The hoofs of their horses shall be counted as adamant ; And their wheels as a whirlwind. 29 Their growling is like the growling of the lioness; Like the young lions shall they growl: They shall roar, and shall seize the prey; And they shall bear it away, and none shall rescue it. 30 In that day, shall they roar against them, like the roaring of the sea; CHAP. 1 VI. And these shall look to the heaven upward, and down to the earth; And lo! darkness, distress! And the light is obscured by the gloomy vapour. In the year, in which Uzziah the king died, I saw JEHOVAH sitting on a throne high and lofty; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood seraphim: each one of them had six wings: with two of them he covereth his face, with two of them he covereth his feet, 3 and two of them he useth in flying. And they cried alternately, and said: Holy, holy, holy, JEHOVAH God of hosts! The whole earth is filled with his glory. 4 And the pillars of the vestibule were shaken with the voice of their cry; and the temple was filled 5 with smoke. And I said, Alas for me! I am struck dumb: for I am a man of polluted lips; and in the midst of a people of polluted lips do I dwell: for mine eyes have seen the King, 6 JEHOVAH God of hosts. And one of the seraphim came flying unto me; and in his hand was a burning coal, which he had taken with 7 the tongs from off the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: Lo! this hath touched thy lips: Thine iniquity is removed, and thy sin is expiated. 8 And I heard the voice of JEHOVAH, saying: Whom shall I send; and who will go for us? 9 And I said: Behold, here am I; send me. And he said: Go, and say thou to this people: Hear ye indeed, but understand not; Make their ears dull, and close up their eyes; their ears, And understand with their hearts, and be converted; and I should heal them. 11 And I said: How long, O JEHOVAH? And he said: 12 Until cities be laid waste, so that there be And houses, so that there be no man: 13 CHAP. 1 VII. And there be many a deserted woman in the midst of the land. And though there be a tenth part remaining in it, Even this shall undergo a repeated destruc tion; Yet, as the ilex, and the oak, though cut down, hath its stock remaining, A holy seed shall be the stock of the nation. In the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Retsin king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up against Jerusalem, to besiege it; but they could not overcome it. 2 And when it was told to the house of David, that Syria was supported by Ephraim; the heart of the king, and the heart of his people, was moved; as the trees of the forest are moved before the wind. 3 And JEHOVAH said to Isaiah: Go out now to meet Ahaz; thou and Shearjashub thy son; at the end of the aqueduct of the upper pool, at 4 the causeway of the Fuller's field. And thou shalt say unto him: Take heed, and be still; fear not, neither let thy heart be faint; Because of the two tails of these smoking firebrands; 5 6 7 8 9 For the fierce wrath of Retsin, and of the son Because Syria hath devised evil against thee; Even the son of Tabeal. Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH : It shall not stand, neither shall it be. Though the head of Ephraim be Samaria; 10 And JEHOVAH spake yet again to Ahaz, saying: Ask thee a sign from JEHOVAH thy God: 11 Go deep to the grave, or high to the heaven above. 12 And Ahaz said; I will not ask; neither will I 13 tempt JEHOVAH. And he said: Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, Therefore JEHOVAH himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the Virgin conceiveth, and beareth a son; And she shall call his name, Immanuel. When he shall know to refuse what is evil, For before this child shall know, To refuse the evil, and to choose the good; By whose two kings thou art distressed. And upon thy people, and upon thy father's Days, such as have not come, From the day that Ephraim departed from And it shall come to pass in that day; That is in the utmost part of the rivers of And the bee, that is in the land of Assyria: On the desolate valleys, and on the craggy rocks, And on the thickets, and on all the caverns. In that day, JEHOVAH shall shave by the hired razor, |