Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Continuing: the above, Daniel 9:24, is a chapter in which Daniel realizes the ignorance (confusion – Babylon) of God’s people, of the abominations that have caused the 70 years in desolation. The emphasis isn’t on the time’s span, which all admit isn’t seventy literal years, but instead on the process of realization and end of the time, which (end) is defined in Daniel 12.
As we know from Daniel 9:2, Daniel “understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet [as a wheel within a wheel], that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem [the understanding of the ways and ideas that bring peace and security: civilization].”
In the chapter, understanding comes after his confession of the confusion that came from departing from God’s law and not obeying His voice heard through the prophets He sent. It comes through the one Daniel identifies as the angel Gabriel, meaning “warrior of God” and “man of God.” In the New Testament, this identifying description is only used of Timothy, who we’re also told is the one sent, in the order of Melchisedec.
In the title verse, Gabriel tells of ending the confusion by correcting the sins of ignorance that resulted from misleaders (devils) replacing the truth of God, knowledge of Him, and His ways, in which is continuance.
Before looking deeper into Daniel’s apocalyptic words (uncovering truth), The LORD takes us to read Isaiah 64, which begins with a description of the His uncovering Himself, in ways we looked not for, because we were ignorant.
Isaiah 64
1 Oh that you [LORD] would tear open the heavens [and send understanding as You have], that you would come down [as You have], that the mountains might flow down at your presence [paniym – Your face, which we now understand, and from where flows Your ways of peace: Yara’shalam – Jerusalem],
2 As when the melting fire burns [as a lamp of Your Salvation bringing light: understanding], the fire causes the waters to boil [the words to be purified], to make your name [Jehovah’s Salvation personified – JESUS] known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence [paniym – Your face, which we now understand was only hidden by the darkness of our ignorance of your ways and ideas]!
3 When you did terrible things which we looked not for [because we were misled into ignorance], you came down, the mountains flowed down [Your truth] at your presence [paniym – Your face revealed].
4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside you, what he has prepared for him that waited for him.
5 You meet him that rejoices and worketh righteousness, those that remember you in your ways: behold, you are wroth; for we have sinned: in those [Your ways and our confession of our ignorance] is continuance, and we shall be saved.
6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
7 And there is none that calleth upon your name, that stirs up himself to take hold of you: for you have hid your face [paniym – presence] from us, and have consumed us, because of our iniquities.
8 But now, O LORD, you are our Father [who corrects us]; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.
9 Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity forever: behold, see, we beseech you, we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
12 Will you refrain yourself for these things, O LORD? will you hold your peace, and afflict us very sore?
The LORD, in the first verses of the following chapter, reveals that He is now found by those who were, in ignorance, looking for Him elsewhere. Daniel says, after putting off transgression and sin, receiving reconciliation, to bring in righteousness, through all the work (ways) of God, we “seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” This later portion, which Daniel describes in the final steps, are what finishes the desolation, and when the LORD creates the new heaven and earth described in Isaiah 65.
As we’ve seen in a previous post (15 January 2020), the word rendered “seal” is chatham, meaning “to close up; especially to seal:–make an end, mark, seal (up), stop.” Daniel used the word three other times; the first, in the same verse rendered “to make an end.” By these points, we understand it’s an “unsealing” of the vision and the prophecy.
The other two uses (of chatham by Daniel) come in Daniel 12:4 & 9, both rendered “seal” in telling of the words of the book sealed until the time of the end, when knowledge (of God) is increased. The word “knowledge” is the Hebrew word da’ath, which Daniel uses one other time, in Daniel 1:4, telling of those having it chosen to stand in the palace of the king and learn the language of the Chaldeans (in a pattern: to understanding the ways and ideas, the lies and deception, used against God’s people, to keep them in Babylon – confusion).
Jeremiah uses the word da’ath, three times, Jeremiah 10:14, 22:16, & 51:17, to tell of those who do and don’t have this “knowledge.”
Jeremiah 10
1 Hear you the word which the LORD speaks unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus says the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear you, O King of nations [see Revelation 15:4 below]? for to you does it appertain [ya’ah]: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto you.
8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities [worthless instruction].
9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish [from those who abandoned and fled their vow], and gold from Uphaz [whose desire is gold], the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
11 Thus shall you say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
12 He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
13 When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning [understanding] with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures [the cloud].
14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge [da’ath]: every founder is confounded [confused] by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.
17 Gather up your wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.
18 For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.
19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps.
24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out your fury upon the heathen that know you not, and upon the families that call not on your name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
Revelation 15
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, LORD God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.
4 Who shall not fear you, O LORD, and glorify your name? for you only are holy: for all nations shall come and worship before you; for your judgments are made manifest.
In Jeremiah 22 the LORD speaks of the desolation and end of the king line, which He describes as a house of unrighteousness. He says when it went well with the kings (the house leaders), it was when they knew (know – da’ath) Him.
Jeremiah 22
13 Woe unto him that builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that uses his neighbor’s service without wages, and gives him not for his work;
14 That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cuts him out windows; and it is cieled [cover] with cedar [with the appearance of the upright], and painted [mashach – their {false} anointing – crowning] with vermilion [shashar – is to draw attention {away from God} to the ways of the enemy].
15 Shall you reign, because you close [cover] yourself in cedar? did not your father eat and drink [of the living waters that flow God’s ways of peace and security], and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know [da’ath] me? saith the LORD.
17 But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.
18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
The word “lord” here is the Hebrew word ‘adown, meaning “from an unused root (meaning to rule); sovereign, i.e. controller (human or divine).” Above it tells the LORD’s (Jehovah’s) presence no longer manifested in the king, who doesn’t rule as He rules, which is God’s glory in those that do.
It (‘adown] is the word rendered the LORD, in Psalms 110, to who Jehovah (The LORD) says, “Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
Daniel uses the term (‘adown) five times, Daniel 1:10, 10:16 & 17, & 12:8. The first tells of the king of Babylon (fallen into confusion, without the knowledge of God) whose meat defiled those who eat it, which Daniel refused. The next three describe the one who appears as the sons of men (the son of man), who gives Daniel the strength (understanding) that raises him. The final time is when Daniel says he didn’t understand, and he asks his LORD, “what shall be the end of these things.”
The final time chatham appears (Jeremiah 51:17) it’s describing the end of Babylon’s (confusion’s) rule over God’s people and the world, which is “the end of these things,” when the word of God and the book are again opened by understanding. This final act brings the anointing of the king, when the king line is reestablished after the enemies of God are made the king’s footstool.
Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael [who is like God] stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble [tsarah – tribulation], 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, 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 [chatham] 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 [in the order of Melchisedec] that it shall be for a time, times, and an 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 [‘adown], what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed [chatham] 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.
Daniel 10
14 Now I am come to make you understand what shall befall your people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.
15 And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb.
16 And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spoke, and said unto him that stood before me, O my LORD [‘adown], by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength.
17 For how can the servant of this my LORD [‘adown] talk with this my LORD [‘adown]? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.
18 Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me,
19 And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto you, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my LORD [‘adown] speak; for you have strengthened me.
1 Timothy 6
3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our LORD Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; [1 Timothy 3: 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.]
4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife of words, whereof comes envy, strife, railings, evil surmising,
5 Perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw yourself.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.
13 I give you charge in the sight of God, who quicken all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
14 That you keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our LORD Jesus Christ:
15 Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and LORD of lords;
16 Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.
17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy;
18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate [this word of God, as received];
19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
This process brings us to the final step, “to anoint the Most Holy,” the one in whom the LORD’s presence is first manifested and remains (His first-born from the dead). This understanding from Him is the seal, His word unsealed by Him, by which the Father declares, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear you him.”
Jeremiah 31
31 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, says the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 32
10 And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it [chatham – finished it], and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.
11 So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed [chatham – finished] according to the law and custom, and that which was open:
12 And I gave the evidence [God gave full proof of my ministry] of the purchase unto Baruch [blessed] the son of Neriah [by the light {understanding} of Jehovah], the son of Maaseiah [the refuge, sanctuary, of Jehovah], in the sight of Hanameel [now seen as the favor of God] mine uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.
13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
14 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed [chatham – finished], and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
15 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
16 Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah [to those blessed by this light {understanding} of Jehovah], I prayed unto the LORD, saying,
17 Ah LORD God! behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you:
18 You show lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,
19 Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for your eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
20 Which have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and have made you a name, as at this day;
21 And have brought forth your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror;
22 And have given them this land, which you did swear to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey;
23 And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not your voice, neither walked in your law; they have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do: therefore you have caused all this evil to come upon them:
24 Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans [those who have used their words to manipulate and control us], that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what you have spoken is come to pass; and, behold, you see it.
25 And you have said unto me, O LORD God, Buy you the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
26 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
28 Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:
29 And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.
30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says the LORD.
31 For this city has been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face,
32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
34 But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it.
35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom [hell], to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech [the idols of the heathen who ruled the old world]; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
36 And now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof you say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:
38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
39 And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:
40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
41 Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
42 For thus says the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.
43 And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof you say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
44 Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal [chatham – finish] them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, says the LORD.
The word rendered “transgression” in the title verse (Daniel 9:24) is the Hebrew word pesha’, meaning “a revolt (national, moral or religious).” It is only used twice by Jeremiah: first in Jeremiah 5:1 as we understand Daniel’s use of the term “run to and fro” (shuwt) in Daniel 12:4 above; and then, in Lamentations 1:14, speaking of the rebellion of God’s people, for which they have fallen into the hand of their enemies.
Jeremiah 5
1 Run you to and fro [shuwt] through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
2 And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.
3 O LORD, are not your eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions [pesha’] are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.
12 They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you knowest not, neither understandest what they say.
16 Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men.
17 And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trustedst, with the sword.
18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Wherefore does the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shall you answer them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not your’s.
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
22 Fear you not me? saith the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end thereof?
Lamentations 1
1 How does the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
2 She weeps sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she has none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.
4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.
5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.
7 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.
8 Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sighs, and turns backward.
9 Her filthiness is in her skirts; she remembers not her last end; therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. O LORD, behold my affliction: for the enemy has magnified himself.
10 The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she has seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom you did command that they should not enter into your congregation.
11 All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul: see, O LORD, and consider; for I am become vile.
12 Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
13 From above has he sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them: he has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back: he has made me desolate and faint all the day.
14 The yoke of my transgressions [pesha’] is bound by his hand: they are wreathed [mixed in our midst], and come up upon my neck: he has made my strength to fall, the LORD has delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.
15 The LORD has trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he has called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the LORD has trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.
Isaiah 21
4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure has he turned into fear unto me.
5 Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, you princes, and anoint [mashach] the shield.
6 For thus has the LORD said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he sees.
Psalms 89
18 For the LORD is our defense; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
19 Then you spoke in vision to your holy one, and said, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed [mashach] him:
21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
Psalms 45
1 My heart is inditing [overflowing with] a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
2 You are fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into your lips: therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Gird your sword upon your thigh, O most mighty, with your glory and your majesty.
4 And in your majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and your right hand shall teach you terrible things.
5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under you.
6 Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of your kingdom is a right scepter.
7 You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed [mashach] you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
8 All your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made you glad.
9 Kings’ daughters were among your honorable women: upon your right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget also your own people, and your father’s house;
11 So shall the king greatly desire your beauty: for he is your LORD [‘adown]; and worship you him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat your favor.
13 The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto you.
15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace.
16 Instead of your fathers shall be your children, whom you mayest make princes in all the earth.
17 I will make your name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise you forever and ever.
Psalms 47
1 O clap your hands, all you people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
2 For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
5 God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing you praises with understanding.
8 God reigns over the heathen: God sits upon the throne of his holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.
Psalms 2
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces [naphats – scatter them] like a potter’s vessel.
10 Be wise now therefore, O you kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Psalms 110
1 The LORD said unto my LORD [‘adown], Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek [the king of Salem – king of peace and righteousness].
5 The LORD at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
