Old/New Testament
47 Go down, and sit in the aphar, O Betulat Bat Bavel, sit on the ground; there is no kisse, O Bat Kasdim (Chaldeans); for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones, and grind meal; uncover thy tzammah (hair, tresses) lift up thy shohvel (train, skirt), bare the thigh, pass over the neharot.
3 Thy ervat (nakedness) shall be exposed, yes, thy cherpah (shame, reproach) shall be seen; I will take nakam (vengeance) and I will not be as adam when I meet thee.
4 Go’aleinu, Hashem Tzva’os Shmo, Kadosh Yisroel.
5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into choshech, O Bat Kasdim (Chaldeans); for thou shalt no more be called, Geveret Mamlachot (The Lady of Kingdoms).
6 I was angry with My people, I have profaned Mine nachalah, and given them into thine yad; thou didst show them no rachamim (mercy); upon the zaken (ancient, old) hast thou very heavily laid thy ol (yoke).
7 And thou saidst, I shall be a Geveret ad l’olahm (Lady forever): so that thou didst not lay these things to thy lev, neither didst remember her [Babylon’s] acharit (latter end, i.e. future destruction).
8 Therefore hear now this, O adinah (voluptuous, wanton one) that dwellest lavetach (carelessly, in security), that sayest in her lev, I am, and none else besides me; I shall not live as an almanah, neither shall I know shechol (the loss of children, bereavement);
9 But these two things shall overtake thee in a rega (moment), in yom echad, shechol (the loss of children), and almon (widowhood); they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy kashefanut (sorceries, witchcraft) and for the otzmah (great abundance) of thine khavarim (spells, magic, enchantments).
10 For thou hast trusted in thy ra’ah (wickedness); thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy chochmah and thy da’as, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine lev, I am, and none else beside me.
11 Therefore shall ra’ah come upon thee; thou shalt not know its shachar (dawn, from whence it riseth); and tragedy will befall thee; thou shalt not be able to make kofer (ransom) to ward it off; and sho’ah (catastrophe) shall come upon thee pitom (suddenly), which thou shalt not foresee or know.
12 Stand now with thine khavarim (spells, magic, enchantments), and with the multitude of thy kashefanut (sorceries, witchcraft) wherein thou hast toiled from thy neurim; perhaps thou shalt be able to succeed, perhaps thou mayest cause terror.
13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy etzot (counsels). Let now stand up the hovrev Shomayim (the dissectors of the heavens, astrologers), the chozim bakochavim (stargazers), the ones that predict the future by Rosh Chodesh, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
14 Hinei, they shall be as kash (stubble, straw); the eish shall burn them; they shall not save their nefesh from the power of the flame; there shall not be a hot coal to warm them, nor eish to sit before.
15 Thus unto thee are they with whom thou hast toiled, who have been thy socharim (traffickers, i.e., religious practitioners) from thy neurim (youth); they shall wander about in their random exits; none shall act as Moshi’a to thee.
48 Hear ye this, O Bais Ya’akov, which are called b’shem Yisroel, and are come forth out of the waters of Yehudah, which take oaths b’Shem Hashem, and invoke Elohei Yisroel, but not in emes, nor in tzedakah.
2 For they call themselves of the Ir HaKodesh, and lean themselves upon Elohei Yisroel; Hashem Tzva’os Shmo.
3 I have declared the rishonot (former things) from long ago; and they went forth out of My mouth, and I made them known; I acted pitom (suddenly), and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that thou art kesheh (obstinate, stubborn) and thy oref (neck) is sinew of barzel (iron), and thy metzach (brow, forehead) bronze;
5 I have even from long ago preached it to thee; before it came to pass I caused thee to hear it; lest thou shouldest say, Mine atzav (idol) hath done them, and my pesel, and my nesech (molten idol, metal image) hath commanded them.
6 Thou hast heard, look at all this; and will not ye preach it? I have caused thee to hear chadashot (new things) from this time, even netzurot (hidden things) and thou didst not know them.
7 Now they are created, and not from long ago; before today thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Hinei, I knew them.
8 Thou heardest not; thou had no da’as; from of old, thine ozen (ear) was not opened; for I knew that thou wouldest deal as a boged (treacherous betrayer), and thou wast called a poshei’a (rebel, transgressor) from the beten (womb, i.e., birth; See Ps 51:5).
9 Lema’an Shmi (for the sake of My Name) will I defer Mine anger, and for My tehillah (praise) will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
10 Hinei, I have refined thee, but not as kesef; I have chosen thee in the furnace of oni (affliction).
11 For Mine own sake, even for Mine own sake will I do it; for how can I allow Chillul Hashem? And I will not give My kavod unto another.
12 Pay heed unto Me, O Ya’akov and Yisroel, My called; I am He; I am Rishon, I also am Acharon.
13 Mine Yad also hath laid the foundation of Eretz, and My yamin hath measured Shomayim; when I call them, they stand up together.
14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and listen. Which among them [the pesilim, idols] hath declared these things? Hashem hath loved him [i.e., Cyrus], he will do His chafetz (pleasure, will) on Babylon, and His zero’a shall be on the Kasdim (Chaldeans).
15 I, even I, have spoken; indeed, I have called him [i.e., Cyrus]; I have brought him, and He shall make his derech successful.
16 Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this; I have not spoken baseter (in secret) merosh (from the first); from the time that it takes place, there am I; and now Adonoi Hashem, and His Ruach [Hakodesh], hath sent Me [Moshiach, the Eved Hashem; see Isaiah 42:1; see Hashem’s Kedushah HaMeshulleshet here].
17 Thus saith Hashem, thy Go’el, the Kadosh Yisroel; I am Hashem Eloheicha thy Melamed (Teacher) of doing that which profiteth, thy Madrikh (Guide, Instructor) in the Derech that thou shouldest go.
18 O if only thou hadst paid heed to My mitzvot! Then had thy shalom been like a nahar, and thy tzedakah as the waves of the yam;
19 Thy zera also had been like the chol (sand), and those that come out of thy loins like me’otav (sands of the sea thereof); his shem should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before Me.
20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Kasdim (Chaldeans), with a voice of joyful singing declare ye, preach this, send it forth even to the ketzeh ha’aretz; say ye, Hashem hath redeemed His Eved Ya’akov.
21 And they thirsted not when He led them through the deserts; He caused the mayim to flow out of the Tzur for them; He split the Tzur also, and the mayim gushed out.
22 There is no shalom, saith Hashem, unto the resha’im.
49 Listen, O iyim (islands), unto Me [Moshiach]; and pay heed, ye nations afar off; Hashem hath called Me from the beten (belly, womb) [See Isaiah 7:14; Gn 3:15; Ps 22:9f; Mic 5:1-2] from the inward parts of immi hath He remembered My Shem.
2 And He hath made My mouth like a sharpened cherev; in the tzel (shadow) of His Yad hath He concealed Me, and made Me a polished arrow; in His quiver hath He hid Me;
3 And said unto Me [Moshiach, i.e., the She’erit of the She’erit, the true and worthy Israel and also the King who personifies the People], Thou art Avdi, O Yisroel, Thou in Whom I glorify Myself.
4 Then I [Moshiach] said, I have toiled in vain, I have spent My ko’ach for tohu, and hevel; yet surely My mishpat is with Hashem, and My peulah with Elohai.
5 And now, saith Hashem My Yotzer from the beten to be Eved of Him, to bring back Ya’akov to Him, so that Yisroel would be gathered to Him; so shall I [Moshiach] be honored in the eyes of Hashem, and Elohai shall be My oz (strength).
6 And He said, It is too small a thing that Thou shouldest be Eved to Me to raise up the Shivtei Ya’akov, and to bring back the Netzurei Yisroel (Preserved of Israel, the She’erit); I will also give Thee for Ohr Goyim, that Thou mayest be My Yeshuah (Salvation) unto the ketzeh ha’aretz.
7 Thus saith Hashem, the Go’el Yisroel, and His Kadosh, to Him of despised nefesh [See 53:11,3], to Him whom the Goy (Nation, i.e., Israel; see Isaiah 53:3,8) abhorreth, to the Eved Moshelim: Melachim shall see and arise, Sarim also shall worship [52:15], because of Hashem Who is Ne’eman and the Kadosh Yisroel, that hath chosen Thee.
8 Thus saith Hashem, In a time of [My] ratzon (favor) have I answered Thee {Moshiach], and in a Yom Yeshuah have I helped Thee; and I will preserve Thee, and give Thee for a Brit Am [See Jer. 31:31-34; Mk 14:24 OJBC] to raise up Eretz, to reapportion desolate nechalot (inheritances; Josh chp 13-21). [T.N. Notice that in the previous verse the Moshiach is depicted as a new Yehoshua, which is also his namesake, Yehoshua Tzemach Shmo, Zech 6:11-12.]
9 That thou mayest say to the asurim (the prisoners, those of the Golus) to them that are in choshech, Reveal yourselves. They shall feed in the derakhim and their pastures shall be in kol shefayim (high hills).
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the sharav [35:7] nor shemesh beat on them; for He that hath rachamim on them shall guide them, even by the springs of mayim shall He lead them.
11 And I will make all My harim into derech, and My highways shall be exalted.
12 Hinei, these shall come from afar; and, hinei, these from the tzafon and from the yam; and these from Eretz Sinim [Sinites].
13 Sing joyfully, O Shomayim; and rejoice, O Eretz; and break forth into singing, O Harim; for Hashem hath comforted His people, and will have rachamim upon his afflicted ones.
14 But Tziyon said, Hashem hath forsaken me, and Adonoi hath forgotten me.
15 Can an isha forget her nursing baby, that she should not have rachamim on her ben beten? Indeed, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have engraved thee upon the palms of My hands; thy chomot are continually before Me.
17 Thy banim shall make haste [to return from the Golus]; thy destroyers and they that laid thee waste shall depart from thee.
18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold; all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith Hashem, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with jewelry and put them on like a kallah.
19 For thy ruins and thy desolate places, and the eretz of thy devastation, shall even now be too narrow for the inhabitants [of Tziyon returned from the Golus], and they that devoured thee shall be far away.
20 Furthermore, the Bnei Shikkulayich (the Children of thy Bereavement, i.e., the sons born while the Mother was bereaved of other children lost) shall say again in thine oznayim, The makom is too cramped for me; geshah (fall back, make room, give place) to me that I may dwell.
21 Then shalt thou say in thine lev, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I am shekhulah (bereaved) of my children, and am galmudah (barren, incapable of having children), a captive of the Golus, and thrust away as rejected? So who has reared these? Behold I was left a lone survivor; these, where were they? Where did they come from?
22 Thus saith Adonoi Hashem, Hinei, I will lift up Mine Yad to the Goyim, and set up My nes (banner, rallying flag, [i.e., Moshiach; see Isa 11:10]) to the Nations; and they shall bring thy banim in their arms, and thy banot shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 And melachim shall be thy omenim (foster fathers, supporters, nurturers), and their sarot thy wet nurses; they shall bow down before thee with their face toward eretz, and lick the aphar of thy raglayim; and thou shalt know that I am Hashem; for they shall not be put to shame that wait for Me.
24 Shall the malko’ach (plunder, prey, booty) be taken from the gibbor; shall the shevi tzaddik be delivered?
25 But thus saith Hashem, Even the Shevi gibbor shall be taken, and the malko’ach of the aritz (the fierce, the tyrant) shall escape; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy banim.
26 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own basar; and they shall be shikkor (drunk) with their own dahm, as with asis (new wine); and kol basar shall know that I Hashem am thy Moshi’a and thy Go’el, the Avir Ya’akov (Mighty One of Jacob).
4 Lemaskana (finally), Achim b’Moshiach, we ask and exhort you in Adoneinu Yehoshua, in order that, just as from us (Moshiach’s Shlichim) you received (as authoritative halachic tradition, as the Messianic teaching to be followed) how it is necessary for you to be fier zich (comport oneself) in your derech (way of life) and to please Hashem (just as you in fact are doing), so you should abound more and more.
2 For you have da’as what mitzvot (commandments) we gave you through [Moshiach] Adoneinu Yehoshua.
3 For this is the ratzon Hashem (the will of G-d), your kedushah (holiness), your consecration, that you abstain from zenut (fornication),
4 That each one of you [as Kadoshim] have da’as of how to control your own k’li (vessel) in kedushah and kavod,
5 Not in the passion of ta’avah (evil desire, lust) like Goyim who do not have da’as of Hashem;
6 That no man commit peysha and take advantage of one of his Achim b’Moshiach in this [sexual] matter, because Hashem is the Nokem (Avenger) concerning all these things, just as also we told you before and warned you.
7 For [as far as our bechirah (election) is concerned], Hashem did not summon us for tu’ma (uncleanness) but in kedushah (holiness).
8 Therefore, the one rejecting this mitzvah (commandment) does not reject Bnei Adam but Hashem who gives to you His Ruach Hakodesh.
9 Concerning the matter of ahavah shel achvah (brotherly love), you have no need that we write you, for you yourselves are limudei Elohim (taught of G-d) to have ahavah (agape) one for another.
10 For indeed this you do toward all the Achim b’Moshiach in all of Macedonia. But in this we exhort you, Chaverim, to abound more and more.
11 And have as your ambition to lead a quiet life of shalom bayis, and to mind your own business, and to have a parnasah, working with your own hands, according to the mitzvot (commandments) we gave you.
12 The tachlis (purpose) is that the way you fier zich (comport oneself) in your derech (way of life) be conducted properly toward outsiders and that you might not be nitzrach (needy).
13 We do not want you to lack da’as, Chaverim, concerning those who have "fallen asleep." The purpose is that you not have agmat nefesh (grief) like the rest, who do not have tikvah (hope).
14 For, if we have an Ani Ma’amin belief that Yehoshua had his histalkus and then stood up alive again in the Techiyas HaMoshiach from HaMesim, even so, Hashem will bring with him [Moshiach] those who have fallen asleep through Yehoshua.
15 For this we say to you by the Dvar Hashem, that we who are alive and have been left behind until the Bi’as (Coming, Parousia of) Moshiach Adoneinu, may in no way be kodem (preceding) those who have fallen asleep.
16 For Adoneinu Himself, at the signal, at the bat kol of the Sar HaMalachim (the Archangel), and at the shofar blast of Hashem, shall come down from Shomayim, and the Mesim in Moshiach shall stand up alive in the Techiyas HaMesim first.
17 Then [next in sequence], we who are alive and who have been left behind simultaneously with them shall be snatched up in the ananim (clouds) to meet Adoneinu in the air. And so always with Adoneinu we shall be.
18 Therefore, give chozek (strength) and speak divrei chizzuk (words of encouragement), comforting one another with these words.
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