Part 478 (1/2)
Isaias Chapter 25
A canticle of thanksgiving for G.o.d's judgments and benefits.
25:1. O Lord, thou art my G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 das.h.i.+ng 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 G.o.d'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 pa.s.sed 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 G.o.d 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.