THE BOOK OF ISAIAH

ISAIAH I

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the Lord hath spoken:

I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against me.
The ox knoweth his owner,

And the ass his master's crib;
But Israel doth not know,
My people doth not consider.

Hear therefore the word of the Lord;
Give ear unto the law of our God.
What unto me is the multitude of

saith the Lord:

your

sacrifices?

I have had enough of burnt-offerings, and the

fat of fed beasts;

And I delight not in the blood of lambs or of

goats.

When ye come to appear before me,

Who hath required this at your hands, to trample my courts?

Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me;

New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with;

It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting!

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my

soul hateth;

They are a trouble unto me;
I am weary of bearing them.

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes;

Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear:

For your hands are full of blood.

Wash you, make you clean!

Put away the evil of your doings from before

mine eyes;

Cease to do evil, learn to do well;

Seek justice, relieve the oppressed,

Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow: For these are the things that I delight in, saith the Lord.

ISAIAH II, XXXII

(Micah iv)

Behold, it shall come to pass in the latter days,
That the mountain of the Lord's house
Shall be established in the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;

And all nations shall flow unto it.

And many peoples shall go and say:

Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

And he will teach us of his ways,
And we will walk in his paths.

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And he shall judge between the nations,

And arbitrate for many peoples;

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruninghooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more.

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree;

And none shall make them afraid.

For the people shall abide in a peaceable habitation,

And in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting

places.

Then shall the wilderness become a fruitful

field,

And the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness,

And righteousness shall abide in the fruitful

field.

And the work of righteousness shall be peace; And the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence for ever.

ISAIAH III, V, X
Micah ii

Woe unto them that devise iniquity,
And plot evil upon their beds!

When the morning is light, they practise it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.

And they covet fields, and seize them;
And houses, and take them away:
So they oppress a man and his house,
Even a man and his heritage.

We unto them that decree nigaraus fecrees,
And to the writers that write perverseness:
To tu aside the needy from justice.

And to mo the poor of my people of their right,
That widows may be their spol.

And that they make the fatherless their prey! What mean ye that Je beat my people to pieces. And grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;

That put darkness for light, and light for dark

ness;

That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!

Woe unto them that are mighty — to work iniquity,

And are men of great courage

- to do evil; That justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him;

For he shall eat the fruit of his doings.

Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him; For the reward of his own hands shall be given

him,

Because he hath rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,

And hath despised the word of the Holy One.

And the mean man shall be brought down,
And the mighty man shall be humbled;
For the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice,
And God the Holy One is sanctified in righteous-

ness.

ISAIAH VI

In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said:

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:

The fulness of the whole earth is his glory.

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven. And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me.

ISAIAH IX, XI, XLII, LV, LXI

Micah v

The people that walked in darkness
Have seen a great light: