A lamentation.

2 lamentation of lamentations.

4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a 2 doleful lamentation, and 3 or, instead say, We be utterly spoiled: he of restoring. hath changed the portion of my peo-c Ps. 16.6. Ho.9.3. ple: how hath he removed it from me! 3 turning away he hath divided

our fields.

5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord c by lot in the congregation of the LORD.

64 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.

70 thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD 5 straitened? are these d his

doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? e 8 Even 7 of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe 8 with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.

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

10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest; because it is polluted,f it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

4 Drop, Eze.20.46.

or, Prophesy not as they prophesy. or, short

ened.

&c.

3

vision.

12 I will surely assemble, O Ja-2 from divining. cob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I wille Le. 13 45. put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold; they shall make great noise by reason of the mullitude of men.

upper lip. d Ps.74.9. Am.8.11. e Mar.3.17.

13 The breaker is come up before f Is.58.1. them: they have broken up, and g Je.22. 13. have passed through the gate, and 4 bloods. are gone out by it; and their kingh Mal. 1.10. 1 Pe.5.2. shall pass before them, and g the LORD on the head of them.

CHAPTER III.

1 The cruelty of the princes. 5 The falsehood of the prophets. 8 The security of them both. ND I said, Hear, I pray you, O A heads of Jacob, and ye princes

of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?

801

Falsehood of the prophets.

3 Who also eat 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. 4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but a he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have be haved themselves ill in their doings.

5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets b 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, 1 that ye shall not have a vision and it shall be dark unto you, 2 that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover c their 3 lips; ford there is no answer of God. 8 But truly I am full of power e by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare f unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. 10 They g build up Zion with 4 blood, and Jerusalem with ini quity.

11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for h hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, 5 and say, Is i not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.

12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and k Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.

CHAPTER IV.

1 The establishment of Christ's kingdom: 3 The peace, restoration, kingdom, and victory of the church.

BUT a in the last days it shall

come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the b top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the people shall flow unto it.

2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and c he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for

51

Christ directed the wise men. days of Herod the king, behold,, there came wise men from the cast to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, Where is he that is born a King of the Jews? for we have seen his starb in the east, and are come to worship c him.

a Zec.9.9. b Nu.24.17. Is.60.3.

Jno.7.42.

3 When Herod the king had heard c Jno.5.23. these things, he was troubled, and i d Ps.2.2. all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gatheredd alle Mi.5.2. the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. i 5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is ƒ Re.2.27. written e by the prophet,

2 or, feed, Is.40.11.

i Ps.67.4.

6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land g Pr.26.24. of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee h ver.2. shall come a Governor, that shall 2 rule f my people Israel. 7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the k Ps.72.10. star appeared.

3 or, offered.

Is.60.6.

ch.1.20.

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently tor the young child; and when yem Job 33.15,

have found him, bring me word again, that I may come g and worship him also.

17.

n Ho.11.1.

o ver.7.

9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw h in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10 When they saw the star, they ip Je.31.15. rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And when they were come q Ex.4.19. into the house, they saw the youngr Lu.2.39. child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: s Jno. 1.45. and when they had opened their treasures, they 3 presented unto him gifts; k gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

12 And being warned of God l in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

t Nu.6.13. Ju, 13.5. JSa. 1.11. Am.2.1012. Ac.24.5.

(CHAP. 3.) a Lu.3.2. Jno. 1.6.

13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child b Is.40.3. and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee c ch.11.8. word for Herod m will seek the 2Ki.1-8. young child to destroy him.

e Ac. 1.4. 2.38.

14 When he arose, he took the d Le.11.22. young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt :15 And was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled

19.4.5,18.

23.33. Is.59.5. Lu.3.7.

which was spoken of the Lord by fch.12.34. the prophet, saying, Out n of Egypt have I called my son.

16 T Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise!

John preacheth

men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired o of the wise men.

17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy p the prophet, saying,

18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

20 Saying. Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go are dead q which sought the young into the land of Israel; for they

child's life.

21 And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

chelaus did reign in Judea in the

22 But when he heard that Ar

room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: r

23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareths that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene.t

CHAPTER III.

1 John preacheth: 4 his apparel, meat, and baplism. the frunts of repentance. 13 Christ baptized by John in Jordan.

TN those days came John a the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

3 For this is he that was spoken of b by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

4 And the same John had his raiment c of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts d and wild honey.

5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan,

6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing e their sins.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation f of vipers, who hath