Part 315 (1/2)

Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; For henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncirc.u.mcised and the unclean.

Shake thyself from the dust; Arise, sit thee down, O Jerusalem: Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him That bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, That bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; That saith unto Zion, Thy G.o.d reigneth.

The voice of the watchmen! they lift up the voice, Together do they sing, For they shall see, eye to eye, When the Lord returneth to Zion.

Break forth into joy, sing together, Ye waste places of Jerusalem: For the Lord hath comforted his people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem. {287}

The Lord hath made bare his holy arm In the eyes of the nations; And all the ends of the earth Shall see the salvation of our G.o.d.

Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, Touch no unclean thing: Go ye out of the midst of her; Be ye clean ye that bear the vessels of the Lord.

For ye shall not go out in haste, Neither shall ye go by flight; For the Lord will go before you, And the G.o.d of Israel will be your rearguard.

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THE TRIUMPH OF THE MAN OF SORROWS

Who hath believed that which we have heard?

And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him as a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness, that we should look upon him; Nor beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected of men; A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: And as one from whom men hide their face he was despised, And we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, And carried our sorrows: Yet we did esteem him stricken, Smitten of G.o.d and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastis.e.m.e.nt of our peace was upon him, And with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned everyone to his own way; And the Lord hath laid on him The iniquity of us all. {289}

He was oppressed, Yet he humbled himself, And opened not his mouth; As a lamb is led to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb; Yea, he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; And his life who shall recount?

For he was cut off out of the land of the living; For the transgressions of my people was he stricken.

And they made his grave with the wicked, And with the rich in his death; Although he had done no violence, Neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; He hath put him to grief: When his soul shall make an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand: He shall see, and be satisfied with the travail of his soul.

By his knowledge shall my righteous servant make many righteous: And he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide with him a portion of the great, And he shall divide the spoil with the strong: Because he poured out his soul unto death, And was numbered with the transgressors: Yet he bare the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

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BEAUTIFUL ZION

O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will set thy stones in fair colors, And lay thy foundations with sapphires.

And I will make thy pinnacles of rubies, And thy gates of carbuncles, And all thy borders of precious stones.