ISAIAH XXXIV-VENGEANCE UPON EDOM

Chapter 34

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1 The judgments wherewith God revengeth his church. 11 The desolation of her enemies. 16 The certainty of the prophecy.

OME near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.

2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. 5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea,' and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. 6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

8 For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.2

9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.

12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.

13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.

14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.

15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch,

Idumea is the Greek form of the name of Edom, the country south and east of the Dead Sea. It is hath a desert wilderness. Bozrah was one of its principal cities. The American Revision says. "For Jehovab

hath a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion."

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ISAIAH XXXV-CHRIST'S KINGDOM

and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.

16¶ Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.

17 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

Chapter 35

1 The joyful flourishing of Christ's kingdom. 3 The weak are encouraged by the virtues and privileges of the gospel.

HE wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.

3¶ Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. 4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.

8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.

9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.

10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Chapter 36

1 Sennacherib invadeth Judah. 4 Rabshakeh, sent by Sennacherib, by blasphemous persuasions soliciteth the people to revolt. 22 His words are told to Hezekiah.

JOW it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.1

2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jeru

This is practically the same account as is given in II. Kings, 18 et seq. and II. Chronicles 32.

Greed and Cruelty

FROM THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF MR. FRANK E.

WRIGHT OF PHILADELPHIA.

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"He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.”Prov., 11, 26.

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SA companion picture to the wise use of wealth, there runs through Proverbs a series of stern and heavy denunciations of him who clutches riches for their own sake, who plunders the impoverished and feeds upon their misery. Meditation on this hideous side of life can scarce be beneficial to those who themselves suffer for lack of worldly goods, lest it make them overbitter; but surely every wealthy man to-day should ponder the wisdom of this portion of the "book of wisdom.'

In those days when famine was ever close at hand, wealth depended very directly upon the possession of grain, the eastern staff of life, which sometimes, as in Joseph's day, could be sold at enormous prices to those who, without it, died. So that he who withheld corn was indeed "cursed" of the starving people. "Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death."

"He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live."

"He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want."