Saturday, 6 January 2018
Isaiah ch.1-5 New World Translation 2013 edition.
1 The vision that Isaiah*+ the son of Aʹmoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uz·ziʹah,+ Joʹtham,+ Aʹhaz,+ and Hez·e·kiʹah,+ kings of Judah:+
2 Hear, O heavens, and pay attention, O earth,+
For Jehovah has spoken:
“Sons I have brought up and raised,+
But they have revolted against me.+
3 A bull well knows its buyer,
And a donkey the manger of its owner;
But Israel does not know me,*+
My own people do not behave with understanding.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,+
The people weighed down with error,
A brood of wicked men, corrupt children!
They have abandoned Jehovah;+
They have treated the Holy One of Israel with disrespect;
They have turned their backs on him.
5 Where will you be struck next as you add to your rebellion?+
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart is diseased.+
6 From the sole of the foot to the head, nothing is healthy.
There are wounds and bruises and open sores
—They have not been treated* or bound up or softened with oil.+
7 Your land is desolate.
Your cities are burned with fire.
Foreigners devour your land right in front of you.+
It is like a wasteland overthrown by foreigners.+
8 The daughter of Zion has been left like a shelter* in a vineyard,
Like a hut in a cucumber field,
Like a city under siege.+
9 Unless Jehovah of armies had left us a few survivors,
We should have become just like Sodʹom,
And we should have resembled Go·morʹrah.+
10 Hear the word of Jehovah, you dictators* of Sodʹom.+
Pay attention to the law* of our God, you people of Go·morʹrah.+
11 “Of what benefit to me are your many sacrifices?”+ says Jehovah.
“I have had enough of your burnt offerings of rams+ and the fat of well-fed animals,+
And I have no delight in the blood+ of young bulls+ and lambs and goats.+
12 When you come to appear before me,+
Who has required this from you,
This trampling of my courtyards?+
13 Stop bringing in any more worthless grain offerings.
Your incense is detestable to me.+
New moons,+ sabbaths,+ the calling of conventions+
—I cannot put up with the use of magical power+ along with your solemn assembly.
14 I have* hated your new moons and your festivals.
They have become a burden to me;
I am tired of bearing them.
15 And when you spread out your palms,
I hide my eyes from you.+
Although you offer many prayers,+
I am not listening;+
Your hands are filled with blood.+
16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;+
Remove your evil deeds from my sight;
Stop doing bad.+
17 Learn to do good, seek justice,+
Correct the oppressor,
Defend the rights of the fatherless child,*
And plead the cause of the widow.”+
18 “Come, now, and let us set matters straight between us,” says Jehovah.+
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They will be made as white as snow;+
Though they are as red as crimson cloth,
They will become like wool.
19 If you show willingness and listen,
You will eat the good things of the land.+
20 But if you refuse and rebel,
You will be devoured by the sword,+
For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it.”
21 How the faithful city+ has become a prostitute!+
She was full of justice;+
Righteousness used to lodge in her,+
But now murderers.+
22 Your silver has become dross,+
And your beer* is diluted with water.
23 Your princes are stubborn and partners with thieves.+
Every one of them loves a bribe and chases after gifts.+
They do not grant justice to the fatherless,*
And the legal case of the widow never reaches them.+
24 Therefore the true Lord, Jehovah of armies,
The Powerful One of Israel, declares:
“Ah! I will rid myself of my adversaries,
And I will take revenge on my enemies.+
25 I will turn my hand against you,
I will smelt away your dross as with lye,
And I will remove all your impurities.+
26 I will restore your judges as in the beginning
And your advisers as at the start.+
After this you will be called City of Righteousness, Faithful Town.+
27 With justice Zion will be redeemed,+
And her people who return, with righteousness.
28 The rebels and the sinners will be broken together,+
And those leaving Jehovah will come to their finish.+
29 For they will be ashamed of the mighty trees that you desired,+
And you will be disgraced because of the gardens* that you chose.+
30 For you will become like a big tree with withering leaves,+
And like a garden without water.
31 The strong man will become tow,*
And his work a spark;
Both of them will go up in flames together,
With no one to extinguish them.”
2 This is what Isaiah the son of Aʹmoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:+
2 In the final part of the days,*
The mountain of the house of Jehovah
Will become firmly established above the top of the mountains,+
And it will be raised up above the hills,
And to it all the nations will stream.+
3 And many peoples will go and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah,
To the house of the God of Jacob.+
He will instruct us about his ways,
And we will walk in his paths.”+
For law* will go out of Zion,
And the word of Jehovah out of Jerusalem.+
4 He will render judgment among the nations
And set matters straight* respecting many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning shears.+
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
Nor will they learn war anymore.+
5 O house of Jacob, come,
Let us walk in the light of Jehovah.+
6 For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob,+
Because they have become full of things from the East;
They practice magic+ like the Phi·lisʹtines,
And they abound with the children of foreigners.
7 Their land is filled with silver and gold,
And there is no limit to their treasures.
Their land is filled with horses,
And there is no limit to their chariots.+
8 Their land is filled with worthless gods.+
They bow down to the work of their own hands,
To what their own fingers have made.
9 So man bows down, he becomes low,
And you cannot possibly pardon them.
10 Enter into the rock and hide yourself in the dust
Because of the terrifying presence of Jehovah
And his majestic splendor.+
11 The haughty eyes of man will be brought low,
And the arrogance of men will bow down.*
Jehovah alone will be exalted in that day.
12 For it is the day belonging to Jehovah of armies.+
It is coming upon everyone who is haughty and lofty,
Upon everyone, whether exalted or lowly,+
13 Upon all the cedars of Lebʹa·non that are lofty and exalted
And upon all the oaks of Baʹshan,
14 Upon all the lofty mountains
And upon all the high hills,
15 Upon every high tower and every fortified wall,
16 Upon all the ships of Tarʹshish+
And upon all desirable boats.
17 Man’s haughtiness will be brought down,
And the arrogance of men will bow low.*
Jehovah alone will be exalted in that day.
18 The worthless gods will completely disappear.+
19 And people will enter into the caves of the rocks
And into the holes in the ground,+
Because of the terrifying presence of Jehovah
And his majestic splendor,+
When he arises to make the earth tremble in terror.
20 In that day men will take their worthless gods of silver and of gold
That they had made for themselves to bow down to
And throw them away to the shrewmice* and to the bats,+
21 In order to enter into the holes in the rocks
And into the clefts of the crags,
Because of the terrifying presence of Jehovah
And his majestic splendor,
When he arises to make the earth tremble in terror.
22 For your own sakes, quit trusting in mere man,
Who is only the breath in his nostrils.*
Why should he be taken into account?
3 For look! the true Lord, Jehovah of armies,
Is removing from Jerusalem and Judah every kind of support and supply,
All support of bread and water,+
2 Mighty man and warrior,
Judge and prophet,+ diviner and elder,
3 Chief of 50,+ dignitary, and adviser,
The expert magician and the skilled charmer.+
4 I will make boys their princes,
And the unstable* will rule over them.
5 The people will oppress one another,
Each one his fellow man.+
The boy will assault the old man,
And the lightly esteemed one will defy the respected one.+
6 Each one will take hold of his brother in his father’s house and say:
“You have a cloak—you be our commander.
Take charge of this overthrown pile of ruins.”
7 But he will protest in that day:
“I will not be your wound dresser;*
I have no food or clothing in my house.
Do not make me commander over the people.”
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled,
And Judah has fallen,
Because in word and deed they are against Jehovah;
They behave defiantly in his glorious presence.*+
9 The expression of their faces testifies against them,
And they proclaim their sin like Sodʹom;+
They do not try to hide it.
Woe to them,* for they are bringing disaster on themselves!
10 Tell the righteous that it will go well for them;
They will be rewarded for what they do.*+
11 Woe to the wicked one!
Disaster will befall him,
For what his hands have done will be done to him!
12 As for my people, their taskmasters are abusive,
And women rule over them.
My people, your leaders are causing you to wander,
And they confuse the direction of your paths.+
13 Jehovah is taking his position to accuse;
He is standing up to pass sentence on peoples.
14 Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people.
“You have burned down the vineyard,
And what you have stolen from the poor is in your houses.+
15 How dare you crush my people
And grind the faces of the poor in the dirt?”+ declares the Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies.
16 Jehovah says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
Walking with their heads high,*
Flirting with their eyes, skipping along,
Making a tinkling sound with their anklets,
17 Jehovah will also strike the head of the daughters of Zion with scabs,
And Jehovah will make their forehead bare.+
18 In that day Jehovah will take away the beauty of their bangles,
The headbands and the crescent-shaped ornaments,+
19 The earrings,* the bracelets, and the veils,
20 The headdresses, the ankle chains, and the breastbands,*
The perfume receptacles* and the charms,*
21 The finger rings and the nose rings,
22 The ceremonial robes, the overtunics, the cloaks, and the purses,
23 The hand mirrors+ and the linen garments,*
The turbans and the veils.
24 Instead of balsam oil,+ there will be a rotten smell;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of a beautiful hairstyle, baldness;+
Instead of a rich garment, a garment of sackcloth;+
And a brand mark instead of beauty.
25 By the sword your men will fall,
And your mighty men in battle.+
26 Her entrances will mourn and grieve,+
And she will sit on the ground desolate.”+
4 And seven women will grab hold of one man in that day,+ saying:
“We will eat our own bread
And wear our own clothing;
Only let us be called by your name
To take away our disgrace.”*+
2 In that day what Jehovah makes sprout will be splendid and glorious, and the fruitage of the land will be the pride and beauty of the survivors of Israel.+ 3 Whoever remains in Zion and is left over in Jerusalem will be called holy, all of those in Jerusalem written down for life.+
4 When Jehovah washes away the filth* of the daughters of Zion+ and rinses away the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning,*+ 5 Jehovah will also create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over the place of her conventions a cloud and smoke by day and a bright flaming fire by night;+ for over all the glory there will be a shelter. 6 And there will be a booth for shade by day from the heat,+ and for refuge and protection from storms and the rain.+
5 Let me sing, please, to my beloved
A song about my loved one and his vineyard.+
My beloved had a vineyard on a fruitful hillside.
2 He dug it up and rid it of stones.
He planted it with a choice red vine,
Built a tower in the middle of it,
And hewed out a winepress in it.+
Then he kept hoping for it to produce grapes,
But it produced only wild grapes.+
3 “And now, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Please judge between me and my vineyard.+
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard
That I have not already done?+
Why, when I hoped for grapes,
Did it produce only wild grapes?
5 Now, please, let me tell you
What I will do to my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,
And it will be burned down.+
I will break down its stone wall,
And it will be trampled on.
6 I will make it a wasteland;+
It will not be pruned or hoed.
It will be overgrown with thornbushes and weeds,+
And I will command the clouds not to send any rain on it.+
7 For the vineyard of Jehovah of armies is the house of Israel;+
The men of Judah are the plantation* he was fond of.
He kept hoping for justice,+
But look! there was injustice;
For righteousness,
But look! a cry of distress.”+
8 Woe to those who join one house to another house+
And who annex one field to another field+
Until there is no more room
And you live by yourselves on the land!
9 Jehovah of armies has sworn in my ears
That many houses, though great and beautiful,
Will become an object of horror,
Without an inhabitant.+
10 For ten acres* of vineyard will produce but one bath measure,*
And a hoʹmer measure* of seed will produce only an eʹphah.*+
11 Woe to those who get up early in the morning to drink alcohol,+
Who linger late into the evening darkness until wine inflames them!
12 They have harp and stringed instrument,
Tambourine, flute, and wine at their feasts;
But they do not consider the activity of Jehovah,
And they do not see the work of his hands.
13 So my people will go into exile
For lack of knowledge;+
Their glorious men will go hungry,+
And all their people will be parched with thirst.
14 So the Grave* has enlarged itself*
And has opened its mouth wide without limit;+
And her splendor,* her noisy multitudes, and her revelers
Will certainly go down into it.
15 And man will bow down,
Man will be brought low,
And the eyes of the haughty will be brought low.
16 Jehovah of armies will be exalted by his judgment;*
The true God, the Holy One,+ will sanctify himself through righteousness.+
17 And the lambs will graze as in their pasture;
Foreign residents will feed on the desolate places of well-fed animals.
18 Woe to those who drag along their guilt with ropes of deception
And their sin with wagon cords;
19 Those who say: “Let Him speed up his work;
Let it come quickly that we may see it.
Let the purpose* of the Holy One of Israel take place
That we may know it!”+
20 Woe to those who say that good is bad and bad is good,+
Those who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness,
Those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those wise in their own eyes
And discreet in their own sight!+
22 Woe to those who are mighty in drinking wine
And to the men who are masters at mixing alcoholic drinks,+
23 Those who acquit the wicked for a bribe+
And who deny justice to the righteous!+
24 Therefore, just as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble
And dry grass shrivels in the flames,
Their very roots will rot,
And their blossoms will scatter like powder,
Because they rejected the law* of Jehovah of armies
And disrespected the word of the Holy One of Israel.+
25 That is why the anger of Jehovah burns against his people,
And he will stretch out his hand against them and strike them.+
The mountains will quake,
And their corpses will be like refuse in the streets.+
In view of all this, his anger has not turned back,
But his hand is still stretched out to strike.
26 He has raised up a signal* to a distant nation;+
He has whistled for them to come from the ends of the earth;+
And look! they are coming very swiftly.+
27 None among them are tired or stumbling.
No one is drowsy or sleeps.
The belt around their waist is not loosened,
Nor are their sandal laces broken.
28 All their arrows are sharp,
And all their bows are bent.*
The hooves of their horses are like flint,
And their wheels like a storm wind.+
29 Their roaring is like that of a lion;
They roar like young lions.*+
They will growl and seize the prey
And carry it off with no one to rescue it.
30 In that day they will growl over it
Like the growling of the sea.+
Anyone who gazes at the land will see distressing darkness;
Even the light has grown dark because of the clouds.+
2 Hear, O heavens, and pay attention, O earth,+
For Jehovah has spoken:
“Sons I have brought up and raised,+
But they have revolted against me.+
3 A bull well knows its buyer,
And a donkey the manger of its owner;
But Israel does not know me,*+
My own people do not behave with understanding.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,+
The people weighed down with error,
A brood of wicked men, corrupt children!
They have abandoned Jehovah;+
They have treated the Holy One of Israel with disrespect;
They have turned their backs on him.
5 Where will you be struck next as you add to your rebellion?+
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart is diseased.+
6 From the sole of the foot to the head, nothing is healthy.
There are wounds and bruises and open sores
—They have not been treated* or bound up or softened with oil.+
7 Your land is desolate.
Your cities are burned with fire.
Foreigners devour your land right in front of you.+
It is like a wasteland overthrown by foreigners.+
8 The daughter of Zion has been left like a shelter* in a vineyard,
Like a hut in a cucumber field,
Like a city under siege.+
9 Unless Jehovah of armies had left us a few survivors,
We should have become just like Sodʹom,
And we should have resembled Go·morʹrah.+
10 Hear the word of Jehovah, you dictators* of Sodʹom.+
Pay attention to the law* of our God, you people of Go·morʹrah.+
11 “Of what benefit to me are your many sacrifices?”+ says Jehovah.
“I have had enough of your burnt offerings of rams+ and the fat of well-fed animals,+
And I have no delight in the blood+ of young bulls+ and lambs and goats.+
12 When you come to appear before me,+
Who has required this from you,
This trampling of my courtyards?+
13 Stop bringing in any more worthless grain offerings.
Your incense is detestable to me.+
New moons,+ sabbaths,+ the calling of conventions+
—I cannot put up with the use of magical power+ along with your solemn assembly.
14 I have* hated your new moons and your festivals.
They have become a burden to me;
I am tired of bearing them.
15 And when you spread out your palms,
I hide my eyes from you.+
Although you offer many prayers,+
I am not listening;+
Your hands are filled with blood.+
16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;+
Remove your evil deeds from my sight;
Stop doing bad.+
17 Learn to do good, seek justice,+
Correct the oppressor,
Defend the rights of the fatherless child,*
And plead the cause of the widow.”+
18 “Come, now, and let us set matters straight between us,” says Jehovah.+
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They will be made as white as snow;+
Though they are as red as crimson cloth,
They will become like wool.
19 If you show willingness and listen,
You will eat the good things of the land.+
20 But if you refuse and rebel,
You will be devoured by the sword,+
For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it.”
21 How the faithful city+ has become a prostitute!+
She was full of justice;+
Righteousness used to lodge in her,+
But now murderers.+
22 Your silver has become dross,+
And your beer* is diluted with water.
23 Your princes are stubborn and partners with thieves.+
Every one of them loves a bribe and chases after gifts.+
They do not grant justice to the fatherless,*
And the legal case of the widow never reaches them.+
24 Therefore the true Lord, Jehovah of armies,
The Powerful One of Israel, declares:
“Ah! I will rid myself of my adversaries,
And I will take revenge on my enemies.+
25 I will turn my hand against you,
I will smelt away your dross as with lye,
And I will remove all your impurities.+
26 I will restore your judges as in the beginning
And your advisers as at the start.+
After this you will be called City of Righteousness, Faithful Town.+
27 With justice Zion will be redeemed,+
And her people who return, with righteousness.
28 The rebels and the sinners will be broken together,+
And those leaving Jehovah will come to their finish.+
29 For they will be ashamed of the mighty trees that you desired,+
And you will be disgraced because of the gardens* that you chose.+
30 For you will become like a big tree with withering leaves,+
And like a garden without water.
31 The strong man will become tow,*
And his work a spark;
Both of them will go up in flames together,
With no one to extinguish them.”
2 This is what Isaiah the son of Aʹmoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:+
2 In the final part of the days,*
The mountain of the house of Jehovah
Will become firmly established above the top of the mountains,+
And it will be raised up above the hills,
And to it all the nations will stream.+
3 And many peoples will go and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah,
To the house of the God of Jacob.+
He will instruct us about his ways,
And we will walk in his paths.”+
For law* will go out of Zion,
And the word of Jehovah out of Jerusalem.+
4 He will render judgment among the nations
And set matters straight* respecting many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning shears.+
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
Nor will they learn war anymore.+
5 O house of Jacob, come,
Let us walk in the light of Jehovah.+
6 For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob,+
Because they have become full of things from the East;
They practice magic+ like the Phi·lisʹtines,
And they abound with the children of foreigners.
7 Their land is filled with silver and gold,
And there is no limit to their treasures.
Their land is filled with horses,
And there is no limit to their chariots.+
8 Their land is filled with worthless gods.+
They bow down to the work of their own hands,
To what their own fingers have made.
9 So man bows down, he becomes low,
And you cannot possibly pardon them.
10 Enter into the rock and hide yourself in the dust
Because of the terrifying presence of Jehovah
And his majestic splendor.+
11 The haughty eyes of man will be brought low,
And the arrogance of men will bow down.*
Jehovah alone will be exalted in that day.
12 For it is the day belonging to Jehovah of armies.+
It is coming upon everyone who is haughty and lofty,
Upon everyone, whether exalted or lowly,+
13 Upon all the cedars of Lebʹa·non that are lofty and exalted
And upon all the oaks of Baʹshan,
14 Upon all the lofty mountains
And upon all the high hills,
15 Upon every high tower and every fortified wall,
16 Upon all the ships of Tarʹshish+
And upon all desirable boats.
17 Man’s haughtiness will be brought down,
And the arrogance of men will bow low.*
Jehovah alone will be exalted in that day.
18 The worthless gods will completely disappear.+
19 And people will enter into the caves of the rocks
And into the holes in the ground,+
Because of the terrifying presence of Jehovah
And his majestic splendor,+
When he arises to make the earth tremble in terror.
20 In that day men will take their worthless gods of silver and of gold
That they had made for themselves to bow down to
And throw them away to the shrewmice* and to the bats,+
21 In order to enter into the holes in the rocks
And into the clefts of the crags,
Because of the terrifying presence of Jehovah
And his majestic splendor,
When he arises to make the earth tremble in terror.
22 For your own sakes, quit trusting in mere man,
Who is only the breath in his nostrils.*
Why should he be taken into account?
3 For look! the true Lord, Jehovah of armies,
Is removing from Jerusalem and Judah every kind of support and supply,
All support of bread and water,+
2 Mighty man and warrior,
Judge and prophet,+ diviner and elder,
3 Chief of 50,+ dignitary, and adviser,
The expert magician and the skilled charmer.+
4 I will make boys their princes,
And the unstable* will rule over them.
5 The people will oppress one another,
Each one his fellow man.+
The boy will assault the old man,
And the lightly esteemed one will defy the respected one.+
6 Each one will take hold of his brother in his father’s house and say:
“You have a cloak—you be our commander.
Take charge of this overthrown pile of ruins.”
7 But he will protest in that day:
“I will not be your wound dresser;*
I have no food or clothing in my house.
Do not make me commander over the people.”
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled,
And Judah has fallen,
Because in word and deed they are against Jehovah;
They behave defiantly in his glorious presence.*+
9 The expression of their faces testifies against them,
And they proclaim their sin like Sodʹom;+
They do not try to hide it.
Woe to them,* for they are bringing disaster on themselves!
10 Tell the righteous that it will go well for them;
They will be rewarded for what they do.*+
11 Woe to the wicked one!
Disaster will befall him,
For what his hands have done will be done to him!
12 As for my people, their taskmasters are abusive,
And women rule over them.
My people, your leaders are causing you to wander,
And they confuse the direction of your paths.+
13 Jehovah is taking his position to accuse;
He is standing up to pass sentence on peoples.
14 Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people.
“You have burned down the vineyard,
And what you have stolen from the poor is in your houses.+
15 How dare you crush my people
And grind the faces of the poor in the dirt?”+ declares the Sovereign Lord, Jehovah of armies.
16 Jehovah says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
Walking with their heads high,*
Flirting with their eyes, skipping along,
Making a tinkling sound with their anklets,
17 Jehovah will also strike the head of the daughters of Zion with scabs,
And Jehovah will make their forehead bare.+
18 In that day Jehovah will take away the beauty of their bangles,
The headbands and the crescent-shaped ornaments,+
19 The earrings,* the bracelets, and the veils,
20 The headdresses, the ankle chains, and the breastbands,*
The perfume receptacles* and the charms,*
21 The finger rings and the nose rings,
22 The ceremonial robes, the overtunics, the cloaks, and the purses,
23 The hand mirrors+ and the linen garments,*
The turbans and the veils.
24 Instead of balsam oil,+ there will be a rotten smell;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of a beautiful hairstyle, baldness;+
Instead of a rich garment, a garment of sackcloth;+
And a brand mark instead of beauty.
25 By the sword your men will fall,
And your mighty men in battle.+
26 Her entrances will mourn and grieve,+
And she will sit on the ground desolate.”+
4 And seven women will grab hold of one man in that day,+ saying:
“We will eat our own bread
And wear our own clothing;
Only let us be called by your name
To take away our disgrace.”*+
2 In that day what Jehovah makes sprout will be splendid and glorious, and the fruitage of the land will be the pride and beauty of the survivors of Israel.+ 3 Whoever remains in Zion and is left over in Jerusalem will be called holy, all of those in Jerusalem written down for life.+
4 When Jehovah washes away the filth* of the daughters of Zion+ and rinses away the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning,*+ 5 Jehovah will also create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over the place of her conventions a cloud and smoke by day and a bright flaming fire by night;+ for over all the glory there will be a shelter. 6 And there will be a booth for shade by day from the heat,+ and for refuge and protection from storms and the rain.+
5 Let me sing, please, to my beloved
A song about my loved one and his vineyard.+
My beloved had a vineyard on a fruitful hillside.
2 He dug it up and rid it of stones.
He planted it with a choice red vine,
Built a tower in the middle of it,
And hewed out a winepress in it.+
Then he kept hoping for it to produce grapes,
But it produced only wild grapes.+
3 “And now, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Please judge between me and my vineyard.+
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard
That I have not already done?+
Why, when I hoped for grapes,
Did it produce only wild grapes?
5 Now, please, let me tell you
What I will do to my vineyard:
I will remove its hedge,
And it will be burned down.+
I will break down its stone wall,
And it will be trampled on.
6 I will make it a wasteland;+
It will not be pruned or hoed.
It will be overgrown with thornbushes and weeds,+
And I will command the clouds not to send any rain on it.+
7 For the vineyard of Jehovah of armies is the house of Israel;+
The men of Judah are the plantation* he was fond of.
He kept hoping for justice,+
But look! there was injustice;
For righteousness,
But look! a cry of distress.”+
8 Woe to those who join one house to another house+
And who annex one field to another field+
Until there is no more room
And you live by yourselves on the land!
9 Jehovah of armies has sworn in my ears
That many houses, though great and beautiful,
Will become an object of horror,
Without an inhabitant.+
10 For ten acres* of vineyard will produce but one bath measure,*
And a hoʹmer measure* of seed will produce only an eʹphah.*+
11 Woe to those who get up early in the morning to drink alcohol,+
Who linger late into the evening darkness until wine inflames them!
12 They have harp and stringed instrument,
Tambourine, flute, and wine at their feasts;
But they do not consider the activity of Jehovah,
And they do not see the work of his hands.
13 So my people will go into exile
For lack of knowledge;+
Their glorious men will go hungry,+
And all their people will be parched with thirst.
14 So the Grave* has enlarged itself*
And has opened its mouth wide without limit;+
And her splendor,* her noisy multitudes, and her revelers
Will certainly go down into it.
15 And man will bow down,
Man will be brought low,
And the eyes of the haughty will be brought low.
16 Jehovah of armies will be exalted by his judgment;*
The true God, the Holy One,+ will sanctify himself through righteousness.+
17 And the lambs will graze as in their pasture;
Foreign residents will feed on the desolate places of well-fed animals.
18 Woe to those who drag along their guilt with ropes of deception
And their sin with wagon cords;
19 Those who say: “Let Him speed up his work;
Let it come quickly that we may see it.
Let the purpose* of the Holy One of Israel take place
That we may know it!”+
20 Woe to those who say that good is bad and bad is good,+
Those who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness,
Those who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those wise in their own eyes
And discreet in their own sight!+
22 Woe to those who are mighty in drinking wine
And to the men who are masters at mixing alcoholic drinks,+
23 Those who acquit the wicked for a bribe+
And who deny justice to the righteous!+
24 Therefore, just as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble
And dry grass shrivels in the flames,
Their very roots will rot,
And their blossoms will scatter like powder,
Because they rejected the law* of Jehovah of armies
And disrespected the word of the Holy One of Israel.+
25 That is why the anger of Jehovah burns against his people,
And he will stretch out his hand against them and strike them.+
The mountains will quake,
And their corpses will be like refuse in the streets.+
In view of all this, his anger has not turned back,
But his hand is still stretched out to strike.
26 He has raised up a signal* to a distant nation;+
He has whistled for them to come from the ends of the earth;+
And look! they are coming very swiftly.+
27 None among them are tired or stumbling.
No one is drowsy or sleeps.
The belt around their waist is not loosened,
Nor are their sandal laces broken.
28 All their arrows are sharp,
And all their bows are bent.*
The hooves of their horses are like flint,
And their wheels like a storm wind.+
29 Their roaring is like that of a lion;
They roar like young lions.*+
They will growl and seize the prey
And carry it off with no one to rescue it.
30 In that day they will growl over it
Like the growling of the sea.+
Anyone who gazes at the land will see distressing darkness;
Even the light has grown dark because of the clouds.+
On Abbadon :The Watchtower Society's commentary.
ABADDON
A·badʹdon) [from Heb., meaning “Destruction”].
At Revelation 9:11 this Hebrew word is transliterated into the English text. There we read concerning the symbolic plague of locusts that they have “a king, the angel of the abyss. In Hebrew his name is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.”
In Hebrew the word ʼavad·dohnʹ means “destruction” and may also refer to “the place of destruction.” It appears in the original Hebrew text a total of five times, and in four of the occurrences it is used to parallel “the burial place,” “Sheol,” and “death.” (Ps 88:11; Job 26:6; 28:22; Pr 15:11) The word ʼavad·dohnʹ in these texts evidently refers to the destructive processes that ensue with human death, and these scriptures indicate that decay or destruction takes place in Sheol, the common grave of mankind. At Job 31:12 ʼavad·dohnʹ designates the damaging effect of an adulterous course. Job declared: “That [adulterous course] is a fire that would eat clear to destruction [ʽadh-ʼavad·dohnʹ], and among all my produce it would take root.”—Compare Pr 6:26-28, 32; 7:26, 27.
Abaddon, the angel of the abyss—who is he?
At Revelation 9:11, however, the word “Abaddon” is used as the name of “the angel of the abyss.” The corresponding Greek name Apollyon means “Destroyer.” In the 19th century there were efforts made to show that this text prophetically applied to individuals such as Emperor Vespasian, Muhammad, and even Napoleon, and the angel was generally regarded as “satanic.” It should be noted, however, that at Revelation 20:1-3 the angel having “the key of the abyss” is shown to be God’s representative from heaven, and rather than being “satanic,” he binds and hurls Satan into the abyss. Commenting on Revelation 9:11, The Interpreter’s Bible says: “Abaddon, however, is an angel not of Satan but of God, performing his work of destruction at God’s bidding.”
In the Hebrew scriptures just considered, it is evident that ʼavad·dohnʹ is paralleled with Sheol and death. At Revelation 1:18 we find Christ Jesus stating: “I am living forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” His power with regard to the abyss is shown at Luke 8:31. That he has destroying power, including the power of destruction over Satan, is evident from Hebrews 2:14, which says that Jesus partook of blood and flesh in order that “through his death he might bring to nothing the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil.” At Revelation 19:11-16 he is clearly represented as God’s appointed Destroyer or Executioner.—
A·badʹdon) [from Heb., meaning “Destruction”].
At Revelation 9:11 this Hebrew word is transliterated into the English text. There we read concerning the symbolic plague of locusts that they have “a king, the angel of the abyss. In Hebrew his name is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.”
In Hebrew the word ʼavad·dohnʹ means “destruction” and may also refer to “the place of destruction.” It appears in the original Hebrew text a total of five times, and in four of the occurrences it is used to parallel “the burial place,” “Sheol,” and “death.” (Ps 88:11; Job 26:6; 28:22; Pr 15:11) The word ʼavad·dohnʹ in these texts evidently refers to the destructive processes that ensue with human death, and these scriptures indicate that decay or destruction takes place in Sheol, the common grave of mankind. At Job 31:12 ʼavad·dohnʹ designates the damaging effect of an adulterous course. Job declared: “That [adulterous course] is a fire that would eat clear to destruction [ʽadh-ʼavad·dohnʹ], and among all my produce it would take root.”—Compare Pr 6:26-28, 32; 7:26, 27.
Abaddon, the angel of the abyss—who is he?
At Revelation 9:11, however, the word “Abaddon” is used as the name of “the angel of the abyss.” The corresponding Greek name Apollyon means “Destroyer.” In the 19th century there were efforts made to show that this text prophetically applied to individuals such as Emperor Vespasian, Muhammad, and even Napoleon, and the angel was generally regarded as “satanic.” It should be noted, however, that at Revelation 20:1-3 the angel having “the key of the abyss” is shown to be God’s representative from heaven, and rather than being “satanic,” he binds and hurls Satan into the abyss. Commenting on Revelation 9:11, The Interpreter’s Bible says: “Abaddon, however, is an angel not of Satan but of God, performing his work of destruction at God’s bidding.”
In the Hebrew scriptures just considered, it is evident that ʼavad·dohnʹ is paralleled with Sheol and death. At Revelation 1:18 we find Christ Jesus stating: “I am living forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” His power with regard to the abyss is shown at Luke 8:31. That he has destroying power, including the power of destruction over Satan, is evident from Hebrews 2:14, which says that Jesus partook of blood and flesh in order that “through his death he might bring to nothing the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil.” At Revelation 19:11-16 he is clearly represented as God’s appointed Destroyer or Executioner.—
Braver,newer and nearer than ever?
Here’s a Recipe for Procreative Anarchy
Wesley J. Smith
Wesley J. Smith
It is a profound irony that as we allow even very late term fetuses to be aborted on one hand, scientists are finding radical nature-bending ways to assist people have babies — including methods that could shatter familial norms.
Newest possibility: Artificial sperm and ova. From the story in The Guardian:
Speaking at the Progress Educational Trust annual conference in London this month, Azim Surani, director of germline and epigenetics research at the University of Cambridge’s Gurdon Institute, said he and colleagues had passed a significant milestone on the path to producing sperm in the laboratory.
The team is thought to be the first to have reached the halfway point on the developmental path from human stem cells to immature sperm.
The study hints that one day it may be possible to manufacture sperm and eggs from stem cells or even adult skin cells.
This could, at least in theory, permit men to become biological mothers, and with genetic engineering, women to become fathers:
Fertility clinics in Britain are currently banned from using artificial sperm or eggs to treat infertile couples. However, if scientists perfected the ability to produce germ cells in the lab — something Surani predicts is at least a decade away — regulators could face pressure to revise the law to reflect the new possibilities.
For instance, two men could potentially have a baby that was genetically related to both of them by using skin cells from one to make an egg and cells from the other to make the sperm.
Then, a woman would be hired or would volunteer to become a surrogate mother of a baby with two male biological parents.
Or, if some get their way, one of the men could have a uterus transplanted so that he could gestate and give birth via Caesarean section. That has been seriously advocated by such bioethics luminaries as Joseph Fletcher.
Now, add in CRISPR gene editing, three-parent IVF techniques, and the “no limits” mentality of some in science and society, and the atomizing Brave New World possibilities become endless.
By the way, the (phony) ban mentioned in the article is typical of what we see in biotech all the time: Outlaw what can’t be done today to permit the research to be performed that will permit it to be done. Then, once that succeeds, lift the ban — meaning the prohibition was really meant to give false assurance and public space to work out the technology.
This is a recipe for the transhumanist dream of radical individualistic procreation, baby manufacture, and radical family restructuring. If that’s what we want — I don’t think it should be permitted, but I don’t have a monopoly on wisdom — it is what we may get.
We should at least have a serious societal discussion before these things can be done, to determine — through democratic means — the breadth and scope of regulations that should govern these technologies. Otherwise, we are heading toward an anarchic procreative society.
Lady math gives Darwinism yet another rebuff?
Peer-Reviewed Science: A “Mathematical Proof of Darwinian Evolution” Is Falsified
Due to the tradition of professional scientific writing, major developments in scientific literature often arrive muffled in language so bland or technical as to be totally missed by a general reader. This, along with the media’s habit of covering up for evolution, is how large cracks in the foundation of Darwinism spread unnoticed by the public, which goes on assuming that the science is all settled and will ever remain so.
A case in point is a recent article in the Journal of Mathematical Biology, a significant peer-reviewed publication from the influential publisher Springer. The title of the article announces, “The fundamental theorem of natural selection with mutations.”
Including a verb would, presumably, be too much of a concession to populist sensationalism. Yet the conclusion, if not sensational, is certainly noteworthy.
Generations of students of biology and evolution have learned of the pioneering work of Ronald A. Fisher (1890-1962). A founder of modern statistics and population genetics, he published his famous fundamental theorem of natural selection in 1930, laying one of the cornerstones of neo-Darwinism by linking Mendelian genetics with natural selection. Wikipedia summarizes, “[T]his contributed to the revival of Darwinism in the early 20th century revision of the theory of evolution known as the modern synthesis.”
Fisher’s theorem, offered as what amounts to a “mathematical proof that Darwinian evolution is inevitable,” now stands as falsified.
His idea is relatively easy to state. It goes:
The rate of increase in fitness of any organism at any time is equal to its genetic variance in fitness at that time.
His proof of this was not a standard mathematical one; fitness is not rigorously defined, and his argument is more intuitive than anything else. The theorem addresses only the effects of natural selection. Fisher did not directly address any other effect (mutation, genetic drift, environmental change, etc.) as he considered them to be insignificant. Later mathematicians took issue with Fisher’s lack of rigor, some at considerable length. But the omission of the effects of mutation got the most attention.
Now along come mathematician William F. Basener and geneticist John C. Sanford who propose an expansion of the fundamental theorem to include mutations. Basener is a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia’s Data Science Institute. Sanford is a plant geneticist who was an associate professor at Cornell University for many years. He is an editor of the volume Biological Information: New Perspectives (World Scientific, 2013). The Journal of Mathematical Biology is the official publication of the European Society for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology.
Basener and Sanford expand the Fisher model to allow both beneficial and deleterious mutations, following and extending earlier work. They use zero mutation levels to test their model’s agreement with Fisher’s. They establish that there is an equilibrium fitness level where selection balances the mutational effects. However, if mutations at biologically plausible levels are used, overall fitness is compromised. In some cases this leads to “mutational meltdown,” where the effect of accumulated mutations overwhelms the population’s ability to reproduce, resulting in extinction.
Extinction is the opposite of evolution. They conclude:
We have re-examined Fisher’s fundamental theorem of natural selection, focusing on the role of new mutations and consequent implications for real biological populations. Fisher’s primary thesis was that genetic variation and natural selection work together in a fundamental way that ensures that natural populations will always increase in fitness. Fisher considered his theorem to essentially be a mathematical proof of Darwinian evolution, and he likened it to a natural law. Our analysis shows that Fisher’s primary thesis (universal and continuous fitness increase) is not correct. This is because he did not include new mutations as part of his mathematical formulation, and because his informal corollary rested upon an assumption that is now known to be false.
We have shown that Fisher’s Theorem, as formally defined by Fisher himself, is actually antithetical to his general thesis. Apart from new mutations, Fisher’s Theorem simply optimizes pre-existing allelic fitness variance leading to stasis. Fisher realized he needed newly arising mutations for his theorem to support his thesis, but he did not incorporate mutations into his mathematical model. Fisher only accounted for new mutations using informal thought experiments. In order to analyze Fisher’s Theorem we found it necessary to define the informal mutational element of his work as Fisher’s Corollary, which was never actually proven. We show that while Fisher’s Theorem is true, his Corollary is false.
In this paper we have derived an improved mutation–selection model that builds upon the foundational model of Fisher, as well as on other post-Fisher models. We have proven a new theorem that is an extension of Fisher’s fundamental theorem of natural selection. This new theorem enables the incorporation of newly arising mutations into Fisher’s Theorem. We refer to this expanded theorem as “The fundamental theorem of natural selection with mutations”.
After we re-formulated Fisher’s model, allowing for dynamical analysis and permitting the incorporation of newly arising mutations, we subsequently did a series of dynamical simulations involving large but finite populations. We tested the following variables over time: (a) populations without new mutations; (b) populations with mutations that have a symmetrical distribution of fitness effects; and (c) populations with mutations that have a more realistic distribution of mutational effects (with most mutations being deleterious). Our simulations show that; (a) apart from new mutations, the population rapidly moves toward stasis; (b) with symmetrical mutations, the population undergoes rapid and continuous fitness increase; and (c) with a more realistic distribution of mutations the population often undergoes perpetual fitness decline.
Is this unfair to a historical figure? What about models developed after Fisher?
In the light of Fisher’s work, and the problems associated with it, we also examined post-Fisher models of the mutation–selection process. In the case of infinite population models, what has commonly been observed is that populations routinely go to equilibrium or a limit set — such as a periodic orbit. They do not show perpetual increase or decline in fitness, but are restricted from either behavior because of the model structure (an infinite population with mutations only occurring between pre-existing genetic varieties). On a practical level, all biological populations are finite. In the case of finite population models, the focus has been upon measuring mutation accumulation, as affected by selection. Finite models clearly show that natural populations can either increase or decrease in fitness, depending on many variables. Not only do other finite mathematical population models show that fitness can decrease — they often show that only a narrow range of parameters can actually prevent fitness decline. This is consistent with very many numerical simulation experiments, numerous mutation accumulation experiments, and observations where biological systems have either a high mutation rate or a small population size. Even when large populations are modeled, very slightly deleterious mutations (VSDMs), can theoretically lead to continuous fitness decline.
The final blow comes wrapped in compliments:
Fisher was unquestionably one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century. His fundamental theorem of natural selection was an enormous step forward, in that for the first time he linked natural selection with Mendelian genetics, which paved the way for the development of the field of population genetics. However, Fisher’s theorem was incomplete in that it did not allow for the incorporation of new mutations. In addition, Fisher’s corollary was seriously flawed in that it assumed that mutations have a net fitness effect that is essentially neutral. Our re-formulation of Fisher’s Theorem has effectively completed and corrected the theorem, such that it can now reflect biological reality.
What they mean to say is stated most bluntly earlier in the article:
Because the premise underlying Fisher’s corollary is now recognized to be entirely wrong, Fisher’s corollary is falsified. Consequently, Fisher’s belief that he had developed a mathematical proof that fitness must always increase is also falsified.
That’s the “biological reality.” Fisher’s work is generally understood to mean that natural selection leads to increased fitness. While this is true taken by itself, mutation and other factors can and do reduce the average fitness of a population. According to Basener and Sanford, at real levels of mutation, Fisher’s original theorem, understood to be a mathematical proof that Darwinian evolution is inevitable, is overthrown.
Kudos to Basener and Sanford for making this important point. Now, will the textbooks and the online encyclopedia articles take note?
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