SELECTIONS

FROM

THE PROPHETS.

THE FIRST SELECTION.

HEAR, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

Bring no more vain oblations: incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

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Wash you, make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil : Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.

The lofty looks of man shall be humbled and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.

And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he hath made for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

THE SECOND SELECTION.

THE Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.

The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and the chief men thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.

Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.

Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and

their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:

But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords, and sin as it were with a cart-rope :

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil : that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust : because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judg

ments:

Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants, which spake in thy name to us.

O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face as at this day;

O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, because we have sinned against thee.

Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servants and their supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary for the Lord's sake.

O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies.

O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do defer not, for thine own sake, O our God.

THE THIRD SELECTION.

O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid for the Lord is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his

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