Then said I, Ah, LORD God! behold, the [false] prophets say unto them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
Friends, the majority of God’s people, those who say they believe and wait for Him, have no idea the LORD is here and now at war with those who’ve controlled them into an end state of death (minds sound asleep and bodies without movement showing signs of life), of which He warned in the garden. Sleep is the metaphysical truth, while humanity’s physical reality stands at the brink of self-destruction, a course uncorrectable without God’s leadership.
His lead comes as it always has: by His unseen presence manifested through those He speaks and works, calling the dead to life.
1 Corinthians 15
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Thessalonians 4
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the LORD shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the LORD himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up [harpazo, the equivalent of natsal – the plucking us from the fires] together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 5
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the LORD so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our LORD Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
When the LORD sends Isaiah (described in Isaiah 28) into this darkness, it’s to, through him, teach sound doctrine, precept upon precept, line upon line. This teaching is the word sown, of which the LORD speaks of in Matthew 13 as He quotes Isaiah 6:9 & 10 telling of the cultivated blindness of the people at large. In the ending verses of Isaiah 28, this sowing is described through the similitudes of processes that produce an inevitable and consistent outcome.
Isaiah’s words are to the leaders of God’s people, drunken in the night, whose defiled ideas and ways come through who/what the LORD calls leviathan. We have seen this name is used (defined) in Job 3:8, there rendered “mourning,” describing the accusations, the hatred, raised against Job as Satan attacks through them. These men are the worst of evil man, those who say they know God and His ways, while never understanding it is against them He has come as a whirlwind, drawing them out into seeing themselves as He sees them, catching them as if with hooks in their mouths, to turn them back through correction. It is of, and to these types, the LORD speaks in Isaiah 27.
Job 1
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan [those who resist and oppose God at His appearing and presence] came also among them.
7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence come you? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and refuses evil?
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Does Job fear God for naught?
10 Have not you made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
11 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.
12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself put not forth your hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
Job 3 then speaks of the when the day is darkened, meaning understanding among God’s people has turned (is led) to ignorance by men’s creation (adding corruption to His truth). This blinding ignorance in God’s people’s minds is there describes as the stars darkened. The state of mind comes when leviathan (mourning) is raised up, who the LORD later speaks of in Job 41.
Job 3
3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived [when the son of man is born into the day of the LORD].
4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it [“and the world was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the waters”].
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud [where understanding is removed as a vapor] dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice [of understanding] come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the day [the time when light was in the world], who are ready to raise up their mourning [leviathan – polluted rivers of ignorance flowing into the sea, into the world at large: its evil misleaders causing it to become ignorant].
9 Let the stars [God’s people] of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light [understanding], but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day [let them be blinded to the day of the LORD, when His son is born into it]:
10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. [Hebrews 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.]
It is this day the LORD speaks of in Amos 2, a day of darkness and not light.
Amos 3
13 Therefore the prudent [those who thought they were wise and now realize their ignorance has darkened the word] shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good [the good leading of God], and not evil [misleading of the falsely so-called wise men of the world in church and state], that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD, says thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing.
17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness [a time of great ignorance in great power], and not light.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him [they flee from what they know is evil misleading and seek refuge in places where Satan, working through those who say they know the ways when they are the blind leaders of the blind, and the later state is worse than the former because they think they’re saved, while in the hands of those whose ever open mouths are misleading them into ignorance and deeper darkness].
20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take you away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols.
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun [worshipping idols put in God’s place, into whose fires you offer your children] your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts [the LORD who is a man of war, and the commander of the army of heaven – I Am in me].
It is these men, those the LORD speaks of as darkening the world, whose words will be silenced when the LORD brings them again under His control: when they again will lead as He leads, with GOOD advice. The LORD asks if any can do this, as only He can.
Job 3
1 Can you draw out leviathan with a hook? or his tongue [words] with a cord which you let down?
2 Can you put a hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
3 Will he make many supplications unto you? will he speak soft words unto you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you? will you take him for a servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird? or will you bind him for your maidens?
6 Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?
8 Lay your hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
11 Who has prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
12 I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.
13 Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?
14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.
15 His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.
16 One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
18 By his neesings a light does shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of his nostrils goes smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
22 In his neck remains strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.
24 His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
25 When he raises up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.
26 The sword of him that lays at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.
27 He esteems iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot make him flee: sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.
29 Darts are counted as stubble: he laughs at the shaking of a spear.
30 Sharp stones are under him: he spreads sharp pointed things upon the mire.
31 He makes the deep to boil like a pot: he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 He makes a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
34 He beholds all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.
Isaiah 27
1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon [those among us devouring with wide open mouths] that is in the sea.
2 In that day sing you unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
3 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
4 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he [leviathan] shall make peace with me.
6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
7 Has he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
8 In measure, when it shoots forth, you will debate with it: he stays his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder [because they are the creations of men], the groves and images shall not stand up.
10 Yet the defensed city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.
12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off [the fruit – the people who come out of confusion into His good leading, His marvelous light] from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt [the words of oppression], and you shall be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown [this voice of the LORD calling all to gather to Him at mount Zion where He rules], and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria [at the hand of the communists mixed among us], and the outcasts in the land of Egypt [this land, whose leaders don’t know God, and oppress His people], and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Isaiah 28
1 Woe to the crown [those who rule in church and state] of pride, to the drunkards [blinded and stupefied by the creations of your own mind] of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer [impatient, unable to wait for the LORD, they eat the fruit before its time]; which when he that looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem [tsphiyrah] of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine [shmuw’ah]? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report [shmuw’ah].
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim [2 Samuel 5:20 & 21: waters breaking forth, as in verse 2 above], he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon [Joshua 10:10 & 11: God’s word held in heaven coming as hailstones, also as in verse 2 above], that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
22 Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the LORD God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
23 Give you ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
24 Does the plowman plow all day to sow? does he open and break the clods of his ground?
25 When he has made plain the face thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
26 For his God does instruct him to discretion, and does teach him.
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
29 This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful [pala’ – as a marvel opening eyes] in counsel, and excellent in working.
Now, I, the LORD of Hosts, call these men to (per)sue for peace and save themselves and those who follow them. There is an inevitable end come, in which all are ensnared, and none will escape.
Job 34
2 Hear my words, O you wise men; and give ear unto me, you that have knowledge.
3 For the ear tries words, as the mouth tastes meat.
4 Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job has said, I am righteous: and God has taken away my judgment.
6 Should I lie against my right? my wound is incurable without transgression.
7 What man is like Job, who drinks up scorning like water?
8 Which goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men.
9 For he has said, It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.
10 Therefore hearken unto me you men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
11 For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.
12 Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.
13 Who has given him a charge over the earth? or who has disposed the whole world?
14 If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
16 If now you have understanding, hear this: hearken to the voice of my words.
17 Shall even he that hates right govern? and will you condemn him that is most just?
18 Is it fit to say to a king, You are wicked? and to princes, You are ungodly?
19 How much less to him that accepts not the persons of princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.
20 In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he sees all his goings.
22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23 For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.
24 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set others in their stead.
25 Therefore he knows their works, and he overturns them in the night, so that they are destroyed. [Ezekiel 21: 6 Thus saith the LORD God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. 27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.]
26 He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others;
27 Because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways:
28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he hears the cry of the afflicted.
29 When he gives quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hides his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
30 That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.
31 Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
32 That which I see not teach you me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.
33 Should it be according to your mind? he will recompense it, whether you refuse, or whether you choose; and not I: therefore speak what you know.
34 Let men of understanding tell me, and let a wise man hearken unto me.
35 Job has spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.
36 My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men [until He sees the LORD’s righteousness, and stops trying to prove His own ways are right].
37 For he adds rebellion unto his sin, he claps his hands among us, and multiplies his words against God [not understand his suffering, the suffering of the hated body of Christ in the world, is what draws out the wicked {evil misleaders} into open sight, where God’s presence is realized: correcting humanity away from corruption and into immortality].
Matthew 5
2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them [good], saying,
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
13 You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 For truly I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Jeremiah 14
1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.
2 Judah mourns, and the gates thereof languish; they are black [ignorant] unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
4 Because the ground is chapped, for there was no rain in the earth [there is no word of God heard in their high places], the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.
5 Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
6 And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do you it for your name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.
8 O the hope of Israel, the savior thereof in time of trouble, why should you be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night [as you have esteemed me, as I Am, to you, of no value]?
9 Why should you be as a man astonished, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; leave us not.
10 Thus says the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD does not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.
11 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword [this word of God to those who reject it], and by the famine [in which you hunger for the same word of God you’ve rejected], and by the pestilence [the disease in the land cause by rejecting His health bringing word, by which only does man live].
13 Then said I, Ah, LORD God! behold, the prophets say unto them, You shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart.
15 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.
17 Therefore you shall say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.
18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
19 Have you utterly rejected Judah [the current crop of corrupted leaders who speak not according to this word of God, because there is no light in them]? has your soul loathed Zion [or Has he love them enough to pour out His life to correct them into becoming His children]? why have you smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against you.
21 Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of your glory: remember, break not your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles [the worthless ways of those who don’t know God] that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? are not you He, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon you: for you have made all these things.
The Hebrew word rendered “dearth,” in verse 1 above, is “batstsoreth (pronounced bats-tso’-reth) feminine intensive from 1219; restraint (of rain), i.e. drought:–dearth, drought.” It only appears one other time, in Jeremiah 17:8, where it’s rendered “drought.”
Jeremiah 17
5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
7 Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought [batstsoreth], neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.
12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake you shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise.
15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.
16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow you: neither have I desired the woeful day; you knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before you.
17 Be not a terror unto me: you are my hope in the day of evil.
18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19 Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20 And say unto them, Hear you the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
21 Thus says the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden [your own words are the burden] on the sabbath day [these days, when I have interrupted you, to hear correction by good advice], nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; [Ezekiel 44:1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looks toward the east; and it was shut. 2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. 3 It is for the prince {whose right it is, I Am}; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. 4 Then brought he me the way of the north [the things laid up, hidden in darkness, revealed] gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.]
22 Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do you any work, but hallow you the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
24 And it shall come to pass, if you diligently hearken unto me, says the LORD, to bring in no burden [your words and work] through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein;
25 Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever.
Psalms 71
71 In you, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
2 Deliver me in your righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline your ear unto me, and save me.
3 Be you my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: you have given commandment to save me; for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For you are my hope, O LORD God: you are my trust from my youth.
6 By you have I been holden up from the womb: you are he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of you.
7 I am as a wonder unto many; but you are my strong refuge.
8 Let my mouth be filled with your praise and with your honour all the day.
9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.
10 For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,
11 Saying, God has forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.
12 O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise you more and more.
15 My mouth shall show forth your righteousness and your salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.
16 I will go in the strength of the LORD God: I will make mention of your righteousness, even of your only.
17 O God, you have taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared your wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not; until I have shown your strength unto this generation, and your power to every one that is to come.
19 Your righteousness also, O God, is very high, who have done great things: O God, who is like unto you!
20 You, which have shown me great and sore troubles, shall quicken me again, and shall bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
21 You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
22 I will also praise you with the psaltery, even your truth, O my God: unto you will I sing with the harp, O you Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto you; and my soul, which you have redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of your righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.
