Till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.

Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause.

They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off.
I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.

Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry.
Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not.
O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.
O Lord, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause.

How is the gold become dim↓ how is the most fine gold changed!
The stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.
The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold,

How are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the

potter!

For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom,

That was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.
Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk,
They were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire,
Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets:
Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with
hunger:

For these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
The Lord hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger,
And hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof.
The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world,

Would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.

Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us:
Consider, and behold our reproach.
Our inheritance is turned to strangers,
Our houses to aliens.

We are orphans and fatherless,

Our mothers are as widows.

We have drunken our water for money;
Our wood is sold unto us.

Our necks are under persecution:

We labor, and have no rest.
The elders have. ceased from the gate,
The young men from their music.
The joy of our heart is ceased;

Our dance is turned into mourning.
The crown is fallen from our head:

For this our heart is faint;

For these things our eyes are dim.
Thou, O Lord, remainest for ever;

Thy throne from generation to generation.
Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever,

And forsake us so long time?

Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned;

Renew our days as of old.

But thou hast utterly rejected us;

Thou art very wroth against us.

EZEKIEL.

YE mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God;
Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains,

And to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys;
Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you,
And I will destroy your high places.

And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken:
And I will cast down your slain men before your idols.

And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols;

And I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste,

And the high places shall be desolate;

That your altars may be laid waste and made desolate,

And your idols may be broken and cease,

And your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

And the slain shall fall in the midst of you,
And ye shall know that I am the Lord.

Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some
That shall escape the sword among the nations,
When ye shall be scattered through the countries.
And they that escape of you shall remember me
Among the nations whither they shall be carried captives,

And they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed

in all their abominations.

And they shall know that I am the Lord,

And that I have not said in vain that I will do this evil unto them.

Thus saith the Lord God;

Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot,

And say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel!

For they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

He that is far off shall die of the pestilence;
And he that is near shall fall by the sword;

And he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine:

Thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.

When their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, Upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains,

And under every green tree, and under every thick oak, The place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, Yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habita

tions!

And they shall know that I am the Lord.

Son of man, What is the vine-tree more than any tree,

Or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work?

Or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?
Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it,

And the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?

Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work:
How much less shall it be meet yet for any work,
When the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned?
Therefore thus saith the Lord God;

1

As the vine-tree among the trees of the forest,
Which I have given to the fire for fuel,

So will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And I will set my face against them;

They shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them;

And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.

And I will make the land desolate,

Because they have committed a trespass,

Saith the Lord God.

HOSEA.

O ISRAEL, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.

I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities?

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from

death:

O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction:
Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God;
For thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Take with you words, and turn to the Lord:

Say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously:

So will we render the calves of our lips.

Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses:

Neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods:

For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.

For mine anger is turned away from him.
I will be as the dew unto Israel:

He shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
His branches shall spread,

And his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
They that dwell under his shadow shall return;

They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine:
The scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?

I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir-tree.
From me is thy fruit found.

Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
Prudent, and he shall know them?

For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them:
But the transgressors shall fall therein.

JOEL.

FEAR not, O land; be glad and rejoice; for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field:

For the pastures of the wilderness do spring,

For the tree beareth her fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength.

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God:
For he hath given you the former rain moderately,

And he will cause to come down for you the rain,

The former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

And the floors shall be full of wheat,

And the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten,

The cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm,

My great army which I sent among you.

And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied,

And praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously

with you:

And my people shall never be ashamed.

And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,

And that I am the Lord your God, and none else:
And my people shall never be ashamed
And it shall come to pass afterward,

That I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

And your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids

In those days will I pour out my spirit,

That whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered:

For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance,
As the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

AMOS.

THE Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.

I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning:

Yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel :

And because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind,

And declareth unto man what is his thought,
That maketh the morning darkness,

And treadeth upon the high places of the earth,
The Lord the God of hosts, is his name.

Hear ye this word which I take up against you,
Even a lamentation, O house of Israel.

'The virgin of Israel is fallen;
She shall no more rise:

She is forsaken upon her land;

There is none to raise her up.'
For thus saith the Lord God;

The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred,

And that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of

Israel.

For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel,

Seek ye me, and ye shall live:

But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba:

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live;

Lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it,

And there be none to quench it in Beth-el.

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,

And turneth the shadow of death into the morning,

And maketh the day dark with night:

That calleth for the waters of the sea,

And pour them out upon the face of the earth:
The Lord is his name:

Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live:

And so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate:
It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of