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¶26 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

27 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not,

28 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?

29 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.

30 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

31 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

32 They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity.

33 And I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their doings.

34 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God.

35 The Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

36 By swearing, and ly ing, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

37 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, and the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

38 Neither their silver, nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath.

39 Wo unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

40 And they have not cried unto me with their heart.

LESSON XLII.

CRY aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteous. ness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice: they take delight in approaching to God:

3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of

your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labours.

4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?

6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

¶8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily and thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.

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9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer: thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am: if thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity:

10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day.

11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

12 And they that shall be of thee, shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.

13 Hear, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail; making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit :

14 The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of your works. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

15 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God, they are corrupt; they have done abominable works; there is none that doeth good.

16 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

17 They are all gone aside; they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no not one.

18 The transgression of the wicked saith within his heart,

that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

19 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

20 The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

21 He deviseth mischief upon his bed he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

22 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

23 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home; who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

24 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his : how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay.

25 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?

26 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.

27 Wo unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteous

ness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work.

28 Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil.

29 Wo to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity.

30 Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts, that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary them, selves for very vanity?

31 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

LESSON XLIII.

THUS saith the Lord God unto the shepherds, Wo be to the shepherds of Israel, that do feed themselves: should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

2 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool: ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not the flock.

3 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost: but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them,

4 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all

the beasts of the field, when will bring them to their own they were scattered.

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5 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill; yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

¶ 6 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.

7 As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;

8 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.

9 Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

10 For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I will both search my sheep, and seek them

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land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

13 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the moun→→ › tains of Israel.

14 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God:

15 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick but I will destroy the fat and the strong, I will feed them with judgement.

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¶ 16 Seemeth it a small thing unto you, to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?

17 And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.

18 Because ye have thrust with side, and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad:

19 Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey, and I will judge be tween cattle and cattle.

20 And I will make with

them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

21 And I will make them, and the places round about my hill, a blessing: and I will cause the shower to come down in his season: there shall be showers of blessing.

22 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.

23 Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they are my people, saith the Lord God.

24 And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.

LESSON XLIV.

GOD standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.

2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Ye know not, neither will ye understand; ye walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

3 I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to

cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible,

¶4 Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel, Is it not for you to know judgement?

5 Who hate the good and love the evil; who pluck off the skin of my people from them, and their flesh from off. their bones;

6 They shall cry unto the Lord, but he shall not hear them; he will hide his face from them at that time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings: they abhor judgement and pervert all equity.

7 The heads of the house of Jacob judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.

8 Hear, O my people, and L will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

9 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings, to have been continually before me.

10 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds.

11 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

12 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

13 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.

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