4Then you will be brought low;
         From the earth you will speak,
         And from the dust where you are prostrate
         Your words will come.
         Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground,
         And your speech will whisper from the dust.

5But the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust,
         And the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away;
         And it will happen instantly, suddenly.

6From the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,
         With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

7And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel,
         Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,
         Will be like a dream, a vision of the night.

8It will be as when a hungry man dreams—
         And behold, he is eating;
         But when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied,
         Or as when a thirsty man dreams—
         And behold, he is drinking,
         But when he awakens, behold, he is faint
         And his thirst is not quenched.
         Thus the multitude of all the nations will be
         Who wage war against Mount Zion.

9Be delayed and wait,
         Blind yourselves and be blind;
         They become drunk, but not with wine,
         They stagger, but not with strong drink.

10For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep,
         He has shut your eyes, the prophets;
         And He has covered your heads, the seers.

11The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I cannot read.”

      13Then the Lord said,
         “Because this people draw near with their words
         And honor Me with their lip service,
         But they remove their hearts far from Me,
         And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,

14Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;
         And the wisdom of their wise men will perish,
         And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”

15Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD,
         And whose deeds are done in a dark place,
         And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”

16You turn things around!
         Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,
         That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;
         Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

Blessing after Discipline

17Is it not yet just a little while
         Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field,
         And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?

18On that day the deaf will hear words of a book,
         And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

19The afflicted also will increase their gladness in the LORD,
         And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20For the ruthless will come to an end and the scorner will be finished,
         Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off;

21Who cause a person to be indicted by a word,
         And ensnare him who adjudicates at the gate,
         And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.

      22Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
         “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale;

23But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst,
         They will sanctify My name;
         Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
         And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24“Those who err in mind will know the truth,
         And those who criticize will accept instruction.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt be brought down, thou shalt speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python, and out of the ground thy speech shall mutter.

Darby Bible Translation
And thou shalt be brought low, thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall come low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

English Revised Version
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Webster's Bible Translation
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

World English Bible
You will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground. Your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.

Young's Literal Translation
And thou hast been low, From the earth thou speakest, And from the dust makest thy saying low, And thy voice hath been from the earth, As one having a familiar spirit, And from the dust thy saying whisperest,I am Told, Further, that You Touch with Some Critical Sharpness Upon Some Points of My Letter
13. I am told, further, that you touch with some critical sharpness upon some points of my letter, and, with the well-known wrinkles rising on your forehead and your eyebrows knitted, make sport of me with a wit worthy of Plautus, for having said that I had a Jew named Barabbas for my teacher. I do not wonder at your writing Barabbas for Baranina, the letters of the names being somewhat similar, when you allow yourself such a license in changing the names themselves, as to turn Eusebius into Pamphilus, …
Various—Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus.

Thou that Dwellest in the Gardens, the Companions Hearken to Thy Voice; Cause Me to Hear It.
The Bridegroom invites his Spouse to speak in his behalf, and to enter actually upon the Apostolic life by teaching others. Thou, O my Spouse, He says, that dwellest in the gardens, in the ever-flowered parterres of the Divinity, where thou hast not ceased to dwell since the winter has passed, thou hast been in gardens as beautiful for the variety of the flowers with which it was adorned as for the excellence of the fruits which abound there; thou, O My Spouse, whom I keep constantly with Me in these …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

If it is Objected, that the Necessity which Urges us to Pray is not Always...
If it is objected, that the necessity which urges us to pray is not always equal, I admit it, and this distinction is profitably taught us by James: " Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms" (James 5:13). Therefore, common sense itself dictates, that as we are too sluggish, we must be stimulated by God to pray earnestly whenever the occasion requires. This David calls a time when God "may be found" (a seasonable time); because, as he declares in several other …
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

The Hardening of Nations.
"The election hath obtained it, and the rest were hardened."-- Rom. xi. 7. St. Paul's word, at the head of this article, is strikingly impressive, and its content exceedingly rich and instructive. It clearly announces the fact that the hardening is not exceptional or occasional, but universal, affecting all, who, being in contact with the divine Love, are not saved by it. The last limitation is necessary, for of the heathen it can not be said that they are hardened. Only they can be hardened who …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Salvation to the Jews
[This chapter is based on the Epistle to the Romans.] After many unavoidable delays, Paul at last reached Corinth, the scene of so much anxious labor in the past, and for a time the object of deep solicitude. He found that many of the early believers still regarded him with affection as the one who had first borne to them the light of the gospel. As he greeted these disciples and saw the evidences of their fidelity and zeal he rejoiced that his work in Corinth had not been in vain. The Corinthian …
Ellen Gould White—The Acts of the Apostles

Christ Teaching by Miracles
We have seen how many valuable lessons our Saviour taught while on earth by the parables which he used. But we teach by our lives, as well as by our lips. It has passed into a proverb, and we all admit the truth of it, that "Actions speak louder than words." If our words and our actions contradict each other, people will believe our actions sooner than our words. But when both agree together, then the effect is very great. This was true with our blessed Lord. There was an entire agreement between …
Richard Newton—The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young

The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The New Testament Canon in the First Three Centuries.
The first Christians relied on the Old Testament as their chief religious book. To them it was of divine origin and authority. The New Testament writings came into gradual use, by the side of the older Jewish documents, according to the times in which they appeared and the names of their reputed authors. The Epistles of Paul were the earliest written; after which came the Apocalypse, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and other documents, all in the first century. After the first gospel had undergone a …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

Covenanting a Privilege of Believers.
Whatever attainment is made by any as distinguished from the wicked, or whatever gracious benefit is enjoyed, is a spiritual privilege. Adoption into the family of God is of this character. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power (margin, or, the right; or, privilege) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."[617] And every co-ordinate benefit is essentially so likewise. The evidence besides, that Covenanting …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Jesus Fails to Attend the Third Passover.
Scribes Reproach Him for Disregarding Tradition. (Galilee, Probably Capernaum, Spring a.d. 29.) ^A Matt. XV. 1-20; ^B Mark VII. 1-23; ^D John VII. 1. ^d 1 And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judæa, because the Jews sought to kill him. [John told us in his last chapter that the passover was near at hand. He here makes a general statement which shows that Jesus did not attend this passover. The reason for his absence is given at John v. 18.] ^a 1 Then there …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Of Prayer --A Perpetual Exercise of Faith. The Daily Benefits Derived from It.
1. A general summary of what is contained in the previous part of the work. A transition to the doctrine of prayer. Its connection with the subject of faith. 2. Prayer defined. Its necessity and use. 3. Objection, that prayer seems useless, because God already knows our wants. Answer, from the institution and end of prayer. Confirmation by example. Its necessity and propriety. Perpetually reminds us of our duty, and leads to meditation on divine providence. Conclusion. Prayer a most useful exercise. …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

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