The Daily Audio Bible

8 And the Lord said to me: Take thee a great book, and write in it with a man's pen. Take sway the spoils with speed, quickly take the prey.

² And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias.

³ And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Hasten to take away the spoils: Make haste to take away the prey.

⁴ For before the child know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of the Assyrians.

⁵ And the Lord spoke to me again, saying:

⁶ Forasmuch as this people hath cast away the waters of Siloe, that go with silence, and hath rather taken Basin, and the son of Romelia:

⁷ Therefore behold the Lord will bring upon them the waters of the river strong and many, the king of the Assyrians, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and shall overflow all his banks,

⁸ And shall pass through Juda, overflowing, and going over shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel.

⁹ Gather yourselves together, O ye people, and be overcome, and give ear, all ye lands afar off: strengthen yourselves, and be overcome, gird yourselves, and be overcome.

¹⁰ Take counsel together, and it shall be defeated: speak a word, and it shall not be done: because God is with us.

¹¹ For thus saith the Lord to me: As he hath taught me, with a strong arm, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying:

¹² Say ye not: A conspiracy: for all that this people speaketh, is a conspiracy: neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

¹³ Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

¹⁴ And he shall be a sanctification to you. But for a stone or stumbling, and for a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁵ And very many of them shall stumble and fall, and shall be broken in pieces, and shall be snared, and taken.

¹⁶ Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

¹⁷ And I will wait for the Lord, who hath hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

¹⁸ Behold I and my children, whom the Lord hath given me for a sign, and for a wonder in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Sion.

¹⁹ And when they shall say to you: Seek of pythons, and of diviners, who mutter in their enchantments: should not the people seek of their God, for the living of the dead?

²⁰ To the law rather, and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, they shall not have the morning light.

²¹ And they shall pass by it, they shall fall, and be hungry: and when they shall be hungry, they will be angry, and curse their king, and their God, and look upwards.

²² And they shall look to the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, weakness and distress, and a mist following them, and they cannot fly away from their distress.

9 At the first time the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtali was lightly touched: and at the last the way of the sea beyond the Jordan of the Galilee of the Gentiles was heavily loaded.

² The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.

³ Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy. They shall rejoice before thee, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors rejoice after taking a prey, when they divide the spoils.

⁴ For the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the sceptre of their oppressor thou hast overcome, as in the day of Median.

⁵ For every violent taking of spoils, with tumult, and garment mingled with blood, shall be burnt, and be fuel for the fire.

⁶ For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace.

⁷ His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

⁸ The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.

⁹ And all the people of Ephraim shall know, and the inhabitants of Samaria that say in the pride and haughtiness of their heart:

¹⁰ The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with square stones: they have cut down the sycamores, but we will change them for cedars.

¹¹ And the Lord shall set up the enemies of Rasin over him, and shall bring on his enemies in a crowd:

¹² The Syrians from the east, and the Philistines from the west: and they shall devour Israel with open mouth, For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

¹³ And the people are not returned to him who hath struck them, and have not sought after the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴ And the Lord shall destroy out of Israel the head and the tail, him that bendeth down, and him that holdeth back, in one day.

¹⁵ The aged and honourable, he is the head: and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

¹⁶ And they that call this people blessed, shall cause them to err: and they that are called blessed, shall be thrown down headlong.

¹⁷ Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men: neither shall he have mercy on their fatherless, and widows: for every one is a hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth hath spoken folly. For all this his indignation is not turned away, but his bend is stretched out still.

¹⁸ For wickedness is kindled as a fire, it shall devour the brier and the thorn: and shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, and it shall be wrapped up in smoke ascending on high.

¹⁹ By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is troubled, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother.

²⁰ And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled: every one shall eat the flesh of his own arm: Manasses Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasses, and they together shall be against Juda.

²¹ After all these things his indignation is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

12 If I must glory (it is not expedient indeed), but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

² I know a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not, or out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up to the third heaven.

³ And I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I know not: God knoweth),

⁴ That he was caught up into paradise, and heard secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter.

⁵ For such an one I will glory; but for myself I will glory nothing, but in my infirmities.

⁶ For though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me, or any thing he heareth from me.

⁷ And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given me a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me.

⁸ For which thing thrice I besought the Lord, that it might depart from me.

⁹ And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

¹⁰ For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful.

55 Unto the end, for a people that is removed at a distance from the sanctuary for David, for an inscription of a title (or pillar) when the Philistines held him in Geth.

² Have mercy on me, O God, for man hath trodden me under foot; all the day long he hath afflicted me fighting against me.

³ My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many that make war against me.

⁴ From the height of the day I shall fear: but I will trust in thee.

⁵ In God I will praise my words, in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do against me.

⁶ All the day long they detested my words: all their thoughts were against me unto evil.

⁷ They will dwell and hide themselves: they will watch my heel. As they have waited for my soul,

⁸ For nothing shalt thou save them: in thy anger thou shalt break the people in pieces, O God,

⁹ I have declared to thee my life: thou hast set my tears in thy sight, As also in thy promise.

¹⁰ Then shall my enemies be turned back. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, behold I know thou art my God.

¹¹ In God will I praise the word, in the Lord will I praise his speech. In God have I hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me.

¹² In me, O God, are vows to thee, which I will pay, praises to thee:

¹³ Because thou hast delivered my soul from death, my feet from falling: that I may please in the sight of God, in the light of the living.

⁴ Labour not to be rich: but set bounds to thy prudence.

⁵ Lift not up thy eyes to riches which thou canst not have: because they shall make themselves wings like those of an eagle, and shall fly towards heaven.