The birth of Christ, and MICAH. his kingdom and conquest. O daughter of Zion, like a woman in tra- 9 Thy hand shall be lifted up upon vail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the thine adversaries, and all thine enemies city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and shall be cut off. thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt 10 And it shall come to pass in that day, thou be delivered; there the LORD shall saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses redeem thee from the hand of thine ene- out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: mies. 11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong 11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. holds: 12 But they know not the thoughts of 12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of the LORD, neither understand they his thy hand; and thou shalt have no more counsel: for he shall gather them as the sooth-sayers: sheaves into the floor. 13 Thy graven images also will I cut 13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: off, and thy standing images out of the for I will make thy horn iron, and I will midst of thee; and thou shalt no more wormake thy hoofs brass and thou shalt beat ship the work of thy hand. in pieces many people: and I will conse- 14 And I will pluck up thy groves out crate their gain unto the LORD, and their of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy substance unto the LORD of the whole cities. earth. CHAP. V. 15 And I will execute vengeance in an ger and fury upon the heathen, such as TOW gather thyself in troops, O daugh- they have not heard. ter of troops: he hath laid siege CHAP. VI. against us: they shall smite the Judge of HEAR ye now what the LORD saith; Israel with a rod upon the cheek. Arise, contend thou before the moun 2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though tains, and let the hills hear thy voice. thou be little among the thousands of Ju- 2 Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD's dah, yet out of thee shall he come forth controversy, and ye strong foundations of unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy goings forth have been from of old, from with his people, and he will plead with everlasting. Israel. 3 Therefore, will he give them up, until 3 O my people, what have I done unto the time that she which travaileth hath thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? brought forth: then the remnant of his testify against me. brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. 4 T And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. 4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from 5 And this man shall be the peace, when Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the the Assyrian shall come into our land: and righteousness of the LORD. when he shall tread in our palaces, then 6 ¶ Wherewith shall I come before the shall we raise against him seven shepherds, LORD, and bow myself before the high and eight principal men. God? shall I come before him with burntofferings, with calves of a year old? 6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he tread eth within our borders. 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is the midst of many people as a dew from good; and what doth the LORD require of the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for and to walk humbly with thy God? the sons of men. 9 The LORD's voice crieth unto the 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy among the Gentiles in the midst of many name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appeople as a lion among the beasts of the pointed it. forest, as a young lion among the flocks of 10 ¶ Are there yet the treasures of sheep: who, if he go through, both tread- wickedness in the house of the wicked, and eth down, and teareth in pieces, and none the scant measure that is abominable? can deliver. 11 Shall I count them pure with the CHAP. I. God's controversy for injustice. wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? The church is comforted. 8 T Rejoice not against me, O mine ene. my: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. 12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have 9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful because I have sinned against him, untiĺ in their mouth. he plead my cause, and execute judgment 13 Therefore,also will I make thee sick for me: he will bring me forth to the light, in smiting thee, in making thee desolate and I shall behold his righteousness. because of thy sins. 10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see 14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; it, and shame shall cover her which said and thy casting down shall be in the midst unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she ret deliver; and that which thou deliver- be trodden down as the mire of the streets. est will I give up to the sword. 11 In the day that thy walls are to be 15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not built, in that day shall the decree be far reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou removed. shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet 12 In that day also he shall come even wine, but shalt not drink wine. to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified 16 ¶ For the statutes of Omri are kept, cities, and from the fortress even to the and all the works of the house of Ahab, river, and from sea to sea, and from and ye walk in their counsels; that I should mountain to mountain. make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people. CHAP. VII. W 13 Notwithstanding, the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the O is me! for I am as when they have flock of thy heritage, which dwell soligathered the summer fruits, as the tarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in cluster to eat: my soul desired the first the days of old. ripe fruit. 15 According to the days of thy coming 2 The good man is perished out of the out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto earth: and there is none upright among him marvellous things. men: they all lie in wait for blood; they 16 The nations shall see and be conhunt every man his brother with a net. founded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. 4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn-hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation. cometh; now shall be their perplexity. 17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee. 18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the trans5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not gression of the remnant of his heritage? he confidence in a guide: keep the doors of retaineth not his anger for ever, because thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. he delighteth in mercy. 6 For the son dishonoureth the father, 19 He will turn again, he will have comthe daughter riseth up against her mother, passion upon us; he will subdue our inithe daughter-in-law against her mother-quities; and thou wilt cast all their sins in-law; a man's enemies are the men of into the depths of the sea. his own house. 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, 7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; and the mercy to Abraham., which thou hast I will wait for the God of my salvation; sworn unto our fathers, from the days of my God will hear me. CHAP. I. Told. ¶ NAHUM. adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his THE on of Nahum the Elko HE burden of Nineveh. The book enemies. shite. 3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the 2 God is jealous, and the LORD re-wicked: the LORD bath his way in the vengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furi- whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds ous; the LORD will take vengeance on his are the dust of his feet. The armies of God against, NAHUM. and miserable ruin of, Nineveh. 4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it 5 He shall recount his worthies: they dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan shall stumble in their walk; they shall Janguisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of make haste to the wall thereof, and the Lebanon languisheth. defence shall be prepared. 5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved. 7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts. 8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they shall flee away. Stand, 6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. 7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in stand, shall they cry; but none shall look the day of trouble; and he knoweth them back. that trust in him. 9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant fur 8 But, with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. niture. 9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. 10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. 11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor. 12 Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee, will afflict thee no more. I 10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. 11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid? 12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin. 13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn ber cha13 For now will I break his yoke from riots in the smoke, and the sword shall deoff thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. vour thy young lions: and I will cut off 14 And the LORD hath given a com- thy prey from the earth, and the voice of mandment concerning thee, that no more thy messengers shall no more be heard. of thy name be sown out of the house of CHAP. III. thy gods will I cut off the graven images and robbery; the prey deto the bloody city ! it is all full of and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile. parteth not; 15 Behold upon the mountains the feet 2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of of him that bringeth good tidings, that the rattling of the wheels, and of the publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy so- prancing horses, and of the jumping chalemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the riots. wicked shall no more pass through thee: he is utterly cut off. CHAP. II. 3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword, and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a HE that dasheth in pieces is come up great number of carcasses; and there is before thy face: keep the munition, none end of their corpses; they stumble watch the way, make thy loins strong, for-upon their corpses: tify thy power mightily. 4 Because of the multitude of the whore 2 For the LORD hath turned away the doms of the well-favoured harlot, the misexcellency of Jacob, as the excellency of tress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them through her whoredoms, and families out, and marred their vine-branches. through her witchcrafts. 3 The shield of his mighty men is made 5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy chariots shall be with flaming torches in skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the the day of his preparation, and the fir- nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms trees shall be terribly shaken. thy shame. 4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. 6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. 7 And it shall come to pass, that all they The imiquity of the land. CHAP. I, II. Vengeance by the Chaldeans. that look upon thee shall flee from thee, mies: the fire shall devour thy bars. and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will 14 Draw thee waters for the siege, forbemoan her; whence shall I seek comfort-tify thy strong holds: go into clay, and ers for thee? tread the mortar, make strong the brick 8 Art thou better than populous No, that kiln. was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea? 9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. 15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the canker-worm: make thyself many as the canker-worm, make thyself many as the locusts. 16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants 10 Yet was she carried away, she went above the stars of heaven: the cankerinto captivity: her young children also worm spoileth, and flieth away. were dashed in pieces at the top of all the! 17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and streets and they cast lots for her honour- thy captains as the great grasshoppers, able men, and all her great men were which camp in the hedges in the cold day, bound in chains. but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy. 12 All thy strong holds shall be like figtrees with the first ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. 18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them. 19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the 13 Behold, thy people in the midst of bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee are women: the gates of thy land thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickshall be set wide open unto thine ene-ledness passed continually? T CHAP. I. ¶HABAKKUK. 10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and HE burden which Habakkuk the pro- the princes shall be a scorn unto them: phet did see. they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. 20 LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! 11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. 3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling 12 Art thou not from everlasting, O and violence are before me: and there are LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall that raise up strife and contention. not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. 4 Therefore, the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; 13 Thou art of purer eyes than to betherefore, wrong judgment proceedeth. hold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: 5 Behold ye among the heathen, and wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal regard, and wonder marvellously: for I treacherously, and holdest thy tongue will work a work in your days, which ye when the wicked devoureth the man that will not believe though it be told you. is more righteous than he? 14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 6 For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs. 15 They take up all of them with the 7 They are terrible and dreadful: their angle, they catch them in their net, and judgment and their dignity shall proceed gather them in their drag: therefore they of themselves. rejoice and are glad. 8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. 9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and 16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. 17 Shall they therefore empty their not, and notspare continually toslay the nations? CHAP. II. they shall gather the captivity, as the sand.I WILL stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to 691 Judgment upon the Chaldeans. HABAKKUK. see what he will say unto me, and what I 2 And the LORD answered me, and said, 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. 5 Yea also, because he transgresseth The prayer of Habakkuk. 18 What profiteth the graven image molten image, and a teacher of lies, that that the maker thereof hath graven it; the the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall 20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. CHAP. III. mercy. by wine, he is a proud man, neither keep-A PRAYER of Habakkuk the prophet eth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in 2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech and and heapeth unto him all people: 6 Shall not all these take up a parable years make known; in wrath remember the midst of the years, in the midst of the against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory 3 God came from Teman, and the Holy him that ladeth himself with thick clay covered the heavens, and the earth was 7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that full of his praise. shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? 8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. 9 Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! 10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. 11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. he had horns coming out of his hand; and burning coals went forth at his feet. he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: tremble. and the curtains of the land of Midian did 8 Was the LORD displeased against the was thy wrath against the sea, that thou rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? didst ride upon thy horses, and thy chariots of salvation? 12 Wo to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity!cording to the oaths of the tribes, even thy 9 Thy bow was made quite naked, ac13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts word. Selah. that the people shall labour in the very earth with rivers. Thou didst cleave the fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? 14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. 10 The mountains saw thee, and they passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and trembled: the overflowing of the water lifted up his hands on high. 15 Wo unto him that giveth his neigh-habitation: at the light of thine arrows 11 The sun and moon stood still in their bour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, they went, and at the shining of thy glitand makest him drunken also, that thou tering spear. mayest look on their nakedness! 12 Thou didst march through the land 16 Thou art filled with shame for glory: in indignation, thou didst thresh the drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be heathen in anger. uncovered: the cup of the LORD's right|| hand shall be turned unto thee, and shame- of thy people, even for salvation with 13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation ful spewing shall be on thy glory. 17 For the viclence of Lebanon shall out of the house of the wicked, by disthine anointed; thou woundedst the head ver ince, and the spoil of beasts, which covering the foundation unto the neck. made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. cavan Selah. 14 Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came 692 |