Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran: The Pillars of Three Faiths. Various Authors
the stability of thy times shall beA hoard of salvation—wisdom and knowledge,And the fear of the Lord which is His treasure. 7Behold, their valiant ones cry without;The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.8The highways lie waste, The wayfaring man ceaseth;He hath broken the covenant,He hath despised the cities,He regardeth not man.9The land mourneth and languisheth;Lebanon is ashamed, it withereth;Sharon is like a wilderness;And Bashan and Carmel are clean bare.10Now will I arise, saith the Lord;Now will I be exalted;Now will I lift Myself up.11Ye conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble;Your breath is a fire that shall devour you.12And the peoples shall be as the burnings of lime;As thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire. 13Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done;And, ye that are near, acknowledge My might.14The sinners in Zion are afraid;Trembling hath seized the ungodly:'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?'15He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly;He that despiseth the gain of oppressions,That shaketh his hands from holding of bribes,That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood,And shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil;16He shall dwell on high;His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks;His bread shall be given, his waters shall be sure. 17Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty;They shall behold a land stretching afar.18Thy heart shall muse on the terror:'Where is he that counted, where is he that weighed?Where is he that counted the towers?'19Thou shalt not see the fierce people;A people of a deep speech that thou canst not perceive,Of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand.20Look upon Zion, the city of our solemn gatherings;Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a peaceful habitation,A tent that shall not be removed,The stakes whereof shall never be plucked up,Neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.21But there the Lord will be with us in majesty,In a place of broad rivers and streams;Wherein shall go no galley with oars,Neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.22For the Lord is our Judge,The Lord is our Lawgiver,The Lord is our King;He will save us.23Thy tacklings are loosed;They do not hold the stand of their mast,They do not spread the sail;Then is the prey of a great spoil divided;The lame take the prey.24And the inhabitant shall not say: 'I am sick';The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. 34Come near, ye nations, to hear, And attend, ye peoples;Let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof,The world, and all things that come forth of it.2For the Lord hath indignation against all the nations,And fury against all their host;He hath utterly destroyed them,He hath delivered them to the slaughter.3Their slain also shall be cast out,And the stench of their carcasses shall come up,And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.4And all the host of heaven shall moulder away,And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll;And all their host shall fall down,As the leaf falleth off from the vine,And as a falling fig from the fig-tree.5For My sword hath drunk its fill in heaven;Behold, it shall come down upon Edom,And upon the people of My ban, to judgment.6The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,It is made fat with fatness,With the blood of lambs and goats,With the fat of the kidneys of rams;For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah,And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.7And the wild-oxen shall come down with them,And the bullocks with the bulls;And their land shall be drunken with blood,And their dust made fat with fatness.8For the Lord hath a day of vengeance,A year of recompense for the controversy of Zion.9And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch,And the dust thereof into brimstone,And the land thereof shall become burning pitch.10It shall not be quenched night nor day,The smoke thereof shall go up for ever;From generation to generation it shall lie waste:None shall pass through it for ever and ever.11But the pelican and the bittern shall possess it,And the owl and the raven shall dwell therein;And He shall stretch over itThe line of confusion, and the plummet of emptiness.12As for her nobles, none shall be there to be called to the kingdom;And all her princes shall be nothing.13And thorns shall come up in her palaces,Nettles and thistles in the fortresses thereof;And it shall be a habitation of wild-dogs,An enclosure for ostriches.14And the wild-cats shall meet with the jackals,And the satyr shall cry to his fellow;Yea, the night-monster shall repose there,And shall find her a place of rest.15There shall the arrowsnake make her nest, and lay,And hatch, and brood under her shadow;Yea, there shall the kites be gathered,Every one with her mate.16Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read;No one of these shall be missing,None shall want her mate;For My mouth it hath commanded,And the breath thereof it hath gathered them.17And He hath cast the lot for them,And His hand hath divided it unto them by line;They shall possess it for ever,From generation to generation shall they dwell therein. 35The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad;And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.2It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice,Even with joy and singing;The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it,The excellency of Carmel and Sharon;They shall see the glory of the Lord,The excellency of our God.3Strengthen ye the weak hands,And make firm the tottering knees.4Say to them that are of a fearful heart: 'Be strong, fear not';Behold, your God will come with vengeance,With the recompense of God He will come and save you. 5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.6Then shall the lame man leap as a hart,And the tongue of the dumb shall sing;For in the wilderness shall waters break out,And streams in the desert.7And the parched land shall become a pool,And the thirsty ground springs of water;In the habitation of jackals herds shall lie down,It shall be an enclosure for reeds and rushes.8And a highway shall be there, and a way,And it shall be called The way of holiness;The unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those;The wayfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein.9No lion shall be there,Nor shall any ravenous beast go up thereon,They shall not be found there;But the redeemed shall walk there;10And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,And come with singing unto Zion,And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;They shall obtain gladness and joy,And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
36Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. 2And the king of Assyria sent Rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fullers' field. 3Then came forth unto him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder. 4And Rab-shakeh said unto them: 'Say ye now to Hezekiah: Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? 5I said: It is but vain words; for counsel and strength are for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou hast rebelled against me? 6Behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust on him. 7But if thou say unto me: We trust in the Lord our God; is not that He, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and hath said to Judah and to Jerusalem: Ye shall worship before this altar? 8Now therefore, I pray thee, make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. 9How then canst thou turn away the face of one captain, even of the least of my master's servants? yet thou puttest thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen! 10And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me: Go up against this land, and destroy it.'
11Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rab-shakeh: 'Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Aramean language, for we understand it; and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.' 12But Rab-shakeh said: 'Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own water with you?' 13Then Rab-shakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said: 'Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14Thus saith the king: Let not Hezekiah beguile you, for he will not be able to deliver you; 15neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16Hearken not to Hezekiah; for thus saith the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me, and