Page:JPS-1917-Universal.djvu/691

Rh saith the Lord : The mitre shall be removed, and the crown taken off; this shall be no more the same: that which is low shall be exalted, and that which is high abased. A ruin, a ruin, a ruin, will I make it; this also shall be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him.

And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their taunt; and say thou:


 * O sword, O sword keen-edged,
 * Furbished for the slaughter,
 * To the uttermost, because of the glitterings;
 * While they see falsehood unto thee,
 * While they divine lies unto thee,
 * To lay thee upon the necks of the wicked that are to be slain,
 * Whose day is come, in the time of the iniquity of the end!—
 * Cause it to return into its sheath!—
 * In the place where thou wast created, in the land of thine origin,
 * Will I judge thee.
 * And I will pour out My indignation upon thee,
 * I will blow upon thee with the fire of My wrath;
 * And I will deliver thee into the hand of brutish men,
 * Skilful to destroy.
 * Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire;
 * Thy blood shall be in the midst of the land,
 * Thou shalt be no more remembered;
 * For I the have spoken it.'

Moreover the word of the came unto me, saying: 'Now, thou, son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? then cause her to know all her abominations. And thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord : O city that sheddest blood in the midst of thee, that thy time may come, and that makest idols unto thyself to defile thee; thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed, and art defiled in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years; therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the nations, and a mocking to all the countries! Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee, thou defiled of name and full of tumult.

Behold, the princes of Israel, every one according to his might, have been in thee to shed blood. In thee have they made light of father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger; in thee have they wronged the fatherless and the widow. Thou hast despised My holy things, and hast profaned My sabbaths. In thee have been talebearers to shed blood; and in thee they have eaten upon the mountains; in the midst of thee they have committed lewdness. In thee have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in her impurity. And each hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and each hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and each in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by oppression, and hast forgotten Me, saith the Lord.

Behold, therefore, I have smitten My hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood