THE SECOND BOOK OF NEFI Chapter 9

    Yesha’yahu 6 from the Plates of Brass

  1. In the year that king ’Uziyahu died, I saw also yhwh114 sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple. Above it stood the s’rafim. Each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is yhwh Tzva’ot! The whole earth is full of his glory! And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
  2. Then said I, Woe is unto me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, yhwh Tzva’ot. Then flew one of the s’rafim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid upon my mouth and said, Lo, this has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged. Also, I heard the voice of yhwh,115 saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear you indeed — but they understand not; and, See you indeed — but they perceived not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and be healed. Then said I, yhwh,116 how long? And he said, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and yhwh have removed men far away; for there shall be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it there shall be a tenth, and they shall return and shall be eaten as a teil tree and as an oak, whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves, so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

    3. Yesha’yahu 7 from the Plates of Brass

  3. And it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Yotam, the son of ’Uziyahu king of Y’hudah, that Retzin king of Syria, and Pekach the son of Remalyah king of Isra’el, went up towards Yerushalayim to war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is allied with Efrayim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
  4. Then said yhwh unto Yesha’yahu, Go forth now to meet Achaz — thou, and Shear-jashub your son — at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. And say unto him, Take heed and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Retzin with Syria, and of the son of Remalyah, because Syria, Efrayim, and the son of Remalyah have taken evil counsel against you, saying, Let us go up against Y’hudah and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, yes, the son of Tav’el. Thus says Adonai yhwh: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus, Retzin. And within threescore and five years shall Efrayim be broken, that it be not a people. And the head of Efrayim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remalyah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be strengthened.
  5. Moreover, yhwh spoke again unto Achaz, saying, Ask you a sign of yhwh your Elohim; ask either in the depths or in the heights above. But Achaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt yhwh. And he said, Hear you now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my Elohim also? Therefore, yhwh117 himself shall give you a sign: behold, a virgin118 shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and to choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you abhor shall be abandoned of both her kings. yhwh shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father’s house — days that have not come from the day that Efrayim departed from Y’hudah — the king of Assyria. And it shall come to pass in that day that yhwh shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes. In the same day shall yhwh119 shave with a razor that is hired — by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria — the head, and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.
  6. And it shall come to pass that in that day, a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep. And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk they shall give, he shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the land. And it shall come to pass in that day, every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, which shall be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bows shall men come there because all the land shall become briers and thorns. And all hills that shall be dug with the mattock, there shall not come there the fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and the treading of lesser cattle.

    7. Yesha’yahu 8 from the Plates of Brass

  7. Moreover, the word of yhwh said unto me, Take you a great roll and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record — Uriyah the kohen and Z’kharyahu the son of Y’verekhyahu. And I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then said yhwh to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For behold, the child shall not have knowledge to cry, My father and my mother — before the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
  8. yhwh spoke also unto me again, saying, Forasmuch as this people refuse the waters of Shilo’ach that go softly, and rejoice in Retzin and Remalyah’s son, now therefore behold, yhwh120 brings up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory. And he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks, and he shall pass through Y’hudah. He shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel. Associate yourselves, O you people, and you shall be broken in pieces. And give ear, all you of far countries: Gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nothing; speak the word, and it shall not stand; for El is with us.
  9. For yhwh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say you not, A confederacy — to all to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear you their fear nor be afraid. Sanctify yhwh Tzva’ot himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread, and he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Isra’el, for a gin and a snare to the inhabitants of Yerushalayim. And many among them shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
  10. Bind up the testimony, seal the Torah among my students. And I will wait upon yhwh that hides his face from the house of Ya’akov, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom yhwh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Isra’el from yhwh Tzva’ot which dwells in Mount Tziyon. And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter — should not a people seek unto their Elohim? For the living to hear from the dead — to the Torah and to the testimony? And if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they shall pass through it hardly distressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their Elohim, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and shall be driven to darkness.

    11. Yesha’yahu 9 from the Plates of Brass

  11. Nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Z’vulun, and the land of Naftali, and afterward did more grievously afflict by the way of the Red Sea beyond Yarden, in Galil of the Goyim. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined. You have multiplied the nation and increased the joy; they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, for every battle of the warrior with confused noise and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty El, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Shalom. Of the increase of government and shalom there is no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to strengthen it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of yhwh Tzva’ot will perform this.
  12. yhwh 121 sent his word unto Ya’akov, and it has lighted upon Isra’el. And all the people shall know, even Efrayim and the inhabitants of Samaria, that say in the pride and the stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with cut stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. Therefore, yhwh shall set up the adversaries of Retzin against him and join his enemies together — the Syrians before and the P’lishtim behind — and they shall devour Isra’el with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand stretched out still.
  13. For the people turn not unto him that smites them, neither do they seek yhwh Tzva’ot. Therefore will yhwh cut off from Isra’el head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err,122 and they that are led of them are destroyed. Therefore, yhwh123 shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for every one of them is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand stretched out still.
  14. For wickedness burns as the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forests, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of yhwh Tzva’ot is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; no man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry, and he shall eat on the left hand and they shall not be satisfied. They shall eat, every man, the flesh of his own arm: M’nasheh, Efrayim; and Efrayim, M’nasheh; they together shall be against Y’hudah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand stretched out still.

    15. Yesha’yahu 10 from the Plates of Brass

  15. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees and that write grievousness which they have prescribed, to turn aside the needy from judgment and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless. And what will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand stretched out still.
  16. O Assyrian, the rod of my anger, and the staff in their hand is their indignation. I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he means not so, neither does his heart think so, but in his heart it is to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Kalno as Kark’mish? Is not Hamat as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand has founded the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Yerushalayim and of Samaria, shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Yerushalayim and to her idols?
  17. Wherefore, it shall come to pass that when yhwh124 has performed his whole work upon Mount Tziyon and upon Yerushalayim, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he says, By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom I have done these things, for I am prudent. And I have removed the borders of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathers eggs that are left have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the ax boast itself against him that cuts therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him that shakes it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the Adon yhwh Tzva’ot, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the Light of Isra’el shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and shall burn and shall devour his thorns and his briers in one day, and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. And they shall be as when a standard-bearer faints. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
  18. And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Isra’el, and such as are escaped of the house of Ya’akov, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon yhwh, HaKodesh of Isra’el, in truth. The remnant shall return, yes, even the remnant of Ya’akov, unto the mighty El. For though your people Isra’el be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness; for Adonai yhwh Tzva’ot shall make a consumption, even determined, in all the land.
  19. Therefore, thus says Adonai yhwh Tzva’ot: O my people that dwell in Tziyon, be not afraid of the Assyrian (he shall strike you with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt), for yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease and my anger in their destruction. And yhwh Tzva’ot shall stir up a scourge for him, according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of ’Orev; and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.
  20. He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash, he has laid up his carriages. They are gone over the passage, they have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramath is afraid, Giv’at-Sh’ul is fled. Lift up the voice, O daughter of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. Madmenah is removed, the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. As yet shall he remain at Nob that day; he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Tziyon, the hill of Yerushalayim. Behold, the Adon yhwh Tzva’ot shall lop the bough with terror, and the high ones of stature shall be cut down, and the haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forests with iron, and L’vanon shall fall by a mighty one.

    21. Yesha’yahu 11 from the Plates of Brass

  21. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Yishai, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of yhwh shall rest upon him — the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of yhwh — and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of yhwh. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of yhwh as the waters cover the sea.
  22. And in that day, there shall be a root of Yishai which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Goyim seek, and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day that yhwh125 shall set his hand again the second time126 to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Patros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shin’ar, and from Hamat, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Isra’el, and gather together127 the dispersed of Y’hudah, from the four corners of the earth. The envy of Efrayim also shall depart, and the adversaries of Y’hudah shall be cut off. Efrayim shall not envy Y’hudah and Y’hudah shall not vex Efrayim. But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the P’lishtim toward the west, they shall spoil them of the east together, they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And yhwh shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with his mighty wind he shall shake his hand over the river, and shall strike it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Isra’el in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

    23. Yesha’yahu 12 from the Plates of Brass

  23. And in that day, you shall say, O yhwh, I will praise you; though you were angry with me, your anger is turned away and you comforted me. Behold, El is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid, for Yah yhwh is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall you say, Praise yhwh, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto yhwh, for he has done excellent things; this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, you inhabitant of Tziyon, for great is HaKodesh of Isra’el in the midst of you.