and link field to field till no place is left,
and you are restricted to dwell
in the centers of the land!
9 Jehovah of Hosts spoke this in my hearing:
Surely many buildings shall lie desolate,
large and fine houses unoccupied.
10 A ten-acre vineyard shall yield but one bath,
a homer of seed but an ephah.
11 Woe to those who go after liquor
as soon as they arise in the morning,
who linger at night parties, inflamed by wine!
12 There are harps and lyres,
drums, flutes, and wine at their banquets,
but they regard not what Jehovah does,
nor perceive his hands at work.
13 Therefore are my people exiled
without knowing why;
their best men die of famine,
their masses perish with thirst.
14 Sheol becomes ravenous,
opening its mouth insatiably;
into it descend their elite with the masses,
their boisterous ones and revelers.
15 Mankind is brought low
when men debase themselves,
causing the eyes of the high-minded to be downcast.
16 But Jehovah of Hosts will be exalted
by a just judgment,
the holy God show himself holy
by his righteousness.
17 Then shall his sheep feed in their pasture,
and proselytes eat in the ruins of the affluent.
18 Woe to those drawn to sin by vain attachments,
hitched to transgression like a trailer,
19 who think, Let him quickly speed up his work
so we may see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel
soon come to pass, and we will know!
20 Woe to those who suppose what is evil to be good
and what is good, evil!
They put darkness for light
and light for darkness;
they make bitterness sweet and the sweet bitter.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own view!
22 Woe to those who are valiant at drinking wine
and champions at mixing liquor!
23 Woe to those who acquit the guilty for a bribe
but deny justice to the innocent!
24 As a blazing fire consumes stubble,
and as dry weeds wane before the flame,
so shall their roots decay away
and their blossoms fly up like dust.
For they have despised the law of Jehovah of Hosts
and reviled the words of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled
against his people:
he draws back his hand against them
and strikes them;
the mountains quake, and their corpses
lie like litter about the streets.
Yet for all this his anger is not abated;
his hand is upraised still.
26 He raises an ensign to distant nations
and summons them from beyond the horizon.
Forthwith they come, swiftly and speedily.
27 Not one of them grows weary,
nor does any stumble;
they do not drowse or fall asleep.
Their waist-belts come not loose
nor their sandal thongs undone.
28 Their arrows are sharp;
all their bows are strung.
The tread of their warhorses resembles flint;
their chariot wheels revolve like a whirlwind.
29 They have the roar of a lion;
they are aroused like young lions:
growling, they seize the prey, and escape,
and none comes to the rescue.
30 He shall be stirred up against them in that day,
even as the Sea is stirred up.
And should one look to the land,
there too shall be a distressing gloom,
for the daylight shall be darkened
by an overhanging mist.
(Isaiah 5)
