The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 27: Isaias

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24:8. The mirth of timbrels hath ceased, the noise of them that rejoice
is ended, the melody of the harp is silent.

24:9. They shall not drink wine with a song: the drink shall be bitter
to them that drink it.

24:10. The city of vanity is broken down, every house is shut up, no man
cometh in.

24:11. There shall be a crying for wine in the streets: all mirth is
forsaken: the joy of the earth is gone away.

24:12. Desolation is left in the city, and calamity shall oppress the
gates.

24:13. For it shall be thus in the midst of the earth, in the midst of
the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of the
olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended.

24:14. These shall lift up their voice, and shall give praise: when the
Lord shall be glorified, they shall make a joyful noise from the sea.

24:15. Therefore glorify ye the Lord in instruction: the name of the
Lord God of Israel in the islands of the sea.

24:16. From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of
the just one. And I said: My secret to myself, my secret to myself, woe
is me: the prevaricators have prevaricated, and with the prevarication
of transgressors they have prevaricated.

24:17. Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O thou inhabitant
of the earth.

24:18. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall flee from the noise
of the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall rid himself out
of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the flood-gates from on
high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.

24:19. With breaking shall the earth be broken, with crushing shall the
earth be crushed, with trembling shall the earth be moved.

24:20. With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a drunken man, and
shall be removed as the tent of one night: and the iniquity thereof
shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.

24:21. And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord shall visit
upon the host of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth, on the
earth.

The host of heaven on high... The stars, which in many places of the
Scripture are so called. Some commentators explain that these words here
signify the demons of the air.

24:22. And they shall be gathered together as in the gathering of one
bundle into the pit, and they shall be shut up there in prison: and
after many days they shall be visited.

24:23. And the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the
Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be
glorified in the sight of his ancients.

Isaias Chapter 25

A canticle of thanksgiving for God's judgments and benefits.

25:1. O Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt O thee, and give glory to
thy name: for thou hast done wonderful things, thy designs of old
faithful, amen.

25:2. For thou hast reduced the city to a heap, the strong city to ruin,
the house of strangers, to be no city, and to be no more built up for
ever.

25:3. Therefore shall a strong people praise thee, the city of mighty
nations shall fear thee.

25:4. Because thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the
needy in his distress: a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the
heat. For the blast of the mighty is like a whirlwind beating against a
wall.

25:5. Thou shalt bring down the tumult of strangers, as heat in thirst:
and as with heat under a burning cloud, thou shalt make the branch of
the mighty to wither away.

25:6. And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain,
a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of
wine purified from the lees.

25:7. And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with
which all people were tied, and the web that he began over all nations.

25:8. He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God shall
wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of his people he shall
take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

25:9. And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our God, we have
waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have patiently
waited for him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation.

25:10. For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab
shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the
wain.

Moab... That is, the reprobate, whose eternal punishment, from which
they can no way escape, is described under these figures.

25:11. And he shall stretch forth his hands under him, as he that
swimmeth stretcheth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down his
glory with the dashing of his hands.

25:12. And the bulwarks of thy high walls shall fall, and be brought
low, and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust.

Isaias Chapter 26

A canticle of thanks for the deliverance of God's people.

26:1. In that day shall this canticle be sung in the land of Juda. Sion
the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set
therein.

26:2. Open ye the gates, and let the just nation, that keepeth the
truth, enter in.

26:3. The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace, because
we have hoped in thee.

26:4. You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty
for ever.

26:5. For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he
shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull
it down even to the dust.

26:6. The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of
the needy.

26:7. The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to
walk in.

26:8. And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited
for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul.

26:9. My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit
within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do
thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn
justice.

26:10. Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in
the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see
the glory of the Lord.

26:11. Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the
envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.

26:12. Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our
works for us.

26:13. O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over
us, only in thee let us remember thy name.

26:14. Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore
hast visited and destroyed them, and hast destroyed all their memory.

26:15. Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been
favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the
ends of the earth far off.

26:16. Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation
of murmuring thy instruction was with them.

26:17. As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her
delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in
thy presence, O Lord.

26:18. We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have
brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth,
therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.

26:19. Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and
give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the
light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.

26:20. Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee,
hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.

26:21. For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the
iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall
disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.

Shall cover her slain no more... This is said with relation to the
martyrs, and their happy resurrection.

Isaias Chapter 27

The punishment of the oppressors of God's people. The Lord's favour to
his church.

27:1. In that day the Lord with his hard, and great, and strong sword
shall visit leviathan the bar serpent, and leviathan the crooked
serpent, and shall slay the whale that is in the sea.

Leviathan... That is, the devil, the great enemy of the people of God.
He is called the bar serpent from his strength, and the crooked serpent
from his wiles; and the whale of the sea, from the tyranny he exercises
in the sea of this world. He was spiritually slain by the death of
Christ, when his power was destroyed.

27:2. In that day there shall be singing to the vineyard of pure wine.

The vineyard, etc... The church of Christ.

27:3. I am the Lord that keep it, I will suddenly give it drink: lest
any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day.

I will suddenly give it drink... Or, as the Hebrew may also be rendered,
I will continually water it.

27:4. There is no indignation in me: who shall make me a thorn and a
brier in battle: shall I march against it, shall, I set it on fire
together?

No indignation in me, etc... Viz., against the church: nor shall I
become as a thorn or brier in its regard; or march against it, or set it
on fire: but it shall always take fast hold of me, and keep an
everlasting peace with me.

27:5. Or rather shall it take hold of my strength, shall it make peace
with me, shall it make peace with me?

27:6. When they shall rush in unto Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud,
and they shall fill the face of the world with seed.

When they shall rush in, etc... Some understand this of the enemies of
the true Israel, that shall invade it in vain. Others of the spiritual
invasion made by the apostles of Christ.

27:7. Hath he struck him according to the stroke of him that struck him?
or is he slain, as he killed them that were slain by him?

Hath he struck him, etc... Hath God punished the carnal persecuting
Jews, in proportion to their doings against Christ and his saints?

27:8. In measure against measure, when it shall be cast off, thou shalt
judge it. He hath meditated with his severe spirit in the day of heat.

When it shall be cast off, etc... When the synagogue shall be cast off,
thou shalt judge it in measure, and in proportion to its crimes.-Ibid.
He hath meditated, etc... God hath designed severe punishments in the
day of his wrath.

27:9. Therefore upon this shall the iniquity of the house of Jacob be
forgiven: and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof should be
taken away, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as
burnt stones broken in pieces, the groves and temples shall not stand.

Of the house of Jacob... Viz., of such of them as shall be converted.

27:10. For the strong city shall be desolate, the beautiful city shall
be forsaken, and shall be left as a wilderness: there the calf shall
feed, and there shall he lie down, and shall consume its branches.

The strong city... Jerusalem.

27:11. Its harvest shall be destroyed with drought, women shall come and
teach it: for it is not a wise people, therefore he that made it, shall
not have mercy on it: and he that formed it, shall not spare it.

27:12. And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord will strike
from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, and you
shall be gathered together one by one, O ye children of Israel.

27:13. And it shall come to pass, that in that day a noise shall be made
with a great trumpet, and they that were lost, shall come from the land
of the Assyrians, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and
they shall adore the Lord in the holy mount in Jerusalem.

A great trumpet... The preaching of the gospel for the conversion of the
Jews.

Isaias Chapter 28

The punishment of the Israelites, for their pride, intemperance, and
contempt of religion. Christ the cornerstone.

28:1. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the
fading flower the glory his joy, who were on the head of the fat valley,
staggering with wine.

Ephraim... That is, the kingdom of the ten tribes.-Ibid. The head of the
fat valley... Samaria, situate on a hill, having under it a most fertile
valley.

28:2. Behold the Lord is mighty and strong, as a storm of hail: a
destroying whirlwind, as the violence of many waters overflowing, and
sent forth upon a spacious land.

28:3. The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden
under feet.

28:4. And the fading tower the glory of his joy, who is on the head of
the fat valley, shall be as a hasty fruit before the ripeness of autumn:
which when he that seeth it shall behold, as soon he taketh it in his
hand, he will eat it up.

28:5. In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a
garland of joy to the residue of his people:

28:6. And a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and
strength to them that return out of the battle to the gate.

28:7. But these also have been ignorant through wine, and through
drunkenness have erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant
through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone
astray in drunkenness, they have not known him that seeth, they have
been ignorant of judgment.

These also... The kingdom of Juda.

28:8. For all the tables were full of vomit and filth, so that there was
no more place.

28:9. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to
understand the hearing? them that are weaned from the milk, that are
drawn away from the breasts.

28:10. For command, command again; command, command again; expect,
expect again; a little there, a little there.

Command, command again, etc... This is said in the person of the Jews,
resisting the repeated commands of God, and still putting him off.

28:11. For with the speech of lips, and with another tongue he will
speak to this people.

28:12. To whom he said: This is my rest, refresh the weary, and this is
my refreshing: and they would not hear.

28:13. And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command, command
again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a
little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and
snared, and taken.

28:14. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule
over my people that is in Jerusalem.

28:15. For you have said: We have entered into a league with death, and
we have made a covenant with hell. When the overflowing scourge shall
pass through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in
lies, and by falsehood we are protected.

28:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in
the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious
stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten.

A stone in the foundations... Viz., Christ.-Ibid. Let him not hasten,
etc... Let him expect his coming with patience.

28:17. And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and
hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood: and waters shall overflow its
protection.

28:18. And your league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant
with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass, you
shall be trodden down by it.

28:19. Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away: because
in the morning early it shall pass through, in the day and in the night,
and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.

28:20. For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short
covering cannot cover both.

The bed is straitened, etc... It is too narrow to hold two: God will
have the bed of our heart all to himself.

28:21. For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he
shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his
work, his strange work: that he may perform his work, his work is
strange to him.

As in the mountain, etc... As the Lord fought against the Philistines in
Baal Pharasim, 2 Kings 5., and against the Chanaanites, in the valley of
Gabaon, Jos. 10.

28:22. And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tied strait. For I have
heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short
upon all the earth.

28:23. Give ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech.

28:24. Shall the ploughman plough all the day to sow, shall he open and
harrow his ground?

28:25. Will he not, when he hath made plain the surface thereof, sow
gith, and scatter cummin, and put wheat in order, and barley, and
millet, and vetches in their bounds?

28:26. For he will instruct him in judgment: his God will teach him.

28:27. For gith shall not be thrashed with saws, neither shall the cart
wheel turn about upon cummin: but gith shall be beaten out with a rod,
and cumin with a staff.

28:28. But breadcorn shall be broken small: but the thrasher shall not
thrash it for ever, neither shall the cart wheel hurt it, nor break it
with its teeth.

28:29. This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his
counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.

This also, etc... Such also is the proceeding of the Lord with his land,
and the divers seeds he throws therein.

Isaias Chapter 29

God's heavy judgments upon Jerusalem, for their obstinacy: with a
prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles.

29:1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added to
year the solemnities are at an end.

Ariel... This word signifies, the lion of God, and here is taken for the
strong city of Jerusalem.

29:2. And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow
and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel.

29:3. And I will make a circle round about thee, and I will cast up a
rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.

29:4. Thou shalt be brought down, thou shall speak out of the earth, and
thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from
the earth like that of the python, and out of the earth thy speech shall
mutter.

29:5. And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small dust:
and as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have prevailed
against thee.

29:6. And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come
from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great
noise of whirlwind and tempest; and with the flame of devouring fire.

29:7. And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel,
shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought,
and besieged and prevailed against it.

29:8. And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is
awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and
drinketh and after he is awake, is yet faint with thirst, and his soul
is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles, that have
fought against mount Sion.

29:9. Be astonished, and wonder, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not
with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness.

29:10. For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he
will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that
see visions.

29:11. And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book
that is sealed which when they shall deliver to one that is learned,
they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is
sealed.

29:12. And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and
it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.

29:13. And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with
their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from
me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:

29:14. Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this
people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from
their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

29:15. Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the
Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and
who knoweth us?

29:16. This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think
against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou
madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it:
Thou understandest not.

29:17. Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned
into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest?

Charmel... This word signifies a fruitful field.

29:18. And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and
out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see.

29:19. And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor
men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

29:20. For he that did prevail hath failed, the scorner is consumed, and
they are all cut off that watched for iniquity:

29:21. That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them
in the gate, and declined in vain from the just.

29:22. Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that
redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his
countenance now be ashamed:

29:23. But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the
midst of him sanctifying my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One
of Jacob, and shall glorify the God of Israel:

29:24. And they that erred in spirit, shall know understanding, and they
that murmured, shall learn the law.

Isaias Chapter 30

The people are blamed for their confidence in Egypt. God's mercies
towards his church. The punishment of sinners.

30:1. Woe to you, apostate children, saith the Lord, that you would take
counsel, and not of me: and would begin a web, and not by my spirit,
that you might add sin upon sin:

30:2. Who walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth,
hoping for help in the strength of Pharao, and trusting in the shadow of
Egypt.

30:3. And the strength of Pharao shall be to your confusion, and the
confidence of the shadow of Egypt to your shame.

30:4. For thy princes were in Tanis, and thy messengers came even to
Hanes.

30:5. They were all confounded at a people that could not profit them:
they were no help, nor to any profit, but to confusion and to reproach.

30:6. The burden of the beasts of the south. In a land of trouble and
distress, from whence come the lioness, and the lion, the viper and the
flying basilisk, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of beasts,
and their treasures upon the bunches of camels to a people that shall
not be able to profit them.

30:7. For Egypt shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I
cried concerning this: It is pride only, sit still.

30:8. Now therefore go in and write for them upon box, and note it
diligently in a book, and it shall be in the latter days for a testimony
for ever.

30:9. For it is a people that provoketh to wrath, and lying children
that will not hear the law of God.

30:10. Who say to the seers: See not: and to them that behold: Behold
not for us those things that are right: speak unto us pleasant things,
see errors for us.

30:11. Take away from me the way, turn away the path from me, let the
Holy One of Israel cease from before us.

30:12. Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because you have
rejected this word, and have trusted in oppression and tumult, and have
leaned upon it:

30:13. Therefore shall this iniquity be to you as a breach that falleth,
and is found wanting in a high wall, for the destruction thereof shall
come on a sudden, when it is not looked for.

30:14. And it shall be broken small, as the potter's vessel is broken
all to pieces with mighty breaking, and there shall not a sherd be found
of the pieces thereof, wherein a little fire may be carried from the
hearth, or a little water be drawn out of the pit.

30:15. For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel: If you return
and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall your
strength be. And you would not:

30:16. But have said: No, but we will flee to horses: therefore shall
you flee. And we will mount upon swift ones: therefore shall they be
swifter that shall pursue after you.

30:17. A thousand men shall flee for fear of one: and for fear of five
shall you flee, till you be left as the mast of ship on the top of a
mountain, and as an ensign upon a hill.

30:18. Therefore the Lord waiteth that he may have mercy on you: and
therefore shall he be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God
of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

30:19. For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou
shalt not weep, he will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy
cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer thee.

30:20. And the Lord will give you spare bread, and short water: and will
not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thy eyes
shall see thy teacher.

30:21. And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind
thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it: and go not aside neither to
the right hand, nor to the left.

30:22. And thou shalt defile the plates of thy graven things of silver,
and the garment of thy molten things of gold, and shalt cast them away
as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get
thee hence.

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