The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 27: Isaias

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30:23. And rain shall be given to thy seed, wheresoever thou shalt sow
in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most
plentiful, and fat. The lamb in that day shall feed at large in thy
possession:

30:24. And thy oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat
mingled provender as it was winnowed in the floor.

30:25. And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every
elevated hill rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of
many, when the tower shall fall.

30:26. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in
the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall
heal the stroke of their wound.

30:27. Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, his wrath burneth,
and is heavy to bear: his lips are filled with indignation, and his
tongue as a devouring fire.

30:28. His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the
neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing, and the bridle of error that
was in the jaws of the people.

30:29. You shall have a song as in the night of the sanctified
solemnity, and joy of heart, as where one goeth with a pipe, to come
into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.

30:30. And the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and
shall shew the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the
flame of devouring fire: he shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and
hailstones.

30:31. For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrian shall fear being struck
with the rod.

30:32. And the passage of the rod shall be strongly grounded, which the
Lord shall make to rest upon him with timbrels and harps, and in great
battles he shall overthrow them.

30:33. For Topheth is prepared from yesterday, prepared by the king,
deep, and wide. The nourishment thereof is fire and much wood: the
breath of the Lord as a torrent of brimstone kindling it.

Topheth... It is the same as Gehenna, and is taken for hell.

Isaias Chapter 31

The folly of trusting to Egypt, and forgetting God. He will fight for
his people against the Assyrians.

31:1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, trusting in horses,
and putting their confidence in chariots, because they are many: and in
horsemen, because they are very strong: and have not trusted in the Holy
One of Israel, and have not sought after the Lord.

31:2. But he that is the wise one hath brought evil, and hath not
removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked,
and against the aid of them that work iniquity.

31:3. Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses, flesh, and not
spirit: and the Lord shall put down his hand, and the helper shall fall,
and he that is helped shall fall, and they shall all be confounded
together.

31:4. For thus saith the Lord to me: Like as the lion roareth, and the
lions whelp upon his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds shall come
against him, he will not fear at their voice, nor be afraid of their
multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon mount
Sion, and upon the hill thereof.

31:5. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem,
protecting and delivering, passing over and saving.

31:6. Return as you had deeply revolted, O children of Israel.

31:7. For in that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his
idols of gold, which your hands have made for you to sin.

31:8. And the Assyrian shall fall by the sword not of a man, and the
sword not of a man shall devour him, and he shall flee not at the face
of the sword, and his young men shall be tributaries.

31:9. And his strength shall pass away with dread, and his princes
fleeing shall be afraid: the Lord hath said it, whose fire is in Sion,
and his furnace in Jerusalem.

Isaias Chapter 32

The blessings of the reign of Christ. The desolation of the Jews, and
prosperity of the church of Christ.

32:1. Behold a king shall reign in justice, and princes shall rule in
judgment.

32:2. And a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hideth
himself from a storm, as rivers of waters in drought, and the shadow of
a rock that standeth out in a desert land.

32:3. The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them
that hear shall hearken diligently.

32:4. And the heart of fools shall understand knowledge, and the tongue
of stammerers shall speak readily and plain.

32:5. The fool shall no more be called prince: neither shall the
deceitful be called great:

32:6. For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work
iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully, and
to make empty the soul of the hungry, and take away drink from the
thirsty.

32:7. The vessels of the deceitful are most wicked: for he hath framed
devices to destroy the meek, with lying words, when the poor man
speaketh judgment.

32:8. But the prince will devise such things as are worthy of a prince,
and he shall stand above the rulers.

32:9. Rise up, ye rich women, and hear my voice: ye confident daughters,
give ear to my speech.

32:10. For after days and a year, you that are confident shall be
troubled: for the vintage is at an end, the gathering shall come no
more.

32:11. Be astonished, ye rich women, be troubled, ye confident ones:
strip you, and be confounded, gird your loins.

32:12. Mourn for your breasts, for the delightful country, for the
fruitful vineyard.

32:13. Upon the land of my people shall thorns and briers come up: how
much more upon all the houses of joy, of the city that rejoiced?

32:14. For the house is forsaken, the multitude of the city is left,
darkness and obscurity are come upon its dens for ever. A joy of wild
asses, the pastures of flocks.

32:15. Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high: and the desert
shall be as a charmel, and charmel shall be counted for a forest.

32:16. An judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and justice shall sit
in charmel.

32:17. And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of
justice quietness, and security for ever.

32:18. And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the
tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest.

32:19. But hail shall be in the descent of the forest, and the city
shall be made very low.

32:20. Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters, sending thither the foot
of the ox and the ass.

Isaias Chapter 33

God's revenge against the enemies of his church. The happiness of the
heavenly Jerusalem.

33:1. Woe to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself also be spoiled?
and thou that despisest, shalt not thyself also be despised? when thou
shalt have made an end of spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled: when being
wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised.

That spoilest, etc... This is particularly directed to Sennacherib.

33:2. O Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our
arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble.

33:3. At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up
thyself the nations are scattered.

33:4. And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are
gathered, as when the ditches are full of them.

33:5. The Lord is magnified, for he hath dwelt on high: he hath filled
Sion with judgment and justice.

33:6. And there shall be faith in thy times: riches of salvation, wisdom
and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

33:7. Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall
weep bitterly.

The angels of peace... The messengers or deputies sent to negotiate a
peace.

33:8. The ways are made desolate, no one passeth by the road, the
covenant is made void, he hath rejected the cities, he hath not regarded
the men.

33:9. The land hath mourned, and languished: Libanus is confounded, and
become foul, and Saron is become as a desert: and Basan and Carmel are
shaken.

33:10. Now will I rise up, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now
will I lift up myself.

33:11. You shall conceive heat, you shall bring forth stubble: your
breath as fire shall devour you.

33:12. And the people shall be as ashes after a fire, as a bundle of
thorns they shall be burnt with fire.

33:13. Hear, you that are far off, what I have done, and you that are
near know my strength.

33:14. The sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling hath seized upon the
hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you
shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

33:15. He that walketh in justices, and speaketh truth, that casteth
away avarice by oppression, and shaketh his hands from all bribes, that
stoppeth his ears lest he hear blood, and shutteth his eyes that he may
see no evil.

33:16. He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his
highness: bread is given him, his waters are sure.

33:17. His eyes shall see the king in his beauty, they shall see the
land far off.

33:18. Thy heart shall meditate fear: where is the learned? where is he
that pondered the words of the law? where is the teacher of little ones?

33:19. The shameless people thou shalt not see, the people of profound
speech: so that thou canst not understand the eloquence of his tongue,
in whom there is no wisdom.

33:20. Look upon Sion the city of our solemnity: thy eyes shall see
Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed:
neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, neither shall
any of the cords thereof be broken.

33:21. Because only there our Lord is magnificent: a place of rivers,
very broad and spacious streams: no ship with oars shall pass by it,
neither shall the great galley pass through it.

Of rivers... He speaks of the rivers of endless joys that flow from the
throne of God to water the heavenly Jerusalem, where no enemy's ship can
come, etc.

33:22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is
our king: he will save us.

33:23. Thy tacklings are loosed, and they shall be of no strength: thy
mast shall be in such condition, that thou shalt not be able to spread
the flag. Then shall the spoils of much prey be divided: the lame shall
take the spoil.

Thy tacklings... He speaks of the enemies of the church, under the
allegory of a ship that is disabled.

33:24. Neither shall he that is near, say: I am feeble. The people that
dwell therein, shall have their iniquity taken away from them.

Isaias Chapter 34

The general judgment of the wicked.

34:1. Come near, ye Gentiles, and hear, and hearken, ye people: let the
earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and every thing that
cometh forth of it.

34:2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury
upon all their armies: he hath killed them, and delivered them to
slaughter.

34:3. Their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shall
rise a stink: the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

34:4. And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens
shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down
as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree.

And all the host of the heavens... That is, the sun, moon, and stars.

34:5. For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down
upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment.

Idumea... Under the name of Idumea, or Edom a people that were enemies
of the Jews, are here understood the wicked in general, the enemies of
God and his church.

34:6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with
the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams full of
marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great slaughter
in the land of Edom.

34:7. And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the
mighty: their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with the
fat of fat ones.

The unicorns... That is, the great and mighty.

34:8. For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of
recompenses of the judgment of Sion.

The year of recompenses, etc... When the persecutors of Sion, that is,
of the church, shall receive their reward.

34:9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground
thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

34:10. Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall
go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none
shall pass through it for ever and ever.

34:11. The bittern and ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the
raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to
bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation.

34:12. The nobles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather
upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing.

34:13. And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the
thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of
dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.

34:14. And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry
out one to another, there hath the lamia lain down, and found rest for
herself.

34:15. There hath the ericius had its hole, and brought up its young
ones, and hath dug round about, and cherished them in the shadow
thereof: thither are the kites gathered together one to another.

34:16. Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one
of them was wanting, one hath not sought for the other: for that which
proceedeth out of my mouth, he hath commanded, and his spirit it hath
gathered them.

34:17. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it
to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to
generation they shall dwell therein.

Isaias Chapter 35

The joyful flourishing of Christ's kingdom: in his church shall be a
holy and secure way.

35:1. The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the
wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.

35:2. It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and
praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and
Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.

35:3. Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees.

35:4. Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your
God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and will
save you.

35:5. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the
deaf shall be unstopped.

35:6. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb
shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and streams in
the wilderness.

35:7. And that which was dry land, shall become a pool, and the thirsty
land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwelt before, shall
rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush.

35:8. And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the
holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto you
a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein.

35:9. No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go up by
it, nor be found there: but they shall walk there that shall be
delivered.

35:10. And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come into
Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

Isaias Chapter 36

Sennacherib invades Juda: his blasphemies.

36:1. And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, that
Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against all the fenced cities
of Juda, and took them.

36:2. And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces from Lachis to
Jerusalem, to king Ezechias with a great army, and he stood by the
conduit of the upper pool in the way of the fuller's field.

36:3. And there went out to him Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was over
the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the
recorder.

36:4. And Rabsaces said to them: Tell Ezechias: Thus saith the great
king, the king of the Assyrians: What is this confidence wherein thou
trustest?

36:5. Or with what counsel or strength dost thou prepare for war? on
whom dost thou trust, that thou art revolted from me?

36:6. Lo thou trustest upon this broken staff of a reed, upon Egypt:
upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is
Pharao king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

36:7. But if thou wilt answer me: We trust in the Lord our God: is it
not he whose high places and altars Ezechias hath taken away, and hath
said to Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar?

36:8. And now deliver thyself up to my lord the king of the Assyrians,
and I will give thee two thousand horses, and thou wilt not be able on
thy part to find riders for them.

36:9. And how wilt thou stand against the face of the judge of one
place, of the least of my master's servants? But if thou trust in Egypt,
in chariots and in horsemen:

36:10. And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to
destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up against this land, and destroy
it.

36:11. And Eliacim, and Sobna, and Joahe said to Rabsaces: Speak to thy
servants in the Syrian tongue: for we understand it: speak not to us in
the Jews' language in the hearing of the people, that are upon the wall.

36:12. And Rabsaces said to them: Hath my master sent me to thy master
and to thee, to speak all these words; and not rather to the men that
sit on the wall; that they may eat their own dung, and drink their urine
with you?

36:13. Then Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Jews'
language, and said: Hear the words of the great king, the king of the
Assyrians.

36:14. Thus saith the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you, for he shall
not be able to deliver you.

36:15. And let not Ezechias make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord
will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hands
of the king of the Assyrians.

36:16. Do not hearken to Ezechias: for thus said the king of the
Assyrians: Do with me that which is for your advantage, and come out to
me, and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and
drink ye every one the water of his cistern,

36:17. Till I come and take you away to a land, like to your own, a land
of corn and of wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

36:18. Neither let Ezechias trouble you, saying: The Lord will deliver
us. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their land out of the
hand of the king of the Assyrians?

36:19. Where is the god of Emath and of Arphad? where is the god of
Sepharvaim? have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

36:20. Who is there among all the gods of these lands, that hath
delivered his country out of my hand, that the Lord may deliver
Jerusalem out of my hand?

36:21. And they held their peace, and answered him not a word. For the
king had commanded, saying: Answer him not.

36:22. And Eliacim the son of Helcias, that was over the house, and
Sobna the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder, went in to
Ezechias with their garments rent, and told him the words of Rabsaces.

Isaias Chapter 37

Ezechias, his mourning and prayer. God's promise of protection. The
Assyrian army is destroyed. Sennacherib is slain.

37:1. And it came to pass, when king Ezechias had heard it, that he rent
his garments and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house
of the Lord.

37:2. And he sent Eliacim who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe,
and the ancients of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the
son of Amos the prophet.

37:3. And they said to him: Thus saith Ezechias: This day is a day of
tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come
to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

37:4. It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom
the king of the Assyrians his master hath sent to blaspheme the living
God, and to reproach with words which the Lord thy God hath heard:
wherefore lift up by prayer for the remnant that is left.

37:5. And the servants of Ezechias came to Isaias.

37:6. And Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus
saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, with
which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.

37:7. Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a
message, and shall return to his own country, and I will cause him to
fall by the sword in his own country.

37:8. And Rabsaces returned, and found the king of the Assyrians
besieging Lobna. For he had heard that he was departed from Lachis.

37:9. And he heard say about Tharaca the king of Ethiopia: He is come
forth to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to
Ezechias, saying:

37:10. Thus shall you speak to Ezechias the king of Juda, saying: Let
not thy God deceive thee, in whom thou trustest, saying: Jerusalem shall
not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians.

37:11. Behold thou hast heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have
done to all countries which they have destroyed, and canst thou be
delivered?

37:12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them whom my fathers have
destroyed, Gozam, and Haram, and Reseph, and the children of Eden, that
were in Thalassar?

37:13. Where is the king of Emath, and the king of Arphad, and the king
of the city of Sepharvaim, of Ana, and of Ava?

37:14. And Ezechias took the letter from the hand of the messengers, and
read it, and went up to the house of the Lord, and Ezechias spread it
before the Lord.

37:15. And Ezechias prayed to the Lord, saying:

37:16. Lord of hosts, God of Israel who sitteth upon the cherubims, thou
alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made
heaven and earth.

37:17. Incline, O Lord, thy ear, and hear: open, O Lord, thy eyes, and
see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he hath sent to
blaspheme the living God.

37:18. For of a truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid
waste lands, and their countries.

37:19. And they have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not
gods, but the works of men's hands, of wood and stone: and they broke
them in pieces.

37:20. And now, O Lord our God, save us out of his hand: and let all the
kingdoms of the earth know, that thou only art the Lord.

37:21. And Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus saith
the Lord the God of Israel: For the prayer thou hast made to me
concerning Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians:

37:22. This is the word which the Lord hath spoken of him: The virgin
the daughter of Sion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn: the
daughter of Jerusalem hath wagged the head after thee.

37:23. Whom hast thou reproached, and whom hast thou blasphemed, and
against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thy eyes on
high? Against the Holy One of Israel.

37:24. By the hand of thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord: and
hast said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the
height of the mountains, to the top of Libanus: and I will cut down its
tall cedars, and its choice fir trees, and will enter to the top of its
height, to the forest of its Carmel.

Carmel... See these figurative expressions explained in the annotations
on the nineteenth chapter of the fourth book of Kings.

37:25. I have digged, and drunk water, and have dried up with the sole
of my foot, all the rivers shut up in banks.

37:26. Hast thou not heard what I have done to him of old? from the days
of old I have formed it: and now I have brought it to effect: and it
hath come to pass that hills fighting together, and fenced cities should
be destroyed.

37:27. The inhabitants of them were weak of hand, they trembled, and
were confounded: they became like the grass of the field, and the herb
of the pasture, and like the grass of the housetops, which withered
before it was ripe.

37:28. I know thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and
thy rage against me.

37:29. When thou wast mad against me, thy pride came up to my ears:
therefore I will put a ring in thy nose, and a bit between thy lips, and
I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

37:30. But to thee this shall be a sign: Eat this year the things that
spring of themselves, and in the second year eat fruits: but in the
third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

37:31. And that which shall be saved of the house of Juda, and which is
left, shall take root downward, and shall bear fruit upward:

37:32. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and salvation from
mount Sion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

37:33. Wherefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the
Assyrians: He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow into it,
nor come before it with shield, nor cast a trench about it.

37:34. By the way that he came, he shall return, and into this city he
shall not come, saith the Lord.

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