CHAPTER
XXIIII

The Prophet praiseth God, for his iudgements,

for his saving benefits,

and for his victorious salvation.

it shall come to passe, that he who fleeth from the noise of the feare, shall fall into the pit; and he that commeth up out of the midst of the pit, shalbe taken in the snare: for the windowes from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth doe shake. The earth is utterly broken downe, the earth is cleane dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reele to and fro, like a drunkard, and shall be remooved like a cottage, and the transgression thereof shall be heavie upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise againe. And it shall come to passe in that day, that the LORD shall punish the hoste of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shalbe gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many dayes shall they bee visited. Then the Moone shall be confounded, and the Sunne ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reigne in mount Zion and in Ierusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

CHAPTER XXV

LORD, thou art my God, I will exalt thee, I will praise thy Name; for thou hast done wonderfull things; thy counsels of old are faithfulnesse and trueth. For thou hast made of a citie, an heape; of a defenced city, a ruine : a palace of strangers, to be no citie, it shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorifie thee, the city of the terrible nations shall feare thee. For thou hast bene a strength to the poore, a strength to the needy in his distresse, a refuge from the storme, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storme against the wall. Thou shalt bring downe the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shalbe brought low.

And in this mountaine shall the LORD of hostes make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he wil destroy in this mountaine the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vaile that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victorie, and the Lord GOD wil wipe away teares from off al faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

And it shalbe said in that day, Loe, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD, we have waited for him, we wil be glad, and reioyce in his salvation. For in this mountaine shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab

XXV

shalbe troden downe under him, even as straw is troden downe for CHAPTER the dounghill. And hee shall spread foorth his hands in the midst of them, as hee that swimmeth spreadeth foorth his hands to swimme and hee shall bring downe their pride together with the spoiles of their hands. And the fortresse of the high fort of thy walles shall hee bring downe, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

:

CHAPTER XXVI

IN

'N that day shall this song bee sung in the land of Iudah; Wee A song inciting to confidence have a strong citie, salvation will God appoint for walles and in God, bulwarkes. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the trueth may enter in. Thou wilt keepe him in perfect peace, whose minde is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD IEHOVAH is everlasting strength.

For hee bringeth downe them that dwell on high, the loftie citie for his iudgehe layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground, he bringeth ments, it even to the dust. The foote shall treade it downe, even the feete of the poore, and the steps of the needie. The way of the iust is uprightnesse: thou most upright, doest weigh the path of the iust. Yea in the way of thy Iudgements, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soule is to thy Name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soule have I desired thee in the night, yea with my spirit within me will I seeke thee early: for when thy iudgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learne righteousnesse. Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will hee not learne righteousnesse: in the land of uprightnesse will he deale uniustly, and will not behold the maiestie of the LORD. LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envie at the people, yea the fire of thine enemies shall devoure them.

favour to his

people.

LORD, thou wilt ordaine peace for us: for thou also hast wrought and for his all our workes in us. O LORD our God, other lordes besides thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy Name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation, thou art glorified; thou hadst remooved it farre unto all the ends of the earth. LORD, in trouble have they visited thee: they powred out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. Like as a woman with childe that draweth neere the time of her deliverie, is in paine

CHAPTER
XXVI

An exhortation

and cryeth out in her pangs; so have wee beene in thy sight, O LORD.. Wee have beene with childe, wee have beene in paine, we have as it were brought foorth winde, wee have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing yee that dwell in dust: for thy dewe is as the dewe of herbes, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy to wait on God. doores about thee; hide thy selfe as it were for a little moment, untill the indignation be overpast. For behold, the LORD commeth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquitie: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slaine.

The care of God over his vineyard.

His chastisements differ from iudge

ments.

IN

CHAPTER XXVII

N that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sworde shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent, and hee shall slay the dragon that is in the Sea. In that day, sing yee unto her; A vineyard of red wine. I the LORD doe keepe it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keepe it night and day. Furie is not in mee: who would set the briars and thornes against me in battell? I would goe through them, I would burne them together. Or let him take holde of my strength, that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me. Hee shall cause them that come of Iacob to take roote: Israel shall blossome and budde, and fill the face of the world with fruite.

Hath hee smitten him, as hee smote those that smote him? or is hee slaine according to the slaughter of them that are slaine by him? In measure when it shooteth foorth, thou wilt debate with it: hee stayeth his rough winde in the day of the East winde. By this therefore shall the iniquitie of Iacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, to take away his sinne: when he maketh all the stones of the Altar as chalke stones, that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up. Yet the defenced citie shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wildernesse : there shall the calfe feede, and there shall he lie downe, and consume the branches thereof. When the boughes thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come and set them on fire for it is a people of no understanding: therefore hee that made them will not have mercie on them, and hee that formed them, will shewe them no favour.

And it shall come to passe in that day, that the LORD shall

beate off from the chanell of the river unto the streame of Egypt,

CHAPTER

and ye shall bee gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. XXVII And it shall come to passe in that day, that the great trumpet The Church shall bee blowen, and they shall come which were ready to perish of lewes and in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Ierusalem.

W°

CHAPTER XXVIII

Gentiles.

OE to the crowne of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, The Prophet whose glorious beauty is a fading flowre, which are on threatneth the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome their pride and Ephraim for with wine. Behold, the LORD hath a mightie and strong one, drunkennesse. which as a tempest of haile and a destroying storme, as a flood of mightie waters overflowing, shall cast downe to the earth with the hand. The crowne of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be troden under feete. And the glorious beautie which is on the head of the fat valley, shall bee a fading flowre, and as the hastie fruite before the summer: which when he that looketh upon it, seeth it, while it is yet in his hand, he eateth it up.

In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crowne of glory, and The residue for a diademe of beautie unto the residue of his people: and for shall be a spirit of iudgement to him that sitteth in iudgement, and for the Kingdom strength to them that turne the battell to the gate.

advanced in

of Christ.

But they also have erred through wine, and through strong He rebuketh drinke are out of the way: the priest and the prophet have erred their errour. through strong drinke, they are swallowed up of wine: they are out of the way through strong drinke, they erre in vision, they stumble in iudgement. For all tables are full of vomite and filthinesse, so that there is no place cleane.

Whome shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to their ununderstand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milke, and towardnes drawen from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, preto learne, cept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a litle, and there a litle. For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speake to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherwith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing, yet they would not heare. But the word of the LORD was unto them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a litle and there a litle: that they might goe and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Wherefore heare the worde of the LORD, yee scornefull men, that And their rule this people which is in Ierusalem. Because ye have said, Wee securitie.

CHAPTER
XXVIII

Christ the sure foundation is promised.

Their security shalbe tried.

They are incited to the consideration of Gods discreet providence.

have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement, when the overflowing scourge shall passe thorow, it shall not come unto us: for wee have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid our selves:

Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Beholde, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tryed stone, a pretious corner stone, a sure foundation: hee that beleeveth, shall not make haste. Iudgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousnesse to the plummet: and the haile shall sweepe away the refuge of lyes, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

And your covenant with death shalbe disanulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall passe thorough, then yee shalbe troden downe by it. From the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it passe over, by day and by night, and it shalbe a vexation, onely to understand the report. For the bed is shorter, then that a man can stretch himselfe on it: and the covering narrower, then that he can wrap himselfe in it. For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shalbe wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may doe his worke, his strange worke; and bring to passe his act, his strange act. Now therefore be yee not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hostes a consumption even determined upon the whole earth.

Give yee eare, and heare my voyce, hearken and heare my speach. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow ? doth he open and breake the clods of his ground? When hee hath made plaine the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principall wheate, and the appointed barly and the rye in their place? For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheele turned about upon the cummin: but the fitches are beaten out with a staffe, and the cummin with a rodde. Bread corne is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor breake it with the wheele of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also commeth forth from the LORD of hostes, which is wonderfull in counsell, and excellent in working.