Hearken, O my people,
which are of the house of Israel, and give ear unto the words of my mouth. I
will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret
from the foundation of the world, which we have heard and known, and our
fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the
generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful
works that he hath done. That the generation to come might know them, even the
children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their
children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of
God, and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a
generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast
with God.
The children of Ephraim, being
armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the
covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; and forgat his works, and his
wonders that he had shewed them. Marvellous things did he in the sight of their
fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan, the barren waste.
He divided the sea, and caused them
to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap. In the daytime
also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He clave
the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He
brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like
rivers. And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the
wilderness. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the
wilderness?
Behold, he smote the rock, that the
waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? They
said, can he provide flesh for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this, and
was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against
Israel; because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: though
he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, and had
rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full. He caused an east wind
to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. He rained
flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
and he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.
So they did eat, and were well
filled: for he gave them their own desire; they were not estranged from their
lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon
them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
For all this they sinned still, and
believed not for his wondrous works.
Therefore their days did he consume
in vanity, and their years in trouble. When he slew them, then they sought him:
and they returned and inquired early after God. And they remembered that God
was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter
him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their
heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.
But he, being full of compassion,
forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his
anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were
but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. How oft did they
provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned
back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
But made his own people to go forth
like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And he led them on
safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And he
brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right
hand had purchased.
Yet they tempted and provoked the
most high God, and kept not his testimonies: but turned back, and dealt
unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For
they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy
with their graven images.
Then the Lord awaked as one out of
sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his
enemies in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover he
refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: but chose
the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. And he built his sanctuary
like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established forever.
He chose David also his servant,
and took him from the sheepfolds: from following the ewes great with young he
brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according to the
integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
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And it came to pass that I beheld my brethren, and they were disputing one with another concerning the things which my father had spoken unto them. For he truly spake many great things unto them, which were hard to be understood, save a man should inquire of the Lord; and they being hard in their hearts, therefore they did not look unto the Lord as they ought.
And they said: Behold, we cannot understand the words which
our father hath spoken concerning the Gentiles. And I said unto them: Have ye
inquired of the Lord? And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh
no such thing known unto us.
Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye will perish,
because of the hardness of your hearts? Do ye not remember the things which the
Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith,
believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in pondering these things, surely they shall be made known unto you. . .
And behold, Isaiah spake many things which were hard for
many of my people to understand. Wherefore, hearken,
O my people, which are of the house of Israel, and give ear unto my words; for
because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain
unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy.
