Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Amen!
I have added the “Amen” to the above verse, Isaiah 5:22, to pronounce agreement with the statement’s relative pertinence in the national moment.
In previous posts, we’ve looked at the idea of the “moment” as a point on a lever upon a fulcrum, and the influence, leverage, related to weight, its distance from the fulcrum, and the weight on its opposite side. As we know, even a small weight, if moved far enough from the fulcrum, can overcome a much larger weight on the other side that remains nearer to it (the fulcrum).
In this analogy, the fulcrum is peace and civilization. The lever is liberty by self-governing that comes through individuals mutually adhering to rules upon which they’ve previously agreed. The greater weight is the majority at large, whose only desire is to live in peace, mutually balanced by an equal respect for each person’s life, liberty, and opportunity to pursue happiness. The smaller weight that’s now moved precariously far away from the larger and the fulcrum, is the elites, the powerful, and those they’ve demagogued.
This analogy ends in telling of the effect on the two weights when the smaller has moved so far away: the larger rises up and the smaller is brought down (the fall) by its own weight and the moment.
Now is a good time to remember the words of warning by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist #1. There, when arguing for the ratification of the Constitution, against those worried the Federal System, its Institutions and Bureaucracy, would eventually devolve into what they’ve now become, warned against the greater danger. He said strict adherence to a Constitution would guard against those history showed more often overturned the Liberties of Republics: Demagogues, who agitate groups by telling them they were being deprived of some non-existent right, and the cure was found in raising the false accuser to power. He said these men, beginning as Demagogues, once gaining great power, ended as Tyrants. (They create prejudice by claiming a group is at fault, depriving another of happiness by having something the victim group has a right to, wealth, property, healthcare, etc. If elected, they promise to victimize those they’ve demonized and dehumanized, trampling their God-given rights, taking their lives, liberty, or property. In gaining power, unable to give happiness, and having nothing left to take, these willing victimizers victimize all, including those who put them into power. Such is communism, the promise we will all be equal, in misery at the bottom, in the hell they always create.)
Isaiah 5
14 Therefore hell has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices, shall descend into it.
15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23 Which justify the wicked for reward [shachad], and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24 Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
We now find ourselves at a moment when what God, and both the Federalists and Anti-Federalists warned of, gone unheeded, are manifested.
From Federalist #1, by Alexander Hamilton (Publius):
“Candor will oblige us to admit that even such men may be actuated by upright intentions; and it cannot be doubted that much of the opposition which has made its appearance, or may hereafter make its appearance, will spring from sources, blameless at least, if not respectable–the honest errors of minds led astray by preconceived jealousies and fears. So numerous indeed and so powerful are the causes which serve to give a false bias to the judgment, that we, upon many occasions, see wise and good men on the wrong as well as on the right side of questions of the first magnitude to society. This circumstance, if duly attended to, would furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy. And a further reason for caution, in this respect, might be drawn from the reflection that we are not always sure that those who advocate the truth are influenced by purer principles than their antagonists. Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question. Were there not even these inducements to moderation, nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties. For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.
“And yet, however just these sentiments will be allowed to be, we have already sufficient indications that it will happen in this as in all former cases of great national discussion. A torrent of angry and malignant passions will be let loose. To judge from the conduct of the opposite parties, we shall be led to conclude that they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions, and to increase the number of their converts by the loudness of their declamations and the bitterness of their invectives. An enlightened zeal for the energy and efficiency of government will be stigmatized as the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power and hostile to the principles of liberty. An over-scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the fault of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good. It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that jealousy is the usual concomitant of [exists concurrently with] love, and that the noble enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be infected with a spirit of narrow and illiberal [restrictive] distrust. On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former [specious mask] has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter [vigor in government {Constitution} essential to the security of liberty], and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court [flattering attentiveness] to the people; commencing demagogues [using emotional appeals, playing on the prejudices popular in the moment], and ending tyrants [extremely oppressive, unjust, or cruel rulers – as now seen in blue states, and coming soon to all states, if the fraud stands and Biden inaugurated].”
Proverbs 17
1 Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with strife.
2 A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causes shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.
3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD tries the hearts.
4 A wicked doer gives heed to false lips; and a liar gives ear to a naughty tongue.
5 Whoso mocks the poor reproaches his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
6 Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.
7 Excellent speech becomes not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
8 A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that has it: whithersoever it turns, it prospers.
9 He that covers a transgression seeks love; but he that repeats a matter separates very friends.
10 A reproof enters more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool.
11 An evil man seeks only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.
12 Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
13 Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.
14 The beginning of strife is as when one lets out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.
15 He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
16 Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he has no heart to it?
17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
18 A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes surety in the presence of his friend.
19 He loves transgression that loves strife: and he that exalts his gate seeks destruction.
20 He that has a froward heart [a mind bent on twisting and perverting truth] finds no good: and he that has a perverse tongue falls into mischief.
21 He that begets a fool does it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool has no joy.
22 A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones.
23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
24 Wisdom is before him that has understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.
25 A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.
26 Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity.
27 He that has knowledge spares his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.
28 Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise: and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
Friends, from the post of 16 December 2020:
The time of sleep [this moment] has come by following men among us who oppose and exalt themselves above God. It ends with hearing and following Him.
Daniel 11
32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
34 Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.
35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honor the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
The word above (verse 34) rendered “flatteries,” speaking of the means (the lying signs and wonders) the wicked use to cleave (lavah – to mix themselves among us to corrupt truth) to God’s people. Above it speaks of those among us to weaken the help we are receiving. We discussed the word lavah in the previous post, as the origin of the names Leviathan and Levi, both speaking of how this mixing occurs, truth is polluted, and result in venomous words flowing to all, intentionally corrupting, confusing, and deluding.
The word “flatteries” is from the Hebrew word chalaqlaqqah, meaning, “something very smooth; i.e. a treacherous spot; figuratively, blandishment [tactical flattery].” It appears twice in Daniel 11 (verses 21 & 34), and two other times, Psalms 35:6 and Jeremiah 23:12, both in telling of slipper place, the precarious position, in the darkness, and the coming fall, of which the wicked are ignorant.
Psalms 35
1 Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler [magen and tsinnah, the armor of the house of the forest, which we look to – see Isaiah 22:8], and stand up for mine help.
3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am your salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery [chalaqlaqqah]: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he has hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto you, which delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoils him?
Jeremiah 23
1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.
2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; You have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, says the LORD.
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, says the LORD.
5 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The LORD Our Righteousness.
7 Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that they shall no more say, The LORD lives, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 But, The LORD lives, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourns; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, says the LORD.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery [chalaqlaqqah] ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, says the LORD.
Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up [raised up in the image and likeness of God], the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake [quwts], some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
4 But you, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by him that lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my LORD, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go [halak – walk] your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. [These times define the time between when God made His covenant with Abraham {Genesis 15:12}, and deep sleep between then and now, and this awakening, now when the sun rises again.]
13 But go [halak – walk] you your way till the end be: for you shall rest, and stand in your lot at the end of the days.
Joel 1
5 Awake [quwts], you drunkards, and weep; and howl, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7 He has laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he has made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.
10 The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes.
11 Be you ashamed, O you husbandmen; howl, O you vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languishes; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, you priests: howl, you ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God.
14 Sanctify you a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Habakkuk 3
1 A prayer of Habakkuk [meaning to take hold of, with His hand] the prophet upon Shigionoth [those who have strayed, been misled].
2 O LORD, I have heard your speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman [the place of the Theophany, where wisdom is found], and the Holy One from mount Paran [where things are made clear]. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
4 And his brightness was as the light [giving understanding]; he had horns [rays of light] coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
6 He stood, and measured [assessed] the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan [darkness – ignorance] in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian [strife – the places of endless argument] did tremble.
8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers [or their pollution by the lies of men]? was your anger against the rivers [or the lies in them]? was your wrath against the sea [into which the river flows their polluted information], that you did ride upon your horses and your chariots of salvation?
9 Your bow was made quite naked, (according to the oaths of the tribes, even your word) [this parenthetical statement is referring us Joseph’s blessing written in Genesis 49]. Selah. You did cleave the earth with rivers [through which these pure waters flow].
10 The mountains saw you, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
11 The sun and moon [church and state governments – misleaders] stood still in their habitation: at the light [understanding] of your arrows they went, and at the shining of your glittering spear.
12 You did march through the land in indignation, you did thresh the heathen in anger.
13 You went forth for the salvation of your people, even for salvation with your anointed; you wounded the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering [‘arah – uncovering] the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
14 You did strike through with his staves the head [misleaders] of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
15 You did walk through the sea with your horses, through the heap of great waters.
16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he comes up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: [total desolation]
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
We have reached the time spoken of by the LORD (through Isaiah) in Isaiah 9, when His word has lighted on Israel (those who will rule and reign as God, justly with God in them leading). As often discussed, after Isaiah describes this advent, those sitting in the seats of corrupt power, who misled God’s people into ongoing destruction and mass misery, say they will rebuild by the same means, deception and lies, they’ve used to destroy. In describing this ridiculous attempt, in Isaiah 9:10, the LORD speaks of them saying the will rebuild with stones and timbers, the same we’ve seen in other previous posts, in Habakkuk 2, where we read of them crying and witnessing against themselves. We know these men are destroyers, not builders: teachers and preachers who’ve led humanity into near death, and there is no life-giving power in them.
In Habakkuk 2:11, we are told of those who built houses by iniquity, from where stones and timbers cry out, witnessing against themselves. These are those later in verse 18 said to teach lies, and in verse 19 are called to preach and give new life, which is not in them, because this word of God isn’t.
Habakkuk 2
1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run [escape these corrupt houses] that reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his [own] faith [apart from vain faith, the worthless trust in the corrupt houses].
5 Yea also, because he transgresses by wine [drunken with his power to deceive], he is a proud man, neither keeps at home, who enlarges his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathers unto him all nations, and heaps unto him all people:
6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increases that which is not his! how long? and to him that lades himself with thick clay [hides himself in extortion]!
7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite you, and awake that shall vex you, and you shall be for booties unto them?
8 Because you have spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil you; because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
9 Woe to him that covets an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
10 You have consulted shame to your house by cutting off many people, and have sinned against your soul.
11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
12 Woe to him that builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?
14 For the earth shall be [is] filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
15 Woe unto him that gives his neighbor drink, that puts your bottle to him, and makes him drunken also, that you may look on their nakedness!
16 You are filled with shame for glory: drink you also, and let your evil heart be uncovered: the cup of the LORD’s right hand shall be turned unto you, and shameful spewing shall be on your glory.
17 For the violence of Lebanon shall cover you, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
18 What profits the graven image that the maker thereof has graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts therein, to make dumb idols?
19 Woe unto him that says to the wood [the timber, that is dead wood that cannot shoot forth new life], Awake [quwts]; to the dumb stone [with which he builds his house, which cannot speak], Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath [life] at all in the midst of it.
20 But the LORD is in his holy temple [in His people]: let all the earth keep silence before him.
Isaiah 9
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light [understanding]: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined [understanding has been sent].
3 You [through these destroyers] have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian [God people called against these men in seats of power, who have no idea their destruction and misleading is meant to break their hold on God’s people and rally them, fire them up, against their oppressors].
5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
8 The LORD sent a word into Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel.
9 And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria [God’s people at large who are ignorantly misled into worshipping idols put in God’s place and called God], that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him [a firm enemy who will join against the misleaders of God’s people], and join his enemies together;
12 The Syrians [those who exalt themselves above God] before, and the Philistines [the unassimilated immigrants among us as enemies] behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth [with their words]. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
13 For the people turn not unto him [their misleaders] that smite them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts [because they remain in the ignorance taught by their false prophets and false teachers].
14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail [these misleaders], branch and rush, in one day.
15 The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail.
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
Proverbs 31
6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
8 Open your mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
Psalms 56
1 Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresses me.
2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O you most High.
3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in you.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day they wrest [twist] my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in your anger cast down the people, O God.
8 You tell my wanderings: put you my tears into your bottle: are they not in your book?
9 When I cry unto you, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
10 In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.
11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. [Hebrews 13:7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. 8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. 9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.]
12 Your vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto you.
