Part 18 (1/2)

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, And stablisheth a city by iniquity!

Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the peoples labour for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity? For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

4

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, That addest thy venom thereto, And makest him drunken also, That thou mayest look on their nakedness!

Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and be as one uncirc.u.mcised. The cup of the LORD'S right hand shall be turned unto thee, and foul shame shall be upon thy glory. For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee, and the destruction of the beasts which made them afraid; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city, and to all that dwell therein.

5

What profiteth the graven image, that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and the teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?--

Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; To the dumb stone, Arise!

Shall this teach? Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him!

iii

Jehovah come to Judgment

Prelude

O LORD, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known: In wrath remember mercy!

Strophe

G.o.d cometh from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran.

His glory covereth the heavens, And the earth is full of his praise.

And his brightness is as the light; He hath rays coming forth from his hand; And there is the hiding of his power.

Before him goeth the pestilence, And fiery bolts go forth at his feet.

He standeth and shaketh the earth; He beholdeth, and driveth asunder the nations: And the eternal mountains are scattered, The everlasting hills do bow; His ways are everlasting.

I see the tents of Cushan in affliction; The curtains of the land of Midian do tremble.

Antistrophe

Is the LORD displeased against the rivers?

Is thine anger against the rivers, or thy wrath against the sea, That thou dost ride upon thine horses, Upon thy chariots of salvation?

Thy bow is made quite bare, Sworn are the chastis.e.m.e.nts of thy word.

Thou dost cleave the earth with rivers; The mountains see thee and are afraid; The tempest of waters pa.s.seth by; The deep uttereth his voice, And lifteth up his hands on high; The sun and moon stand still in their habitation At the light of thine arrows as they go, At the s.h.i.+ning of thy glittering spear.

Thou dost march through the land in indignation, Thou dost thresh the nations in anger.

Epode

Thou art come for the salvation of thy people, For the salvation of thine anointed: Thou dost smite off the head from the house of the wicked, Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck.

Thou dost pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors: (They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly:) Thou dost tread the sea with thine horses, the surge of mighty waters.

Postlude