THE POEMS OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH

A. EARLY POEMS WRITTEN DURING THE REIGNS OF
JOTHAM AND AHAZ, KINGS OF JUDAH

(Ch. ii, 5-10, 20-21, 11-17, 22; iii, 1, 4-5,
8-9, 12-15; iii, 16-17, 24, iv, 1; v, 1-7.)
I. ON THE IMPENDING DAY OF YAHWEH

O House of Israel! Come, let us For Thou, Yahweh, hast renounced

For they are full

walk in the light of Yahweh!
Thy people, the House of Jacob.
of diviners from the East,
like the Philistines.
and gold,

And of soothsayers,
Israel's land is full of silver
His treasures are endless.

His land is full of horses,
His land is full of idols,
To them the mean man boweth down,

there is no end of his chariots. he worships the work of his hands. the great man humbleth himself:

Therefore Thou canst not forgive them.

Go into clefts of the rock,
From the terror of Yahweh
When He ariseth to shake

Shall men cast away that day
Which they made to bow down to,
Into the clefts of the rocks
From before the terror of Yahweh

and hide thyself in the dust, and for the glory of His majesty, terribly the earth.

to the moles and to the bats
the idols of silver and of gold
that they may go in that day
and into the holes in the dust,
and for the glory of His majesty,

When He ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

The haughtiness of Mankind shall be bowed down
And the loftiness of men brought low,

And in that day shall Yahweh alone be exalted.

For a day of doom hath Yahweh
For all that is proud and lofty,
For all the lofty cedars of Lebanon
For all the mountains the lofty,
For every high tower

Sabaoth

for all that is lifted up and high. and for all the oaks of Basham; and for all the uplifted hills. and for every fortified wall. and for all the stately vessels. The haughtiness of Mankind shall be bowed down And the loftiness of men brought low,

For all the ships of Tarshish

And in that day shall Yahweh alone be exalted.

O cease trusting in man in whose nostrils is but a breath,
For how little is he to be trusted.

These fragments of separate poems on the Judgment to Come are distinguishable by their refrains.

III. A FRAGMENT ON THE FALL OF JUDAH.

For behold, Yahweh Sabaoth removes
Every stay and support; every stay

from Jerusalem and from Judah of bread and stay of water.

insulting boys shall rule them. another, neighbor over neighbor. aged, the base to the noble. and Judah is falling, are against Yahweh eyes.

I will make youths their princes,
The people shall tyrannize one over
They shall be insolent, the boy to the
For Jerusalem cometh to ruin
Because their tongue and their deeds
To defy His glorious
Their observance of persons
And the sin of Sodom

Woe unto them! for they have wrought

testifieth against them,
they publish without disguise.
their own misfortunes.

and women rule over them.
they have confused thy ways.
He stands to judge His people.
with the elders of His people.

My People! a boy is their ruler,
My People; thy guides lead thee astray,
Yahweh cometh forward to plead,
He enters into judgment with nobles,
It is ye who eat up the land; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What mean ye by crushing My people,

grinding the face of the needy?

Saith Yahweh, the Militant God.

IV. A CHARGE AGAINST THE WOMEN OF JUDAH

Because the daughters of Zion
And walk with neck thrown back
Tripping along as they go,
Yahweh will encrust with scabs
Yahweh will expose
Instead of perfumes shall he decay
Instead of curled hair, baldness,
And in that day, seven women
Our own bread will we eat,
Only let us be called by thy name!

are haughty

and leering eyes,

making a chime with their anklets,
the crowns of their heads;
their shames.

and instead of a girdle, a rope;
of a mantle, girding of sackcloth.
will seize on one man, saying:
we will wear our own garments,
Take away our reproach!

V. THE PARABLE

OF THE VINEYARD

A song will I sing of my friend,
A vineyard belongs to my friend
He digged it and cleared it of stones
He built a tower in the midst
He looked to find choice grapes;

Ye in Jerusalem dwelling,
Judge ye now, I pray,
What could have been done more
When I looked to find fine grapes,

And now I will have you know
Its hedge will I take away

I will break through its walls

I will make it a waste

a love-song touching his vineyard. on a hill that is very fruitful. and planted in it choice vines. and hewed therein a wine-vat. and it bare only the wild!

ye that are freemen of Judah, between me and my vineyard. than I had done for my vineyard? why bare it only the wild?

what I will do to my vineyard.
that it be eaten up.

that it be trodden down;
neither pruned nor weeded;

It shall bear only briers and thorns; I will command the clouds

That they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of Yahweh Sabaoth
And the men of Judah are

And He looked for peace,
For righteousness,

is the House of Israel;
His cherished plantation.
and behold, bloodshed!
but behold, an outcry!

VI. THE VISION OR CALL OF ISAIAH
(Ch. vi, 1-13)

In the year that King Uzziah died [740 B.C.] I saw Yahweh sitting on a high and uplifted throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his loins, and with twain he did fly. And again and again, one cried to another, and said:

Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Sabaoth!
The whole earth is full of His glory.

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke. And I said: Woe is me! I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips. Mine eyes have seen the King, Yahweh Sabaoth.

Then flew one of the seraphim unto me with a glowing coal in his hand that he had taken from off the altar, and with it he touched my lips, and said:

Lo, this hath touched thy lips;

Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven.

And I heard the voice of Yahweh, saying:

Whom shall I send? who will go for Me?

Then said I: Here am I; send me. And He said:

Go and say to this people:

Hear Me, but understand not!

See on, but perceive not!

and hear with their ears,
and return, and be healed.
And He said:
without inhabitant,

Make fat this people's heart, make dull their ears and dim their eyes
Lest they see with their eyes,
And understand with their hearts
And I said: O Yahweh, how long?
Until cities be waste

And houses without men, and the land be left

A desolation,

And Yahweh have removed the men afar,

And in the heart of the land the deserted regions be wide.
And if a tenth part be left therein, this also will be consumed
Like the terebinth and the oak,

Whereof the stock, after felling, remaineth.

VII. THE SIXFOLD DENUNCIATION OF THE SINS OF ISRAEL

(Is. v, 8-24. Written c. 735 B.C.)

Woe unto those who join house to house and add field to field
Till there be no more room, and ye are settled

Alone in the midst of the land.

Therefore thus hath Yahweh Sabaoth revealed himself in mine ears.
Surely your many houses shall become a desolation,

Your great and fair palaces without an inhabitant.
Two acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,
And the seed of an homer but an ephah.

to revel in strong drink!
inflamed with wine!

Woe to those who rise at dawn
Who tarry late into the night
At their banquets are flute and harp, tabret, flute and wine;
But they regard not Yahweh's ways, nor ponder His handiwork.
Therefore My people shall go into exile unawares,

Their honored men shall be weak for hunger,

Their multitudes parched for thirst.

Therefore Sheol gapes ravenously and opens widely her mouth,
And their glory, their busy throngs and joyous ones,
Plunge headlong in.

Lambs shall graze where they dwelt,
Wanderers shall feed in their desert wastes.

Woe unto them that draw guilt to them with cords of iniquity
And sin as with a cart-rope;

Who say: Let Him hasten His work, let it speed

That we may see it!

Let the purpose of Israel's Holy One be revealed
That we may know it!

Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil,
Who put darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Woe unto those who are wise-in their own eyes,
And keen-witted in their own conceit!

Woe unto them who are mighty-in drinking wine,
And well-skilled-in mixing drinks!

Who justify the wicked for a bribe,
And strip the righteous of his integrity!

As the tongue of fire devoureth hay and stubble shrivels in flame,
So shall their root become rottenness,

And their blossom go up like dust;

Because they have rejected the Law of Yahweh Sabaoth,
And spurned the word of Israel's Holy One.

A word hath Yahweh sent unto Jacob, and it shall light upon Israel. And all the people shall know it; Ephraim and the men of Samaria, Who have stiffened their necks in pride,

And in stoutness of heart, saying:

Bricks have fallen down,

but we will build with stone!

Sycamores have been felled, cedars will fill their places!
Hence Yahweh hath stirred up their foe,

And spurred on their enemies against them;

Aram on the east, the Philistines on the west, and they devour

Israel greedily.

Because of all this, His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is stretched out still.

Yet the people turn not to Him that smote them,
And Yahweh do they not regard;

So from Israel Yahweh will cut off head and tail,

Palm-branch and rush in one day.❜

ffl

1 From this point, Isaiah's poems are amazingly dislocated; but his frequent use of refrain, and the individuality of his style have gone far in enabling scholars to restore them in large measure.

Vv, 15-16 are an inserted marginal gloss which destroys the force of the preceding figure; they are therefore omitted.

Therefore Yahweh spareth not their youths,
Nor pitieth their orphans and widows;
Because every one is impious and an evil-doer,
And every mouth speaketh folly.
For all this, His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

For wickedness burneth as a fire,

It consumeth briars and thorns;

Yea, it kindleth the thickets of the forest;
They whirl upward in columns of smoke.
By the fury of Yahweh the land is burned up,
The people become food for the flame.
One snatcheth on the right, yet is famished,
On the left-hand, and still is hungry.
Everyone eateth his neighbor's flesh,

None hath pity on his fellow.

Manasseh devoureth Ephraim, Ephraim Manasseh,
And both together against Judah.

For all this, His anger is not turned away
But His hand is stretched out still.

Woe to them that set up unjust decrees,
To the scribes who write iniquity!
Who turn aside justice from the helpless,
And despoil the poor of My people of their rights,
That widows may be their prey,

And that orphans may be their plunder.
What then will ye do in the day of punishment,
Of crashing storm that comes from afar?

To whom will ye flee for aid,

And where will ye leave your wealth?

For all this, His anger is not turned away,

But His hand is stretched out still.

So He will raise a signal to a distant nation,1
And hiss to them to come from the end of the earth;

And lo, speedily, swiftly they come.

None there is weary, and among them none stumbles;
The zone of their loins is not loosened;

Of their sandals there tears not a thong.

Their arrows are sharpened, all their bows are bent,
The hoofs of their horses are counted as flint,
And as a whirlwind their wheels.

Their roaring is like that of the lion,

Yea, like young lions they roar, and growl,
and seize the prey,

And carry it off safe and none rescues it.
For all this, His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is outstretched still.2

1 This fine strophe, the appropriate conclusion of the poem, we find misplaced in chapter v.

2 This superb translation of Isaiah's great ode is borrowed from the works of the late Canon Cheyne, to whose profouud exegesis and literary acumen every Bible student is deeply indebted.