ISAIAH XXVIII-THE CORNERSTONE

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precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14¶

14 ¶ Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.

15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

16 ¶ Therefore thus saith the LORD GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.

18¶ And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself

in it.

21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

23¶ Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. 24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?

25 When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal. wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?

26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.

27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horse

men.

29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

1 God's heavy judgment upon Jerusalem. 7 The unsatiableness of her enemies. 9 The senselessness, 13 and deep hypocrisy of the Jews. 18 A promise of sanctification to the godly.

JOE to Ariel,1 to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add
to year; let them kill sacrifices.

ye year

2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness

and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

3 And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

4 And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

5 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

6 Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

7¶ And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night-vision.

8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

13¶Wherefore the LORD said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the

hearth."

1Ariel, meaning "the lion of God," refers to Jerusalem. Some would read Arel, which means

"altar

1

The Way of the Wicked

BY J. JAMES TISSOT. REPRODUCED BY COURTESY OF
THE AMERICAN TISSOT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK.

+

"The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble."-Prov., 4, 19.

T

HE earliest chapters of the Book of Proverbs thus devote themselves mainly to cautioning youth against the allurements of life, against violence and folly and passion. Afterward, the book looks to those older folk who persist in evil. It describes the life of the wicked, so that youth may escape their snares; it portrays their miserable fate, so that all men may dread this and flee from it.

"Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.

"Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. "For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. "For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence."

In another passage we are cautioned that “A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. "He winketh with his eyes. . Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy."