Their houses shall be rifled, and their women ravished. 17 Behold, I will raise up against them the Medes,

Who make no account of silver,

And as to gold they regard it not. 18 Their bows shall strike down the youth,

On the fruit of the womb they will have no compassion.

Their eye will not pity the children. 19 So shall Babylon, the pride of kingdoms,

The boast and glory of the Chaldeans,

Be like Sodom and Gomorrah which God destroyed; 20 It shall never more be inhabited,

Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
There the Arabian shall not pitch his tent,

Nor the shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. 21 But there the wild beasts of the desert shall lie down,

And howling monsters shall fill their houses,
There the ostriches shall dwell,

And the satyrs shall revel there.
22 The jackals shall howl in their palaces,

And the dragons in their magnificent pleasure-houses ;
For her time is near,
And her days shall not be prolonged.

CHAPTER XIV.
1 Then will Jehovah have compassion upon Jacob,

And set his love again upon Israel ;
And he will transfer them to their own country,
And strangers shall be joined to them.

They shall be connected with the house of Jacob.
2 The nations shall take them and bring them to their

and say:

And from the oppressive service which was laid upon

thee, 4 Thou shalt utter this song over the king of Babylon,

How has the oppressor come to an end,

The exactor of golden tribute ceased ! 5 Jehovah has broken the staff of the wicked,

The rod of the tyrants.
6 He smote the people in anger,

With a stroke that was not remitted ;
He lorded it over the nations in wrath,

With oppression that never ceased. 7 But now the whole country is quiet,

They break out into singing. 8 The fir-trees, also, exult over thee,

And the cedars of Lebanon, (saying,] “ Since thou art laid there,

No feller has come up against us.” 9 Hades from beneath is in commotion on account of thee,

To meet thee at thy coming.
Because of thee she rouses up her ghosts,
All the mighty ones of the earth she raises from their

thrones,
All the kings of the nations.
10 All of them will accost thee, and

say,
“ Art thou become feeble, as we are ?

Art thou become like unto us?" 11 Down to Hades goes thy pomp,

And the noise of thy harps !
The worm is thy couch under thee,

And the maggot is thy covering. 12 Bright and morning star,

How art thou fallen from heaven!
How art thou prostrate upon the earth,

Who didst crush the nations !
13 But thou didst say in thine heart;

“ I will ascend the heavens,
Above the stars of God I will elevate my throne ;
I will sit on the mount of solemn assembly,

In the recesses of the north; 14 I will mount above the height of the clouds,

I will be like the most high.” 15 But, to Hades hast thou come down,

To the recesses of the pit. 16 Those that gaze upon thee,

They shall attentively view thee, (and say,]
“ Is this the man who made the earth to quake ?

Who made kingdoms to tremble? 17 Who made the world a desert,

And laid waste its cities?

Who dismissed not his prisoners to their home ?" 18 All the kings of the nations,

Yea all of them, repose in glory,

Each in his own place.
19 But thou art cast out from thy grave,

Like a loathsome branch;
Thou art covered with the slain,
With those who are pierced through by the sword,
Who go down into the stony pit ;

Thy carcase is trodden under foot.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in the burial,

For thou hast destroyed thy country,
Thou hast slain thy people ;

The seed of evil doers shall never more be named. 21 Prepare ye* slaughter for his children,

Because of the iniquity of their fathers ;
That they may never rise up and possess the [promised]

land
Nor fill the country with enemies.
22 I will rise up against them,

Saith Jehovah of hosts ; .
I will cut off from Babylon the name and the residue,

Posterity and offspring, saith Jehovah.
23 I will make it a possession of the porcupine,

And (turn it] to pools of water ;
I will sweep it with the besom of destruction,
Saith Jehovah of hosts.

Stuart's Translation.

103. Eternity of God. If all who live and breathe around us are the creatures of yesterday, and destined to see destruction to-morrow; if the same condition is our own, and the same sentence

is written against us; if the solid forms of inanimate na5 ture and laborious art are fading and falling, if we look

in vain for durability to the very roots of the mountains, where shall we turn, and on what can we rely ? Can no support be offered ; can no source of confidence be

named ? Oh yes ! there is one Being to whom we can 10 look with a perfect conviction of finding that security,

which nothing about us can give, and which nothing about us can take away. To this Being we can lift up our souls, and on him we may rest them, exclaiming in

the language of the monarch of Israel, “ Before the 15 mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst form.

ed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." "Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work

of thy hands. They shall peri-h, but thou shalt endure, 20 yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a ves

ture shall thou change them, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end."

The eternity of God is a subject of contemplation, 25 which at the same time that it overwhelms us with as

toni nent and awe, affords us an immovable ground of confidence in the midst of a changing world. things which surround us, all these dying, mouldering

inhabitants of time, must have had a creator, for the plain 80 reason, that they could not have created themselves.

And their Creator must have existed from all eternity, for the plain reason, that the first cause must necessarily be uncaused. As we cannot suppose a beginning

without a cause of existence, that which is the cause of 85 all existence, must be self-existent, and could have had

no beginning. And, as it had no beginning, so, also, as it is beyond the reach of all influence and coutrol, as it is independent and almighty, it will have no end.

All

Here then is a support, which will never fail ; here is 40 a foundation which can never be moved—the everlast

ing Creator of countless worlds, “ the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.” What a sublime conception! He inhabits eternity, occupies this inconceiva

ble duration, pervades and fills throughout, this boundless 45 dwelling. Ages on ages before even the dust of which we

are formed was created, he had existed in infinite majesty, and ages on ages will roll away after we have all returned to the dust whence we were taken, and still

he will exist, in infinite majesty, living in the eternity 60 of his own nature, reigning in the plenitude of his own

omnipotence, forever sending forth the word, which forms, supports, and governs all things, commanding new created light to shine on new created worlds, and rais

ing up new created generations to inhabit them. 55 The contemplation of this glorious attribute of God,

is fitted to excite in our minds the most animating and consoling reflections. Standing, as we are, amid the ruins of time, and the wrecks of mortality, where every

thing about us is created and dependent, proceeding 60 from nothing, and hastening to destruction, we rejoice

that something is presented to our view which has stood from everlasting, and will remain forever.

When we have looked on the pleasures of life, and they have van

ished away: when we have looked on the works of na65 ture, and perceived that they were changing ; on the

monuments of art, and seen that they would not stand; on our friends, and they have fled while we were gazing ; on ourselves, and felt that we were as fleeting as

they ; when we have looked on every object to which 70 we could turn our anxious eyes, and they have all told

us that they could give us no hope nor support, because they were so feeble themselves; we can look to the throne of God: change and decay have never reached

that ; the revolution of ages has never moved it; the 75 waves of an eternity have been rushing past it, but it

has remained unshaken ; the waves of another eternity are rushing toward it, but it is fixed, and can never be disturbed.

Greenwood.