout aloud, Jehovah hath said it, and my name continually every day is blas6 phemed. Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak; behold, here I am.

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How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth

LII. "How beautiful upon the mountains.] These words are borrowed from Nahum i. 15.

salvation; that saith to Zion, 'Thy God reigneth!' It is the voice of thy watchmen; they lift up the voice together; they sing aloud; for they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah shall return to Zion.

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Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of 9 Jerusalem; for Jehovah hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. Jehovah hath made bare 10 his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Get ye out, get ye out, go ye out from thence [from " Babylon], touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, ye that carry the vessels of Jehovah. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go in flight; for Jehovah will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearguard.

BEHOLD, MY SERVANT [Zerubbabel] dealeth prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high, as that many were astonished at thee. So much as his visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of Adam; so much shall he cause many nations to admire. Kings shall shut their mouths before him; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand.

But who believed what we heard? and to whom was the arm of Jehovah revealed? For he grew up

11 Go ye out from thence.] From Babylon.

Ye that carry the vessels of Jehovah.] The vessels which were intrusted to Zerubbabel to carry home from Babylon. See Ezra i. 7.

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My servant dealeth prudently.] Zerubbabel had lived quietly and inoffensively in Babylon under the conqueror.

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LIII. Who believed what we heard?] The writer includes himself among the people blamed. See verse 4. Such also is the meaning given to these words in Rom. x. 16, when the reply follows "So then faith cometh from hearing."

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