XIII. ISAIAH'S LAST POEM (701 B.C.)

A LAMENT OVER, THE USELESSNESS OF HIS PREACHING,
AND HIS PREVISION OF THE END.

(Ch. xxii, 1-14)

What aileth thee now, that all thy people

Are gone up to the house-tops?

Thou that art full of uproar, a tumultuous city, a joyous town?
Thy slain are not slain with the sword, nor fallen in battle;
All thy chieftains fled together without the shooting of a bow."

They were made prisoners; all thine who were seized
Were made prisoners together, though they had fled far away.
Therefore I say: Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly!
Strive not to comfort me for the destruction of my people!
For a day of tumult, of trampling and of confusion cometh
From Yahweh Sabaoth.

In the Valley of Vision they break down the wall, and their cry
Reacheth the mountains.

They come from far; a great nation from the ends of the earth
Elam took up the quiver; they came with troops of men,

Yea, even horsemen!

And Kir uncovered the shield; thy fairest vales were full of chariots.
And the horsemen set them in array against the gates,
And the enemy drew aside the screen of Judah.

Then ye looked to the armor
And ye saw that the breaches
But ye looked not to Him
And Him ye did not regard
Then did Yahweh Sabaoth call you
To baldness and to girding
But behold! joy and gladness, slaughtering of sheep
And killing of oxen; eating and drinking; for ye thought:
To-morrow we may die!

in the House of the Forest,
in David's city were many;
who had prepared all this,
who fashioned it long ago.
to weeping and lamentation,
with sackcloth;

But thus Yahweh Sabaoth hath revealed Himself in mine ears;
NEVER CAN THIS YOUR INIQUITY BE CANCELLED TILL YE DIE!1

1 Chapters xxxvi-xxxix, formerly included in Part I of the Book of Isaiah, ascribed to Isaiah I, are also, almost verbatim, in 2 Kings, xviii 13-xx, 18. Both may have been derived from the same records, but evidently neither was written by Isaiah. There are even, in both, two different descriptions of the same event.

For behold! Yahweh cometh forth out of His place,
And will come down and tread upon the high places of earth.
And the mountains shall be smitten under Him,

And the valleys shall be cleft,

As wax before the fire, and as waters poured down
A steep place.

For the transgression of Jacob is all this,
For the sins of the House of Israel.

What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria?
And what the high places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the field,
A place for planting vineyards,

I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley,
And the foundations thereof I will uncover.
shall be beaten to pieces,
shall be burned with fire;

All her graven images

And all her hires

For of the hire of a harlot hath she gathered them,

And unto the hire of a harlot shall they return.

For this I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked;
I will make a wail like jackals and a mourning like owls.
For her wound is incurable, it is come even to Judah.
It runneth to the plate of My people.
Even to Jerusalem.

Declare ye it not in Gath,
In the house of Aphrah,
Pass on, thou woman of Saphir
He shall take from you
For the dweller in Haroth
But from Yahweh evil cometh

weep ye not at all!
roll ye in the dust!
in nakedness and shame!
the standing-place therof.
waiteth anxiously for good;
unto the gates of Jerusalem.

O dweller in Lachish!
to the daughter of Zion.
are found in thee,

Bind the chariot to swift steeds,
She was the beginner of sin
For the offenses of Israel
Therefore shalt thou give a parting-gift to Moresh-Gath.
The houses of Achzib shall be deceitful things

To the kings of Israel.

Yet will I bring thee an heir, O inhabitant of Mareshah;
The glory of Israel shall come even unto Adullam.
Make thee bald and poll thee for thy delicate children;
Make thee bald as the eagle,

For they go from thee into exile.

Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they act, since it is in their power. They covet fields and seize them, and houses and take them. Thus they oppress a man and his house,

Yea, a man and his heritage.

Therefore thus saith Yahweh:

Behold, against this family

do I devise an evil,

From which ye shall not save your necks.

Neither shall ye walk haughtily, for it shall be an evil time.

In that day shall they take up a parable against you,
And lament with a doleful lamentation, and say:

We are utterly ruined; He changeth the portion of my people.
How He hath removed it from me!

Instead of restoring our fields, he divideth them.
Therefore thou shalt have none to cast a lot

In the congregation of Yahweh.

Prophesy not! say they to the prophets.

They will not be prophesied to that they need not be shamed.
O thou that is called the House of Jacob!

Is the Spirit of Yahweh bound?
Are these His ways?

Do not My words do good to him that walketh aright?
But of late, My people is risen up as an enemy;
With the mantle, ye strip away the garment

From men that are passing quietly, as those averse to contention.
The women of My people have ye cast out

From their pleasant houses;

From their young children ye take away My glory forever.

Arise now and get you gone, for this is no place to rest!
Because of its foulness,

It shall destroy you with a great destruction.

II. AGAINST THE CRIMES OF THOSE IN HIGH PLACES

(Ch. iii, 1-12)

Hear now, ye heads of Jacob

And ye judges of the House of Israel!

Ought ye not to know justice,

Ye haters of good, and lovers of evil?

Who strip off My people's skin, and their flesh from their bones; Who devour My people's flesh,

Break their bones and chop them in pieces,

Like that which is in the pot, like meat in the cooking-pot.

Then will they cry to Yahweh, but He will not answer;
Yea, then will He hide His face from them
According to the evil of their doings.

Thus saith Yahweh to the prophets that make my people to err,
That cry: Peace! when they have anything between their teeth;
And whoso putteth not into their mouths,

Against him they prepare war.

Therefore it shall be night unto you that ye shall have no vision,
And it shall be dark unto you that ye may not divine.
And the sun shall go down upon the prophets

And the day shall be dark over them;

And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners baffled. They shall cover their lips, for Yahweh shall return no answer.

But I, verily, am full of power, of justice and might,
By the Spirit of Yahweh,

To declare unto Jacob his transgression,

And to Israel his sin.

Hear this, I pray you, ye Heads of the House of Jacob,
And ye Rulers of the House of Israel!

That abhor justice and pervert all equity;

That build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
And her prophets divine for money; yet they lean upon Yahweh.
And say: Is not Yahweh in the midst of us?
No evil shall come upon us!

Therefore, for your sake, shall Zion be ploughed as a field,
And Jerusalem! She shall become heaps of ruins,
And the mount of Yahweh's House as the high forest-places.

III.

AN EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE AND COURAGE

(Ch. iv, 9-14)

Now, why dost thou cry out aloud?

Is there no king in thee?

Is thy counsellor perished,
as of a woman in travail?

That pangs have taken thee

Be in pain and labor to bring forth,

O daughter of Zion, as doth a woman in travail.
For now thou shalt go forth from the city,

And shalt dwell in the field.

There shalt thou be rescued, there shall Yahweh redeem thee
From the hand of thine enemies.

And now many nations are assembled against thee,

They say:

Let her be defiled, and let our eye gaze on Zion!
But they know not the thoughts of Yahweh,
Neither understand they His counsel;

For He hath gathered them as sheaves to the threshing-floor.

Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion!

For I will make thy horns iron, I will make thy hoofs brass,
And thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples.

And thou shalt devote their gain unto Yahweh.
And consecrate their substance unto the Lord of the earth.

Now, gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops!
They have laid siege against us.

They smite the Judge of Israel

With a rod upon the cheek.

IV. Two FRAGMENTS ATTRIBUTABLE TO MICAH1

(Ch. vi, 1-4b; vv. 6, 8)

Hear ye now what Yahweh saith!

Arise, contend thou before the mountains,

And let the hills hear thy voice.

Hear, O ye mountains, Yahweh's controversy,

And ye enduring rocks, the foundations of the earth.
For Yahweh hath a controversy with His people,
And He will plead with Israel.

O My people, what have I done unto thee,
And wherein have I wearied thee?

Testify against Me.

For I brought thee. up out of the land of Egypt,
And redeemed thee out of the house of bondage.

Wherewith shall I come before Yahweh,
And bow myself before God on high?

It hath been told thee, O man, what is good,
And what Yahweh doth require of thee;
Only to do justly, and love mercy,
And to walk humbly with thy God."

1 The rest of the "Book of Micah," viz., chapters five and seven, are indisputably postexilic, although some fragments of Micah's sayings may be preserved in them; to this period alsc belong the few lines omitted from chapters two and three, and most of chapter four. All these passages will be found in Part II.