Let them return to the land of Egypt,
Let Assyria lord it over them,

For they have refused to turn to me!
And so the sword shall whirl in their cities,

And completely destroy their fortresses,
For my people are bent on rebelling against me,
They call upon Baal with one accord!

O Ephraim, how can I give you up?
How surrender you, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah,
Or treat you like Zeboim?

My own heart turns against me,
All my sympathies are aroused.
I will not vent my fierce anger,
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst,
And I will not come to destroy.

170. THE PRAYER OF TRUE PENITENCE AND THE DIVINE RESPONSE

O Israel, turn to Jehovah,

For through your guilt you have fallen;

Take with you fitting words,

And return to Jehovah your God.

Say to him: 'Pardon all guilt,

And let us receive what is good,

And repay with the fruit of our lips.

Assyria will not save us;

We cannot ride upon war horses;
No more will we say, "Our gods"
To the idols made by our hands;
For with thee the orphan finds mercy.'

'I, Jehovah, will heal their apostasy,
And I will love them freely,

For my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be as dew unto Israel,

And he shall bloom as the lily.

He shall strike in his roots like the poplar,
His branches shall spread on all sides,
His beauty shall be like the olive,
And his fragrance like Lebanon's cedars.

They shall dwell once again in my shadow,
Revive like a watered garden;

They shall blossom like the vine,

And their scent be as wine of Lebanon.

What more has Ephraim to do with idols!
I will answer and care for him;

I am like an ever green cypress,
It is from me that his fruit comes.'

T

ISAIAH

THE THINGS WHICH ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOZ SAW CONCERNING JUDAH AND JERUSALEM IN THE DAYS OF UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ, AND HEZEKIAH THE RULERS OF JUDAH

171. THE CALL OF THE YOUNG ISAIAH

It was in the year that King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Guardian angels stood above him. Each had six wings, one pair to cover the face, another to cover the feet, and another with which to fly. And they cried to one another:

Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts,
The whole earth is full of his glory.

The foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of those who called, and the temple was filled with smoke. Then I said: "Woe is me! I am ruined; for I am a man with impure lips, and I live among a people with impure lips; for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts!' But one of the guardian angels flew to me with a hot coal in his hand that he had taken from off the altar, and with it he touched my mouth and said: 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is removed and your sin forgiven.'

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:

Whom shall I send,

And who will go for us?

And I said, 'Here am I; send me.' Then he said: 'Go and say to this people:

Keep on hearing, but without understanding!
Keep on seeing, but without discerning!

Make sluggish the mind of this people,

Make their hearing dull and their eyesight poor,

That they may not see with their eyes nor hear with

their ears,

Nor understand with their hearts and be healed once more!'

Then I said, 'How long, O Lord?' And he said:

Until they lie in ruins

Cities without inhabitant,

Houses without a human being,

And the ground be left a desolation.

1

172. THE UNFRUITFUL VINEYARD

Let me sing a song of my friend, I

A love-song regarding his vineyard.

pray,

A vineyard on a fertile hill belonged to my friend.

He digged and cleared it of stones and planted vines;
He built in its midst a tower and hewed out a wine-

press.

He looked for a yield of good grapes, but it yielded wild

ones.

Now, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and you men of

Judah,

Judge for yourselves, I pray, between me and my vineyard;

What more remained to be done to my vineyard than that which I did?

Why, when I looked for good grapes, did it yield only wild ones?.

So now let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take its hedge away, that it may be devoured,

I will break through its fence, that it may be trampled down;

Yes, I will make it a waste, unpruned and unhoed,

And this vineyard shall grow up again to thorns and briers,

And I will command the clouds not to rain upon it.

For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the people of

Israel,

And the men of Judah the plantation in which he de

lighted.

He looked for justice but there was only bloodshed;
For redress, but there was only a cry of distress.

173. THE DESTROYERS OF SOCIETY

Ah! they who add house to house,
They who join field to field

Till there is no more room, and they live

Alone in the midst of the land!

Therefore Jehovah of hosts has sworn to me:

'Surely many a house shall become a desolation,

Houses great and fair without inhabitant;

For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one measure of wine,

And ten bushels of seed shall yield but one bushel of grain.'

Ah! they who rise at dawn

To go in pursuit of strong drink,
Who stay late in the evening

Till wine completely inflames them,
And lyre and harp and timbrel,
Flute and wine are at their feasts;

But they heed not the work of Jehovah,
Nor see what his hands have made.